Mountain Bikes

Okay, never had one, well, never a propper 'un and I know diddly squat, in fact not even that. Ive taken custody of a Specialized Rockhopper. Its red and grey and er thats about it.

The bike is bout 4 yrs old but the owner has hardly used it (the tyres are practically new) so Ive taken it as it was just taking up space. He's removed the tiny pedals which needed those special shoes so at least i can pedal

Ive just had a quick blast on the thing (first time Ive rode a bike for many, many years) and theres one or two things that are abit strange. The forks seems to 'bed' down alot when i apply the front brakes and changin gear with those flicky things is as roungh as a bears ass. I presume the latter is a service job but the first??

I do have a hi-fi mate whose spent thousands on his but I rarely see him and could do with getting going.

Ta.

 

Get it serviced for the gears or buy a book about it and do it yourself (not hard). Your not supposed to change gear under load, change before it gets too hard or lighten up whilst changing.

The forks I assume are suspension forks? If so how much do you weigh could be a clue. There should be some kind of damping/compression control dials which can be experimented with, but if you are much heavier than your mate you may need stronger springs. Oh, and dont lean forwards when you beak, get your weight over the back wheel.

 

I have the opposite problem with forks... My huge 8 stone bulk means that I can't get any coil-spring fork to work for me. Still, my new (s/h) set of air-sprung Magura Asgards should be with me today or tomorrow, and I collected my new (s/h) Marin East Peak frame today (With fox float air shock)...

 

If you are going to service and maintain your own bike (which, to my surprise, really isn't that hard once you get started and can be very satisfying to do), I'd highly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...538674/sr=8-2/ref=pd_ka_2/026-2312624-9661224

I found it really clear (both descriptively and diagramatically) and contains a lot of info about a large number of brand-specific forks, brakes, gears, etc.. The writer is obviously someone who lives for riding and passes on his knowledge and enthusiasm well.

Sounds like you just need to service and set up your new bike for it's new rider, and give it a bit of a workout. I hope you have lots of fun doing this.

Off topic (sorry about that) - Isaac: have you already tried those air forks that are on their way to you, and, if so, how did you find them in use? I'm only slightly heavier than you so understand your problems about forks - I seem to need to get mine (Rockshox) so loose in order to get some movement from them on impact that they're constantly bobbing up and down, even during normal peddling, so would appreciae your thoughts on your forthcoming Maguras.

Cheers,

Chris.

 

You 2 need to eat more pies I need less

 

I'll have a proper look tomoz, not really in the mood to play street hawk tonight. The front forks are suspension theyre called manitou. There is what seems to be an adjustment but Ive not played. The previous rider was heavier than me although my six pack is a thing of the past and I now own a very squashy stomach that needs sorting along with this second chin thats growing faster than ever.

 

Well, the Asgards didn't arrive. I've got the frame, but I'm waiting on the forks and some other bits (headset, bb, crankset) to build it up. I think at the sort of weight I am air is the only option (hence why I went for the Asgard over the cheaper Vidar fork... Couldn't afford fox, needed something both disc and canti compatible, etc...). I'll let you know Chris.

T-bone - Manitou are the make, but a model would be useful to find out what adjustments it has. At a guess it's a low-end fork and will just have pre-load.

And now I'm off out for a ride...

 

Cheers, Isaac - I'll be interested to hear your thoughts. I also use Magura hydraulics at present (HS33) but may move over to discs at some point, so a fork that'd accommodate both would be perfect.

Thanks again,

Chris.

PS - apologies again, T Bone, for going off topic a bit.

 

Chris-

That's exactly why I needed both. I currently have HS22s but want to go to discs. New frame and fork can now accomodate this. Having been very satisfied with the HS22s, I thought I'd go for the magura fork which is very highly reviewed but seemingly not widely adopted. Unfortunately it seems that magura discs aren't up to much (the mineral oil which is the same as used in the HS brakes is not suited to high temperatures and fades badly compared with the DOT fluids used by other discs). Plus I picked up the nearly-new (10 hrs use) Asgards for £150 posted, so can't complain.

I've just got more travel than even before out of my current spring/elastomer forks on a very punishing section of trail (paved with big stone slabs, I slammed down a staircase of them at about 20mph... how the back didn't pinch flat I will never know...), but that was still only about 2/3rds travel (50mm of 75). After that punishment and with the heat they were a bit plusher on the way back, but they've always been too harsh, even when they were ridden more regularly and jumped...

 

No worries, its not really off topic.

I'll have a good look round it later and see what I can find, I'll probably take some pics too. I do know a few people who are into their bikes but its always gone in one ear and out t'other. Ive been looking for a new interest this maybe it.

 

It's probably also useful to go to www.mbuk.co.uk/forum and ask there for maintenance advice - there's a wealth of knowledge...
And as for amount of compression, i went down our local nearly vertical downhill, riddled with tree roots and rocks, and only when I got to the bottom I realised I'd locked out the forks for the previous climb... Shows what you can do with a rigid bike!

 

This is the steel horse in question:



Theres a dial on top of the left hand fork that appears to do sod all.

 

Where are your reflectors, young man?

 

ooops, sorry I'll get sum lights that run off a dynamo on the wheels. Im also in the process of getting some nice stiff card to put through the spokes so it'll sound like a Ducatti 996.

 

everyone takes them off...have to shave a bit of weight off...!!

it was crazy in the early 90's - you could even buy titainium nuts and bolts to save a few grams...they cost a few hundred notes too!!

 

Ive just remembered the last time I rode a bike. I must have been 15/16 when my mate got a (if my memory serves me right) Dynatech, a blue and white speckly thing. He was into racing and had sponsorship from a shop long departed. I seem to remember it being around the 2.5k mark when he put it all togther. That was about 10 yr ago!

 

You'd be amazed where you can go on slicks, too

Must say, I'm a fan of rigid bikes over suspension (maybe I've jsut never ridden a good 'un). Still use my old '92 Orange Clockwork, and the Fisher Prometheus is equally unsprung - though chock full of titanium goodness

 

I only ditched my 1990 Saracen last year - changed to a hardtail Cannondale with Lefty shock.. It's definitely an improvement on drops, and when it gets rocky or rooted. But still not as quick on climbs, despite being 5lbs lighter. Probably because the Saracen was geared about 4 teeth higher!

 

those forks look like the elastomer based manitous. If they are you can change the elastomers for softer or harder ones accordingly.

If your mates never had the bike serviced, I'd reccomend getting the bottom bracket, headset,rear hub and forks serviced. I would expect this to cost about £30-£40.

If the gears dont change properly, it would be worthwhile to take the bike to a shop and ask them to fit a new gear cable. These only cost a couple of pounds, and after 4 years its not a bad idea. They will set the gears up perfectly as part of the job of replacing the cable. I would expect this entire job to come in well under ten pounds.

By the way is your leg 'almost straight' when the pedal is vertically down? - the saddle looks very low.

Cheers
Chris

 

Looks like a big frame... 19-21"... You'd have to be well over 6' for that to be right for you.

My Nail Trail is far too big for me as a 19" (I'm 5'7)... the new East Peak is 17.5" which should be much better (as it's a monocoque design frame so the stand-over is lower also).