Mountain Bikes

Well, I picked up some of my new bits this morning (Ritchey crankset, FSA BB and Cane Creek headset), and hopefully my new forks should now be waiting for me at home. Now I just need some money to upgrade a few other things, but enough to build up the new bike now...

 

AFAIC, the only time you don't need clipless is if you're doing big jumps/stunts, or serious downhill...
I go down our local downhill (as seen on the last MBUK dvd!) with my Candy SLs with minimal grief... And if I fall off (which I often do ) they tend to come off as well - I went over the handlebars on Wednesday (again) with just a slight knee graze to show for it!
There's certainly no comparison when it comes to climbs, you just can't pump as hard with platforms - though they do take some getting used to..

Oh, and I used to be a Richey Megabites man... I never touched anything by Onza due to the dis-embowelling machine they used to market to stick on your handlebars

 

Perhaps a bad experience with a ski binding not releasing when it was meant to resulting in a broken leg would have something to do with my wariness of binding my feet to something like that... I don't deny that they're almost certainly better for pedalling efficiency, but they're not for me.

 

And after a weekend of various building tasks (and doing other things), it's almost ready:



Just need front brake bosses and a shock pump to finish putting it together.

Oh, and I need a new seatpost too.

 

Do you mean the red DX pedals?

Thats what I have.

I just hope I dont break them, I love them to bits and dont want to change them.

They are like this scuffed up pair on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=36137&item=7166405212&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

They were always highly reviewed... and would probably be the ones I'd have if I did. I stripped out and rebuilt my pedals today; all of the old bits going on the new bike are getting a bloody good clean. Gave the back wheel a scrub (need to do the front), and there was black rubber embedded in the rim but I switched to the green pads many years ago. Oops...

 

They are indeed the ones, I have tried others but they are spot on and well worth their weight penaulty. Bikes looking good Isaac, its a similar fs geometry as my santacruz heckler which feels so right. I see what you mean about that seat post - too much suspension but would have been necessary on your old aluminium hardtale.

 

That looks like a sprung seatpost you have there. Do you find that interacts in odd ways with the rear suspension?

BTW, you have two nasty looking kinks in your frame there :lol:

 

Chris - having not yet ridden the FS (pedals went on last thing yesterday, and still no front brake...) I couldn't say. It's the seatpost out of my old HT (minus the shims). I think that the angle of the seat tube on the FS is such that it's going to put more sideways stress on the post than actually using the suspension of it, plus with the air shock it's not exactly necessary to have a sprung seatpost as well so can get something a lot lighter.

What got me about the geometry of the FS is that the bottom bracket is so high... it's about 14" off the floor! Still, at least the geometry of this frame is set up for this sort of fork (whereas my nail trail was rigid front end geometry with a 75mm fork), so things should work fairly well.

Something interesting I have discovered is that I can't have the horseshoe booster fitted on the back brake because as the suspension compresses it bangs into the seat tube. Unboosted maguras are generally a bad idea (flex, flex, SNAP) so I need to find some sort of lower profile booster.

 

It looks like a nice bike Isaac! I'm sure you'll get a lot of fun out of riding it, I bet you're looking forward to hammering down some of the bumpy stuff!

Are you getting rid of your hardtail then?

 

Chris - haven't decided yet... if someone wanted to offer me something for it I might well not refuse.

 

As for the unboosted maguras, shouldn't be as much an issue on the rear? as most of the big handfuls of stop are at the front wheel and it doesnt take much pressure to lock a back wheel.

I'm also on the lookout for a suitable bike rack, there are loads of trails between here and Manchester I have a great one that crosses saddleworth moor near the mast which could easily become the meeting/starting point and theres even a good pub en route although its just before a rather knarly DH.

 

It's not as much of an issue, but the frame flexes disconcertingly and you get nothing like the modulation on the brake with that much flex... not as bad as Vs but still...

Send me details of that route as it's not far away...

 

Pardon my ignorance but I always thought bike frames were supposed to flex. We used to call it 'twang'

 

Not Alu ones (hence why alu hard tails have a reputation for harsh ride) because of the fatigue properties of alu. In this case, if the frame flexes outward when the brake is applied, it's wasting some of the force which could be pushing the pads in onto the rim, plus the flex means that the lever will travel further and not offer as precise a modulation.

 

Oh, and check out this rather tasty bit of weight weenieism: http://www.gonemountainbiking.com/pace.html

 

lovely bike...soo light too! mine must weigh about 27lbs...

theu're based in the lakes, or somewhere like that..??

 

Wow, my credit card shudders at the thought - mmmm pace

 

19.39lbs!
I thought mine was light at about 24...
My racer's 19lbs!
And I spose with that little weight you wouldn't miss the granny ring..

 

Imagine how little it would weigh if it were rigid... Mind you, aren't SID WC lighter than RC38s (although tbh I'd rather have the RC38s)? I barely use the granny ring as it is so the duo chainset would be rather nice...