Summer's here

Dom - the point is having the power available. If you misuse it you'll come off badly for sure but it isn't hard to control a hydraulic brake because the firmness of the lever means you can feel what it's doing and modulate it very precisely... unlike V brakes.

 

The marin full susp framed bikes are excellent value and very similar in geometry and ride to my santacruz. If you fancy a go of the santacruz for comparison just ask.

My rims are not superlight xc ones either, they are deep section ones for strength due to my downhill background, but a good comprimise between weight and strength.

The XT V brakes have always been fine for me.

Dom, a tip for toeing brake pads is so get some cerial packet card, double it up and place it at the back of the pads. Then squash the pads to the rims and tighten. This gives a good amount of toe, if they still squeek try 3 thickness.

 

The beauty of fs is you use alluminium for weight saving, but you get that stiffness for bike placement the movement is only up and down. If you like it technical you get more grip from fs its hard to explain but obvious on trail.

 

A friend of mine had a Rift Zone. The bearings in the main pivot wore out in about 13 months and the bike became articulated. I'm not a huge marin fan anymore (I felt they "sold out" of serious mountain bikes after the '96 season and started pandering to mass-market. I suppose you could say the same of Kona to an extent, but it happened a few years later). Also, the newer designed marin full sus puts that suspension pivot in a very vulnerable place on the downtube...

I'm looking out for kona, specialized EPIC, gary fisher sugar frames at the moment.

Did GT ever resolve the bearing problems they had with I-drive?

Edit: I'm aware of the grip on climb advantage of fs... It was a very big thing when Marin came out with the first of the John Whyte designed frames. That was in my days of racing and all-weather riding...

 

dom,
the gears shift fine but the shift lever is 7 speed and the rear cassette is 6!
the brakes have stopped squealing now i've worn them down a bit - i think it was some grease on the rim.
i've added a few bits and bobs to it to make it servicable but i'm going to see how much i stick with it before looking at a serious hard tail with all the toys.
just got in from another short ride - working from home is goooood.
cheers

julian.

 

I definitely rate tubeless as an option, especially if you go off-road..
Many rims will take a tubeless tyre, though you might have to get some conversion gubbins, and the tyres are a lot more expensive.. Frinstance, the Panaracer Fire XC pro tubeless are £34.99 each (!) compared to £24.99 for the Kevlar.
However, you save about 1/2lb per wheel, and punctures are very rare (though a bit of a bugger to fix if you do have one..)
Last autumn I went on a big charity ride with about 20 other folks.. We came across a hawthorn hedge which had just been cut and the only 2 bikes which didn't get a puncture were my racer (19mm tubeless) and my MTB I'd lent to a m8 (2.1" XC pro tubeless). Annoying thing was I was the only 1 with a repair kit, with luckily enough patches... Also, you can run lower pressures with no danger of pinch flats, therefore better grip in the groot!

And as for discs, they're not really any advantage on road apart from there's no fade in the wet.. Off road they're indispensable if you do anything knarly!

BTW my mtb is a Cannondale F800 hardtail with Lefty Max single-sided fork, XT discs, XTR drivetrain, Raceface Prodigy crank and Mavic Crossmax wheels.
No way I'd bother with full suss at the moment because, though I might be a touch slower on heinous descents it makes up for it on the climb...
And why is it that all the "proper" DH boys with the armour etc can't even cycle up teh fireroads? Do they like pushing? And why do they drop their energy drink bottles rather than taking them away?

 

I don't want to be picky but I can feel what my v-brakes do fine (maybe it's the eyesight thing again) - although to be honest they're cack in the wet - although I don't cycle in the wet unless I can help it anyway). Also it might be that I've got pretty decent blocks on there (£40 for the set - I got them for £20 though ). I admit though, I've never ridden a hydro/disk-style bike so I guess I dunno what I'm missing (if I am)

BTW - that front wheel IS true, so something else is causing the brake knocking - I guess there's some crap on the rim somewhere...

Oh - full sus bikes - don't you lose a LOT of power on them when cycling in normal road conditions?

 

Hmm.

Lots of stuff I disagree with here.

I used to ride the proffessional downhill circuits in Northumberland (places like Hamsterly forrest and others). At the time I was using cantilever brakes, and always had plenty of braking.

More recently Ive ridden some extreme downhills at the Devils Punchbowl (near Guildford), and again V-brakes were more than enough.

For the past 5 years or so Ive used V brakes, and they have more than enough power for every instance Ive come across.

I can lock both wheels with just single finger braking.

I also find that V brakes (and cantilevers) have gradual power increase, and aren't off/on devices at all.

Admittedly they arent so great in thick gloopy winter mud, but how often do we ride in that?!

Swapping to discs would involve 2 new wheels, and the standard of components I use I wouldnt get much change from £600 (including the disc brakes). That doesnt make sense to me at all.

I think in Doms case - you really need to get that wheel true'd Dom - you were saying it was warped months ago!! - its only going to cost you about a fiver!

Ive always found that very careful setup of cantilever/ V-brakes on a true wheel give me as much braking performance as I'll ever need.

As for hardtail vs full suspension - I find that full suspension makes my technique sloppy on downhill riding, and makes me ride faster than my skill level really allows - a bad thing in my book.

Ive certainly found full sus faster downhill (as above), but massively slower on flat, and uphill sections.

Its nice to talk bikes

NB Leonard - I also have a giggle when I see downhill riders push their bikes uphill. It just makes me think they're either lazy bas***ds, or the geometry is so f**ked up on their bikes that they cant even go for a ride!!!

** added by me

 

Hi Mr Cat

I know some great rides around Weardale and Hexham. If you have a fax machine I can send you the details over.

PM me if interested.

Cheers
Chris

 

I'm not saying that V-brakes don't have power. What I don't like about them is the way that the lever will pull back into the bar because they just keep on flexing... It's like difference in pedal feel between a corsa with drum brakes on the back and tiny little discs on the front and a car with drilled/grooved discs, fast road/track pads and braided hoses.

 

Of course, its not what they designed are for, it really tickles me watching people cycling n the road on fs mountain bikes knowing that the biggest drop off they ever see is a kerb :ffrc:

 

Hmmm... Marin East Peak 2000 frame with Fox Float and XT front mech... worth £150?

 

The wheel is running true - a colleague checked it today, so something odd's afoot there - as it ACTS like a wonky wheel! I don't get it

I need hardtail but front sus in Exeter as the roads are shit, but full sus bikes look silly on the road to me. As for riding uphill - I may go slow but I NEVER stand on the pedals...

Right - off to ride home now Have a good one!

 

why not?

 

You own a Lejeune tandem? Man that's a collector's these days!
I used to love that place. Hate to say the store on Avenue de la Grande Armée near the Arc de Triomphe closed a few years back. It's not easy to find a good bike store in Paris anymore (plenty in the suburbs though).

 

The way to cycle in terms of "making progress" is to keep a constant cadence, using whatever gear is necessary for that level of effort.. On road that will mean standing on the pedals for sprints, or to keep up speed going up hill...
Off road the only reasons to stand on the pedals are either to pump it where there's no problems with traction, though this doesn't work on technical hills as the back wheel will spin, or to absorb impacts, or to control the bike on steep descents where you'll be behind the saddle (if not you'll be over the handlebars!).

And as for changing "v" to disc brakes, I wouldn't bother on road, and off road it's only worthwhile if you've already got the mounting lugs - then it'll only cost you £100ish for decent ones..
The discs on my MTB don't stop me any quicker than the side pull Campag Mirage brakes on my road bike (though the MTB feels like a 40 ton truck next to the Donohue racer!).

 

It was bought new for £275 in 1975 from the Tandem Centre, Old Kent Road, London. I was going to say that it was a 'Roll Royce' of its day, but clearly that's too Anglo-centric (!) - it was the Citroen DS of its time!

It's a ladyback with cotterless chainset and an additional rear hub brake. It doesn't get out much, if at all these days, so I ought to either use it or pass it on to someone who would love and care for it.

It's topped 45 mph on downhills and used to cruise at up to 30 mph on the flat - when its twin drivers were young and healthy. It very much liked the hills of the Downs and of SW Ireland, including the Connor Pass on Dingle ... wooosh ....

 

...because half my power seems to get wasted in the front suspension hogging down - the whole bike will wallow.

 

Can you adjust the stiffness of your suspension? If so make it a bit harder that might cure your problem.
Yes you defently need suspension in Exeter the roads here are terrible, potholes the size of kerbs, they just don't know how to maintain roads around here, honestly a dirt track runs smoother.
I ride a mountain bike purely because I need something that can take the punishment of these roads.

 

You need suspension lock-out for decent climbing and sprinting power..
And when I cycled in London, it was all on a racer - with straight forks, never mind the plush ride you get with curved ones! When a pot-hole appeared I either rode around it or jumped. Funny I'm scared of jumping on the MTB!