Mountain Bikes

It was too dangerous to ride my Scott along the drive.
So I rode this through ice and snow to work this week!
My Danish colleagues fell about laughing!

That looks like it'd be ideal for riding home from the pub!

Nime

Two front calipers ? One per brake lever ?

quote:

Originally posted by long-time-dead:
Nime

Two front calipers ? One per brake lever ?

I hadn't noticed that. Perhaps it's to meet a legal requirement for two brakes?

According to British law it is. The Danes are less wary and allow a single back pedal (coaster) brake. Not possible on a geared trike.

As to riding home from the pub: It took me a good two weeks to ride with confidence again even after riding and racing a trike for years in my youth. A bit of camber and you're in the nearest field! Hic!

quote:

Who's still riding through this dark and dismal winter?

I bought a new bike in September, it now has a nice patina of use! Done about 400 miles off road at home and in North Wales.

This is what it looked like new!

I don't want new pictures, I want to see it muddy.

...Ok, I'l take my camera out on Wednesday's ride!

Bruce

How do you propel it without pedals?

Graham

Look carefully, eggbeaters! This is actually the brochure shot but I use the same.

Bruce

I stand corrected: serves me right for trying to be clever!

Graham

im after a hybrid, anyone know of some decent ones?
Ive been looking at ridgeback so far.
i have a budget of £500-600.

cheers.

Marin do some nice hybrids in the price range - the Muirwoods looks a nice bike.

The Ridgeback Nemesis looks an interesting low maintenance option.

Specialized do some nice stuff as well and towards the top end of that price range there is the Cannondale Bad Boy and it's a nice bike.

What sort of riding do you intend to do as it might be the case that a mountain bike with slick tyres or a flat barred road bike (or tourer) might suit you better. For myself I'd prefer something like a Specialized Sirrus to a hybrid bike.

You want mud....?

this is my bike after the Salisbury Plain Challenge that the Naim cycling team did last Sunday. Mud, then more mud, then very sticky mud which clung wherever it could.

hi steve,

I recently had my saracen backtrax with slicks thieved, i managed to hang on to it for nine years.(A great bike) i used to travel to work on it, about 120 miles a week for five years in all weathers. Im gutted really as i liked my one it was perfect for me.
ive checked a few new ones, but dont like them.
I like no suspension, quite a high floor clearence, strong and robust(ex bmx rider) light, fast and reliable, with no twist grip gears.. the levers are much better and able to do some distances, also worthy for street and cities.

p.s. Also for tareing round the odd building site.!(housing site in middle of no where) My saracen could cope with all this.

reagrds

Anna,

Stop being a girl, oh you can't.

Did you follow any horse trails? I always find them to be the worst routes as the stride of a horse is just longer than the wheel base of my bike, thus I get to enjoy a somewhat choppy ride.

Sorry Anna

Jono

Stephen it sounds like you might be better with something based on a mountain bike that a hybrid. Most mountain bikes will have front suspension as standard nowadays so if you want to go rigid you'll most likely either have to change the forks or perhaps go for ones with a lockout.

The Specialized Rockhopper is a nice bike in your price range, but if you want to set the specification yourself it might be worth talking to a local shop and getting them to build you a bike.

You also might want to have a look at the Edinburgh Bicycle Revolution range of urban bikes. They do a range called the courier with prices between £250 and £300 which might fit the bill. They're light (25-26lbs) and you have the choice between 26" or 700c wheels.

hi again steve,,

i really appreciate your input - I have just been on the marin site and looking at a novato urban?, well this sort of bike is more or less what i am looking for... it fits my budget aswell.
Will keep lookin though!
many thanks,
steve.

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Tate:
I have just been on the marin site and looking at a novato urban

Looks a nice bike and it has 26" wheels so you'll be able to fit wider tyres if you find you're getting problems with the 1.4" ones when careering around building sites. The drivetrain looks fine as well and it should be fairly light.

Questions from a virgin...

I've just rescued a mountain bike from the back of a roofless shed. Kona Lavadome frame; Sachs twist-grip gears; RST front shocks. It seems in remarkably good cosmetic condition, all things considered...

Anyway, I know next to nothing about the subject and browsing a couple of bike shops online showed up more technology than I ever thought could be used on a bicyle so could use some help. Tyres and tubes plainly need to be replaced as they've perished - any suggestions there? I don't anticipate getting up to anything too hard-core off road to begin with, but then I've no intention of spending all my time riding it on the road either.

Next, what else am I likely to need to check out? So far as I can tell without riding it, everything seems to turn/switch/move fairly freely though it's bound to need some tlc.

Is it all DIY-able? Should I just drop it off at the bike-shop and get them to sort it? Is it worth even trying or am I likely to end up spending so much that I may as well buy a new bike?

All help for a novice who needs to get of his lazy arse would be very welcome

Steve.

The Kona Lavadome's of various vintages have always been good bikes (there about £400-500 new now) so if the frame's in good condition there is no reason not to try and get the thing working again. It sounds like the gears and front forks might not be up to much, although it depends on what models of Sachs (who are now SRAM I think) and RST bits are fitted. How many gears does it have?

There are lots of good tyres about - something like the WTB Velociraptor is a good tyre and not too expensive (£10 each from Wiggle) and the Tioga Factory XC's are also worth a look at about £12 each. I like Continental tyres myself, but lots of folks like Specialized or Panaracer tyres although those will tend to be a bit pricer - £20 or so each.

Other than that I'd be looking at the state of the brake blocks (assuming it's got v-brakes), the various cables and oiling everything relevant. If it's been lying around for a while the chain might have rusted (you'll need to know how many gears it's got before identifying a compatible replacement) and the likes of the headset (the bearings between the forks and the frame) and the wheel bearings could probably do with a grease. I'd spray everything relevant with WD40 or GT85 - the shifters, cables and gear mechanisms.

DIY on bikes is fairly straight forward. A couple of things are fiddly, such as setting up the gear mechanisms, but nearly everything can be done at home even by someone as mechanically incompetent as me. I've spent most of this evening in the garage building my son a new bike from a pile of bits. It's not finished yet as I still need to fit the front brake and the gear cables but it's already rideable and looking good so far:



Like my own bikes it's almost completely built out of quality 2nd hand bits.

Thanks Steve. I'll take a trip out the the shed when it's dryer/lighter and report on the other bits, maybe even get a photo or two.

Steve.

Steve

The book 'Zinn and the art of mountain bike maintenance' may be a good purchase. Covers the most basic stuff up to full workshop skills. Deals with a wide range of components too, including older stuff.

Check the brake cables aren't rusty. Pull on the levers and look inside the lever at the short bit of inner cable you can see. Then check the bits of cable you can see at the brakes themselves. If you do use WD40 on a bike then use it out of doors. I'm allergic to the stuff!

I regularly buy abandoned bikes for donor bike-building materials from recycling centers.

The worst problem can be the saddle pin (or pillar) rusting into the seat tube. You'd be amazed how many seat pillars are stuck fast in the frame. The combination of bare aluminium and rust from the frame is as good as welding sometimes. You often see frames with just the the saddle rails dangling all twisted from the pillar clamp. A waste of time trying to use such a frame. Greasing when the bike is put together is essential but when a bikes stands outside or is exposed to bad weather then problems can start.

The desperate try using large pipe wrenches on the saddle pillar. Or put the bare pillar in a large vice and pull on the frame. Even with all that leverage this may not work. So remember to grease your seat pillar and handlebar extension! The grease won't make things slide around. The clamping pressure is easily enough to overcome the lubrication. If the fixed saddle height on such a bike suits you then you were just born lucky.

Nothing obvious on the forks to show a model type; likewise on the gears though I can count that there are 21 of them.

Steve.