Mountain Bikes

[viv1984viv]

OK, so the bicicletas thread was getting abit mixed up with talk of fixies and campagnoli ( or however ts spelt.. ) alongside mountain bike talk.

Here is you chance to brag about that drop off, your average speed over 30km of trail, crashes etc etc

Please post any injuries, bikes, components etc

to start heres my intro from the other thread :

So thought id contribute to this thread, I ride quite a lot, I have 3 decent bikes. This is my "freeride" bike, its great for downhill, but I use it for everything. I do the technical trails round Coed y Brenin ( it worth the extra effort uphill for the tricky bits on the way down ).... ride in scotland too, yorkshire, midlands. Its great for everything. It took a while to adjust to the weight, but now im much fitter and switching back to my hardtail makes me feel like superman! I can do about 30k of off road on this up hill and down dale. I think if i changed tyres I could go further.

This is about 43lbs

7" travel both ends

[canice]

fine! me and tullio campagnolo hate you guys too.

[viv1984viv]

AH shit, I knew it would come across that way! hehehe, tragic bliss gave the canned roadie response - "you need a motocross bike" reply to my full sus post anyhow!

I just thought when discussing more general things a seperate thread for off-roaders might be simpler.

Do you ride off road?

[Ryan]

what are your thoughts on the specialized p1?

[canice]

i was thinking if i had money this summer i'd try my hand at building a single speed mtb. mostly as a winter bike, but for trails in toronto too.

[viv1984viv]

nice bike I guess, I think if I was to uppgrade my hardtail frame id switch to cro mo. Its very much bias towards jumping from the looks of it. For my uses id prefer it if it had hydralic discs and some gears.

ive never rode a single speed though.

It looks like a really nimble chuckable bike, the short rear stays must feel pretty good and nippy.

[Comma H]

Nice Orange.

I have a Transistion Bottle Rocket frame here that I am building up, but I still need everything except for the fork and crankset! (66RC2X, saint 9spd.) Its cost me so much allready and its not even rideable... *sigh*

[viv1984viv]

Comma H - Sounds like a great start, as you can see im using the saint cranks myself - highly recommended, very stiff. Nice forks you got too! My old bombers have taken a hell of alot of punishment, and are still going good even if they are abit dated and now out performed and too heavy in comparison with todays offerings...

How you going to approack wheels? Which discs? Tubeless maybe?

If you have any old bikes you could build it up quick with just any old seat tube and stem etc... then get some riding on it then start replacing all the crap tempory components with your dream, titanium or carbon bits and bobs..

[Comma H]

Was going for '06 Juicy 7, Diabolus stem, post, bars, Sram x9, Maybe double track wheels, hadley hubs, Nokian tyres.

Too bad all my money is going on clothes now a days!

[viv1984viv]

Sounds very nice comma H,

Ive just almost been arrested for riding on the pavement, no pedestrians accept the police men, bout 50m short of the cycle path, I was going up the pavement along side a 3 lane one way road.

Fucking Absurd.

[lowrider]

Here's my Schwinn Rocket 88. Built by an ex pro downhill racer who wanted a personal XC bike. I only have it cuz he didn't have money to pay me for the motorcycle race leather suit he wanted from me. Took this bike in trade. The guy at the bike shop said it was worth around $2,500 back when it was new. I don't even ride it cuz I'm lazy. But I'm too lazy to sell it.

[Camf]

Riding a highly modified Specialized p2.

[viv1984viv]

i was thinking if i had money this summer i'd try my hand at building a single speed mtb. mostly as a winter bike, but for trails in toronto too.

feel free to explain why people ride single speeds, i imagine it would be a bit dull off road, especially on a mountain, or post pics if its up and running.

Camf - Pics??

[DonPiano]

Taken today: my Specialized (Giant nrs also pictured).

Its light and climbs well but its getting on the small side for me so I'm probably going to sell it and get a more downhill-ish bike, thinking about a Kona.

Bonus Pics in Columbia River Gorge:

[kauflust]

my 1996 specialized hardrock is the perfect bike for getting around town.

[RAISED BY WOLVES]

feel free to explain why people ride single speeds, i imagine it would be a bit dull off road, especially on a mountain, or post pics if its up and running.

Because it's like riding a giant BMX.

I have a Brooklyn Machine Works 24/26. It's an amazing setup, that sadly doesn't get much use in NYC these days. I ride street and some improvised trails (city parks, etc...) and it came as a 9 speed which I quickly set up as a single, cause I hate the way derailers feel when you ride hard (if that makes any sense to you). It's a thing of beauty, and if I had a digicam, I would certainly post pics.

[viv1984viv]

RbW - Mmmmmm, thanks, I do have a bmx and I know what you mean, no clicks going through your feet, no whurring buzzing sensation ( which does happen with gears on occaision ), but Id rather have gears, the bmx is allways either to easy and im fustrated at not being able to go quicker or they are to hard and im straining up a steep hill with it, I could do with out the slap and wobble of it on DH trails though...... hub gears mmmmmm.... guess im a gears guy!

BMW - are a cool bike company, their DH bikes are nuts, they are supercool - they have done a ADDICTxSheONExBrooklynMW collab camo bike, pretty cool, and now they are doing something with The Pharrell Williams!

Don Piano - Beautiful Bike and Photos and Terrain, nice.

[barniebro]

yo viv, i have a patriot 7+ too!

damn fine bicycle ay, but i just want to know if you have had any hassles with the rear derailler & cable, mainly to do with outer cable movement via the swingarm's internal cable routing when the suspension compresses.

i have been snapping off cables at the derailler end barrel-adjuster at a rate of about one a week, and its strarting to piss me off a lot.

hows yours?

[thelion1856]

I got me a trek bike looking for something better

[poshpol]

I am gonna take my hardtail out soon for some winter downhilling and i'll snap some pics. It's a Giant frame chromo frame that i swapped from a Gary Fisher aluminum frame with Manitou fork.

[viv1984viv]

yo viv, i have a patriot 7+ too!

damn fine bicycle ay, but i just want to know if you have had any hassles with the rear derailler & cable, mainly to do with outer cable movement via the swingarm's internal cable routing when the suspension compresses.

i have been snapping off cables at the derailler end barrel-adjuster at a rate of about one a week, and its strarting to piss me off a lot.

hows yours?

nah, no probs with that, no specific probs really, got some play in the rear bolt thru, but it was fixed so will be good for another year, this isnt bad considering the sandy soil I ride frequently and the typical english weather.

I guess if I had to pick, id say the chain comes off almost every bumpy ride ( anything really rocky that uses up most of travel )... but I guess its to be expected with a front derailiure?

I also switched to some better slightly slimmer and much lighter tyres, saving 1000g in weight!!!! Went to maxxis minion kevlar 2.5s, damn pleased.....

[hysteric]

If anyone is interest in some .243 racing(bmx style with a crossbar) ,2003 dirt jumper 2's, race face XS cranks(freeride not cross country),super wide hookworm (26 X 2.5 i think), and front avid disk for cheap shoot me a pm

[chromesquared]

Hey MTBers,

Im not really a MTB person, but I recently saw a documentary about the history of how mountain bikes/mountain biking started at BFF. I skimmed the thread and I dont think its been mentioned yet:

http://www.klunkerz.com/

[r0cket-]

I used to be into it waaaay back in the day (like, early 90s). Got into it again w/in the last few years. Remarkably, I still have the Kona Cinder Cone I bought new in like 1994, though I think the frame and thumbshifters (seriously!) are the only original parts at this point. I'm building up a full suspension rig w/ a Jamis XLT 2.0 frame too. Will post some pictures later.

Started racing again this year. Portland has a pretty sweet short track series during the summer.