The Bicycle Thread

[charlesr]

Puncture! XR3 fail. Unsurprisingly the G4 DH tyre on the front was fine. I'm going back to XR4 on the back.

[wod]

Puncture! XR3 fail. Unsurprisingly the G4 DH tyre on the front was fine. I'm going back to XR4 on the back.

Try tubeless with no tubes sealant ?

At least you didn't get a puncture going round a roundabout like I did on a ride home from work Thursday, thought something not right with bike and had to jump off and get on pavement, piece of glass in front tyre

I've pimped my bike out a little running schwalbe nobby nic and racing Ralph rear with white stripes

[charlesr]

I've not had a puncture in years of using XR4s. The 3s are really thin in comparison and the thorn was tiny. Useless. Will be throwing them away as soon as I get a replacement in the right size.

After seeing a friend fight for 30 minutes to refit his tubeless tyre after it started leaking, there's no way I'm going there. Whip tyre off, check for thorn, new tube in, done. 3 minutes.

Glad you are ok - could have been nasty.

[wod]

They can't be as bad as schwalbe or spesh s-work tyres those are thin, the sidewalks on em especially, a nice way to boost the sales of snakeskin versions.

I've heard a lot of positive talk about black chilli continental rubber queen, trail king as they are now known.

Come to think of it only had a puncture on a xr4 front tyre being too close to hawthorn bushes going through them silly gates at local nature reserve.

Shame they are too wide in 2.2 to use as a rear tyre on my bike.

[charlesr]

Please do this survey to help a friend of mine:

http://bit.ly/outdoors-2013

They need road and MTB riders (and trail runners)
Cheers

[wod]

Please do this survey to help a friend of mine:

http://bit.ly/outdoors-2013

They need road and MTB riders (and trail runners)
Cheers

Done.

tonight on the way home, i had a look about a local country park which i'd heard about but never visited until recently for some new bike trails and there was loads.

big mistake was out for an hour for a blast and a look around, tried a bit of downhill on my hard tail bike which was a mistake clearly unsuitable but was a laugh.

Definately need a larger 180mm disc on the front brake, i was going a little fast and could feel the front brake fading a little.

full suspension bikes, whats the best option to get with these as are xc full suspension suitable for a bit of downhill or am i best going for an all mountain bike with like 150mm travel to cope better ?

charlser, is your trek remedy a downhill only bike or can it climb hills too ?

[charlesr]

The Remedy can go up hills too very well. As good as my hardtail. A modern hardtail would be lighter though.
Note, the person behind me in the last gravity enduro I did was on a Fuel EX (140mm travel) and he was way faster due to fitness and skill. i.e. those are the most important things to work on.

But if he had been riding my Remedy, he would have gone faster still.

Your sensible options would be:
If money is tight, get a hardcore hardtail. Massive long travel front forks and downhill frame geometry. Low maintenance and will build lots of skill. Not great for going uphill though, so for DH or Gravity Enduro only, not XC rides.
Otherwise, blow as much as possible on an all mountain bike, keeping your hardtail for when the weather is really rotten.

[wod]

Your sensible options would be:
If money is tight, get a hardcore hardtail. Massive long travel front forks and downhill frame geometry. Low maintenance and will build lots of skill. Not great for going uphill though, so for DH or Gravity Enduro only, not XC rides.
Otherwise, blow as much as possible on an all mountain bike, keeping your hardtail for when the weather is really rotten.

oh i will be keeping my trek hard tail bike for sure, needing a bike more suited to riding to work too so going to end up with 3 bikes overall.

All mountain bikes i see have 150mm forks and then 160mm and above is freeride/downhill specific, isnt all mountain and freeride the same thing ?

I'm wondering too to get a decent frame and maybe build my own up to my spec rather than pay out 2k on a bike and have a deore chainset when i should be getting xt components etc, then i can have all the best gear i want and not have to replace/upgrade lesser parts on a shop bought bike later.

i do like the spec of this radon slide 150 8.0

http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k1867/a103077/slide-150-8-0.html?mfid=52

the spec of that is very good for price and even a reverb dropper seat and xt gear components

[charlesr]

Freeride is not all-mountain. Freeride is Downhill with backflips. Freeride bikes do not go uphill. They are often lightweight versions of DH bikes, sometimes with single crown instead of triple clamps.

I would say a dropper post is essential for an all-mountain, be it full sus or HT. It gives you so much more confidence for attacking the downhills and makes it much more fun to move around the bike.

[wod]

Freeride is not all-mountain. Freeride is Downhill with backflips. Freeride bikes do not go uphill. They are often lightweight versions of DH bikes, sometimes with single crown instead of triple clamps.

I would say a dropper post is essential for an all-mountain, be it full sus or HT. It gives you so much more confidence for attacking the downhills and makes it much more fun to move around the bike.

I will probably be best with an all mountain setup then as the local country park i've been riding of late, you can roam off the trails and do your own thing, if you dont follow the paths.

The bike in the link i refered to, the rockshox revelation forks can be set to 120mm from 150 to help with climbing.

I was going to try spds but using some old pump style trainers which grip really well to my nano pedals.

On a side note, have you ever used hope headsets or bottom brackets, the headset needs changing on my 1 year old hard tail already and i dont mind paying more if the quality of the bearings will last longer etc.

[smouty]

If it helps I have Hope mini mono brakes and Hope hubs.
I have never needed to do do anything to the brakes in 4-5 years.
Fantastically well engineered and British too.

[charlesr]

Look at Cane Creek too.

[wod]

Look at Cane Creek too.

Going back to this, I've looked at those and i'm thinking of getting a hope pick n mix headset as the cost isn't too much about 56 pound.

Also need to replace my seat as this is creaking a little too so going to try a charge spoon as a replacement with them being sold for a good price.

I hope you did some riding over the weekend as the weather is sure to start getting nasty over the next few months.

[charlesr]

Yeah, went out on my hardtail. Forgotten quite how much you have to manhandle it round corners due to the heavy wheels. However, king of the mountain on my local 30 min dirt/concrete trail and 2nd on a short section.

I'm sure you'll love the hope gear.

[wod]

Yeah, went out on my hardtail. Forgotten quite how much you have to manhandle it round corners due to the heavy wheels. However, king of the mountain on my local 30 min dirt/concrete trail and 2nd on a short section.

I'm sure you'll love the hope gear.

nice one, you could fit some lighter wheels on it.

The xr4s might weigh the wheels down, if it's dry dusty trail try a fast tyre on it racing Ralph etc

I've been fancying building a carbon on one 456 with 150mm forks, the frames are only 400.

I just need to lose a bit more weight so I don't break the frame lol.

A full Susser would be nice as you do feel the vibration go through the rear of a hard tail on a rough trail.