The MTB thread

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by northwind

Yeah, should be fine. It's what we used to do after all oh and cycle to work has gone crap, they've changed the rules on final valuations so you can't get the token £1 payoff at the end any more apparently.

My firm gave us one days notice that if we put in a new order, before 4th September, we would not have to pay any final payment - so I ordered another £1k voucher and bought a Boardman FS Team

[northwind]

Anyway, today I took my new daft project out for its first real ride. Away back at the dawn of this thread somewhere there's a post of me being all excited as I'd just got a new bike, my Carrera Kraken. It got taken apart for parts eventually and since I couldn't sell the frame or cheap drivetrain I slung it up the back of the garage to die.

But then I got some rigid carbon fibre forks to give some variety for my Soul... And then other spares came available, and I got a free set of wheels from a mate as they needed totally rebuilt. So I scraped all the bits together and rebuilt the Kraken into a daft 9-speed single ring rigid XC bike.

And it's RUBBISH! But brilliant! Took it to Glentress today and though it's a bit slower than my other bikes I had such a laugh, and it put a smile on loads of other people's faces too, watching me bounce down the freeride section and then round the red route... It weighs nothing, it makes a total meal of every little root or braking bump, it tried to kill me about 10 times and it runs wide in every corner because the wheels are never on the ground. Basically, fantastic, it's like the bikes I learned on brought up to date.

Everyone should own at least one crap bike

Originally Posted by pookie

I think its still quite viable for those self employed types. Pretty much down to the company anyway as technically the company doesn't actually have to sell you the bike as its a hire scheme I believe.

Yup. But it was the daft final valuations that made it such a great deal. Still good for some I'm sure but it used to be pretty ridiculously brilliant. Ah well.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by northwind

Yup. But it was the daft final valuations that made it such a great deal. Still good for some I'm sure but it used to be pretty ridiculously brilliant. Ah well.

Thats why HMRC changed the rules, too much of a good thing, damn too late for me too

[northwind]

Had to laugh last year during the bad snow, all of a sudden the bike shed at work was completely fully of £1000 mountain bikes- I think it was the first time a cycle-to-work bike had ever been used to cycle to work at my office It's no wonder they changed it really.

i agree totally, I got a specialized full sus bike, it never once got used to commute on, I paid £1 at the end to 'buy' it from the company. brilliant!

I really never used my bike in the summer half as much as I wanted too. just been far too lazy recently! really trying to change my ways. the plan is I want to go to Nevis and play on the red route at some point next year. looks quite fun!

[Luckypants]

Me and new bike on her maiden run out yesterday.

[maviczap]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Me and new bike on her maiden run out yesterday.

H'mm doing a lunge is not exactly telling us how your new ride is

[Luckypants]

New ride is lush Did an easy 20Km yesterday, mainly fire-road and muddy BOAT, but quite a lot of tarmac to link it all up. A 1km descent of a fire road to LLyn Brenig showed off the suspension and disk brakes, both quite a revelation. The SLX groupset shifts quite well, but the indexing is not quite spot on yet, when the cables have stretched a little more I'll get the set up right. I do like the bi-directional shifter for down clicks, so thumb or finger shifts (I realise this may not be a new feature, but it's new to me!)

The way the bike moves underneath you is a bit weird to someone who has only ridden hardtails. Apparently you can use the suspension to 'shoot' you out of turns and dips, but feeling the rear squat on fast turns was a bit disconcerting. The remote lock out on the forks is great for standing climbs and the rear lock out barely seems to make a difference. I would lock both ends for long climbs such as the big climb on the Ruthin CRC MTB marathon or maybe Penmachno, but other than that it may be a gimmick to lock the rear.

New pedals take some clipping out of and there was more than one 'amusing' moment where I could not clip out. My trusty old Ritchy SPD pedals on the Marin were so easy to get out of and my road bike is easy to. I need to practise clipping out, the Crank bros need to twist 15' while SPD's only need 12', so quite a bit more.

The brake lever and shifter positions need some tweaking to be natural. The saddle position feel like it needs to go forward a touch.

The only downside seems to be the tyres. Probably will be great in the summer on the dry hardpack at trail centres and the like, but wet Welsh rock and mud, forget it! They improved after I aired them down to a more sensible pressure - the shop pumped them up to 60 or 70 psi! Will be changing these soon for winter use.

[mattSV]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

The only downside seems to be the tyres. Probably will be great in the summer on the dry hardpack at trail centres and the like, but wet Welsh rock and mud, forget it! They improved after I aired them down to a more sensible pressure - the shop pumped them up to 60 or 70 psi! Will be changing these soon for winter use.

Maxxis High Roller Super Tackies FTW

[Luckypants]

Maxxis are on the cards Matt, but I need to know a bit more about it all. I want something that handles mud well, we have lots of that around here, as well as being grippy on cold wet Welsh slate. The mud traction will be down to tread pattern, so will look about. The Maxxis are definite contenders. I can go tubeless on these wheels, so there is loads of choice.