The MTB thread

i want brakes so powefull they rip my face off if needed need to put it on it's front wheel these ones that ive got now do stop it and grip it's just theres no real bite to them bit dissapointing.

[Jayneflakes]

These are my babies.

The Black Giant is a 2004 XtC Team edition and is fantastic, although I am just about to upgrade the rear brake to match the front with a nice Hope Calliper That Carol bought for me, bless her. The fork is a 2000 Bomber and has been serviced by myself and had bushes replaced by a mechanic with the right tool.

If anyone wants to know who to let service your forks, look out for TF Tuning, you should be able to find them here.

The blue one is my touring bike, fully rigid, and with slick tyres. I designed it myself in 1998, basing the front end on a Kona Explosive and the rear is similar to a DeKerf, but narrower because it was never designed to be used with off road tyres. Also the Chain stays are 15 inch, which makes changing the dearaileur cable a nightmare, but it is super fast on the road. Tubes used were Columbus Max and Max OR, but the fork is a low rise Raleigh Cro-Mo, for a bit of softness.

I use Time pedals, but because Carol was using my Giant that day, I took my times off and replaced them with old style GT flatties.

I love my bikes, all three of them and have even worked as a professional cyclist until 2002. Sadly poor health has made me ride a lot less than I used to and the number of injuries I have sustained over the years is too long a list to go into...

Before the Giant I had a mid Range Kona and before that an Orange Clockwork and before that a dull ladies MBK, that I snapped the head tube off of! The best bike I have ever ridden has tobe the Giant, followed closely by the Kona. The Orange did nothing badly, but also excelled at nothing and in the end I wrapped it around a tree while racing.

These days, I have just started working in a bike shop again. It is nice to be back where I was almost most happy, up to my elbows in mountain bikes.

[chris8886]

Originally Posted by Jayneflakes

If anyone wants to know who to let service your forks, look out for TF Tuning, you should be able to find them here.

thank you that's very helpful. looks like it's all gonna cost me rather a lot!!

[Jayneflakes]

The hardest part of being a mountain biker is knowing that I will never be as fit or as fast I once was. I miss the heady rush of blasting single track at great speed and not feeling like a slob because I cannot pedal fast enough. Hill climbs although never fun, used to hurt a lot less than they do now, as I crawl up them on my twenty tooth granny ring.

Back in 92, I popped my right knee (possibly due to running Shimano Biopace rings) and I had to resort to seeing my GP. His prognosis was that I needed to suspend my training and rest for two weeks. Back then two weeks was a long time and I knew I was losing fitness, so after three days I was back on the bike. My knee is now knackered and it aches when I walk or ride. I know I was stupid, if only I knew then what I know now. Oh well, I was into that whole live fast die young and leave a good looking corpse behind in those days. Yet even Glen Benton grew old, despite his promises.

So here I am, in my mid thirties and I miss those day long rides accross Dartmoor, that feeling of riding fast down hill and being barely in control because the speed was so high on my fully rigid bike as the rocks were pounding my wheels, my frame and my body.

But I am not unhappy, I rode that same track only this year on my Giant. If anything I was faster down that hill because the suspension is so good, I have fifteen years of riding beneath my wheels and I instinctively know how my bike will react to the terrain. I can jump, hop and blast my way through almost any path, but I still miss that youthfull energy of my late teens and early twenties.

I know that I am not old, it is only poor health that has taken my fittness and maybe when I am forty I will be fit and healthy once again, but I will need time to train and places to ride. I have been a mountain biker for close to twenty years and I have never ridden my bike down a real mountain, so there is my future challenge.

I want to ride my bike down a mountain, but first I need to be fit enough to ride up the hill.

I posted else where recently that I am looking forwards to being a tattooed granny, but I think it would be even better if my grandchildren came to me one day and said "Granny, can you teach us how to ride a X-up?"

Blessed be fellow Mountain bikers, may your down hills be fast and rocky and wild, wild fun.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by Jayneflakes

Back in 92, I popped my right knee (possibly due to running Shimano Biopace rings)

I've got two road bikes still fitted with them... why do you think they contributed to your knee injury ? Due to unequal pressure caused by the ovalness ?

Missing my mountain biking already, can't wait to get it over here and head to the Ardennes/Eiffel for a weekend, I love that barely in control feeling, it happens a lot on a hard tail down hill! But what I love more is overtaking the wimpy full sussers

[northwind]

Originally Posted by Jayneflakes

The hardest part of being a mountain biker is knowing that I will never be as fit or as fast I once was.

It's weird for me too... My knee'll never be as good as it was, it's strong now but the hard maths are I have about 25% less functioning muscle strands than I ought to so what's left, though strong, is always working too hard and just isn't up to a full day's riding, almost certainly never will be. I spoke to my consultant about this and he reckons that I could get it up to average, but only with basically a professional athlete's fitness regime. No chance of that

But at the same time, it's my knee that's got me back into cycling after 5 years off, and the 5 years before of it only ever being transport... I'd totally lost the love, then I started riding again for fitness and suddenly it's all come back, and more. So even though I can't do what I used to, and realistically never will be able to, I'm enjoying it more than ever.

It does help that modern bikes, tyres and trail centres are compeltely awesome

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I've got two road bikes still fitted with them... why do you think they contributed to your knee injury ? Due to unequal pressure caused by the ovalness ?

I read somewhere (sorry no reference) that Biopace puts a high point at the weakest section of the pedal circle, thus exerting too much force through the knee.

It is worth noting that as they progressed with development of Biopace, they got rounder and rounder until they were almost circular before Shimano thankfully dropped them.

One way of over coming this problem was to turn the chainrings one arm forwards, this however placed the chain stop that prevents you chain jamming between ring and crank out of place and gave you something else to catch you ankle on.

I threw them away in disgust in the end and went back to circular rings and am still running my Suntour XC Pro MD set from 1992. Hence the twenty tooth granny ring. Not sure that even XTR lasts this well. Blessed were Suntour, they knew how to make cranks.

[fizzwheel]

I read somewhere that oval rings were coming back into fashion again. ( This is pretty much what I thought biopace were in the first place )

I'll leave the bipace on my old road bike as I want to restore it but keep it with period parts. But they'll come off my hack bike when I have the spare cash to do so. I never found any benefit from having them anyway.

My rear shock (Progressive 5th Element) was serviced by Tim Flooks of TFTuning and Jayne has posted the link for that .

Another mob that services Forks and Shocks are Stendec http://www.stendec-works.com/ . I am thinking of taking my Marzocchi Z1 Freeride1`s there for a service . Another good bunch are Mojo http://www.mojo.co.uk/ who also do motorbikes by the way . Hope these links are of some help to those with servicing issues . Installed the Hone crankset tonight , didn`t take long and tomorrow I will be bleeding my Avid Hydraulic brakes and installing new pads , new bushes on my rear shock and xXBADGERXx is ready for the winter season here in North Wales