The MTB thread

[northwind]

I just shaved nearly a kilo off mine. How? By throwing the horrible Extreme XC tyres in the bin and fitting new nevegals. It's not like the kendas are even all that light, I nearly went for speed kings at half a kilo less again for the pair. I didn't know they make tyres out of lead. No wonder it felt a bit ponderous getting up to speed.

[Jayneflakes]

The Old lightweight talk again...

I use continental tyres at 2.1 inches, they give huge amounts of grip and are very light, but at twenty quid a shot, they should be.

As for wheels, I build my own, so always use double butted spokes and XC rims. Had Mavics for years now and find them strong and light. Had Campag Sthenos on my Clockwork and they were horrible. As light as you could get, but concave sides and fragile. Also if they hit a rock they would splay out and throw off a a tyre and then jam in the brakes. Horrific when on the front.

My Giant has a Hope Titanium hub with Disk on the front and an XT nine speed hub on the rear. Funny, it always makes me laugh in the bike shop when some miserable old bag complains that their £89 "mountain Bike" has gear slip problems. I spend more than that on a single wheel and it still gets buckled when riding hard down hill.

So I may be an elitist, I have a titanium seat pin, full Bolt lightening kit, carbon ahead washers and I used to run an Eastern Bar, until it snapped. I have spent close to £2000 on my Giant and almost as much on my Custom Tourer. But that stuff works, it stays together for a long time. I have not had to replace anything other than a worn out chainring and set of rear sprockets (mind you I change my chain after 500 miles and do cables twice yearly) and I have put 6400 KM on the Giant alone

My one thing I refuse to change though, my most dearly beloved Deore DX Thumbshifters. They are worth more to me than any other part of that bike, so I run an eight speed gear set, but thumbies just are the mutznutz.

The tourer has a set of Gripshift X-Ray on it, until I can find another set of Thumbies. Mind you with Dura Ace bar end shifters and a clever machined bracket from Paul Components, ten speed thumbies are an (albeit expensive) option.

[northwind]

Yeah, I'm resisting the urge to go daft with weight, since this is still a hefty frame anyway, I'd have to spend more than the bike's worth to get a big saving. But my god, an 1100 gram tyre. Not even kevlar'd. Not even ANY BLOODY GOOD more importantly

[yorkie_chris]

£2k on a bicycle. Ouch.

I like my 2.3 to 2.5 Wide Maxxis High Rollers , I never worry about weight as I`m out there for the fun of it all

[chris8886]

Originally Posted by Jayneflakes

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

go to france or somewhere in the alps. big mountains to go down and cable cars so you don't have to cycle up!!

[northwind]

Or Fort William- use the gondolas (or I think Glentrool, Mabie and Innerleithen all have uplift buses at various times)

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by chris8886

go to france or somewhere in the alps. big mountains to go down and cable cars so you don't have to cycle up!!

Originally Posted by northwind

Or Fort William- use the gondolas (or I think Glentrool, Mabie and Innerleithen all have uplift buses at various times)

Hmm, both great ideas, but there is a point to be made for being able to spin the cranks and pedal hard while going down hill too. Standing up on the pedals and absorbing hits from very rough ground can also be extremely tiring. That is where up hill training comes in handy, gets those muscles used to burning.

Just have to talk the Wife into taking a trip to Scotland for a bike ride now...

We'll seeing a you lot have been all enthusiastic about bikes with no engines....

I've been out today and bought my self this ...


Specialized Rockhopper Expert.

I need (want) to get fit, and Mina (the dawg) needs to learn to run distances before she learns to pull a rig, so I thought I'd kill two birds (and possibly me) with one stone.

Expect to hear of my demise in a forest sometime in the near future

[northwind]

Originally Posted by xXBADGERXx

I like my 2.3 to 2.5 Wide Maxxis High Rollers , I never worry about weight as I`m out there for the fun of it all

Well, there's degrees isn't there... I'm not out to make mine faster or outright better, but I wouldn't say no to making it easier to ride up a hill Praps some sort of engine is required...