As suggested in other thread -
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=14086&replies=8#post-174993
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Stuff
Designing the Ultimate Trail Bike
(29 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
-
I love to ride trails, some of them have been pretty wild, but I don't really 'mountain bike' in the sense of pelting down custom trails or riding Moab slabs.
What I need is...a bike that's rugged and comfortable but nimble. Low geared for hauling a trailler and not stupid slow for linking tarmac sections. Don't want to break the bank either.
To be honest, I think right now the thing to do is keep an eye out for second hand Whyte 29er MTBs like the 629!
Posted 9 years ago # -
Haven't even ridden properly but since I couldn't afford a Surly Krampus on the cycle to work scheme I got me a Genesis Longitude, which looks like a complete rip off of the the Krampus.
Should be good for trails. Planning some day trips and then the Great Glen Way in the spring.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Instography
I really like the Genesis. My mate that I did the Fort Bill St Cyrus with built a similar (but 26") bike from early nineties Kona kit off Ebay.
If you're up that way on that bike divert out of Fort Augustus and cycle the Corrieyairick. You'll only regret it if you actually have a heart attack.
Posted 9 years ago # -
So, the Ratty Nineties Hybrid is about to receive a new kit torpedo amidships that will make her, well, unique in Edinburgh, if not on the surface of planet Earth.
She will get;
* New cranks, chain rings, cassette and chain. Normal wear and tear, eh?
* A Rock Shox Paragon air sprung 65mm travel trekking fork
* A new front wheel composed of;Mavic XM119 Disc MTB Rim
36 x DT Swiss Competition DB Silver Spokes
Shimano Deore Disc Hub M525A
Shimano SLX-Zee-Deore RT66 Disc Rotor
DT Swiss Rim Tape* New Shimano SLX M675 hydraulic disc front brake
* New Magura HS11 hydraulic rear rim brakeThat will just leave the frame and handlebars of the original 1999 Marin Sausalito. Hope to squeeze a few more years' riding from both.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Can it then be called the pimped up ratty nineties hybrid?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@gembo
Henderson's Metal Finishers could polish the rats out of the frame...?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Let's see: porky post-50 year old riding a bike up Corrieyairick. Probability of a heart attack must be pretty good.
Picked a copy of Singletrack to read on the train and found a very favourable review of the Genesis as a 'do anything' bike. It's a good description of it as it's currently doing good service as a commuter and an off-road trail bike with 35mm cyclocross tyres on.
Posted 9 years ago # -
The hybrid won't be so ratty after that pimping.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@IWRATS sounds like some exciting upgrades - I now have n+1 in the form of a Whyte 729 via the Heriot-Watt Bike to Work scheme and thanks to the Bike Co-op winter sale.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@jdanielp
Nice, but too much bike for me right now. Towing a trailer of camping kit is the current goal, and experience has shown that I just need lower gears for the climbs and better suspension and brakes for the descents.
Also, just twigged I ordered the wrong length of spokes. I launch a challenge to the hive mind; What? Is the correct spoke length for a 36 hole Mavic XM119 Disc rim on a Shimano Deore Disc Hub M525A using standard three cross lacing?
Mavic are very coy about the dimensions of that rim.
Posted 9 years ago # -
254mm I'm told by http://wheelbuilder.jmoore.me
But I'd usually get measurements from there, DT Swiss and Pro Wheel Builder and check they're all saying the same. I'm not sure that the sizes aren't some clown's own measurements. But that rim is only on J Moore.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Instography
Excellent attempt, but that's actually the size for the 26" version of the rim. The spoke support diameter for the 29" version is only available on a password protected technical Mavic sub-site in French;
http://www.tech-mavic.com/tech-mavic/technical_manual/data/docs/products/2_397.pdf
....which is one step short of burying it in soft peat and setting a leopard to guard it.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Suggest you email whoever you intend to buy rim off and get them to measure it!
Posted 9 years ago # -
@chdot
Ah well, they are coy about the effective rim diameter (or diamètre appui de rayon as we have learned to call it) too. Co-incidentally they also do a bespoke wheel build if you buy hub and rim, which spoils all the fun.
I put the italics in there just so that @gembo will splutter into his iPad?
Posted 9 years ago # -
My spokes just arrived. They're 284mm. Should be half 283mm but they seem not to exist.
I'm quite literally on tenterhooks until the rim and hub turn up. What are the chances of the spokes being right, or at least me not having to Dremel the protruding heads off the rotor side spokes?
Posted 9 years ago # -
For 1mm you'll be fine. Nothing will come through. There should be enough space between the level of the rim and the top of the nipple plus the rim tape should be strong enough.
I once bought spokes that were about 6mm too long and had to take an angle grinder to the protruding 2mm of spoke.
Posted 9 years ago # -
New Mavic rim just arrived, along with many other goodies. The rim....has no eyelets. No eyelets. At all. Gah. Back it must go.
Still, the cat immediately got into the empty box. I'm thinking of posting him back along with the rim as a token of my ire.
Posted 9 years ago # -
a rim with no eyelets? If you had wanted a metal hula hoop you'd have ordered one?
reminds me of the man who went to the chemist for a pair of laces.......
Posted 9 years ago # -
You sure they are meant to have them?
"Non eyeleted"
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/mavic-xm119-disc-mtb-rim-2015/rp-prod127033
Posted 9 years ago # -
The main benefit of eyelets in my experience is that it becomes impossible to lose a nipple inside the rim. Then again, my most recent spoke-rip failure was on a non-eyeletted (but quite old, which was probably more the problem) Rigida Nova.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@chdot
But...that's like alcohol free beer. The crucial part is expressly omitted. Do they imagine I'm going to fit my own eyelets? I'm not you know. I won't.
Posted 9 years ago # -
There are holes, though?
Posted 9 years ago # -
"But...that's like alcohol free beer."
Well...
Presumably Mavic make/sell these to be used as are.
I have bust the odd spoke hole (tightening spokes on well used rim), but also pulled an eyelet through too.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@chdot
I shall trust your experience. Cheers.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I am resisting any urges to mention the time I lost a nipple inside the rim.
Can this potty mouthed thread be ended. Only joking I know asking for a thread to be ended means it goes on in perpetuity.
Inperpetuity
A long time
Tram trax anyone?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Just laced new Mavic rim onto hub. Spokes appear, remarkably, to be the right length. We have lift-off for the the ultimate trail bike possible using the frame of the Ratty Nineties Hybrid©.
Posted 9 years ago # -
It was with actual sadness that I removed the rear V-brakes from the ratty hybrid today in order to install Magura hydraulic rim brakes in their place. The end of the Bowden-cabled brake era.
Magura's are lovely. Same weight as the V-brakes all in and so powerful they make the frame flex. Easier to adjust than Vs as well.
The Shimano SLX on the front...you need a tiny Torx key to bleed it after shortening the hose, which isn't supplied with the brake or the bleed tool. Curses and drat.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
I can help you find exactly the bike that meets your expectations and not disappoint.
"
(Translated from the French.)
Posted 9 years ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
