Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Blandford as in Blandford Forum, Dorset?

I used to live near there, don't remember there being that much cycling around the actual town...

Best place down there I remember was Puddletown, until local walkers started burying spikes into the trails. They almost killed someone with that little trick so me and my Dad stopped going.

 

I've already got an old cruiser for winter (4speed internal geared rear hub with steel frame, double track front, BFM rear), but I wanted something light and nippy for a bit of fun. This fit the bill. And the new tires (Maxxis Hard Drive) are amazing. Very fast rolling with good cornering grip.

Oh I know, and I'm used to it now having rode it for a few days, but at first it was a little jarring. But the bike still reminds me very much of a trials bike. It's rather nice, although the stem is too long, and bars too narrow.

 

Who cycled to work this morning in the snow?

It was great fun. Turns out the faster you go the more stable you are

 

I was getting red bling on my black Rockhopper until I bought my Meta 4X. Lots of colours work well with black though.

 

Carbon fiber belt drive instead of chain!

Trek in the US has announced a carbon fiber belt drive to replace the chain.

http://cbs4denver.com/consumer/bike.chainless.belt.2.883850.html

They put belts on Harleys and now bicycles?

john

 

I've seen some niche companies doing this - they're really good for commuter single speed bikes but anything high performance fall down.

 

Has anyone seen/ridden a bike with that HammerSchmidt system? Looks cool.

 

No but I have read a lot about it.

Positive: Instant shifting regardless of that the cranks are doing.
Negative: Since the chainring is small (22T?) and most frames are designed around a chainring 32T or greater for optimal pedaling you'll get feedback through your rear suspension. Requires ISCG BB mounting tabs.

Just installed some Maxxis Swampthings on my bike, the mud was pretty loose last weekend.

 

HAMMERSCHMIDT!!!!!!11

i'm waiting for proper gearboxes and shaft drives

 

Just finished refurbing one of my frames, new paintjob (Focus ST style pearlessant orange) and shock service. Not a very well known brand to the masses but very nice US handmade frames using custom shocks by Curnutt. Sadly it's not being built as it's going on EBay, should hopefully get £800 ish for it (costs about £2000 new with the titanium spring).

 

That's a nice paint job, where did you get it done?

 

Well I know that Foes are a great make. They always made superb looking frames, similar to the quality of Yeti DH frames. Hope you get what your looking for it!

 

Nice frame FIBRE read a lot of good things about Foes; and sweet shock as well, those Curnutt springs are awesome.

That be the one yeah, place might be better known as UK Bike Park. They run an uplift service and we had a VIP one for the day (meaning only we get to use it every other sucker had to push up).

A lot of good riding there, basically all DH and bloody tricky in the winter conditions. I now fully understand what magazines mean about mud clearance though, I'd never seen wheels stop rotating for mud and leaves before.

 

Wow, that wasn't there when I was a local!

It looks awesome. Is it privately run?

 

Yeah all private. Good lads that run it and a fun day out (unless you break something).

 

My uncle painted it for me, he does cars normally. It Looks even better in the flesh

Yer I've always liked there stuff, and Yeti's too. Finally sold it yesterday for £800


I've decided to put the money towards frame\forks for a do anything AM\FR type of setup.

A set of Fox 36 Talas RC2 and a similar travel frame based around the Fox RP23 shock as it has a good pedal pro platform and is air based so should be ideal for a do anything bike setup.

I really like the look of the Comencal Meta 666, has anyone ridden one yet?. Either that or possibly a Trek Remedy 9 full bike then remove some of the bits in favour of the tougher stuff I have on my current build. It will be fairly cheap via work once the bits I don't want are sold on Ebay. I need to make my mind up before the next price increase, we've been warned by most of the distributers

 

Finally got my hands on a cam to take pictures of my new(ish) ride. Love it to bits so far, even if the tyres are a bit knobbly for commuting...




Couple of Q's:

How can I reduce disc squeaking? It's not a great set of discs on it atm by all accounts, they do have a bit of squeak going on, not that it really matters, it'd just be nice not to scare pedestrians half to death at traffic lights!

[edit] Apologies for the awful jpg resizing, should've PS'd it!

 

I get the squeaking discs I put it down to cold discs morning can be quite chilly. How do you get on with that front mudguard does it actually work, i've got a crud catcher at the moment its ok but did look at the one you have.

 

New Bike Advice (£425)

I am after a new bike because my old one got stolen, the insurance company have said I can have any bike from this website upto the value of £425, but the question is, which bike should I choose? Ideally I would like one with just front suspension, they suggested I get this one.

The bike will mainly be used for commuting.

 

I don't have disc brakes but try cleaning out any muck in them and realign them (if you can do that?).
You need some clipless pedals pronto.