Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

I'd narrow the blame down to the disk brake manufacturer or the bicycle manufacturer. You either blame the disc brake manufacturer for an error in manufacturing resulting in the hole being off by 1mm, or the bicycle manufacturer for not realising this when assembling and forcing things. Can't see any fault in the forks manufacturer, as the fork was being asked to deal with something it shouldn't have.

 

Surely if the fork was milled wrongly it would be a quality control issue at source so either the brake or bike maker would be to blame on that one?

New rims arrived for mine after i doinked one off some rocks and damaged it. Damaged as in cracked it and took a small lump out of it

 

It was obviously the disk brake manufacturer for not catching this in typical Q/A, not the bicycle manufacturer (front calliper is fitted upon delivery to the shop, rather than at the production facility) nor the fork manufacturer (fork was within specification), but the problem is that the brake manufacturer won't replace anything beyond the calliper and the bicycle manufacturer will try their best to run away from any responsibility

Result: the shop will almost certainly have to take the financial burden unless we can craftily submit a warranty claim through multiple companies. Unfortunately reality often doesn't take into consideration logic in cases like this.

 

Good to see you're still about Malv! Hows life going? Did the stuff at the shop come to a head or have you kept your head down since?

 

Oh I'm still about, just been a bit busy lately (plus I've not had much to post). Unfortunately work is still just as shite as ever - tried reffering a friend (and local activist/ride organiser) to the shop for some work but in the end both him and I had to fight tooth and nail so he didn't get ripped off by about a hundred bucks for work he already had done just before the bike was brought in (new cables/housing). Needless to say one heck of a complaint was lodged, but nothing came of it. Whatever, it is what it is.

Anyway: bike pr0n. Went for a ride today on my Linus and decided to finally get some pictures of it, as the only thing so far posted in this thread about it has been a few teaser shots. So, enjoy!


Embiggen.


Embiggen.


Embiggen.


Embiggen.


Embiggen.


Embiggen.


Bike is a Linus Gaston in a "large" size with a Linus basket and "Office" bag, Racktime rear rack, Civia fenders, Elite Ciussi bottle cage, Stanley water bottle, Incredibell Woodpecker "bell", Portland Design Works wooden grips, KMC D101 chain (in gold, obviously), Brooks B17 saddle with matching D-Bag (not pictured) which is secured using a bit of cable and padlock (this also secures the pannier), official Calgary bicycle license plate circa 1981/82, Pazzaz chrome seatpost, Continental 700x42c Cyclocross Speed tyres, Jagwire PTFE coated cables with Jagwire housing and reinforced metal ends, a custom skinned "wooden" headlight, and a hard-mounted Abus Bordo lock with custom keyring charm.

Those are the custom bits, but ask any other questions that you would like! This bike gets almost the same amount of rubbernecking as the Party Bike. Incidentally, have a bit of propaganda:

 

Lovely bit of custom kit you've got there. I can appreciate the craftmanship of that bike even though it might not be my taste.

LOL @ that traffic video. I think maybe 4 minutes of watching traffic is a bit much but other than that it's a quality message.

 

With your (very nice) fancy brooks saddle, would it not be easier to use some sort of locking bolts to hold it on?

I've always wondered why locking nuts haven't become more common place on city bikes.

 

Malvolio, good to hear you've got your blog back up and that things are improving. Let us know what happens with the work issue you had.

On another note i've started riding into work again and to treat myself I bought a new set of Shimano RS80 wheels and a hope bottom bracket for the road bike.

 

Bike pr0n inbound shortly from myself soon. I have had an awesome week of bike based shenanigans. My LBS Cycle Highlands had their annual bike festival last weekend so I jumped on the opportunity to demo some rather lovely bikes. First was the awesome Santa Cruz tallboy LTc (same spec as the one posted earlier) which is the first 29" bike I have tested, followed by a LaPierre Zesty 514 with the fancy EI electronic suspension. The tallboy was lovely but felt odd compared to what I was used too but the Zesty was jaw droppingly good. It just surged forward when ever you put the power down, scaled the short up hill section effortlessly and the EI suspension was like witch craft. Definitely a contender for my next bike.

That afternoon I then headed down to Innerhaven for a week in the Tweed valley and Glentress. If anyone ever fancies some time at Glentress than I highly recommend staying at Innerhaven as it is the perfect place for mountain bikers. Andy McKenna the owner runs Go-Where and is a legend in the Scottish Mountain biking scene and an all round awesome guy. We went out for a mornings guided riding with him during the week and it was one of the best and informative rides I have been on and I am now determined to get my fitness and skills up so I can go on one of his longer back country tours. Through Andy we got a great deal on bike hire so hired some awesome bikes for a couple of days. I took an alloy Santa Cruz Tallboy LT to see what it would be like on a longer demo and I have to say I was very impressed. It's definitely been a slow burner but I now get the whole fascination with 29" inch wheels and more I rode the bike the more I liked it. It just floats up and over obstacles and I found myself looking for the most difficult lines and went over things I would never attempt on the hard tail. For trail center riding I would go with a 26" for the quick responses but for the type of riding I do out in the wilds of the highlands the tallboy would be an awesome bike and I am seriously considering one now. I will definitely be giving a Bronson a go too to see if it bridges the gap between the responsiveness of the Zesty and the steam roller anything feeling of the Tallboy.

Overall it's been an awesome week and I have definitely come out of it a much better rider and it has been a great inspiration to get out there as much as possible this year. Could be an expensive one though. I start my new job tomorrow so I'm not sure when I'll get the pictures up.

 

Took me and three guys an hour to mount ONE tyre Think i need to get some tubeless tyres for my rims pronto!

 

Even in some of the most biketheft-sensitive countries of the world (we even chip new bikes) I have never had my Brooks-saddle stolen. *knock on wood*

Downside of locking-bolts is that the only person that can work on your bike is you. Which is fine if you have the skills, but a hassle and a possible headache if you always turn your bike over to the mechanic. Because that's what most people with city bikes do.

 

From fist hand experience: locking bolts do little good against a thief. This is partially because they're easily circumvented (the "key" is a rather standard affair, or they just use pliers), and partially because they're not very structurally sound - particularly for the high price. I've gotten my fare share of customer bikes with these bolts on and have never seen one I thought was clever or would deter a thief. To be honest though, the lock on my Linus can be broken by hand so it's little more than a minor visual deterrent.

As an example: remember when safety-torx was a deterrent? Yeah, that lasted about a month

On other bikes that I don't want all that extra weight on I'll just fill the bolt heads with hot glue and not worry about it. Easy to deal with in a shop setting, but very difficult for a thief in a rush.

I think it best to not fill this thread up with my silly personal problems, so I'm going to try my best not to talk about it. What I will say though is that my stress levels are getting unbearable at the moment and I expect to be fired any day now because somebody decided to fight me, so that's fun.


Anyway, enough of my bull****, have some two wheeled fun. Did a write up of the rather large group ride that took place last Friday night with pictures and a full-length video! Click here to read or Here to just watch the video. Unfortunately due to my not thinking ahead I got quite rather a lot of footage of peoples bums - sorry about that! The audio is also rather typically GoPro terrible, but the first few minutes will give you an idea of just what a ride of this size is about and how it happens.

 

Don't judge me, but I saw this and though of Malvolio



Screw it, judge me, I don't care.

 

If you really want to keep someone from stealing a bolted-on product use a slightly longer bolt, add a few washers before the nut and get a small weld tacked on once the nut is at the appropriate tightness.

 

I forgot to ask, anyone in here running a Trek Remedy or Slash? I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one this week, but I just can't decide.

The Remedy would climb better when needed and be a more comfortable bike around the doors, the Slash would be way more fun but harder work.

 

Would love to ride something like this on the London to Brighton.

 

I can get a orange g3 (2012) with forks fox 32 float 29 rlc fit for £500. Is it any good?

 

Bike pr0n as promised.



Santa Cruz Blur



Yeti 575



Santa Cruz Super Light 29"



Santa Cruz Tallboy LT


The eagle eyed cycling tech geeks might have noticed the SRAM XX1 on the Blur. One of the few in the country and it made it the most expensive hire bike there by quite a bit. I didn't try it but my riding buddy who did liked it and never felt like he did not have enough gears. Shame it's priced beyond the reach of us mere mortals.

 

And is right about as terrible as the original XX gruppo

Got my hands on a rather well done carbon Tallboy the other day with a full XX1 gruppo on. Result: meh. Suffering from the same issues with adjustment that the XX gruppo had, but now lacking any sort of chain retention mechanism as provided by the front dérailleur, the XX1 kit just makes cycling more uncomfortable for those of us that actually do pay attention to things like cadence, rhythm, or enjoy keeping their chain on. It's all well and good that they've got a fancy spacing system on the front ring to help keep a brand new chain on, but as e*13 are discovering: this doesn't last. Even more of a worry than that are those moments when, while out riding, you realise that the gear you're spinning is just a bit too low or high for what you're comfortable doing, so you shift in the direction you like only to find that it is now worse! The massive jump in tooth count has now entirely ruined your rhythm, causing you to shift back into the gear you were in before - forced to suffer in mild discomfort at an unfamiliar cadence.

Yeah sure, average Joe isn't going to notice these issues, but does this gruppo seem aimed at the average Joe? Thought not

It's a silly idea aimed at silly people that don't know how to use or maintain a front dérailleur.

/Luddite

 

For the noobs, what's so special about an XX1?

edit: NVM, sounds quite interesting. Price is a bit rich though!