Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

Hydro discs are A-MAZ-ING. Don't think I could go back to other brakes now.

 

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How lightweight are you talking? The cotic Roadrat with a geared hub isn't light but looks like a good option, there wouldn't be anything to stop you getting a 29er frame for tyre clearance and building around that (a straight bar haddock monster cross for example)

 

Most modern MTB's Run 1 x 12 setups which are rock solid. Yeah Hydro Discs are fantastic and I'm looking at probably minimum 180mm front rotors (4 pot caliper) for my next bike coupled with 2.8 Inch wide tyres for maximum grip under loading.

I'm a mountain biker, if it works on mud, it works on Britain's terrible roads in any conditions.

 

7 is likely the smallest you can get without coming across issues when getting spares.
Chain twist isnt an issue now days really chains have improved as have cassettes an chainrings, I cross chain most rides without issue or chain drop.
a 35mm tyre puts you into Cyclocross tyre area which is a booming market now 28" or commonly known as 700c wont be an issue.

The geared shimano hubs are pretty robust now but, they require specialist tools to service an maintain, personally I feel youd be better off with a normal front an rear mech, more easily available, cheaper an easier to adjust youself.

Cost wise, youll be suprised, quick nose on a German site you could pickup a frame without the fork for 83EUR
https://www.bike-discount.de/en/shop/frames-trekking-278?currency=1&delivery_country=39

Well worth a nose, you can buy everything as separates or even pick up a pre build trekking bike for within your budget, this ones ready to ride, only thins missing is the bar ends but they can easily be added

https://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/radon-sunset-9.0-583399/wg_id-24


Not saying buy these but they are examples

 

Oh I forgot about this thread! Are bike porn posts allowed? Or are long travel trail bikes frowned upon here?

 

Yes to porn.

No to frowning.

 

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So I finally got the Devinci all finished up:







Only took £120 worth of powder coating, £60 on roller needle bearings, £70 shock, £40 for the new pivot hardware, £15 for the XT BB and £16 for the new shock mounting hardware... Now to sell it for a massive loss!

 

DIBS!!!

 

[cheekyplug]It's on Pinkbike[/cheekplug]

But in all seriousness, I got married and moved house twice in the past 12 months, so I can only afford 1 expensive hobby... As much as I would LOVE to build it up and get back into it (and as much as my body needs the fitness boost!) I just don't have the time at the minute to justify it.

But selling it and using the moolah to fund PC upgrades and buy cake? I can get away with that.

 

disc breaks are great.
mechanical disc breaks are nice as well, very easy to tune, no oil, no beading.
They seem to work jut as well in my experience and you don't need to worry about getting oil on the pads and re-breading every pad change.
A nice set of V breaks are amazing in dry weather and easy to set and much lighter.

 

What hydraulic brakes have you been using that need bleeding with every pad change?

My various Hopes need bleeding once every four years or so.

 

I've never had any problem changing pads, tbh - if the old pads were exceptionally worn then a bit of jiggery-pokery has been required to expand the calipers, but I've never had to bleed my brakes due to a pad change. Avoiding getting oil on the pads is just a bit of common sense, really.

I agree that other types of brakes can be a lot lighter, but I'm not too fussy about having the lightest bike, but it's horses for courses as with most things and others will have different priorities

 

Theres some bike pron!

Never had real issue with hydro brakes either myself, just use a tyre lever to reset the calliper on pad change an job done

 

Ok think I got a yes to bike porn. Heres my latest ride, but she has some upgrades coming in the next 3 weeks so il add some more pics

 

Upload to imgur and it'll give you the BBCode for embedding images. I usually use "large" or "huge" thumbnail size and "Linked BBCode" so it sends people to the full-size images (I could write the BBCode myself but lazy...)

 

Thank you! - Edited my post

 

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Piles of EU sites for you

actionsports.de (good for wheels and Shimano)
bike-discount.de (good for brakes and gears parts)
bike-components.de (well stocked for pretty much everything)
bike24.net (a bit average but has good deals sometimes)
hibike.de (cheap for some stuff, but site is a pain to navigate)
rosebikes (good for Shimano but the rest is very 'meh' unless you want commuter stuff)
https://www.probikeshop.com (French shipping costs can be high but have some mental deals)

https://www.bikester.fi/ <- Its in Finlandshire!