Education We Like to Ride Bicycles

I think the answer to that's pretty simple. MTB gearing has gone from using touring bike triple set ups to gears that reflect how a mountain bike is actually ridden now.

Riding off road you only really use the gears in three blocks. the lowest couple for steep or technical climbs where torque is everything because you won't be gaining momentum.
The middle third are for shallow climbs and traverse.
The highest couple of gears for the flat and downhill.
After about 20mph you're either rolling down a flat road and not pedalling, or you're going mach stupid down the trail and not pedalling.

Compared to road (or cross) you don't need a lot of gears to finely manage cadence, you need a really low gear, a fairly high gear and some in the middle for not up-not down. The best cadence is the one that keeps you going rather than the most efficient.

Also ground clearance.

 

When I bought that first mountain bike, they had barely got started this side of the Atlantic and, were as rare as rocking horse turds. Mine was basically a mildly ruggedized road bike, with cantilever brakes, fat tyres and flat, wide handlebars. The frame was built from a slightly heavier version of Reynolds 531 and 2 inches smaller than my road frame. Was built by Overburys of Bristol. Was still a lot of fun to ride in the woods near home on The Mendips.

 

@andrew8200m if it's a 29 he won't be interested. We only got him to move to a 27.5 because he snapped his enduro. #26aintdead

 

Fully understand that. I went with the 29 over the 27.5 due to the geo allowing for a larger fork at the front and a slightly slacker head angle when going mullet as this kept the BB within 4mm of a 27.5 based bike with the roll advantage the 29 offers.

Hasty response however was welcome. Appreciate it! Evil-bay awaits unless you have a few MTB forums or groups that may be worth a look ?

 

I decided I’m going to keep the status as it is and use it as a bike park bike as it’s a tank. Zebs will stay on, dhx2 will too and so will the MT7s. All the Burgtec stuff can stay on it as well.

I can fit the child seat to the status if I need to so that’s helpful.

The Charge Cooker 1 will be handed over to my dad. He’s a road biker and his mountain bike is a 1992 Raleigh something or other that’s about had it. This way he gets the same sort of rigid experience and easy of pedaling that he is used to without the need to go out and buy something he doesn’t really need.

I’ll be down to two bikes anyway so the missus will be happy, win win!!


Oh and I did a thing…

Fox 38 Factory Kashima 170mm fork (arrives next week).
Fox Float X2 Factory Kashima 230x65 air shock (arrives next week).

Both for £999.98 delivered

And I also may have bought some Hope TECH 4 V4 with rotors to set the bike apart from the other. I’ll use the Magura as spares as I’m bound to smash bits up this summer as I did the last.

IMG_7498 by andrew8200m posted 28 Feb 2025 at 14:06

nom.

 

Im not selling the status.. it’s a park tank at the end of the day and I still love it. I’ll think about it after the summer.

Brakes were fitted to the ONE77 earlier today, one didn’t want to bleed for love nor money so I ended up doing it the old fashioned way with syringes.. it was messy..

Braking power is insanely good but I’m on the fence if they’re better than the MT7s. They are certainly built better that’s for sure.

GX wireless isn’t getting fitted, the XT will do just fine. It’s one more thing to remember to charge and ruin a day out if I don’t.

Here she is. Love it!

IMG_7528 by andrew8200m posted 2 Mar 2025 at 14:51

IMG_7527 by andrew8200m posted 2 Mar 2025 at 14:51

 

I missed the where to sell stuff question. I've only ever sold via Pinkbike, Faceberk or Gumtree. There is Singletrack too.

 

Gumtree seems like a minefield. Facebook? What’s that? Hrhrhr..

Looks like pinkbike may be one to venture to. Never thought about singletrack though..

Evil bay worth it or is it still a sh** show?

 

I've never sold on ebay personally. The shop site I manage sells there as part of the package but I have very little input.

 

That’s fair enough. I’ve not sold on there in forever. I’ll have to have a look, it my be worth a shout as I do still buy there occasionally.

 

I am well and truly getting back in to cycling. I got a Cyrusher Kommoda in January and it has changed my life so much for the better. Ear marked a couple of things I will upgrade but overall I am super happy with it.

 

Went out on a 18.8 mile jolly today on the Cube with a friend which showed me some tracks he use to hit 5 years ago.



What an absolute world of difference ebikes bring to the table! Massive steep climbs before i wouldn’t dream of attempting, against just sending it reaching the top and thinking that’s it? Only issue I had was with climbs where the front wheel wanted to lift so you shifted weight to the front then the rear tire would spin.

What a summer this will be if the weathers nice!

 

@Weekly_Estimate when you're climbing a steep hill like that, stay in the saddle, drop your chest towards the bars and pull diagonally down towards the pedals.

 

Can anyone recommend a 165mm shock for my Kommoda? I want something I can lock out when just cycling on tarmac etc. nothing too fancy or expensive, I’m a noob at this stuff.

 

@Pookie you will need to know more than that. I imagine 165mm will be the eye to eye measurement, you will also need to know the stroke length (amount of straight shaft sticking out of the body which the can slides on on an air shock).

Do you have an air shock or coil shock currently?

 

You are getting too technical for me there. There is no visible spring, the current shock is this...
E·Bycco EB7Pro EB9 Rear Shock Absorber 800lbs/1000lbs/1200lbs
Found A Reddit thread with someone else asking the same question (same bike)..
Is this replaceable with a stiffer one? : r/ukbike

 

So that should be an air shock. Somewhere on it should be a schrader valve (car tyre valve) though I guess if its proper cheap it could be a sealed unit which can't be adjusted. Though I've never seen this.

If it has a valve, have you added any air to it?

On the link you sent you've a black bit (shock body or can) and a silver bit (shaft or stanchion) you will need to measure the silver bit from the can end to where it steps down to form the eyelet. I'd imagine about 50mm.

 

There is no valve anywhere on it.

 

Appears to be basic and not adjustable then, so you would be correct in needing a new shock.

So you'd need at least the eye to eye measurement (165mm) this should be the distance between the centre of each mounting bolt.

Then the stroke length as mentioned. Once I know this, I'll see if I can help.

 

Is this any good..

"Spring suspension 165x750 lbs"

Do you need me to measure something?