Mountain Biking general thread

[drcarlos]

I took on another project this week, my missus has been talking about wanting to go out riding with me and Sam. She's not the most confident rider but had a massive confidence boost riding my mates old full sus years ago. I get what she means, I find hardtails to be a bit harsh.

So on Monday I bought a very unloved 2016 Stumpjumper FSR and started ordering bearings (and tools - yay!).

I've done the headset bearings, front and rear wheel hub bearings, stripped/cleaned the worlds oiliest drivetrain, changed the nasty gold bars and long stem for a shorter black set I had, saddle for a women's one she had and basically tweaked everything.

I need to touch up some bad paintwork next, but so far it's looking pretty good and is working beautifully. I'd not done hubs before either, so that was a useful skill for me to learn.

Going to suggest you 1x convert that too. A cassette and goat link with a snail chainring will mean it’s lighter and also for a new bike significantly less complex for her to think about when selecting gears. Plus it won’t cost much either.

it would definitely make sense - I'll stop spending on it for a while first to see if she actually rides it!

True, also don’t do what I did and take her to swinley straight away, she was getting so much confidence that she was going (well what she felt) too fast when she got to section that scared her and just hit the front brake so hard she went over the handlebars! Not got her near anything like that since and the nervousness is being passed to my daughter too.

[Rich B]

Pretty much exactly what happened about 10 years ago when I last took her out!

[mik]

Going to suggest you 1x convert that too. A cassette and goat link with a snail chainring will mean it’s lighter

I am not sure if this is tech speak or cockney.

I looked at new MTBs the other day and noticed nobody likes multiple front chainrings any more - what is ze thinking?

[drcarlos]

Going to suggest you 1x convert that too. A cassette and goat link with a snail chainring will mean it’s lighter

I am not sure if this is tech speak or cockney.

I looked at new MTBs the other day and noticed nobody likes multiple front chainrings any more - what is ze thinking?

You can if you don't need to maintain cadence (basically racing cross country) get away with a single ring and wide range cassette. My Giant has SRAM Eagle 12 speed setup with a single ring up front (currently 32 teeth, but I am thinking of going to 34 as I need the higher gears and not the lower) with a cassette that goes from 10-50 teeth in the rear, it gives me less of a range than my old 2 x 11 speed setup but it's (with the above tweaking) just about enough for the average rider (if you want a lower range keep the small chainring, if you can climb well and need more top end switch it out for a slightly larger one).
It means you lose the front mech, shifter, one chainring and associated cabling, hence a bit of weight (as the big cassette adds a bit) and you only have the one shifter to worry about. It means for the uninitiated they just select the gear that feels right without getting flustered trying to choose and you don't have to worry about them doing the big crossovers on a transmission that were a big no, no.

[mention]Rich B[/mention] Nightmare, I bet it will be another few years before I get mine out on the trails again, but with her Cube 29er at least I've got her out in the common and fireroads so small steps at least. I don't dare let her on my Giant as she ended up with the cube after going on my Cube 29er hardtail, she'd want FS too if she went on mine!

[Rich B]

To be fair, I haven't run a front mech on any of my bikes in 20 years, but I'm more interested in free ride and DH. Even before modern 1x drivetrains granny rings were pretty much useless anyway imo!

[mik]

Interesting. Cheers.

[simon_g]

I've not had a front mech on my bikes for years. With dropper posts commonplace, it means you can have your dropper lever where the front shifter used to be.

Still don't have the range we used to with triples but it's still plenty. I have a 11-42 on hardtail (local stuff, couple of hours only) and a 11-50 on trail bike for long days with big hills.

[Rich B]

Another new addition to the bike fleet is the other part to getting my missus a bike. Getting my boy out on my big bike.

He's been having fun for a year or so in the Weeride seat, but He's getting pretty cramped up in it round his legs (not helped by the silly big forks on my hardtail), not to mention me being pretty cramped up with him getting taller. So I've got a shotgun seat and put it on my Capra. Having a dropper post and a bit of suspension (170mm! ) should help!



I fitted it tonight, and it's clearly a premium product with lovely machining and well thought out adjustments, the fit and finish is brilliant (apart from the crappy old style BMX seat clamp), So fingers crossed for its inaugural ride tomorrow!

[KiwiDave]

We fitted a shotgun to my mate's bike recently for his smallest - totally agree on comments, really well thought out bit of kit. Little lad loved it.

[John]

Another new addition to the bike fleet is the other part to getting my missus a bike. Getting my boy out on my big bike.

He's been having fun for a year or so in the Weeride seat, but He's getting pretty cramped up in it round his legs (not helped by the silly big forks on my hardtail), not to mention me being pretty cramped up with him getting taller. So I've got a shotgun seat and put it on my Capra. Having a dropper post and a bit of suspension (170mm! ) should help!



I fitted it tonight, and it's clearly a premium product with lovely machining and well thought out adjustments, the fit and finish is brilliant (apart from the crappy old style BMX seat clamp), So fingers crossed for its inaugural ride tomorrow!

He'll protect you from the mud flying off the front tyre too

[Rich B]

Another new addition to the bike fleet is the other part to getting my missus a bike. Getting my boy out on my big bike.

He's been having fun for a year or so in the Weeride seat, but He's getting pretty cramped up in it round his legs (not helped by the silly big forks on my hardtail), not to mention me being pretty cramped up with him getting taller. So I've got a shotgun seat and put it on my Capra. Having a dropper post and a bit of suspension (170mm! ) should help!



I fitted it tonight, and it's clearly a premium product with lovely machining and well thought out adjustments, the fit and finish is brilliant (apart from the crappy old style BMX seat clamp), So fingers crossed for its inaugural ride tomorrow!

He'll protect you from the mud flying off the front tyre too

unexpected bonus! We did a 5-6 mile quick run this morning and he loved it. It was also good that he could stand up too when it got rough!

[Ascender]

The stairs give me the fear.

[mik]

That’s like a mad-stairs one-upmanship challenge.

“Check our these mad stairs”

“They aren’t mad stairs, check out these mad stairs”

<Repeat>

[V8Granite]

That’s like a mad-stairs one-upmanship challenge.

“Check our these mad stairs”

“They aren’t mad stairs, check out these mad stairs”

<Repeat>

Even if I had the skill to do that I’d still be far too scared to attempt it

Dave!

[ZedLeg]

and I thought I was brave when I used to go down the Fleshmarket Close stairs when I was younger

[Jobbo]

The narrowness of the railings and buildings either side make that look ridiculous - the handlebars barely fit! FFS, at the start I was wondering what damage you'd do if you hit the slalom sticks but I soon forgot about that.

[Rich B]

I wouldn't be fast, but I'd happily ride that course!

[Simon]

I think the fisheye lens probably makes it look worse than it is.

[Gavin]

Having had my feet slip off my flat pedals a few times (no horrific injuries thankfully) I am leaning towards getting some proper shoes but not keen to spend £100+ on the ubiquitous 5/10. Anyone had good experiences with O'neal as they look similar but are half the price.

Also, I have daft narrow feet so anyone else got similar size and can recommend a brand? Cheers

[V8Granite]

Having had my feet slip off my flat pedals a few times (no horrific injuries thankfully) I am leaning towards getting some proper shoes but not keen to spend £100+ on the ubiquitous 5/10. Anyone had good experiences with O'neal as they look similar but are half the price.

Also, I have daft narrow feet so anyone else got similar size and can recommend a brand? Cheers

I’ve got some DMV8 pedals and the problem I find is if I don’t land my feet on them perfectly I can’t just slide them about.

They are particularly grippy.

Dave!