too much bike choice :(

[Boycey]

i <3 the new slx groupset. do they have any bikes with full slx? it has a lovely angular design, shimano still totally own the mtb market imo.

the fork looks like it has a lockout which is good and those avid disc brakes are very good even though i dislike cable discs on principal.

it also looks like it very relaxed geometry- quite laid back, something i definitely like on that type of bike but not so great for weaving in and out of traffic (my natural habitat).

 

[gentlegreen]

i <3 the new slx groupset. do they have any bikes with full slx? .

Not in that range by the looks of it.

The Avid cable brake on my current bike packed up after a few years - but I can't see myself shelling out another £100 for hydraulics.

Annoying that the Bristol shop is charging 50 quid more than some online places - but I need to have a relationship with a shop...

And a bother that it comes with non-kevlar hybrid-style tyres ...

I'll need mudguards, rack, basket and kickstand - which should amuse them.

What's left of my old bike will be OK for emergencies.

 

[gentlegreen]

Oh dear - Low end Avid discs generally get poor reviews on this site. :-

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/brakes/disc-brake-system/avid/juicy-three/PRD_416352_1507crx.aspx

 

[Boycey]

that's a completely different product, they look like avid BB7s or BB5s. i've checked out some of those reviews, alot of it sounds like poor setup by someone who's not used to dealing with hydraulics and some of it sounds like genuinely faulty hydraulic components (possibly badly fitted olives). none of this is an issue for the BB system- a system i've setup many times on trek sohos, everyone i've sold those to loves the BBs.

 

[gentlegreen]

Looks like just the gearing I wanted - lost one granny gear, gained a higher top gear than I used to have on my 10 speed road bike.

I'm currently getting up my steepest hill on the middle cog.

 

[Psychonaut]

those brakes look like BB7s which are excellent - i wouldnt use anything else. Very easy to set-up, then almost maintenance free. They will be shit initially, just take a little while to bed in. The pads are actually the same as used on the Avid hydros IIRC.

The BB5s have smaller pads & im not sure whether they have an adjustment knob on the inside, so weaker & perhaps more fiddly.

 

[gentlegreen]

The BB5s have smaller pads & im not sure whether they have an adjustment knob on the inside, so weaker & perhaps more fiddly.

Unfortunately the spec says BB5s

My current bike came with the 2001 version of the brake on the front - caught me by surprise and put me over the handlebar shortly after I bought the bike and tacoed the front wheel - the same bike shop (before it was taken over by the current management never had any pads in stock ... it ended up seizing up and being replaced with a vee ...

http://www.bikepedia.com/quickbike/...d=Specialized&Model=CrossTrail+Comp&Type=bike

Several people suggest the BB5s are significantly inferior.
.

 

[gentlegreen]

I've started the Cycle to Work process.

Not that exciting really - 31 percent saving, less approx 5 percent when the company sells the bike to you at the end of 12 months.

So 25 percent off ..

Total cost of bike and accessories: £689.22
Income tax saving over hire period: £137.84
NI saving over hire period: £75.81
Final cost of bike & accessories: £475.57
Total saving:** £213.65

less the £34.46 ...

 

[Cid]

I wouldn't have gone for a big name like specialized in that price range; they tend to be fairly poor spec (although that SLX kit looks interesting). Should be fine though.

 

[Boycey]

Cid, can you tell me what you would have gone for? IME the big names may have a lower spec rear mech (cos evry1 knos dat da rear mek is da important bit innit ) but have higher spec bottom bracket, hubs and headset- technically much more important components that cost waaay more than drivetrain essentials to replace. furthermore aftersales service from companies like trek, specialized et al is fantastic. do you get the same from focus or ridgeback? do you fuck.

 

[Cid]

Cid, can you tell me what you would have gone for? IME the big names may have a lower spec rear mech (cos evry1 knos dat da rear mek is da important bit innit ) but have higher spec bottom bracket, hubs and headset- technically much more important components that cost waaay more than drivetrain essentials to replace. furthermore aftersales service from companies like trek, specialized et al is fantastic. do you get the same from focus or ridgeback? do you fuck.

A merlin probably. Manufacturers like specialized often compromise on stuff like rims, headset etc by using 'in-house' components (which means churned out of a factory somewhere in China). Forks will also tend to be lower spec...

 

[Boycey]

the merlin's are and have always been very sweet deals... as they are a shop they are easily forgotten by those who work in shops

however their selection is a long way from the thread title as they only seem to sell mtbs, i could hazard a guess as to why that fits their business model but it's probably fairly obvious. if they were to sell hybrids and road bikes and also take part in the cycle to work scheme a lot of the big boys would have reason to worry, though they may also have issues supplying a market that big.

it's not a surefire winner if you get them to build the wheels up as road 700s you could have a scary road going 29er. i've seen road wheels fit into disc equipped mtb frames and they are fucking awesome. a friend used to despatch on a specialized p3 jump frame with 5" travel marzocchi forks... and phil wood track wheels, no brake but the drivetrain not sure it's quite what the OP has in mind though

 

[gentlegreen]

Presumably going to depend on the way you ride too.

After 7 years and 12,600 miles, my Giant 830 has the original bottom bracket and head bearings - in fact along with the frame and back brake they're about the only original parts.

 

[Boycey]

original bottom bracket?!?! if there's no play it deserves a fucking medal!

 

[gentlegreen]

I weigh 230lbs and stomp on the pedals with my instep too

 

[mauvais]

The only thing to have survived my capitalist pigdog bike upgrade odyssey is the frame, and until its recent demise, the bell. Last night I had a dream that I hadn't locked it up - in some sort of semi-futuristic New York no less - and someone had nicked it, and I woke up sweating.

 

[Cid]

the merlin's are and have always been very sweet deals... as they are a shop they are easily forgotten by those who work in shops

however their selection is a long way from the thread title as they only seem to sell mtbs, i could hazard a guess as to why that fits their business model but it's probably fairly obvious. if they were to sell hybrids and road bikes and also take part in the cycle to work scheme a lot of the big boys would have reason to worry, though they may also have issues supplying a market that big.

it's not a surefire winner if you get them to build the wheels up as road 700s you could have a scary road going 29er. i've seen road wheels fit into disc equipped mtb frames and they are fucking awesome. a friend used to despatch on a specialized p3 jump frame with 5" travel marzocchi forks... and phil wood track wheels, no brake but the drivetrain not sure it's quite what the OP has in mind though

I've always used MTBs on roads, set up right they make great city bikes... My current is an one-one inbred with LO forks, flat bars and nimbus tires. I don't really like hybrids, never seen the advantage tbh (except with those that are closer to road bikes). Of course I ride it off road as well, I suppose hybrids would have more appeal if I was just looking for a comfortable commuting bike.

 

[gentlegreen]

I've changed my mind and am sticking with my mountain bike.

I'm going to get a £30 front wheel - since I don't seem to break those. I also plan to fix my Suntour front forks this weekend - having found an exploded diagram on the net. After that all I have to do is fit a new front changer and a couple of jockey pulleys in the rear changer.

 

[gentlegreen]

Oh well, that's it.

I've finally broken off my "relationship" with my regular bike shop.
I had always dreaded having to take my bike in there

It's now been tarted up as a Specialized "Concept Shop" and it has an even scarier than previously number of very young staff and multi-thousand pound bikes.

I won't go into details, but the high prices quoted me for tyres was the last straw. They seem to be best at selling new bikes rather than fixing old ones.

 

[gentlegreen]

Finally did what I should have done yonks ago.

Undid the two allen screws.
Cleaned the crud out of the fork leg where the liner had ridden up.

The fork leg is a bit pitted, but I've cleaned it up and greased it well with teflon-based grease and graunched the adjusters up.

I've found a cheap online shop for the tyres, brake blocks and rear derailer jockey pulleys.

The front changer seems to be beyond rescue so I'll order a new one.

The front rim is a bit thin, but I reckon it'll last me another year.

 

[Psychonaut]

The fork leg is a bit pitted, but I've cleaned it up and greased it well with teflon-based grease and graunched the adjusters up.

just remember not to skin-up before a very thorough hand-cleanse! only takes a fraction of a milligram PTFE to fuck you up. evil stuff.

 

[gentlegreen]

just remember not to skin-up before a very thorough hand-cleanse! only takes a fraction of a milligram PTFE to fuck you up. evil stuff.

Hadn't thought of that - the old "non-stick pans banned in submarines" thing - I think it's a myth though, but thanks

 

[Psychonaut]

not sure about the subs, but fume fever is very real - this info comes (reluctantly and after decades of cover-up!) from dupont themselves.

a few 100 mics in a ciggy is all it takes apparently, even if its spread out over the day. I cant begin to tell you how terrifying that is if your a toker/biker with contamination type OCD!!

 

[Boycey]

psychonaut, can you please supply links/backup info for this? i work in an enviroment where we use lots of ptfe based products and it's not, to my knowledge at least, covered by COSHH. many thanks.

oh, and if you're a biker doing your own mechanics you do wash your hands before going to the bog right?

 

[Boycey]

psychonaut, the only interweb sources on this seem distinctly conspiraloon- citing wild statistics with no mention of where they were obtained. i call shenanigans.

 

[gentlegreen]

The Wikipedia article suggests PTFE was discovered in the process of searching for very stable refrigerants - along the lines of the CFCs that are so stable they don't break down until they reach the ionosphere. Since fluorine is more reactive than chlorine, that alone would lead one to expect PTFE to be very stable.

That said, I wouldn't smoke a spliff in a workshop - I would guess that Swarfega or the phenol-based Gunk could be pretty hazardous - even if just ingested.

I worked for a while in a factory and had to degrease metal parts in trichlorethylene tanks. There was a warning that smoking a cigarette would turn the fumes into phosgene (a WW1 battlefield gas).

 

[Boycey]

I worked for a while in a factory and had to degrease metal parts in trichlorethylene tanks. There was a warning that smoking a cigarette would turn the fumes into phosgene (a WW1 battlefield gas).

the worst we have to deal with is heavy grease, especially the lithium based ones. carcinogenic and absorbed through skin, and pass straight through latex gloves. apparently old railway engineers used to carry a rag to open doors with to stop their hands getting greasy, problem was they'd put the rag in their pocket- right next to the part of the anatomy most affected by carcingens.

 

[Psychonaut]

here you go - references included
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA417,M1


the dupont experiments-
http://www.ewg.org/node/8733

detailed case study-
http://www.thoracic.org/sections/cl...-occupational/clinical-cases/pages/case8.html

 

[gentlegreen]

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00051631.htm



It does appear to be rather nasty.

I'll certainly be careful when handling synthetic oils.

 

[Psychonaut]

oh, and if you're a biker doing your own mechanics you do wash your hands before going to the bog right?

funny you should mention that, cos my bikes are actally stored in the bog/bathroom.

Not sure what your getting at tho - OCD joke, or is there something hazardous along the lines of taking a slash after chopping chillies?