Mountain Bike - Hard tail

Bob-

DO NOT TAKE THAT UP TO RAY'S!! You will destroy that thing. Rent a bike from them. The wheels, the derailuers and such will not hold up well to the wood ramps and jumps. If using only on the XC stuff, sure. Rent a dirt jumper and have a blast.

 

Avids suck. Bonnie and I have six MTB,s between us.. 3 sets of Shimano XT's, 2 sets of Magura MT-8s and a set of Marta SL's...ZERO bleeds. Heck Magura has a 2 or 3 year guarantee and Shimano doesn't need one. Ive seen way too many Avid's need bleeding out of the box.

Been using Scrubs pads on the XT's with good life and excellent feel and they're quiet. I stick with factory pads for the Magura's.

 

Magura's use DOT fluid right? I'm on the fence about that but I've never heard anything bad about them. However XT's kick tush, dead easy to bleed, and reasonably priced. Really can't go wrong.

How did the scrubs compare to the stock pads? Thanks.

 

Hi Mark. I would recommend you spend the extra dough and go full suspension. I just got a Salsa Spearfish on closeout and wish I'd gone full suspension earlier. You wouldn't buy a motocrosser or enduro bike with a rigid rear would you? With your background I can envision you getting hooked real fast and the suspension makes all the difference.


Gordon Hamilton
AHRMA #58

 

The Magura use mineral oil. The MT-8's have the best modulation of any brake I have ever used. The XT's are good and reliable but don't match the Magura's lever feel.

 

i like Formula The Ones a bunch better than Maguras. Which i had previously. I'm never going back. They're a tad touchy for slow XC riding, gotta just have finess. As soon as the trail turns "pucker up my butthole" steep tho, they're unreal. Hence why some DH dudes use them compared to other 4-piston options.

 

I bent the front wheel of my Redline D660 29er yesterday and my lbs couldn't quite get it totally straightened out. They want around $150 to replace the WTB Laserdisc Trail with new spokes on the stock hub. Am I better off buying a new complete wheel? Who is the best source online for this sort of thing?

 

Absolutely seconding this. Ray's is a blast, but can destroy bikes far quicker than most mountain trails. Please be careful what you put a bike like that through, while there. Cheers on your choice though, that bike's on my wish list, for when I have time to ride again.

 

I've got Formula R1's and have been thrilled with them. Not a problem in a year and a half and excellent lever feel and brake modulation. My riding partner has maguras (mt6's I think). He had trouble with them losing pressure. Rebuilt them with no improvement. Shop warrantied them and second set hasn't given him any trouble so far.

 

If someone had told me five years ago that I would spend close to $300 for two bicycle tires I would have laughed at him. This mountain bike jones is almost as bad as a racing one.

Gordon

 

I've been buying schwalbe's lately. I got some furious freds for my urban bike, and a Hans dampfe on my carbon stumpy for wet pine straw covered trails

 

I've got the bug every bit as bad as for motorcycles, but it's still a lot cheaper! <or so I tell myself...> I'm on my 3rd bike this year and I only want more.

 

haha Crazy isn't it? I really got into it back in 02. By 03 I was racing XC and 12/24hr endurance. By 09 I had 8 high end bikes(including road and cross bikes), and was the Ga state champ(Sport 50+ age group) in the goneriding.com series. 3rd in the SE region series. Also won the 2 man state title in a 12 hour endurance series as well as typically top 5 in the solo class.

Of course now I'm still healing from that catastrophic crash I had in Oct 012 on the 750, so I've lost all that hard earned fitness. Something I really miss and want to get back. But thats gotta be after this next operation(9 days from now) on my throat from the damage they did at the crash site(from the breathing tube being froced 'thru' my vocal cords. basically destroying them w scar tissue so I now can't breath anywhere near full capacity). The health benefits alone from the fitness levels demanded for racing is immeasurable. Especially for us old guys.

And I've said it before..mtb racing is THE hardest thing I've ever done. A truism concerning XC racing.."Pick a pace you absolutely can not maintain..then maintain it for 2 hours" .

 

Wish ya a speedy recovery.
All the 1/2 century guys around here claim biking is the "fountain of youth"
Looking at the lap times at some of those guys (50-59)... they do 8 mile loops within 10 seconds of each other for 4 laps & about 2 mins faster than the 30-39 yr olds. The 40-49 group is super competitive too.

 

I got sucked into riding these over the holidays. The thought of it never appeal ed to me since I've ridden dirtbikes my whole life. I just couldn't imagine climbing or coming out or a corner without twisting a throttle. It is what it is and it's really fun! Perfect alternative to the road riding our club does.
I tested several nice hardtaiils and fully suspended bikes and decided on this:

 

This is SO true. Almost every race, about 1/4 way in, I ask myself why I continue to sign up for this pain. Then when it is over, I can't wait to do it again. Good luck on your recovery.

 

$150 per tire....what are you running? Ive never paid that much for a set and Im pretty picky.

 

Edit. Duh. that was for tires. My bad. That is pretty high $ for tires only. I'd like to know myself. Or a great deal for wheels. haha


My best pedals(4 ti Eggs) were over $400 a few yrs ago. And that was on Ebay. I also have a couple set of Twin Ti Eggs.

Every fastener on my race bikes are either ti or alum. Ti or alum spindle to the bottom brackets. Frame(Titus) was $2700. It can add up to over $6-7k in no time.

 

Ya, Ive got a bike that's pretty spendy. We're talking TIRES not wheels. I haven't ever paid more than $75 for a tire. FWIW, I have Enve carbon wheels on Chris King hubs, they make Stans seem entry level cheap but they are awesome.

I use Crank Bros Candy 3 and Acid 3 pedals. I like a bit of a platform. Besides, the last time I counted grams it had nothing to do with a bicycle.