The official MTB discussion thread...

[overlord20]

I have to toss the chain guard on my bike, re align the handle bars and re set the back wheel. For some reason my brakes refuse to work... its super lame.. I think I need to remove some slack out of the cable. Think I will do that tomorrow as I will have a few hrs.

Tonight.. Autoview drive in. Last Drive in movie place in the state of WA, and kicks effin ***. Sunday nights are car load nights, so as many people as you can fit into a car for $10 and you get two movies!! Tonight is Eat, Pray, Love and Inception I believe.

 

[toxicity_27]

Well, I got both of my bikes up and running. I have to decide if I want to add the front derailleur back to my 26er.. I probably will. I'm just glad to finally have everything finished before the weekend.

 

[Jayce]

Well, I got both of my bikes up and running. I have to decide if I want to add the front derailleur back to my 26er.. I probably will. I'm just glad to finally have everything finished before the weekend.

If you don't, what are the other options? Will you add a chain guide of some sort to help avoid derailment?

I have to toss the chain guard on my bike, re align the handle bars and re set the back wheel. For some reason my brakes refuse to work... its super lame.. I think I need to remove some slack out of the cable. Think I will do that tomorrow as I will have a few hrs.

Tonight.. Autoview drive in. Last Drive in movie place in the state of WA, and kicks effin ***. Sunday nights are car load nights, so as many people as you can fit into a car for $10 and you get two movies!! Tonight is Eat, Pray, Love and Inception I believe.

I miss our drive in. There was a huge petition against the city from selling it to some home builder. He sold it, and now majority of the homes in the newly built development are foreclosed. Way to ****ing suck, Pennsylvania.

 

[Luke]

there is a drive in about 10 mins away from me, been there a few times a long time ago. I find them kinda lame to be honest lol.

 

[toxicity_27]

If you don't, what are the other options? Will you add a chain guide of some sort to help avoid derailment?

Well since I barely ever ride it now that I have my 29er, I'm planning on turning it into a commuter, but was thinking of going singlespeed. Still not sure if that's going to happen or not, but in the meantime I will probably put the front back on.

 

[Jayce]

Single speeding is kind of fun, but not something I'd be into doing full time on the trail or road, but it's interesting for bumming around town. I plan to convert my oldest hardtail to single speed once I figure out what the **** I'm doing with the bikes. Overall I got 2 bikes and a third frame/fork/wheelset now.

Got the large frame in today. Looks good. Took it in to the bike shop to get the shell faced/traced, should be done tomorrow. Worked out nicely because due to my brother blowing a tire @ 2 am last night, I barely got any sleep today, so I wouldn't have been up for building. But tomorrow... tomorrow is a different story.

 

[Jayce]

Got the frame back from the bike shop. Faced/chased/good to go! I built it up this evening and took my time, torquing everything to spec. Ran into a small snag... quite simply, I have no idea where the bolt is for the mounting clamp for my front derailleur. SO... I didn't put that on. However the rest of the bike is assembled and the chain is just chilling in mid chainring for now. Going to see if I can snag one at the bike shop tomorrow. Nothing I have laying around fits, so I'm kind of stuck.

I went for a test ride around town. The large is definitely for me. Especially since I prefer short stems, the larger overall frame just makes sense. The medium felt kind of cramped. But anyway, good to go. Hopefully I can get the front der mounted tomorrow so she's ready to get dirty on saturday. Afterwards, expect pictures.

This is also the first time I am using a shadow derailleur, the Deore Shadow in particular. It seems like a very well built unit. These style derailleurs bring nothing but positives to the table. Less bouncing around than traditional derailleurs, precise shifting (although traditional shifters have always provided me with great shifting too), etc. The only downside is shadow derailleurs have no barrel adjuster, so adjustments have to be made on the shifter itself. Minor PITA when adjusting it, but once it's done, it's good to go.

Quite happy with my setup... excited to beat the **** out of it now.

 

[overlord20]

I haven't been able to ride in a long time!!11! Busy with PAX. I did happen to pick up a new crank for free

 

[Jayce]

Well here's some pictures of the setup I've got now:







I had it on the trail on Saturday. I rode solo so I took my time in the beginning getting more familiar with the ride and on the 2nd half really started to beat it up. Saturday was also the first time I used this bike rack. I'm thoroughly surprised at how easy and how secure these racks are. I'll never. ever. own a "hanging" bike rack again. If you're not all about roof racks and you want a hitch rack, you really can't go wrong with one of these gizmos. Real quick load/unload time and like I said, still very secure.

The bike is a blast to ride though. I had a great time on the hill. I almost went for a 2nd pass since I got done with it much earlier than I expected, but I decided to pack it up since there were other things on the agenda that day and I was starting to crave some chinese food. It's nice to sit back and think about what all I've learned with biking. It seems simple at first, and to be honest in the long run it is, but you just have to know what to look out for. The way certain headsets work, how to wrench things together, and most importantly in my opinion, having a small torque wrench so you can feel confident you are torquing things to proper specification. It's a good feeling having put something together that rides great, almost like when you build your first computer and you hit the power button and it successfully POST's.

Now what I need to do is get my hands on a used road bike and have at it... That way I can satisfy my pavement cravings properly as well as the dirt.

 

[toxicity_27]

Well I didn't get to ride much at all this weekend due to my knee hurting quite badly most of the weekend. The only riding I did was the first day of my camping trip to the Headwaters of the Mississippi River and back.. about 4.5 miles. Kind of disappointing.