Thread: Wot's yer ride?

I still have the old Cannondale SM 1000 from 1992.
But thinking about upgrading to the blown V8.
And maybe even the Rolls Viper, although the fuel costs may be a factor

http://www.madv8bike.com

Originally Posted by Grunt

There isn't any suspension on a road bike. I've got an aluminium frame now. Carbon fibre will make the ride a tad more comfy and should last much longer.

I think you're exactly wrong Grunt!

In theory, shouldn't carbon provide a stiffer frame, and therefore less comfy?

I know that my brother flicked his carbon Trek for a new Llewellyn custom frame and is rapt.

The Trek fork had to be thrown away as it had passed it's "use-by" date!

The alloy frame should last a lifetime I would have thought.

Cheers.

P

Attached is a photo of "my ride" although mine is red and in bits on the back deck but you get the idea.

I agree with you Midge,

I rode a few carbon fibre bikes in the past and they can be as stiff as aluminium. As Daddles said "steel is real"

Here are my two.

#1 is a custom I had built for me many many moons ago. It'a a bitza. Reynolds frame, cinelli bars, Durace stem, seat pole, Shimano 600 groupset with Sante cluster and Mavic rims.

Getting old now, but I will *NEVER* part with this bike. Is it possible to be buried with a bike? Fits me like a glove. I love riding this. Considered getting a set of STI shifters for it but could bring myself to do it.

#2 is the Norco Bushpilot. Relatively new to the bikeshed but far more "riding with the family friendly" which is important to me.

Runs in the family - see pic three, my 4yo has two bikes as well. This is his generic 12" 'trick' bike. He recently got his 16" Mongoose to race when we found a BMX club with an under 5 category. He's the 4th generation cyclist on my side of the family.

Cheers

There's something special about a bike that's been with you forever isn't there. Strange. Illogical. Bit like wimmen really

Richard

Hi all.
Mine's a common or garden Raleigh m800 mountain bike.
I'm proud to say it's got just over 5000 Klm on it now, after about 3 years.
Last year at age 64 I took up visiting some of the 4WD access only places in our local national parks.
Absolutely magic. See so much wildlife early mornings, before the Grey Nomads start appearing on the roads about 10am.
Camp anywhere.
Plus I see heaps of stuff around town that you just don't know about if you only drive a car.
I love it. Best $450 I've ever spent.
Regards
Bill.

I bought a Giant Allegre for $800 in 1993. You could have any colour, as long as it was red. Shimano RX100 running gear, Wolber rims, Sakae bars. Was good value for money at the time. Don't know how many k's it has done but it has been through 3 computers and two pumps!

It's up on blocks at the minute because I snapped a spoke on the front wheel last Thursday. I hadn't been for a ride for weeks because I had given the rear wheel to the guy at the bike shop to respoke but he'd had an operation on his hand and couldn't replace any more than 3 or 4 spokes a day. I finally got around to picking up a loaner wheel from him on Thursday, so I went for a ride and about 500m down the road: 'ping'.

The other ride is an Avanti mountain bike. It used to carry me to work every day but doesn't get ridden much because it would take me longer to get it out of the shed than it does to walk to work.

Originally Posted by Grunt

There isn't any suspension on a road bike. I've got an aluminium frame now. Carbon fibre will make the ride a tad more comfy and should last much longer.

Why do you want the ride to last longer?

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

If you have to ask, you'll never understand!

OK.

It's so my missus knows where to stop the car before it hits my machinery! When the windscreen hits the ball, the car is in far enough to close the garage door!

Cheers,

P

So.. its a car parking jig...shouldn't that be in another section?

I have been through a few bikes, started off with bmx's before growing into my Centurion racer. I came off the Centurion at 75kmh and graduated to MTB (there wasnt enough of the racer left to ride). Started on a Norco hardtail and am now riding a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR comp 120. I love this bike and it rides well on and off the road. Have been thinking of getting back into Triathlon but I have to sort my finances before getting too far in front of myself.

I love this forum... everything I love in one spot... good on ya' Ubeaut

Corbs

Latest photo of the Europa - she's had a few changes of late. Some new wheels - 700c instead of 27" and razor blades rather than the old 1 1/4"s. Track hub on the back now rather than the suicide hub I was running. The hubs are good quality but the rims are a bit generic - I told the wheel builder what I was doing and he came up with the package for only $230 for both wheel Capped off with 28mm Detonators, she should be a good ride now.

The track hub lines up with the outer chainring on the old double set up, so I took the opportunity to lose the spare chainring. So here she is in pretty much her final configuration ... unless I decide to put some nice dual pivot brakes on her

Next job? Strip her down. Regrease all the bearings. Get rid of the various marks a bike collects over the years. Touch up the paint. Do something about the rust spots coming through the 'chrome' paint on the rear forks. A full tart up in other words.

Richard

my current bikes are one Giant ATX840 with the odd mod or two

and a suzuki DR650....i have to push tommorow to the petrol station

but i will buy more...i cannot help myself

I have a bike, gets ridden often enough (not this last week though, that's another story), and there is one simple sentence that usually gets the message across.

Only the frame, seat and head set bearings are original...

I started with a 2003 Trek 4900 mountain bike, flat black since the red (or was it blue) looked iffy to me.

Replaced the drive train (Deore) with 2003 LX throughout, XT disc hubs on Rhynolite rims, and added Hayes mechanical disc brakes.

The brakes were garbage, and I switched the front for a Deore mechanical disc. Much better in the dry, a bit iffy in the wet.

After two years of riding it everywhere, I decided to give it a birthday, that and the rear derailleur/shifter wore out along with a few chains. Hint, change the chain often and you won't need to change cogs for quite a while.

The birthday bough it up to it's most recent spec, and when I get enough spare change scraped up, the final birthday will get it where I want it and it won't need any apologies.

Right now it is.

2003 Trek 4900 frame, original 'Aheadset'.
Fox Vanilla 125RLC fork.
Avid 185mm mechanical disc.
XT disc hub with a Rhynolite rim.
Salsa skewer and a nut that holds it's adjustment with a set screw in the end. Dunno what it's called.

Kore 120mm 0* stem.
Easton EA50 bar.
XT/LX shifters, Avid SD7 levers. XTR cables throughout.

XT outboard bearing crank with 26/36/48 cogs, LX derailleur.
Snafu platform pedal, cartridge bearings.
Thomson elite seatpost.
Bontrager saddle. (original, narrow, hard but it works for me?)
Salsa QR doohickey.

XT rear disc hub.
XTR medium length rear derailleur.
Ultegra 11-27 cassette.
XT chain. (after completely destroying a Sram PC99 chain, never ever again)
Avid 165mm mechanical disc.

I think that covers it.

The next birthday should cover a new frame (maybe, the old one is fine by me.) of some kind, a King headset, better hubs with decent rims (I made a set myself, then had to let them go due to lack of funds), a new front shifter/derailleur and if I can find one that fits, a new seat.

If that happens, then I will have a Trek 4900 that has no original components. Pretty good, if expensive trick.

If anyone is wondering, the good gear is most certainly worth it. A 20 km ride used to be a case of grin and bear it, now it's just a shrug of the shoulders and off I go. Much easier to pedal, much nicer to ride, less fatiguing and safer all at the same time.