Pistonheads - Mountain bikes matter?

[theboymoon]

Hey-ho troops

Cant help but noticing the recent plethora of biking comments and threads!
I guess there are lots of bikers out there?

I reckon there's lots of cross over between driving fast and riding fast, although i reckon i do more jumps on the bike than in the car!!!!

So, who are you and what have you got?

Me, winter-sports come first (5 pairs of skis) but i've got an 04 Spesh FSR XC which i love but i really want a long travel bad-boy like an orange patriot 66 i demo'd last month

Could anybody lend me a couple of grand?

Moonie

[neil_cardiff]

theboymoon said:

Hey-ho troops

Cant help but noticing the recent plethora of biking comments and threads!
I guess there are lots of bikers out there?

I reckon there's lots of cross over between driving fast and riding fast, although i reckon i do more jumps on the bike than in the car!!!!

So, who are you and what have you got?

Me, winter-sports come first (5 pairs of skis) but i've got an 04 Spesh FSR XC which i love but i really want a long travel bad-boy like an orange patriot 66 i demo'd last month

Could anybody lend me a couple of grand?

Moonie

Oooh, I've been waiting for this thread to appear

I'll just find some pics

[ewenm]

It's all about speed and control - fast cars, good bikes etc...

Fat Chance Yo Eddy with Pace RC30 rigid forks and a mix of components.
Cannondale R600.
Ridgeback hybrid (for not worrying about theft!).

[Phil Hopkins]

I've got an Orange Patriot 7 Freeride for DH and other messings about. I've also got an older Orange Aero (hard tail) for jumping and the odd XC ride.

I love Orange bikes

[tricky69]

love driving, love mountain biking !

Have a 2005 Specialized rockhopper hardtail... disc brakes, shimano upgraded forks and gears... very sweet !

live in south croydon so tracks are rare but 10 min and i am in the country side and there are tracks galore !!

Checkout Roughtracks.com for weekends away, great laugh

[neil_cardiff]

Phil Hopkins said:

I love Orange bikes

PDV6 and I were having a natter about this yesterday when we were riding - I can't get my head into them, but he can - I like american bikes like GTs, Treks and Specialized.

I think brand loyaty is very strong in cycling?

[pdV6]

neil_cardiff said:

Specialized.

Once tried to buy a Specialized but the guy in the shop (was the owner I think) was so apathetic and just not interested in talking through the pros and cons of each model that I took my business elsewhere and bought another Marin. Wish I'd splurged a bit extra cash at the time and bought a Kona instead, though.

[LRdriver II]

Litespeed Titanium hardtail with XTR bits
Klein Pulse II with slicks and XT
Klein Adroit frame currently being buildt with SRAM X.0

got some colnago frame stashed somewhere also

[Phil Hopkins]

neil_cardiff said:

Phil Hopkins said:

I love Orange bikes

PDV6 and I were having a natter about this yesterday when we were riding - I can't get my head into them, but he can - I like american bikes like GTs, Treks and Specialized.

I think brand loyaty is very strong in cycling?

I think so too, i've always been a big fan of Specialized (my first proper bike was a Specialized Rockhopper FS with Rockshox indy C's on it!).

I guess nowadays it's Orange for me because A) They make fantastic bikes and B) They're British. I've often debated swapping my Patriot for something like a Specialized Demo 8 or the Cannondale that Cedric Gracia rides but I just can't come to part with it!

Edited by Phil Hopkins on Tuesday 25th July 11:24

[roop]

My bike is blue.

It's a 2003 Specialized something or other that I hammer about everywhere

[theboymoon]

I know what you mean about Orange, i just did not 'get' them for ages but the patriot was just amazing. Very little bob on the climbs and an absolute monster on the way down! 6.9inches of rear travel!

Since were getting techy my Specialized is on XT groupset, LX hydraulics and and Sram shifters. I know its not exactly top of the tree but until there's more pennies in the bank of moon it'll just have to do. To be fair, it has stood up to a lot of abuse in the Scottish hills for the last 2 years!

Edited by theboymoon on Tuesday 25th July 12:46

[sarkmeister]

I have a Raleigh Activator in blue from 1993. Its a beauty, front suspension and everything. Didnt use it for about 10 years until last year when i did the London-Brighton on it.

Old school.

[theboymoon]

neil_cardiff said:

Oooh, I've been waiting for this thread to appear

Yeh, its kinda been brewing for a couple of weeks huh?

Edited by theboymoon on Tuesday 25th July 11:37

[pappa lurve]

Just bought one last night! Was in Amsterdam at the weekend and rode a bike for the first time in about 15 years and had a load of fun. A mate picked up some basic twin suspension bike last night and called me so I got him to buy me one as well. No idea what it is but I figured it was cheap as chips (£90!) so thought it would be perfect for me to hack about on and see how much I actually use it.

So anyone up for a PH cycle hoon?! Course, it might be a good idea for me to wait until I have ridden a bit as having a heart attack is often considered rude whn out with a group of people!

[tvrforever]

Orange Sub-5 here

[mr_c]

I used to ride competitive Cyclo-Trials and Dual Slalom so I've got a 1994 Monty 221 X-Lite 20" Wheel Trials bike, which I bought 2nd hand from the Monty World Trials Team and is the only one in the world left (It's sister bikes were crushed so that Megamo etc couldn't copy it as at the time it was the best in the world).
And a one off Alu Raleigh hard tail (Raleigh gave me the frame when I was dualling as I kept breaking them) but it's got a big crack in it at the bottom bracket and isn't that nice a ride anyway so I'm going to get a new frame soon, I've just got to decide what I want (maybe a small Specialized or Orange hardtail).

As a note, does anybody else hate disc brakes? The flex through the wheel is awful. I like the power though, but my magura's with indoor competition pads are always more feely and equally as powerful. When I was a younger/better trialsist(?) (much more unfit now..) we used to put tar on the rims to make the brakes more grabby when clearing gaps etc, but they'd put you straight over the bars on a normal bike!

Edited by mr_c on Tuesday 25th July 11:39

[Top Trump]

LRdriver II said:

Litespeed Titanium hardtail with XTR bits
Klein Pulse II with slicks and XT
Klein Adroit frame currently being buildt with SRAM X.0

got some colnago frame stashed somewhere also

Nice!

My current bike is a 16" On One Inbred with XT, which I put together myself. Great old school bike. I think of it as the Integra Type R of the bike world. No nonense steel frame with great steering and handling in white!

[Phil Hopkins]

Delamere forest meet! Who's up for it?

[LRdriver II]

I had the first version of the Shimano XT disc brakes, they sucked biiiig time. I could never get the front to lock up. Also they made the SID fork bend like crazy so I converted the Litespeed back to XTR V-brakes and have been happy since. I hope they have improved since, and am considering a Hope brake set-up next (just because they look Bling)

[mr_c]

LRdriver II said:

I had the first version of the Shimano XT disc brakes, they sucked biiiig time. I could never get the front to lock up. Also they made the SID fork bend like crazy so I converted the Litespeed back to XTR V-brakes and have been happy since. I hope they have improved since, and am considering a Hope brake set-up next (just because they look Bling)

If you get the Hope's, get them to machine your name or something into the disc itself (they can do this as part of a customisation service), it's a good security feature as you can't really sell them on, and they look trick as..