Old man goes back to cycling
Discussion
This is going to be a long story....
When I was 18 I used to do time-trials (and did under the hour for a 25). When I was 40 I went back to doing 'evening 10s'. I've still got the 531C with Campag bits on.
Then this year I got back on a bike again. I've got an old iron MTB that is bloody heavy, but feels responsive. I've also been using my sons aluminium hybrid, which is light, but doesn't feel nice to ride. Too upright, too soft, and hurts my old knees.
For my birthday, Carol offered to buy me a bike, but I couldn't find what I wanted within the budget. So I'm going to build up what I want. Which is basically a light weight rigid. I've bought a magnesium Saracen Kili frame, and that's all I've got so far. How can I find out what's good, and what isn't? Is there an easy way of gaining knowledge about 'bike stuff'? How will I work out what's the correct fork length? Will Kona project 2 forks work well? etc etc.
My riding is mostly road, plus a few tracks, nothing rough though.
BTW I need loads of bits, so if you have any bargains let me know - I only have a bare frame at the moment - here it is:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl
BTW I've looked at your bikes, and there's some bloody wonderful stuff there, but at 60, I'm not about to spend good track day money on carbon and stuff!
When I was 18 I used to do time-trials (and did under the hour for a 25). When I was 40 I went back to doing 'evening 10s'. I've still got the 531C with Campag bits on.
Then this year I got back on a bike again. I've got an old iron MTB that is bloody heavy, but feels responsive. I've also been using my sons aluminium hybrid, which is light, but doesn't feel nice to ride. Too upright, too soft, and hurts my old knees.
For my birthday, Carol offered to buy me a bike, but I couldn't find what I wanted within the budget. So I'm going to build up what I want. Which is basically a light weight rigid. I've bought a magnesium Saracen Kili frame, and that's all I've got so far. How can I find out what's good, and what isn't? Is there an easy way of gaining knowledge about 'bike stuff'? How will I work out what's the correct fork length? Will Kona project 2 forks work well? etc etc.
My riding is mostly road, plus a few tracks, nothing rough though.
BTW I need loads of bits, so if you have any bargains let me know - I only have a bare frame at the moment - here it is:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl
BTW I've looked at your bikes, and there's some bloody wonderful stuff there, but at 60, I'm not about to spend good track day money on carbon and stuff!
Hiya paul,
I personally do downhill racing, but I like to think I've got fairly good knowledge of bike stuff! What kind of budget are you on? How much have you got left in the kitty to spend on components? As this all determines what you get,etc. I'm afrai I'll only be able to help you if you're after mountain bike parts, as I'm clueless when it comes to road gear!
James
I personally do downhill racing, but I like to think I've got fairly good knowledge of bike stuff! What kind of budget are you on? How much have you got left in the kitty to spend on components? As this all determines what you get,etc. I'm afrai I'll only be able to help you if you're after mountain bike parts, as I'm clueless when it comes to road gear!
James
I would think that the 440mm Kona P2 would be a good match as it is designed to replace forks with 100mm travel,though of course not all 100mm travel forks are the same length so your best bet would be to find the original spec of the built bike Saracen sold, find out which model of forks and measure them - then fit a rigid of comparable length to maintain a similar geometry to the OEM...this is if you want to retain it as you may find it a bit too slack and unresponsive?
This page can explain things better than I can (don't worry about it being about road forks) www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/forklengths.htm
I have a P2 fitted to a kona cindercone, it is slightly shorter than the fork it replaces but only marginally, making the bike slightly more responsive, in my opinion it is a solid but light fork and I have every faith in it.
How much of the componentry on the old iron bike is reusable, that is if you want to? An overall budget would be useful to give an idea of what level of bicycle you are after?
This page can explain things better than I can (don't worry about it being about road forks) www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/forklengths.htm
I have a P2 fitted to a kona cindercone, it is slightly shorter than the fork it replaces but only marginally, making the bike slightly more responsive, in my opinion it is a solid but light fork and I have every faith in it.
How much of the componentry on the old iron bike is reusable, that is if you want to? An overall budget would be useful to give an idea of what level of bicycle you are after?
Edited by beyond rational on Friday 17th November 10:48
Thanks for the replies - the fork length thing is something i was bothering my head about, but the link makes it all very clear.
I've written to Saracen, but haven't had a reply as yet.
I realise that there are many bits that aren't worhtt buying used, so I guess I'll be buying slowly - dont really think it's worth spending more than a couple of hundred - so no Pace RC forks for me then!
Trouble is I really like bike bling!
I've written to Saracen, but haven't had a reply as yet.
I realise that there are many bits that aren't worhtt buying used, so I guess I'll be buying slowly - dont really think it's worth spending more than a couple of hundred - so no Pace RC forks for me then!
Trouble is I really like bike bling!
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