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Anastasia
climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
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Oct 13, 2010 - 05:08pm PT
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Excellent! I love your new bike! Anything that makes a person happy is a good thing.
Sadly I don't know enough to fully appreciate it, but I am working on that.
All I can say is that it's pretty and looks like it will handle the trails with ease.
This my Lady that Bill picked out for me.
I am not handling the trails well but heck... As you can see it is not the bike's fault. :)AFS
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Oct 14, 2010 - 03:26pm PT
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Haven't needed a 15" bike since I stopped riding my Stingray. :-)
Carbon is cool and all, and I could see it in Colorado or someplace a little more alpine, but in the desert, you need something that can stand up to getting periodically pounded by rocks (either rocks that get tossed up while riding on them, or rocks that get hit when you go OTB). The carbon would be a problem eventually.
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Euroford
Trad climber
Louisville, CO
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Oct 14, 2010 - 03:32pm PT
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noice. i love my 15" frame for the clearance with the seat slammed for the resort booters.
i'm not into carbon, but the guys beating on them on the world cup circuit go to show that the stuff can be durable.
ditch that dhx air though!
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Jingy
climber
Somewhere out there
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Oct 14, 2010 - 04:00pm PT
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to really appreciate this thread....
I gotta see this thing in action....
Wha'd'ya got in the way of a movie?
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Shimanilami
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Oct 14, 2010 - 04:25pm PT
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I'm sure those are nice mountain bikes, but it's laughable to call any of them "fast", not when there are rocketships like mine out there.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
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Oct 14, 2010 - 05:12pm PT
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I used to have this 5.5.
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socalbolter
Sport climber
Silverado, CA
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Oct 14, 2010 - 05:12pm PT
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Different components here and there and different forks, but here's my Tracer:
You're going to love it...
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Slakkey
Big Wall climber
From Back to Big Wall Baby
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Oct 14, 2010 - 06:01pm PT
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Having been in the Bike business a few years back I can truly say there is no other business that has re invented the wheel so many times over but the end result is still the same Round. Truly lots of hype and hoopla over gadgets and features but the basics still remain the same Wheels, Pedals, Gears etc. and good old human power. Its that human thing that truly is the equalizer as even the most tricked out light bike is slow without the right effort.
More so than even now days one can walk into a bike shop and buy off the self a complete set up MTB or Road that has decent components and frame. Production bikes of the past use to be seen as lower budget rides. This to some extent at least for me takes some of the fun out of it in that it use to be when you wanted a higher end bike you had to do a lot of or all the build up yourself. Now days people dont think twice about walking into a shop and plunking down $3,000 or more for a ride and then taking it back to the shop for the most minor of repairs. Good for the shop but for me thats part of the fun of owning nice rides you do the work yourself.
I always enjoy the Bike threads here. Fun stuff and i still enjoy working on my own bikes and building up new ones. Cool rides for sure Wildone now go get it dirty it needs a little character :)
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Oct 14, 2010 - 06:20pm PT
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I do all my own work including usually putting my own bikes together. The Turner above is my fourth mountain bike since I first bought one in 1990. I'm a substantial guy and I ride pretty hard on very rocky terrain, so they seem to only last about five or six years before I break the frame. I hardly ever go to a bike shop for anything more than trivial stuff. Tired of paying twice as much for stuff. I just finished my summer "season" where I road bike during the hot part of the year (mtbing in 110+ degrees ain't fun). Thinking that my 10-year old road bike could use a refresh. :-) I like switching back and forth... Road is cool for speed, mountain is great for getting away from homicidal drivers and enjoying the mountain preserves.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 16, 2010 - 10:11am PT
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I wouldn't buy carbon that's bonded to aluminum (like that rocky mtn frame) but....
Uhh, news flash, carbon isn't fragile anymore, guys. You probably won't believe me, since your mind is already made up on the subject, but it's true. Very soon (it's already happening to a degree) the vast majority of mtn bikes will be carbon.
You see, most of the durability issues were associated with the teething stage of cf, when tubes were glued together, were brittle, and relied on surface tension for strength (which is why, if you crashed and nicked or scratched the surface, you could later have a catastrophic failure). Almost none of these situations applies today, with companies like Santa Cruz, and Scott, Specialized, Ibis, etc making even burly big hit bikes out of one piece of cf with no seams. The carbon Nomad, sheds about two pounds off the aluminum counterpart, is way stiffer, with way less torsion (flex) and is actually stronger in every respect. Don't judge carbon from it's awkward growing pain, teenage gangly uncoordinated acne years. Now carbon is in it's late twenties. Starting to get it's sh#t together, got some experience under it's belt, looking pretty damn good, but knowing it's got some good years ahead of it..
Sorry if I sounded bitchy, I'm flying home right now, worked a night shift in the arctic and have been on planes and in airports for the last day and a half. Almost retired for the year. Then moving to England to ride all over until next summer. Actually pretty psyched. Just sleep deprived.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Oct 16, 2010 - 12:13pm PT
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crazy? off course, it's My bike,
after 40 years of m b'n, this 20 pound bike is the shits,
i thought it would be like ice with the skinny rear wheel, but it digs in better than the fatty,
but for corners, i got a really old uma guma that aged for 10 years, so the nubs refuse to wear, even on the street, but they are still softer than anything,
whites and phil in the back,
notice the 1/4 20 bolt as a seat binder,
sugino At crankset that got the big rings chopped, this is the best crank set for your knees they are just finding out, some magical properties in the alloy and angle, so now everybody is buying up sugino old stock,
suntour xc 2, best pedal in the world for knarly sh#t,
ritchey/specialized combo headset,
tomaselli plastic motorctycle brake hanfdle with motorcycle cable housing and cable,
dia compe alloy tandem brake,
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Slakkey
Big Wall climber
From Back to Big Wall Baby
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Oct 16, 2010 - 01:12pm PT
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I agree with you Wildone on the Carbon Frame thing. As someone who works with a fair share of Carbon Fiber in Boats and Masts etc. Almost everything I design and Build is out of CF now. The quality and technology have improved significantly. The same holds true with Carbon Bike Frame Technology especially with the seamless tube stuff now. Just like road bike frames went from aluminum to aluminum / Carbon Hybrid to all carbon the same will hold true for MTBs as well.
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steelmnkey
climber
Vision man...ya gotta have vision...
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Oct 16, 2010 - 01:49pm PT
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I got nothing against carbon at all. Expect these days it holds up under regular beatin' pretty well, but I ride on a lot of really rocky trails and rocks get tossed up all the time, pounding the frame. Add in the various and sundry OTB events and I just don't really have the faith that those sorts of sharp impacts aren't going to cause damage that result in me buying a new frame. A few years back, I was cruising a downhill on the trail near my house and a rock came up and put a dent in my downtube that nearly severed the cables running along it. That's the kind of stuff that would cause me to worry about carbon. Even with aluminum, you have to worry about dents like that resulting in microfractures and such.
Besides that, I like the ride you get from aluminum and I haven't seen a compelling reason to jump off to CF for the MTB just because it's the current buzz-material of the day. It was titanium a few years back. It'll be something else in the future. No biggie. We all love our bikes. I'm about 50-50 on whether I'd go with aluminum or CF if and when I build up a new road bike.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 17, 2010 - 11:40pm PT
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Wow, 50-50 on those two materials...is like night and day for a road bike. It's like saying you're 50-50 on getting a monster truck or a ferrari. I will NEVER own an aluminum road bike. If I were a sprinter doing short races, maybe, but even then I probably wouldn't train on it. Ouch.
Dr. Sprock, the beautiful thing about a frankenbike like that, is it perfectly fits our needs and it's "under the radar" as far as being noticed by shady bike stealing folk. But it's an awesome bike.
Not much subtlety with my new ride. Doesn't really fly under the rader which sucks. I like under the radar...
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
I'm James Brown, Bi-atch!
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Oct 18, 2010 - 12:07am PT
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that alum frame i got for free from a guy at work, the forks are off an 84 stumpjumper,
i had to buy the freewheel,
everything else was laying around, so if i stack, no biggy,
things are too fast nowadays, you can get going as fast as a dirt bike, but nobody wears a motorcycle helmet and leathers, so i decided to slow things down in my old age, i ride to the grocery store on the sidewalk and check everything out instead of panic riding,
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2010 - 02:09am PT
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It's all good homie. I've always had a soft spot for the frankenbike. I definitely do not identify with the nice-bike riding-crowd. Your bike is beautiful to me, taken with your explanation. I'd much rather see someone riding an old beater with an explanation like yours for every part than someone who just whipped out the old plastic and doesn't know how to rebuild a hub.
Your bike is a purpose built urban workhorse, and it excels at it's job and I can dig it.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 18, 2010 - 02:14am PT
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Yo, is that a 21 or a 22 tooth white industries? I run an 18 in the rear, 36 in the front on my fully rigid Spot ss mtb, but I'm strong like rottweiler ;)
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Euroford
Trad climber
Louisville, CO
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Oct 18, 2010 - 01:43pm PT
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i find it odd that the CF debate rages on... get over it, the stuff is pretty tough these days, especially in comparison to the crazy light beercan thin one season and its fatigued to death aluminum frames these days. intense happens to be horrible about that btw. (i'm not saying they arn't great frames, lasting 5 years under a fatarse hack just wasn't in the design spec).
personally, i'd like to see some more supertherm steel downhill frames, which is probably closer to a super material than either having the flexibility and fatigue resistance rolled up into one. its just too hard to fabricate well.
yawn on the road bikes. i have a couple of super bling roadbikes in the garage collecting dust. not that they arn't fun... they just arn't nearly as much fun for my bike ridding time.
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wildone
climber
Troy, MT
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 19, 2010 - 12:48am PT
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Euroford, ask and ye shall receive.
My favorite bike, handmade in Vancouver by Dark Cycles....the Scarab.
9", chro-moly steel, welded by none other than Chris DeKerf..
Light enough to race, burly enough for anything.
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