Mountain Bikes What’s the difference ?

Because riding styles and equipment have evolved to suit different terrain, deciding which bicycle is right for you will be easier if you know what type of terrain you intend to ride. A common misconception is that a new rider needs more suspension because of the added control.

While the added suspension may instill confidence in some technical sections, often time the relaxed geometry is not suited to less experienced riders. On the other hand, it is just as hard to avoid the temptation of the ultra-light bike. The benefits of light weight are undeniable, but a novice rider will find XC racing bikes can be difficult to control when the trail gets rough.

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XC Racing Bikes

Often called Cross Country bikes, XC Racing bikes are designed to tackle a mountain from the bottom.Lightweight and efficient, XC bikes often sacrifice comfort and control as luxuries you can’t afford when racing to the top.
XC bike frames are either hardtail or short travel, semi-active suspension designs.
Long and low, XC bikes put the rider in a stretched out position. Best suited to gradual terrain. If your idea of mountain biking is fitness and endurance you may want to consider a XC Racing bike. If you consider the best rider the one who made it to the top first, then your choice is made.

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XC Trail Bikes

Often called all-purpose, XC Trail bikes are what most people think of when they hear the phrase “mountain bike”. XC Trail bikes are designed to climb with control and comfort and descend with speed.

With active suspension, knobby tires and low gearing the XC trail bike is slightly less efficient than an XC Racing bike but can be more enjoyable to ride downhill. As terrain gets steeper, trails tend to get rockier and the ultra-light XC Racing bike may ride roughly, but the XC Trail bike is right at home. If you like the idea of challenging yourself on a rocky climb, enjoy extended singletrack descents and want to battle it out with your friends going uphill or down, An XC Trail bike may be for you.

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All-Mountain Bikes

Some riders just need more. As adventures get longer and trails more remote, many riders see increased value in reliability and downhill control. The bigger tires, plush suspension and powerful brakes of the All-mountain bike are an insurance policy against accidents and mishaps and can be just plain fun to ride. With geometry suited to steep terrain and small drop-offs All-mountain bikes can inspire confidence, however, on more mild terrain they can feel sluggish. If you are an all-day adventurer or ride harsh trails you may be an All-mountain rider.

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Freeride Bikes

Freeride bikes are designed to ride the most extreme types of terrain. Steep chutes, large rocks and roots, big jumps and drop-offs, and just about anything else, natural or man-made, that you can imagine. With only the occasional concession made for even the thought of riding uphill, freeride bikes are mountain biking’s version of monster trucks. Blurring the line between bicycle and motorcycle, bikes with eight inches of rear wheel travel, three inch wide tires, and eight inch diameter brake rotors are commonplace.
If you are attracted to the challenge of going big and see mountain biking as a source of individual expression, Freeriding will appeal to you.

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Downhill Bikes

Finally Downhill bikes are designed to go fast.With up to 10 inches of travel, they eat up rough terrain. In many cases they are damped to stay glued to the turf, so they are not really designed for jumping or grabbing big air. At 20 kilos plus, weight is no issue for these monsters as they are not designed for going up. If you think the best rider is the first one to the bottom and you have a truck to take you back to the top this might be the bike for you. But if you intend to pedal anywhere, beware you might need to allow a few extra hours.

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Street/DirtJumper Bikes

These bikes fall a little outside a nice describable continuum. With a raked back frame and super tough components Dirt jump bikes are built to take a pounding. Borrowing super big forks from their downhill brothers these bikes can be pretty versatile. Some riders prefer this set up for 4 cross and downhill. Also a cost effective alternative for those wanting to fly high on a budget. The efficient rear end allows for added spring when launching. But with your knees around your ears, if you live 10 km's from your local dirt park it can be a pretty uncomfortable pedal.

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New bike racks have arrived!

Well I'm Excited. They're here at last. The new and improved second generation bike rack. I just picked them up tonight.

They still retain the fast lock down and release of the earlier model.
However new features include:

• Catch bar for full open gate,
• Wider 55mm wheel holder for those fatter tyres (yes Daniel that's your bike in there)
• Stronger 180 degree custom hinges
• Flat packable for easy storage
• Handy size adjuster for different trailer sizes
  
• New 3+3 split gate

I estimate the sale price will be about $720.00. But I'll work it out fully when all the bills are in.
Stay tuned!

Ride schedule for May

Trail ratings explained

You may notice that the latest ride schedule includes trial ratings. For an explanation, you may like to refer to the following table, taken from the IMBA web site. Usually the chosen rides have been scouted previously or ridden by me (albeit many years ago). If in doubt about the suitability of any scheduled ride, give me a call. Cheers Nic

How to service your Bike?

I am thinking of organizing a Saturday Night (after hours 6:00 to 8:00) at my favorite Cycle Science. Either Mark or Daryl will be on hand to take us through the basics of bike servicing. If you are interested to come along, let me know so that I can finalize the date. I think that due to the limited space in the service area, I will need to cap the numbers at about 6 people. First in first served.

Cheers Nic

Ride schedule for April/May

Breathing life into those old Girvin forks

Back in the day, I always wanted to get myself a Proflex bike with Vector forks. Unfortunately my desires outweighed my budget. Come to think about it not that much has changed.



After a conversation about the good old days, I was stoked to come across a stash of three Girvin Vector forks in the attic of my LBS (march 2009). Unfortunately, it’s been hot up there, and as is common, the upper soft bumper was just a puddle on the shelf and the high-density lower bumper was now rock hard.

You can still see the traces of the upper elastomer on the lower fork leg

A quick scan of the Internet and a couple of options become apparent. Some people still have a stash of bumpers, so that is an option. However elastomer bumpers change with age, so I was a little dubious about 15 year old floor stock. Also it should be noted that those yellow marshmallows were considered real weakness of these forks.
So what about upgrade kits. The drawn back with these kits however is they retrofit the existing shock damper. And in the case of my stash, the dampers were knackered and on one fork non-existent. The damper is the thing that differentiates your fork from a pogo-stick. Though possible, I have absolutely no idea how to rebuild the damper. Speed springs don’t seem to carry Kits anymore. Luckily it looks like a crowd in the UK still have them, so this is definitely an option.
Finally if you have the bucks, Risse do a nice job with some up to date retro fit kits. I however have neither the bucks nor the desire to purchase one of these solutions.

What I did have however was a reasonable Fox vanilla rear shock out of an old frame. Measuring 165mm from eyelet to eyelet, with a bit of work this shock could possibly work.

Now although I'm handy, I’m no engineer. But asking around, I found a few people with lathes that I could use. So I picked up a little alloy (6061 T6 20mm rod), and some bushing material (Vesconite 16 mm rod) and set to work.











Step 1 was to remove the upper link pivot. I want to replace one side of this with a solid piece with a M6 thread tapped in the center. I used the existing piece to take my measurements .


Next removing the shock allows me to measure up the bottom mounting tube to get the measurements needed for its alloy replacement.


It’s a little bit blurry, but you get the idea. Be careful when pulling the fork apart to not lose the shims and bushings. I pretty well re used them where I could. The small grey pieces are vesconite bushing that I also turned up on the lathe. I turned these down about as thin as I dared, about 1.5 mm wall thickness, with 2mm collars. I then machined the alloy step down to match the bushes internal hole.






Also just to the edge of this picture you will notice a 75mm M6 bolt, high tensile, that I purchased. It clamps both sides of the bottom bar together either side of the shock. Actually there are two bolts required, one top and one bottom.






Now all that is left is to assemble the parts and reinstall the fork. Here’s the fork installed on my old trek alpha frame. Yee Ha!

You may notice that the valve has only minimal clearance from the top link. This makes putting air in the shock a little awkward. To pressurize the shock I used a couple of toe straps to hold the fork in the compressed position. This has the effect of swinging the link up out of the way. Next it was a simple matter to pump it up and then release the straps.

Finally, a couple of notes for those that want to do this modification for themselves: The smaller vanilla shock clears everything and hence is a quick fit.

However the slightly larger fox shocks with rebound damping ect., hit the upper link. Below is a close up of the link with a little material removed. This took about 10 mins with a half round file, no big deal really.

As soon as word got out that my modification was up and operational, a couple of shocks were found and installed into the other two forks.
To get your hands on one of these forks call: Daryl at: Cycle Science, (03) 9560 2744
Glen Waverley
Victoria, Australia

Finally, one more question. How does it ride?

Well firstly, it was a real conversation starter . So from that point of view it’s cheap fun.

On my first ride out, I took the new setup for a 20 k loop, on some mellow single track and it preformed okay. Not as good as the Duke xc’s on my son's cross country bike. But certainly better than some entry level RST’s that you get on a cheap bike. Even today, the precise steering and handling that these forks provide is still a revelation.
I run about 130 psi in the shock, which makes it plush for the sort of cruisey riding I do on this bike. Remember this is only a lightweight fork with about 50mm of travel, so you can easily bottom the fork out if you try. I tried putting more air in the shock but that just makes it too hard.
So I suggest, that if you want to bomb down hills or grab big air, get a real fork.
If however, like me, you appreciate thinking outside the box, and would like to pay homage to some earlier engineering pioneers, then get these forks out of the shed and give a conversion a go. From the marrying of piece of disused retro engineering and a surplus, modern shock, you too could end up with a cool looking serviceable fork.

Ride scedule March/April

Ride schedule for February/March