The Bike Thread

[ESHALLBETTER]

Too much bike for MN.

[Andy Jones]

Going It goes just fine, we should go for a ride soon so I can show you how to work that thing

It doesn't GO anywhere, as of right now.... its been sitting in the garage for a week and a half.

[93Bronquito]

Why, whats up with it or are you just driving the car for work?

[SteveG]

Got a flat today. The funny thing is I bought some new tubes this morning. I wish I'd installed them sooner, though. I hopped on it to go to lunch and trashed a sidewall in less than a foot.

So, what are decent cheap tires? I have an Intense Comp 70 on the rear and a 60 in the front. I do zero dirt riding on this. It's a Specialized P3 and strictly a pavement commuter. I'm thinking about switching to a street tread. What do you guys think?

[PBR]

i would stay away from a knobby tire and go with more of an urban assault tire. maybe something like these:
http://www.biketiresdirect.com/search/s ... -mtb-tires

[BajaBronco13]

Best smoothie tire I ever rode was the Specialized Fat Boy slicks. Problem is that it's a 1.25" wide tire but you can run them super hard with lots of air. I rode from South Gate to Downtown LA and back for work every day and that was about a 30 mile round trip and those tires never let me down. I still have a new set in the garage.

[SteveG]

I went to the local bike shop and got a Bontrager H2 for $25.99. I've never heard of the brand but I like the tread and it felt just about as light as what I took off. I also put some Slime tubes on it, so hopefully it'll be many years before I have to pull the tires off again.

[johncharlesb]

I switched to a smooth tire like that on my pos commuter bike and it worked well. The slime tubes, and cheap tubes in general, have been problematic for me. They seem to be prone to failure at the seam surrounding the valve stem where the tube is stretched. That slime stuff also makes it impossible to patch tires on the roll. It impedes the patch cement from bonding the rubbers together.

Besides an ugly pos box store bike that gets all the ride time, I have a Haro Group B, a GT i-drive 3.0, and a Trek 2100 carbon road bike.

[yikes]

Bontrager

Keith?? Bontrager. One of the oldest names in mountain biking. I believe they originated from your neck of the woods, along with all of the other 70's fat tire guys.

[SteveG]

Bontrager

Keith?? Bontrager. One of the oldest names in mountain biking. I believe they originated from your neck of the woods, along with all of the other 70's fat tire guys.

Maybe? I don't know. The tire looks a little goofy. I should have gotten something wider. Oh well.

[johncharlesb]

Here are some pictures of the various bikes around here. I am working on a powered Wally World scooter in the basement now because it is too cold and wet to do anything outside. It has a Chinese 66cc engine on it and has yet to be fired. I will probably work on a better tank, lights, and pick up white tires. It will be registered as a moped for $15 so whitey doesn't hassle me.

There is also an old Haro, newish GT, old Trek carbon, and a goofy grocery bike that gets comfortably ridden more than all the rest and would be pointless to steal.

Some of the pics are fuzzy whatever quality...
...helps hide some of the ugly.

[Dust]

Some sweet rides here.
Most of you have been far more serious about riding then I so I'm curious if I can get a recommendation or two.
I'm going to get back into riding I'll be tuning up my ridged Sherpa for pavement duty soon. My Doc recommends that I switch to full Susp and a 29 to protect my back and allow me to push as hard as I can (he rides) in the dirt. Ok, great, but I do not have the multiple thousands that it would take to get to a "Serious" ride...
What should I look for?
What should I expect to drop (remember this comes out of the Bronco Budget)?
About the only thing I know I want is disk Brakes and full suspension, this bike will be ridden (for medicinal purposes) by a guy that stands 6'6" and now hefts 260# (which is down 20 in the past 5 weeks!). I started MTB in the late 60's so I think that makes me old but I hope that I can pick it back up with out falling off too often! Oh I live in the heart of 2-track and single track in the central Oregon Cascades.

TIA
Chris

[PBR]

just bought my 4 year old a new bike. anyone remember the pk ripper? it is the bike all the cool kids had back in the day when i was on my huffy!

they now have a "lil' ripper" which is a 16" bike that's perfect for my little ripper!

[johncharlesb]

just bought my 4 year old a new bike. anyone remember the pk ripper? it is the bike all the cool kids had back in the day when i was on my huffy!

they now have a "lil' ripper" which is a 16" bike that's perfect for my little ripper!

Yeah, I remember the PK, my buddy has a very nice one. Those are superb bikes. I had a Race Inc bike back in those days.

Dust, I would suggest a hard tail bike for general riding. You just give up too much efficiency with a full suspension bike with the suspension soaking up your pedal power. A spring seat will take you a long way. I took my GT full suspension for a 65 mile ride and it was pretty rough compared to my road bike.

[Nick]

I've been wanting to get back on a bike for some time now. I'm looking at getting a Specialized Hardrock sport. For what i want to do, it seems to fit the bill. I've been looking on Craigslist, and have seen some going in the 3-4 hundread dollar range.

Anyone have any opinions on that bike?

[johncharlesb]

I've been wanting to get back on a bike for some time now. I'm looking at getting a Specialized Hardrock sport. For what i want to do, it seems to fit the bill. I've been looking on Craigslist, and have seen some going in the 3-4 hundread dollar range.

Anyone have any opinions on that bike?

My opinion: This would be an excellent choice to "...Get back on a bike." You might want to look at a Trek 820 too. If you are buying used make sure the frame is not too small.

This would probably be a better choice for Dust than a full suspension bike.

Specialized makes nice bikes and hardtails are better all around bikes than full suspension bikes. If I was in the market for a good general purpose bike, this would be one of the contenders. Make sure the size of bike frame fits your human frame; most bike shops will offer free fitting. This would also be the type of bike I would recommend to Dust. You may want to change the bars to something with a bit more setback if you do not want to be leaning over a lot. The weight can get to the hands and wrists after a longer ride. A larger gel and/or spring seat might be in order for those with a little more girth.

[magic carpet XLT]

What should I look for?
What should I expect to drop (remember this comes out of the Bronco Budget)?

personally, i would look used on craigslist. a guy your size is probably going to want at least an L to XL frame. there is no real sizing standard (you could go off of seat tube height or top tube length but its not really accurate or posted by every maker) as modern bikes have such varied geometry and layouts its nearly impossible to compare 2 bikes unless they are side by side in your hands. i've ridden larges that made other companies mediums seem big, and vice versa. proper fit is the MOST IMPORTANT part of buying a bike. if you want to ride for more than an hour at a time trust me, don't get stuck on something thats too small, too tall etc it will cause your posture to be less than desirable and riding might actually do more harm than good.

don't bother with all the marketing hype about which rear suspension has the best braking, pedaling blah blah blah. stick with something simple and reliable, you don't want a bike thats going to be hell to maintain (not to be rude, but guys your size are hard on components. the avg cross country racer weigh half what you do and most components are designed for that amount of abuse)


several bikes that i can recommend as good all around starter bikes:
santa cruz heckler (i would rate this as one of the top 5 most versatile, reliable, simple bikes of all time)
specialized FSR (xc, comp they have a ton of different names for everything, just means different components really)
giant trance

i would hang around the local bike shops, see what they sell (as that will determine parts availability), what they have problems with, and get some test rides in on bikes they have in stock to get a feel for different sizes, geometries, suspension platforms etc. i'm sure its out of the budget (at least its out of mine and i have a thing for expensive bikes) but buying a new bike is really the best way to go. new components, warranty, better support from the bike shop etc. new bikes also tend to ride smoother. its kinda like buying a nice new car, except your body takes the abuse directly from the bike. i've bought used bikes, built up frames etc and by the time all is said and done its pretty close cost wise. i've spent 3x on bikes compared to bronco expenses for the last 3 or 4 years, but i also have a lot more fun riding the super gnar 2 or 7 times a week than taking the truck out into the dirt once every couple of months.

set a budget of $1500, that will get you something reliable, something that fits well, something thats not been beat up by the previous owner, and most importantly something with current components. bikes are like electronics, its mostly based on planned obsolescence and sometimes old stuff while simpler ends up being more expensive to get.

i have not hopped on the 29er bandwagon and never will. a 26" is more than adequate for what you want to do. hope my ramblings help.

[Dust]

That is a large help actually!
Put that same question on anything like a "Bike" board and all you get it $4000 and up answers!
I have a ridged 26 in CrMo that is about 15-years old, I rode everything and ended up with the 4th lowest cost frame set, it beat out everything at that time, and I still love it, like it is alive and that was a hard thing to find at my size...but I can't absorb the hits like I could, just like falling off my Skate Board is something I dread anymore... When did the darn ground get so dang hard!?!
Any way thanks!
Chris aka Dust

[Broncodawg]

Funny how the older we get, the faster the ground comes up at us!!

[Dust]

Funny how the older we get, the faster the ground comes up at us!!

Truth