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I got this 2003 Gary Fisher for $75. Shimano Alivio derailer and Altus crank. Little dents but I think it's ok. Went on a ride through suburb trails and the chain broke. Walked to a bike shop and the worker absolutely refused to install a master link insisting that I needed a whole new drive train. So now I have a spare new SRAM chain that slips without new sprockets. Raleigh Technium is much lighter but I don't think I could use a full road bike for the roads around here. Something in the middle works.
if you can deal with the chain slipping/skipping for a while it might wear in the sprockets and start working smoothly. My bikes do this- new chain on old gears is skippy/grindy feeling for a while then smooths out over time. It's either the chain stretching or gears wearing into the new chain but it takes a few long rides to smooth out.
That bike is probably not worth replacing the whole drivetrain on.
That bike is a great buy to see if you like riding. But its also not going to give you anywhere near as fun of an experience as something that's 10 years newer would. I would recommend a started MTB in the 400-500 range used, that will get you something that was pretty nice a few years ago and still nice today. Don't get me wrong, I know a lot of riders who can rip on anything, but as a new rider you'll find a ton more enjoyment with a better suspension that somewhat works, and wheels that are larger and can roll over stuff.
Ride it till the wheels fall off and see how you like the sport. Winter should be a good time to buy a used MTB
Some “upgrade when it wears out” happened on my hardtail.
I blew up the OE Marzochi Bomber fork. A Fox Float iCD replaced it early this year. Di2 battery and switch finally wired up a couple months ago. I ran it in it’s defualt “Trail” mode for a while.
Recently crunched the rear Giant SXC rim and the OE hub eventually started feeling like it was full of gravel, so...
35/30mm asymmetric carbon rims from EIE, Novatec hubs, DT spokes and nipples.
2.4 Ardent front
2.25 Ikon rear
Ashima AI2 rotors
Fox Kabolt throughbolt up front. China TI skewer out back from my road bike.
Dan that has turned into quite the nice rig. I do weekly night rides up and down blackstar that start at 5:30. I have extra lights if you want to join and need one. It's a super chill fire road up and back with a .9 mile optional single track on the way back. It's my weekly hard tail ride because it's so buff. It's a 100% social and training ride.
We could probably talk Sonny into that ride too. I would be down. Just bought new batteries for my old Dinotte system.
Little bit jelly of Dan's bike. Not as fast as my race bike but it looks like a lot more fun to ride. Ordered a set of fat asymetric carbon/Novatec/CX-Ray wheels for my Pivot from the same place (EIE Carbon) he got his wheels from. Smokin deal at $673 shipped
We should see if we can get a group ride going. My standing weekly ride is thursday nights at 5:30-6pm roll out from Peltzer. We're usually done by 8pm (7:30 if we're doing a gate to gate to gate hammer fest).
Some “upgrade when it wears out” happened on my hardtail.
I blew up the OE Marzochi Bomber fork. A Fox Float iCD replaced it early this year. Di2 battery and switch finally wired up a couple months ago. I ran it in it’s defualt “Trail” mode for a while.
Recently crunched the rear Giant SXC rim and the OE hub eventually started feeling like it was full of gravel, so...
35/30mm asymmetric carbon rims from EIE, Novatec hubs, DT spokes and nipples. 2.4 Ardent front
2.25 Ikon rear
Ashima AI2 rotors
Fox Kabolt throughbolt up front. China TI skewer out back from my road bike.
Dropped almost 2lbs, now just under 23 as shown:
PLZ remove for safety. bike is looking good!
What lights does everyone run? I'm on magicshine lights- one on the bar, one on my helmet. I've been having trouble with one battery- replaced once, new one is also not holding charge. Ordered a a glo-worm battery. When both lights are on full blast it's like daylight. amazing.
What lights does everyone run? I'm on magicshine lights- one on the bar, one on my helmet. I've been having trouble with one battery- replaced once, new one is also not holding charge. Ordered a a glo-worm battery. When both lights are on full blast it's like daylight. amazing.
Agreed on the Ardent. The only time it's acceptable is as a rear tire because drifting is awesome... in that capacity however htey only last so long before you blow a hole in the sidewall.
Regarding lights... I use an ITUO XP2 that was and still is a fantastic light when i bought it. It cost me about 170 bucks but it came with a hell of a 6800 mah battery and neutral white emitters in the form of Cree XM-L2 U3. What's important with the current crop of lights is that you get as warm of an emitter as you can afford. The warmer emitters do a great job of still showing trail definition and don't mess with your night vision. Since I have bought this light ITUO went under and got bought out. I digress... I also run a yinding (https://www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_133573.html) for my helmet which has also been a surprisingly good light for the money. Most of my friends run 2 of these because of the cost. I'd say it gets 80% of the performance and color temperature of the really expensive ****, at a fraction of the cost. I pair the yindings with these batteries http://kaidomain.com/p/S024442.KBP-1...n-Battery-Pack Buying from that website is an experience but they have been reliable for me and my buddies (8-10 purchases or so). The batteries ship through europe because of Lithium battery regulations of them coming straight from china.
Many lights out there use fake cree emitters. It's a crapshoot buying cheap **** but there are deals to be had. If you're going to go for a quality chinese product, I'd deal with these guys, https://www.rakclighting.com/ I bought my ITUO xp2 from them and the support was amazing (overnighted me a mount after the original broke right before a big trip). Otherwise I'd take a spin on the cheap chinese wheel through gearbest and kaidomain. What's important with these is knowing what you're getting into with regards to thermal throttling of the output and emitter color temp. The big difference between my 170 dollar super light and the 80 dollar (battery and light combo from gearbest and kaidomain) is the programability, remote and thermal throttling. The expensive lights have a much more granular thermal throttle and they are much more resistant to overheating. The light'n'motion etc... are much better and more consistent in this regard. For example, they all thermal throttle to some extent... but with the yinding it will drop 20% brightness for the first step. It's enough that you notice it when it happens. However, simple rolling at single track flow speed generally provides enough airflow that it will operate at 100%. The ituo wiz xp2 logic is so much better that you won't notice it throttling at all.
Another note buying chinese batteries... always order a cheap LED tail light, it basically ensures your shipment won't get held because of bulk lithium battery only shipment regulations.
P.S. I came from old magic shine 800 series tech before these lights... this new crop not only has better color temps, run times etc etc... but many of them have replaceable optics. It's been quite the game changer. If i so desired, I could ride at the same pace at night that I do during the day. I don't do that because, well, i need to get to work the next day lol. Anyway, getting the optics dialed in just right so i get the right amount of light throw without glare from dust has been awesome.
PPSS... I forgot to mention above... I pretty much don't have battery capacity issues any more with these 6800mah packs. I basically climb with my lights on medium or low and then descend in high. Either way, I could run my lights on high for about 2.5 hours before the batteries get to 20% and the logic of the lights puts them in a 50% brightness limp home mode. With the really expensive lights you can change the reserve feature logic which is cool.
Last edited by EErockMiata; 11-29-2017 at 11:50 AM.
Dan is doing XC riding on hardpack, It's a hardtail. No enduro style rock gardens at 25mph. My guess is that tire choice will be fine.
I hear ya... but that is literally my least favorite tire. I realize that crashes are the riders fault, blah blah blah... but I broke 3 ribs "because of" that tire last year. It provides so little feed back on the grip level as you're leaning the bike in that I can't handle it. It seems to have this total blank spot in it's grip between the main ***** and side ***** that catches me out constantly if i try and use it for a front tire.
I can't wait for the 29x2.35 rekon to come out so that there will officially be no reason for the ardent to exist. Rekon Front - Ikon rear is going to be my ticket to Trail/XC gold in socal.
Ardent is bad at everything. I'm sure it's fine for now... just don't replace with another one. Minion DHF for full tread front (good in socal conditions) or like EE said ^^ Rekon for slightly faster rolling.
Yall are quick!
I was not a fan of the Ardent on my old narrow wheels. I bought the 2.25 Ikon as a hold over front and used a hand me down 2.1 RaRa out back for Over The Hump XC racing. With the wide wheels, I tried the Ardent again, but still am not happy with it.
Looking at another 2.25-2.35 Ikon or Rekon front to replace it.
I'm sure you know this but I'll spew anyway because working sux. The ikon is meh for grip, but fast as hell. While not at all my ideal front tire... I prefer it over an ardent because I know what I'm getting into, fast rolling with a consistent break away and small side *****. The ardent always manages to lull me into thinking it's a DHF and then I realize that it's not at precisely the wrong time. The rekon is like if the IKON and DHF had a rape victim baby. It's definitely way more of a jack of all trades tire then the ardent is.
But seriously... I could see running that as a rear tire, if I weighed like 30-40lbs less (185 geared). I will destroy any tire under 700-800 grams in non race riding conditions within a handful of rides. I'm not typically a huge fan of using dual compound front tires, although, I do typically run dual compound rear if the tire that i want comes in that variety. I can, in select cases, use 3c max speed as front tires but they are definitely sketchy on trails like the luge for example.
I run Ardent 2.4 EXO front and rear. Have not slid out on them yet, actually gained a lot of confidence in a lot of places. Have not blown them out either, or cut them, even in rocky sections of trail. Why are these so apparently terrible? I've set some really decent Strava times with them, even with a "heavy rear". 9th of 2500 on a flow windy section of trail with multiple banked turns and pump sections (5 minute segment), and in the 30s and 40s on a few climbs that have 2000+ on the boards (1-2 minute climbs). Not that Strava is everything, but it is a good gauge for comparing myself to the people I know are fast locals. I've heard of guys feeling the "empty space" where the intermediate tread is but i have not had this problem. Then again I run a 30mm internal rim and 20-22psi front and 22-25psi rear so maybe its not an issue because of that. My buddy had the Ardent RACE and he hates them like no tomorrow, it seems like it wants to be an IKON just not as good at anything
Lights wise I just won a ZWIFT challenge at one of our local TREK stores so I got a Flare R taillight and Ion800R headlight for my helmet for night rides
Last edited by Mazdaspeeder; 12-01-2017 at 10:40 AM.
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