It’s my name, and i’m at home.

Steel bikes and plastic bikes do ride quite differently in my opinion. I’ve got a steel, an Aluminium and a full cabon bike at the moment. The steel one is a lugged Supercorsa, the Aluminium is an Racelight RC2 and the plactic one is a R3SL. They are all set up with pretty good kit. The Cinelli probably weighs in around 20.5 the RC2 at 16 and the R3SL around 15. The setup is kind of similar, in terms of where the wheels are, bars, saddle etc, crank length etc. I’d like to put my finger on what makes them all different in terms of how they ride, but it’s not easy to do.

I’d say that the R3SL is the most comfy bike on a long ride, as well as the quickest. it is only 6 lbs lighter than the Supercorsa, but is much more responsive, even if you are loaded down with 2 full water bottles and running the same wheelset.

The Supercorsa gives you a warm glow inside to look at, if you like that kind of thing. The RC2 is just a fantastic do anything road bike, light, fast, responsive. The frame is very stiff, in the front half. This is not a attribute to be ignored when picking a bike. I have had bikes (steel, titanium and Carbon) that have scared me silly when either decending or sprinting.

Basically i guess that you can’t really judge how a bike is going to ride by the material that it’s made from. With aluminium to some extent this is possible i guess, as they are on the whole going to be reasonably stiff. But i’ve have lightweight steel frames that have been hideously uncomfortable and carbon frames that have been like spongecake.

Ride before you buy.

Our garden is infested with these, but then i do live in New Zealand. I’m always chopping away at them at any time of year with no ill effects. Ours our in flower now, mid summer. They seem to flower every year. Maori (no plural!) have some ritual before cutting them down. I have one too, which involves a hell of a lot of swearing, as i hate gardening.

Get Gripped! I was at the beach the other day and saw a Police Holden Captiva try and go over some dunes, which were very tame and it had to be towed out by some dudes in a Hi-Lux. The wheels wouldn’t even turn on the sand, what’s with that? I don’t know much about 4×4’s but i’m pretty sure that some are just rubbish. Wish i’d of filmed it thou, it was quite commical.

Good thread. I’ve got a couple of kids. My son (alomst 7) is terribly ungrateful of anything i try to do for him, buy him etc. This is pretty much the case with whatever. I’m pretty sure it’s a personality thing as our daughter isn’t as bad. From a very young age our son always ‘expected’ things and rarely acted with gratitude when recieving gifts etc.

I recently built him, as a father/son project an (if i do say myself) amazing tree house. I thought he’d love this as i used to have an old door nailed in a tree by my dad, so obviously i thought that this would be well recieved. Nope! my lad’s an arse, nothing is good enough for him, time spent with him, trips out etc…. He doesn’t really appreciate what he’s got or cares how much it costs (not that i think he could comprehend this at his age anyway) I think to the OP you should be grateful for what you have (in terms of her attitude etc) and the rest will follow, once she has to buy stuff for her own kids.

But yer kids today have more stuff than you did. But then so do you, a wahing machine cost like a months wages, a car a years wages etc…. do you appreciate your car/washing machine as much as your folks did, i doubt it.

I’ve just used this, as it’s 4 years since i last did one, very useful resource.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb8BNsFcINQ

Although i am quite badly dyslexic.

I haven’t lost much, except a nice pair of sunglasses, that just disapeared, very strange. However i’m always finding things:

2 pairs of Oakleys
2 Pumps
2 Multi Tools

At these things happan in 3’s i’m eagerly awaiting some more kit in the new year. :D

where great for me a few years back,although it took almost 2 weeks to come with no snow. it’s cheaper buying a rack from them and paying 120 postage to NZ than buying one here! 8O

I’ve run out of beer and tonic, so it’s Bombay Saphire neat for me, :wink:

He who dares gins.

I’m now stuck with a horrid Hyundi Getz that cost 5K AUD with 128k km. I’d need another 5-10K to get a replacement Golf over here

Yeah Aus prices are just insane! I suppose you get paid more there but the house/car/beer prices are truly mental. The average age of a car in NZ is 12 years old, so we are seen as proper rich having post millenium cars. 8O

Thanks, they are all pretty low KM imports here, normally verified mileage, it’s just what gets imported, i guess commutes in Japan are shorter :?

Yeah i fugured the 2.0 wasn’t much more HP than the 1.6. I’ve give the 1.8T a go tomorrow, is there much difference in the pre 2002 cars? I don’t hink they all have the tiptronic and the stability control? is that right?

As much i love many of the bands listed above i think music does date. For example Primal Scream are just about to do a tour playing the entire Screamadelica album. Laast time i saw that was in Glastonbury, i was about 17 years old and ripped to the tits on a lot of acid. I’m not sure if today’s 17 year olds would have any interest in that at all? I might be completely wrong thou.

By way of an experiemnt i’ll pop along to said gig and see what the yoof of today make of it all. I think music has changed, it’s just us old gits that have stayed the same.

I’ve got 2 mitsubishi electric ones. My house is 150m2 and i have a 5.8 in the lounge and a 3.2 in the master bedroom. I’ve got it on air-con at the moment as it’s roasty here tonight 8)

They are awsome, way better than my gas central heating in the UK. However they only work down to -14 i think, and the colder outside the harder they have to work. Dead economical to run though. every 1kw of energy used they put out about 3kw in heat.

rule of thumb. go for bigger than you need, and only ONLY get a decent brand ie Panasonic, fujitsu or Mitsubishi etc. No name ones are shitty in my experience.

hope that helps

The reason that they are percieved as more comfy is due solely to the flex. The 440mm ones (correct for 100mm travel bikes) flex quite a lot more than the 420mm ones. I run both on bikes with similar geometry.

The carbon in no percievable way compress’s so they will only seem as comfy as a similary flexy steel fork. I always let a lttle air out on tyre when running them rather than my sus forks. No de-bonding issues with either of mine, nor have i seen it happan personally. Saying that they may well do, but don’t listen to me anyway as Sheldona say’s i know nothing about bikes and just talk out my arse :(

I did say ‘that sort of thing‘ I could not be bothered to list anymore, and remember it’s just an opinion, and only mind at that. And apparently i don’t know anything about bikes anyway. :P

meeee! meee!, pick me! my bike is best! I spent so much **** money on it it must be the besssst!? no concur? oh bum, I could’ve got that patio.

Innit though? What a load of bolleaux…

I must however, agree with that completely.

crazy-legs – Member

Niche and boutique are largely interchangeable words when it comes to the bike industry aren’t they? Custom is a bit different, it has a much broader spectrum.

Grey area I reckon, i still maintain that niche is something a bit different than the mainstream in actual design. For example you could have a custom Nicolai, but is it considered Niche? As you see quite a few Nicolais around, but if you see say a Soulcraft, bought off the rack then would it have more niche value? I say the whole pigeon hole’ing’ thing is muddy so say the least. It’s very subjective.

tazzymtb – Member

see in the above quote you are clearly talking bollards as a custom bike is specifically designed to the riders needs and wishes without all the little compromises that have to go on boutique or mainstream frames.

Not really what i meant, if that was the interpretation. What i meant was niche would be like custom frame (which i do own a couple of, and i would class as niche’y’) and also the more (i apologise for saying pointless, i’m sure that they are just the ticket for some folk)like the Jones’s. And by referring to these i was meaning their production frames, which you could just buy off the shelf, but still seen as a niche i’d say, as they are certainly outside what most would consider mainstream design. Not their customs. I did not state that all custom bikes are pointless, the point is that unless your a mental or your frame builder is then your custom frame would be any thing but pointless.

tollah – Member

No beef really, you’re just talking out of your backside as most people on here seem to when they talk about something they clearly know nothing about.

That’s a interesting angle! I wrote this based on what i see as stock kept in bike shops that have the reputation as being ’boutique’.

And I’d thank you not to make assumptions about people and what you think that they know. You do not know me. Idiot.

I can’t be bothered to read this thread. I’m just sitting here waiting for ‘how to train your dragon’to finish so i can then put my son to bed.

I ride a SS, and have for some years to: Not go faster, not to bed cool. But because i like riding my bike around the woods where ever i may live, and unwind, relax, enjoy the ride and the scenery and not have to worry about anything else. I find my geared bikes you have that thing in the back of your mind; “should i change up, should i change down’ thing going on. You don’t get that with SS, just ride your bike, enjoy it. If it’s too steep push, if it’s too flat spin.

I don’t have a beard.

Yup custom bikes are pointless and Stupid, A little like your post then.

And why’s that? Just trying to clarify where i think things stand for me anyway. What’s your beef?

No, perfectly legal, tuck in.

Would boutique be a bike that the majority of those sold would be frame only (and pretty spendy at that) whist Niche would be made to order, only as a frame (and pretty stupid and pointlesss i.e. a Jones)?

I’d list as Boutique:
Turner
Santa Cruz
Nicolai
Titus
Ibis
Litespeed
Dean
Merlin
That sort of thing

Niche:
Jones
IF
Anything made in some blokes shed etc…..

Mainstream:
Mostly Alloy stuff made pretty well in big factorys like kinesis.

I’m not sure were bikes like One On’s fit, but they arn’t really niche, or mainstream and not at all boutique’y’ IMO :?

From this page DrP?

From this page DrP?

:wink:

Naw, not that fit really TJ. I used to race a bit a few years ago, but got quite lazy in recent times. I’m not ‘unfit’ i can do a 1.45 half marathon and cycle 100k without too many issues, but i wouldn’t say i’m particularly athletic.

I think about 11 or so in varying states of disassembly/transmogrification, they are all awesome thou and rare as hens teeth i’m sure there will be no case of SNAP!

can’t see that i’ll be needing them if i’m dead, just offer the wife a new vacuum cleaner in exchange i’m sure she’ll agree to the deal! :P

TJ, what sort of test would determine the electrical conductivity of the heart?

Hey, I’ll settle for just knowing what it could/might be, I know they wouldn’t of let me go if it was going to be immediatly fatel but i’d still like to find out what’s causing these ‘episodes’. As yet i haven’t got any real idea, which is kinda bothering me, you know as it’s my heart and all, and that’s what keeps me alive in the short term. :?

Christ on a bike, that is old! 8O

Thanks Don Simon! is 36 considered old now-a-days? :lol:

Cheers, I know, it’s a bit silly asking on here, but I did ask the senior cardiologist when i was hospital, he rushed in and out, and i was still asking him questions as he was walking out the door, I was being as pushy as i could be whilst still wired to the bed. I’ve got ‘Atrial septal defect’ which is the condition they said i had – but they said that this would not cause the dizzyness etc. All they diagnosed was sinus Bradycardia, which is just a description of the slowness as far as i can tell.

The one thing that did make sense was that a nurse seemed to think that it could be the electrical signals to the heart were screwy. Although i aced the stress test and they thought i was fine?

I agree it’s a wierd one but have come across other people on other forums that have posted very similar syptoms to mine and wondered if there was anyone here that has also had this? I don’t know how common it is?

and there is sod all difference in weight or geometry between a ten year old Titus racer-x and one you buy today, and only 12mm difference in rear travel. I’ve ridden a few bikes myself njee20 and i’d say the diferences are small, and certainly not ‘night and day’as you suggest.

The Rocky Mountain ETSX climbs very well, and that must be getting on for 10 years old.

You find it hard to agree with people sometimes i’ve noticed njee20.

njee20 – Member

Ride a modern FS bike, ‘climbs well’ is very subjective! I assure you that there’s a day and night difference between 10 year old and current bikes

That sounds like something that someone that works in a bike shop might say! :lol:

njee20 – Member

10 years ago you could get a working full suss bikes with disc brakes weighing 24lbs which climbed pretty well and had 4″ travel at each end

What fits that bill? I had a 2001 S-Works FSR, v-brakes, old SIDs, full XTR etc, pedalled like sh1t and weighed about 26lbs.

If you swapped that frame for a Turner XCE, ligter tyres maybe and wheels you’d be getting towards 24lbs (although i would say a little over with 10 year old disc brakes) But from memoey they rode pretty well. I’d say it could be done, my old litepeed was 22lbs back in the day. Still got the frame, a 99 Tellico, still awesome.

cookeaa – Member

There’s a fair amount more marketing shite about these days and apparently even more mugs to hoover it up.

MTB “technology” such as it is hasn’t moved a billion miles since the 90s.

With all respect, that simply isn’t true.

More use of carbon and stronger components. Stronger/Lighter essentially. But not that much (if you look at XTR) it hasn’t got lighter really, just stiffer. Disc brakes are way better than they were 10 years ago, and a lot cheaper.

I’d say the main innovations are the forks and rear shocks. Suspension design is better in the mainstream with links that actually work. But designs like the 4 bar i.e. Turner (old 4 bar type) – the Horst link and the type on the Specilized are still running today. Patents etc and an existing working design made other companies innovate i.e. the DW link.

Bikes are better now, but mainly due to the works of RockShox and Fox, my bike would feel pretty much the same with 10 year old components, but change the suspension and it wouldn’t ride as well as it does.

Surrounded By Zulus – Member
I would go to the docs.

That was sound advice Zulu’s I ended up in hostpital for 2 days strapped to an ECG and on a drip (god knows why, i’d had 3 cups of tea) I went in to get a spider bite checked, that had gone manky and they took my pulse (39BPM) that’s when they looked concerned, I’m sure that it shouldn’t of been that low, as i had just walked 2km there and as i was faint too. Bit wierd for a non-athlete type.

I’m lungs were crap, poor peak flow and still had the chest pains. Still no idea what’s wrong with me, they took a CAT scan too, although they didn’t tell me why, i would of thought a chest x-ray would of been more use, but then i’m not a doctor.

I’ve got some inhalers now, see if that helps?

So….. if in doubt go to the doctors i guess!

Cheers for the replies guys, maybe i should get to the doctors then?

An example of how the effect is: at work there is a short flight of stairs, one story. Half way up i’m tired, at the top i’m out of breath and can hardly talk. But yesterday i did a 15km of road run with about 2000 feet of climbing, descending without any issues (except dodgy knees)

I ride mostly single speed off road, and i used to do a lot of road miles, not so much now. I am going pretty well and do some anaerobic work at the gym. But thinking about it it is when i start anaerobic work that i feel the tightness in the chest. Or at the very start of a ride, i just want to give up until i’m warmed up.

So the upshot is then that i should get to the doctors then?