From someone whose other 'hobby' is HIFI I consider bikes in generally to be extraordinary value!

The average 2k bike has parts that are developed especially for purpose, taking account of the absolute latest technology in balancing strength, weight, longevity .. that's a lot of engineering. Sealed bearings, Ti bolts, CNCed bits – you would not find attention to detail like that in a car under 50k!

Also.. the manufacturers are constantly pushing to make the bikes, stronger, lighter, faster – always evolving.

If a company makes something that is a bit sh*t and doesn't really work/breaks .. then the market will abandon them straight away!

In HIFI .. £2k buys you a MID-LEVEL amplifier, ditto the speakers, and CD player .. and that's just about £100 quids worth of PCB and capacitors wrapped up in a Big flashy case..

^ So £6K buys you what audiophiles would consider a decent (but nothing special) system. Add to that there's so much 'smoke & mirrors' and snake oil in hifi – it's all over-hyped balls.. Bikes are so much more refreshing and real.

p.s. look up the price of nordost ODIN speaker cables if you are curious.. but swallow your coffee first

http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Nordost%20ODIN%20Speaker%20Cable.htm

😆 I should start a thread where people coin there own 'industry-spin' phrase…

I would say I ride mostly HAM (hardly all mountain)

Good luck with that, our old demo e5 creaked like a the door to a haunted mansion no matter what we did.

You're posting pictures of a roadie's arse on an MTB forum? 😕

Cheers for the info on the hub & weight. Looking forward to mine.

If, as a tall chap, you fancy having a play with bigger hoops.. the frame will accept 650B wheels quite happily .. which is how I'm building mine.

Weight back, pedals level .. don't let the bar drop too fast – also riding faster helps!

DT78 – Member

Interestingly in the states you can drive through a red light if you're turning right and not crossing traffic.

It actually makes a hell of alot of sense and would speed things up quite alot.

That confused the hell out of me in chicago .. you're trying to cross the road beside a crossroads and some car is edging/nudging through the mass of pedestrians 😯

On topic .. jumping reds in london on a bike is de-rigeur, but in our defense (london cycle commuters) there are a lot of them! You can only jump the odd pedestrian crossing though.. No point jumping junctions or you'll end up dead (as many do)

I think the practice of jumping reds in london was perpetuated by the original courier crowd, who literally lost money waiting around. As cycling in london has increased, that practice has been sadly adopted.. especially by fixie riding fakengers

I believe middleburn recommend 113 for the best chainline with a triple.

however, i know a lot of people have found that far too short, so unless you're running single-speed and/or are a q-factor nut, I'd go 118.

What a bunch of group-think misery guts in here.

Who cares if it looks a bit weird? – it's the ride that matters.

69ers are a "valid" design choice afterall

Would I have one? No. 😆 But that's because I've ridden a few and find the front end too high.

Beautiful frame though, if I were you I'd look at putting on some ENO cranks and a black Vicious (or Kelly) fork … A brown Ti brooks would complete the look 😳

A 650B in the front at least would quicken it up a bit 😉

Looking good! Any idea on the weight?

What a coincidence! I have one of these on the way, and I bought the same rear hub for it! Tell me, does the cassette body on yours have a bit of tightening when you backpedal?

You asked for it!

These are MOST of the bikes I've owned in the last 2 years.. missing pictures of about 6 more

^ missing pictures of my Rush, my Haro, my Pipedream, my FRM, my brompton and a couple of ratty commuters.

Yeah

Good point 😆

single speed – 5
853 – 1
650B wheels – 5+5
^built by me – 5+5

26! not bad 😐

IdleJon – Member

If you can't climb efficiently on a single pivot then I'd suggest you learn how to pedal in circles rather than mash away at the pedals like a 6 year old.

For the benefits of discussion I was offering my thoughts and experiences on many of the bikes I've demo'ed and owned. There's simply no reason to get snotty or cast crude aspersions on the the skills of someone you don't know.

Obviously, sprinting out of the saddle uphill is not a great idea on a SP bike, but sometimes is called for to attack a steep slope or gain an advantage in a race. But even sat down, on the rush for example, you sit right into the travel and having the saddle bob up and down.. constantly changing the length & angle of your pedal stroke is a bit rubbish. Other bikes keep the saddle position much more isolated from the workings of the rear shock .. so you feel much more 'supported' and your legs can work better!

The rush is a lot of fun, great bike for carving corners with a low centre of gravity but sh*te on proper rocky techy climbs. IME

IdleJon – Member

any single-pivot bike is a crap climber unless you lock it out, which defeats the object really.

Have you actually ever ridden a single pivot, or is that just an 'internet fact'?

My Rush climbs as well as any other full-sus I've ever ridden.

Then you need to ride more full-sus's 😉

I have owned a 2008 rush and it was frankly crap at climbing. There is a reason why most manufacturers have moved away from SP designs, they are simply too prone to bobbing all over the place. Ride a modern marin or whyte design (a company now sworn away from SP) and notice the actual ability to tackle technical climbs .. whilst sat down .. with the suspension still working! If you lock/pro-pedal a shock then you are simply stopping the design 'working' and you'll just slow yourself down as the rear wheel stutters and smacks into roots and rocks that the suspension should be dealing with.

How many professional XC riders do you see rocking a SP bike? hmmm. SP translates to fun, hooligan bikes – like Orange produces. Nowt wrong with that but if you want genuine versatility look at something like a Trek EX or Whyte e120.

I have worked in bike retail for many years and test ridden many many bikes, but these are simply my subjective thoughts and experiences.

any single-pivot bike is a crap climber unless you lock it out, which defeats the object really.

650B in a pipedream frame

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136184&id=131226129024#!/photo.php?pid=3898600&id=131226129024

Are the decals under the clear-out or peel-off ??

I have a one 650B bike on the go (haro Beasley) and another being built.

I used to ride with the lads at Chevin Cycles (29er centre) and it cannot be denied that bigger wheels help on long climbs and smoothing things out.

However, the geometry changes always meant the bikes seemed a bit sluggish to me. 650B is a way of reaping the benefits of a larger wheel size but staying nimble and, as others have mentioned, shorter chainstays help you get the front wheel up and over larger obstacles.

http://www.dinosaurbikes.com sells a small selection of 650B products in the UK.

I don't know why people pooh-pooh the idea of 650B, the manufacturers producing 650B stuff aren't making any bold claims- try it if you want.
26" wheels came about by convenience, much as 29ers did "hey, let's try a ROAD sized wheel in an MTB"

650B is the first time someone (Kirk Pacenti) has taken stock, thought about it and decided to start from scratch on the most "appropriate" size for MTBs considering things like handling and long-travel considerations.

There's no BS here

What about the Pipedream 853 ?

Nice steel HT with 853 main triangle, 130mm forks and £295 !

http://www.bikemagic.com/gear-news/pipedream-sirius-r853/7571.html

I have one coming 🙂

I feel the same about 650B .. it makes no claims to offer radically different performance changes from 26" or 29ers but unlike the other 2, wasn't simply born of convenience (26" became the norm due to the availability of cruiser tyres in the 70s & 29ers are just 700C road wheels)

Although 650B has existed for years as a touring/road standard (although there were some 27.5/650B bikes built by tom ritchey BITD) it has required a real joint effort between manufactures such as Pacenti, Velocity, White Brothers and Jamis/Haro simply to bring it into an 'MTB existence'.

I started Dinosaur Bikes to bring 650B to UK riders, making a small selection of 650B products available for people to try.

I know Singular cycles and Pipedream cycles among others are releasing 650B orientated frames this year so it is a case of when not if!

650B is attacked for being a bit 'niche' but unlike many hair-brained/fly by night MTB standards, this one makes a lot of sense… Good ideas don't tend to go away.

if you want to know anything else about 650B stuff in general, contact me @ david@dinosaurbikes.com

cheers

I've never ever had chainsuck on any bike ever.. (10 different MTBs over the last 3 years)

I always make sure i have a high quality rear hub that freewheels cleanly though .. i always imagined that cheap hubs not engaging when you back pedal / level pedals cause problems with 'suck

pipedream sirius … ! nice bike, nicer price …http://www.pipedreamcycles.com/sirius_2010.html

will do 130mm

Lightweight, but goes rusty as others have said .. bearings are non-replaceable so it'd be a case of removing the whole headset for potential warranty replacements .. load o' hassle methinks

"Horror taxi – not sure about the 650b wheel thing"

If you're worried about tyres/rims etc. I have started to import 650B products (check my profile) so it should be a more common sight on these shores before very long.

Handling is similar to 26" wheels (i.e much nicer than wrestling a 29er around) but with more speed, grip and smoother over rough ground.

T!ts can be shy, you need to coax them out – you can't just get your balls out and expect t!ts to flock to you.

Try playing some Barry White, let them know your balls aren't a threat and before long they'll come grab a mouthfull

Thanks for the words of wisdom chaps!

You do have to angle the gobi down a bit so that the back end swoops up, but it is the best saddle I've used. I have a charge saddle here that'll I'll go sit on now ……… mmm not bad

*cheeky plug* I have a pair of 43s for sale in the classifieds (new)

yeti arc deserves a mention

Much as I'd love to say a Yo Eddy or Klein attitude – being realistic it has to be the Kona/Turner Burner or the Mountain Cycles mentioned above… these bikes set the mould for modern MTBs.

Original stumpy was a mass-produced blatant rip-off of Tom Ritchey's design at the time.

Although the bike I'd most like to own has to be a Merlin Newsboy

2010 for 650B 😀

Advantages of bigger wheels but retaining 26" geometry and suspension travel – ergo, they ride faster but handle like 26"

.. It's coming 😉

senny's are awesome, close to my grados

He's always down at my local. He didn't even win the last music quiz! 🙂

naim owners are typically a bit weird – worshippers of the cult of the green glow, not really "ghey" though

We need to know about the partnering kit .. speakers? sensitivity? What sort of music do you like? Naim is a fun sound, but a bit coloured/unrealistic for vocal stuff. I loved my sugden a21a but it needs suitable speakers etc…

I commute into Central London (N1) most days wearing phones .. I've never felt one bit less aware or robbed of spacial awareness with em in – Mind you there's so much traffic noise in general and so many cars around me that I always expect cars to be everywhere at any time.

My sister cycles everywhere and is deaf – is she a moron?

bananaworld – Member
Ooh wow, now we're gettting some REALLY lovely suggestions. I've got lots to think about now, thanks folks

(And, obviously, 650b exists, but I've had enough trouble getting decent 29er tyres that I reckon sourcing 650b tyres must be a proper pain…)

That will soon change! I'm setting up to bring 650B products to the UK .. got rims, tyres are en route. 🙂