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I started mountain biking way back, and my first bike was a Raleigh
Maverick! As I remember they were one of the first mountain bikes
available - my Dad bought 3, one for my brother, himself and me,
we must have looked well cool!
Riding this around was great fun and I found that off-roading was
really adictive. Somehow I managed to break the frame - that must
have taken some real abuse as it's cro-mo and weighed about 20lbs!
By the time Raleigh had sent the new frame through I had started
looking at new bikes and as you well know that's fatal, as soon
as you start looking you just can't stay satisfied with what you've
got! I ended up buying a Kona Fire Mountain with rapid-fire
indexed Shimano gears, what a technology jump that was! Although
I must admit that sometimes I still yearn for an old fashioned
front mech as adjusting those little buugers so they dont rub in
the extremes is more luck than judgement! With a 2.1" Farmer
John on the back & front I was unstopable (well I thought so!)
I enjoyed riding this for a couple of years before the novelty of
cycling wore off.
Several years later my Brother-in-law asked if I wanted to go out,
I begrudingly said yes - and that was it again the rides got more
and more frequent, the bike got older and older until eventually
I found myself spending more time servicing & repairing the
bike than actually riding it! At this point it was time for a
change and yes that meant a new bike. After much looking about I
ended up buying a '99 Schwinn Moab3. It has a full LX groupset
with tektro V's and RockShox Jett T2 forks and some non-standard
Azonic O'Neal riser bars. After the Cr-Mo Kona this was heaven -
it seemed to weigh nothing and suspension forks! What a
difference that made. It made me regret all those times I had
replied to the question "Why don't you get some suspension
forks?" with the answer "I've got all the suspension I
need in my elbows!"
For the next 3 months everything was perfect, then one day riding
home from work I noticed my back wheel was buckled. After closer
inspection I found that a solitary broken spoke was the culprit,
so I replaced it - job done! Well the next day another spoke
broke and this time it was behind the cassette and as I didn't
have the tool to take it of & the wheel was still buckled I
decided to put it into a shop for repair and truing. The
following week I collected it but then days later I broke another
one, by this stage I was getting really fed up. I held a quick
meeting with my personal financial director (wife) and got
approval to buy some new wheels. I looked in to it and settled on
a pair of XT hubs laced to Mavic FR519 rims with DT double butted
spokes. A lovely set of wheels but since I got them I haven't
managed to get out on too many epics as the dreaded foot &
mouth disease broke out. The next plan of mine is upgrading the
brakes, although completly adequate I want more and am looking
closely at the Avid SD range. Also niggling in the back of my
mind are the forks, I've got entry level but until they break
I wont bother upgrading. But when I do it looks like Psylo's for me.
Time has moved on a bit since I last wrote this page. My bike now has a set of Rock Shox Duke XC 80 on it a kore stem and a new set of Tioga factory XC tyres. It's so easy to spend money on mountain bikes - well in fact a bit too easy!!!!.
The latest purchase has been a full set of XT V's, Chainset, Cassette and chain; also I've treated myself to some Shimano Carbon SPD shoes and a Camelbak H.A.W.G (3L) hydration pack, oh and a full set of GT lycras (bargain from RICCI LTD). I needed alot of new kit as I just sold my KLR motorbike and will be using my MTB for commuting (100miles per week) also some XC racing and endurance events - the first one being the Kona 100 in July 2002.
I have included some photos of my bike during the upgrades, the thumbnails are below, just click on the images to see the full size picture.
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My trusty MTB has been through a lot with me, including 9 hours of the kona 100! and the only original parts left are the seat post, headset and frame - well not any more after several nights of searching the net I found some real bargains at Chain reaction cycles. And purchased a Commencal VIP '03 frame at a bargain price of £350 (reduced from £500'ish) to go with this I also needed a new seat post and front mech - this was all delivered on Friday afternoon. I was desperate to get in the garage and build my dream machine but had too many outstanding jobs to finish before my wife would let me out of her sight! (sorry Rach) anyway I finally got ground clearance at 19:15 that evening and wasn't seen again until 22:15 - but that was it, all completed apart from some new gear cables and outers. So the next day after finishing the gears I was all done. I've not been out for a proper ride yet - I've just played around the streets - first impressions are great and really notice the weight reduction.
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Only one week after building my bike around the new frame and I've upgraded again, this time with Hope XC hubs f & r and Hope Mini's all round - see updated photos below.
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A bit more time passed and I decided to upgrade the fork to a FOX Float 100RL, Yet another bargain on CRC! The fork performs really well and gives great feedback. I've had a lot of people say to me that there's no need to spend alot on a fork but after riding with a quality fork it's fully justified. Apart from the fork I've also changed the seat post and stem. See latest photo's below (07-06-2008) NB For those of you with keen eyesight the dent on the cross-bar is from a major stack I had whilst racing at Fort Bill! only kidding it was from the kids bikes in my garage ;0(
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After a weekend at Afan with Nathan beasting ourselves on the great trails they have I decided it was time for a serious upgrade, after all I'm not getting any younger and my back and kidneys we're killing me. So after a lot of emailing and phoning I tested a Cannondale Rush 2 Carbon from Zero G in Bedminster. As per normal the demo bike was top spec with XTR a lefty and overall unsprung weight of 24 pounds. After riding the bike back from the store we went out on the standard Upton Cheyney route to see how she faired. I really felt the climbs that night but it must have been the extra 8 miles on top of my noraml 10 mile commute to get the bike home. The Rush is just what I'm after - light but strong and designed for marathon riding.
I was so impressed with the bike that I bought one, ended up getting it from Primera in Bournemouth for a cracking deal. I have been riding it for about 3 months now and am very pleased with the overall performance. The Float RPL is a very versatile shock and now the rebound is adjusted correctly it works like a dream, the Fox 32 are as Fox plush as normal and seem very well balanced with the FLoat RPL. I have included some photo's below:
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