Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

I know, lol I was just curious if anyone on this thread would be willing to show me some of their favorite singletrack

 

There use to be some fun trails near the North Carolina Arboretum. Might be considered Bent Creek trials.

 

Another question for the gurus:

Okay so I got my rear shock in but it's about a half inch longer than my previous one. This has increased the ride height and thrown my shifting all out of whack. Am I going to need to mess with the limit screws, or do I only need to check cable tension? Or is something else dicked up like the chain length now that I'm sitting higher?
Even with both shocks locked out, it still wants to shift as soon as I sit on it. Off the bike and rolling around with me walking next to it, it shifts as it should. It gets all wacky when I'm riding it.

 

coil or air?

 

Air. I put 165psi in it

 

Sorry, pics didn't come up when I first saw your post. Did you confirm the stroke and eye-to-eye length before you purchased? I'd return that one and get the right size.

Otherwise, adjust the cable length. Limit screws, if set correctly on your previous setup, will not have changed.

 

Unfortunately my bike has a 5.75 or 6" eye to eye travel. The only aftermarket options to replace my cheap garbage Chinese coil spring is another cheap Chinese coil spring. So I am gonna try to make this one fit since it's 6.5" eye to eye. I made necessary modifications to get the bike to have more travel, but now even after adjusting the cable, it won't behave when I'm riding it. It shifts fine when I'm off the bike. I think I need a new chain or need to remove/add some links or something since the bike sits higher than before. Is this correct line of thinking? My rear brake works fine after adjusting... it's just the gears are not cooperating.

 

Maybe worth it to try and measure and see if your chain is the correct length now. See #5 on this site: https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/chain-length-sizing

If it's right, at least you can limit what the issue is. I'd also be curious to see at what point in it's travel the axel is in fact the farthest away from the center of the BB.

 

That sure is a dirty, grimey, wet, muddy place to put the shock.....calls for lizardskin shock boot IMO.

Odd that extra 3/4" of length is causing shifting issues............I would start by adjusting the barrel adjuster on the rr der and see if that will dial it in. Can't be that far off just from that shock change. If it "stretched" the cable then I'd start by lessening the tension with barrel adjuster and see what it wants...........

 

What's your preferred MTB forum? (what would you consider the TW of MTB?)

 

@ThunderOne didnt you also replace the fork? So that means you removed the bars, maybe touched the shifter etc, so I’d trace the whole cable setup from shifter to derailleur. Barrel adjusters, insure the cable housing is seated in the shifters, cable stops etc. limit screws should have nothing to do with this unless they were touched, but unless you have really wierd rear geometry I don’t see how the chain length (and thus rear d cage tension) could throw off shifting that much. On the other hand 1/2” of shock length can add a lot rear ride height.

 

I know right! how dumb! Oh well.

Anyways, yes I have checked all that stuff and it shifts just fine when I have the bike on flat ground/upside down and I'm not sitting on it. But as soon as I sit on it, it wants to jump gears.. even with both shocks locked out. At that point I can only shift to the third largest cog and there is noticeable loss in cable tension when I try to upshift to the highest gear. My shifter just goes click click click click cl....

Everything worked fine after I replaced the fork. I rode it to work for a couple days and it all worked as normal.

That's why I'm thinking the chain. Also, one of my cable tubes are too short now. I need to get some more cable tube (or whatever they are called..) and redo some areas because they aren't sitting in their places anymore. I have one of them ziptied in place right now so it doesn't slide back and forth. I will have to check the chain tension relative to the cages because even on the second largest crank cog and the largest RD cog, it seems hella loose.

 

MTBR (Empty Beer) or PinkBike.

@ThunderOne are all your rear suspension pivot bolts tight? Any side to side flex in the rear? The brake is attached to rear frame, so it wouldn't be affected. The chain, however, attaches to the front triangle at the crank. If it flexes to the side when you sit on it, the chain may get pulled to another gear. Just a thought, anyway. Cable and housing is a cheap refresh, though.

 

I will have to try to check that out when I get home. I had to ride the motorcycle to work today.

 

If one of your cable tubes are too short(is it for the rear der?) then that is most likely causing a issue. When your off the bike it isn't stretching the cable most likely, but when you sit on it, even in full lockout(the rear is most likely not a true full lockout) the suspension being activated is causing the cable to stretch and limit the shifting.

It is hard to imagine it is the chain. As the fixed pivots will not change the chain length and should not affect the chain growth when you sit on it.

 

Pinkbike is the best MTB site for content. MTBR might be better for forum use although PB does have a forum I feel it isn't as used.

 

well that would certainly be a cheaper solution. I'll drop by the LBS and pick up some cable tubing a redo it.

 

I would get housing and the cable.

What do you mean by "At that point I can only shift to the third largest cog and there is noticeable loss in cable tension when I try to upshift to the highest gear. My shifter just goes click click click click cl...."

If your losing cable tension when you are shifting to the higher gears it seems that perhaps the cable routing is getting stuck somewhere.....Judging by the look of the bike all the housing is ziptied? Some newer bikes have housing clamps and when tightened too tight will cause not enough free movement of the cable causing what your mentioning above when shifting to higher gears. Or like I said is getting stuck somewhere. I can't imagine a too tight ziptie doing this.

 

I will have to check. The cable housings only sit in small nubs that hold it in place. One of the housings have gotten too short from the increased ride height, so I had to ziptie that one on one side, to keep in situated in at least one of the nubs. I may have made it too tight.

As for shifting to the higher gears, it seems as if I reach the limit screw and I'm only at the third largest cog. As soon as I hop off the bike and pedal it while walking next to it, it'll jump up into the largest cog (rear)

 

Described my fork failure and the shop guy said it might be an extreme enough break I might be able to get rock shox to warranty my forks. Gonna send over some pics today. Crossing fingers!!