Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

OK, white road bike or green mtb? Both are specialized, one is road, one is mtb. You said fuzzy so assumed you meant the pic of an old pic of the mtb but dual cf bottle holders sounds like the white road bike. White road bike has always had Shimano 520 clipless and then egg beaters. Green mtb always had platforms.

 

LOL, alright, I was wondering when I posted the road bike in the mtb thread, duhhhhhh. Yeah that's the egg beater bike.

 

Thoughts on the Specialized FSR stumpjumper ?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/bik/3594764518.html


anyone riding a carbon hardtail?

 

I road one at Mt Washington. Nice bike.

My reason for not liking CF Frames on Mountain bikes comes after being a tester for a couple companys and having parts fail. CF is great, but it is brittle. aluminum and steel frames can take a dent and still be 100% functional. Not so with CF.

\\ I rode a http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/coll...tain/cross_country/superfly/superfly_pro_sl/# for a few months. Great bike. But again, I am more scared of some of the damage I have seen with people getting into trouble with the CF. Being a Bike mechanic, I had the unfortunate task of seeing the damage.

 

that was always my thought but i never had anyhting to back it up. oh well i bet that one hurt when that frame gave way... ouch

 

Ouch! I dont think I would ever push a bike that hard to do something like that or the fact that there arent any trails here that could even do that to a bike...ha

 

If it is the frame geometry you like, find the same frame in aluminum. Then build it up the way you want it. Most of the bikes are offered in the same exact configuration in CR and AL.

BUT! but, buuuttt, please do not let my experiences sway you.. If price is the ultimate factor, go with whatever the best deal you can get. Warrantys from bikes normally are transferable and the manufacturers are great about replacing broken frames.

with CF bikes, there is a certain sound to the frames if fractured. If buying a used bike, I would ask the seller if you could meet at a bike shop for a mechanic to look it over.

Tech changes drastically in these from year to year, so fracture points are reinforced and changes made.

Also, when buying used, go to the manufacturers site and see what the retail was on it. Call a few bike shops and inquire as if you were buying new. See what types of deals you can get and the lowest they will go. Then base the used pricing on such.

Again, you can buy a used bike, strip the components, and sell the frame. Then use the Frame money to get the frame you want.

A full on bike mechanic set to teardown most biles is ~$100 at the most. HEX 4,5,6, Bottom bracket wrench, and thats really it.

 

Dont be so sure. A tree can do that, EASILY! CF is strong long ways - Not on the sides. Thats where a small impact will give cause to break.

 

Road bile forks that are CF break all the time in this manner.

 

I'm convinced that today, CF and AL are equally strong. Maybe the nod goes to CF. *But* and this is a big one, when CF fails, it's almost always catastrophic and therein lies the problem as they say. If the frame fails, not only will you be walking but you'll definitely crash too

That said, frames from the likes of Santa Cruz, Trek and maybe Specialized are well engineered and can certainly take a beating. If they wouldn't, CF frames probably wouldn't sell-and they'd be half the price they are

 

that looks like a solid stumpy. seems like a good price idk what they go for but 1550 seems good i would see if you could get a little bit off but idk what they are worth haha

as far as carbon goes, ive ridden a carbon remedy and i felt fine with it, never felt like it was going to fail.

skygear i think that bike you failed was an early carbon bike, i think now they have the technology a lot more dialed so i dont think failure is as common

 

Exactly, Brittle.

Again, I was only citing MY experiences as a mechanic. As stated earlier, take a CF tube and swing like a bat, it will splinter (brittle) vs AL wich will either dent or bend.

The tech is there but being brittle is a property of CF.

For the money, I would take a AL frame and top end components vs the same price CF frame and lesser components.

That 8 + thousand Superfly I linked is a great bike, but @8k out of mosts reach. the same frame in AL with same components is only 4k-5k.

I do not want to sway peoples minds due to quality, only to share that the same frame with high end components is substantially less and could be money put towards better things.

 

The only carbon frames I can only vouch for personally(having owned 3 cf bikes at one point) is Santa Cruz. I've owned 2 Nomad Carbons and 1 V10 Carbon....and I'm far from being the smoothest rider you'll ever see---meaning I have had my share of serious wipeouts.

After each big wipeout(thank goodness I can count on my hand how many, so far) my OCD consumes me, and I disassemble down to the bare frame and go over it neurotically. After that, I have my LBS have it and check it as a second set of eyes. Each time, the only thing that resulted were surface scratches. My components suffer more than the frame does.

From my own personal experience, I am sold on CF frames---well, at least ones Santa Cruz puts out. Granted, the failures are more catastrophic, but from what I've personally seen, a lot more is needed to reach the tensile/stress/failure threshold of carbon. HOWEVER, aluminum DOES have a better life expectancy(meaning when it fails or starts to fail, it is in most cases still somewhat ok to ride until it completely breaks) than carbon which equates to a more DURABLE frame.

Another thing I wanna mention are the significantly different riding characteristics I've noticed between the kinds of frames. From personal experience, a carbon frame absorbs small bump resonance/chatter MUCH better than an equivalent aluminum frame. Same can apply to carbon vs aluminum handlebars/wheels as well. My old "daily beater" bike was aluminum: 2010 Nomad. In 2011 I hopped onto my first carbon bike: 2011 Nomad Carbon. I built both frames almost identical, just different cranks. The carbon let me ride much smoother. Needless to say, I sold the aluminum a week after building up the carbon frame. I still own an aluminum frame('12 Butcher) and I have had no complaints! Again, this is just my personal experience. Take it with a grain of salt.

You give and take with each material. Carbon is a much stronger/lighter material, but aluminum is more durable. Aluminum frames are cheaper. All facts. My point is, you buy the bike that fits your needs: budget, riding style, etc. You cannot go wrong with either a carbon or aluminum frame, but in my experience I feel carbon is superior(in mtb) for the time being.

http://youtu.be/xreZdUBqpJs

Happy riding!

 

Ok @ 5:30 where they are bashing it like a baseball bat, yeah, thats a new test. That is what i was referring to as "hitting the tree"/ Pass in my book on that bike.

 

Time travel.........1995 Trek Y-22 aka "Guitarbike" reborn in 2009 and out enjoying the trails at Pace Bend Park west of Austin,TX last year...........

 

Ok I think I finally found the bike I want


2011 stumpy FSR comp.
Currently talking to the owner and hoping he accepts my offer

 

I got the same bike from LBS for $1200. It was only ridden once, and again it was from LBS.

 

thats a damn good deal. This is the nicer of the ones ive seen for around this price (been checking pinkbike, ebay, and craigslist for a while now). Its a 1x10 and thats fine for me since I NEVER use the small or large cog.

 

It was actually $1100 but that was the out the door price.