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Hi (again) Howard,
I don't know if you have the same models in England as we get
in the States, but here's my pen'erth;
I have a Specialized Stumpjumper Sport, it came with 1.75 tyres
as standard, but the shop put 2.125s on at my request (no charge).
The only thing worth upgrading is probably the bar and stem, mine
has the all_in_one (tm) chromed steel thing that weighs a ton and
has no provision for rotational adjustment, I would prefer a two
piece set in alloy. There's just no need for the strength of a steel
handlebar on a bicycle, even an off road bike, and alloy absorbs
shock much better anyway.
If I were buying again (and I'd like to, but am looking at different
kinds of toys too) I'd look very closely at the Schwinns that are
around. They have the Suntour roller cam brakes (well, they may be not
Suntour, but they are roller cam), good quality component groups,
separate alloy bar and stem and are about the same price as my
Stumpjumper was a year ago. For mostly city use I probably would'nt go
with the 2.125 tyres, in fact I would use centre ridge tyres such as
Specialized Cross Roads. To put this in perspective I should mention
that I've been known to go a'woods riding on tubulars with my fixed
wheel bike, so my opinion of appropriate tyre applications may be worth
very little :-). Somewhere else in this file I mentioned the fact that
behind_bottom_bracket_generator designs assume "conventional" chain
stay geometry (well, I didn't put it quite like that, but the buggers
won't fit a mountain bike style of frame), so if you want to use a
generator chose the side_of_tyre type. Before you go a'bashin and
a"crashin around its a good idea to unset_up the bike a bit. I learned
from motorcycle trials (one of my other selves) that what can't budge
will bust (classical physics expresses this basic law of nature more
eloquently, but they mean what I just said). At least one bike shop
mechanic believes that things need to be tighter if your going to be
dropping the bike in the dirt, I disrespectfully disagree. I loosen up
just about all the clamps (brake levers, shift levers, stem binder,
etc.) and snug them up just tight enough so that a hard slam with the
heel of the hand will "align" the part. I'm not saying to make
anything sloppy, just make sure it gives before it breaks (or breaks
you) and that you can realign it with a thump. This isn't a well
composed reply, lotsa stuff out of sequence, but I just thought
of another feature that would be very nice to have, its a graduated
(has marks and measurements on it) seat post. For most around town
riding its advisable to have the same seat height as your road bike,
well, maybe a little lower, but you want to be able to drop it when
in the woods, it would be really nice to have calibrations so that
you can return exactly to your normal road position.
Hope some of this help, don't have time to organize the thoughts,
gotta take a "work break" now, i.e. do something for dec.
Reg
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| I agree with the comments on component tightness. Brake handles,
shifters, the gooseneck, but NOT the seat post, want to be set up
as stiff slip clutches. Minor adjustments become a continuous
unnoticed task, and nothing breaks when you come a purler.
For the street commuter, I'll chime in again in favor of the steadfast
Raleigh 3-speed. I continue to be amused by the mountain bikers
with no knobs left on the center tread from riding pavement all
the time, 18 more gears than they need, with the chain so loose
it falls off (and the shifters much more susceptable to crash damage),
and the inability to shift gears when stopped. Carry on, folks,
there are more effective ways to pothole bash.
John
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| re .3
Yeah, well, you know this'll stir it up, right ?
There is as much (or more) dysinformation around concerning
centre ridge tyres vs absolute knobbies as there is about bald vs
centre ridge road tyres. I have to believe that at > 25 or so
psi on rough terrain there's plenty of sidewall knobs grabbing on,
i.e. your tyre has flattened out A LOT ! I think the key to off
road traction is in how you ride more than in what you ride on,
first rule is SMOOOOOTH !, this implies doing nothing suddenly,
spinning low gears at high revs and not throwing the body weight around
except for deliberate steering effects. 2nd through n'th rules are, see
first rule. After that its all practice, there are some "exercises",
like finding some loose sand and trying to ride with the front wheel
locked up, riding along lengths of 2x4s, loose decents with the
rear wheel locked when you don't really need to, etc.
Reg
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