Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

Bike worked well today, apart from chattering in gear 11 (one from lowest) that I couldn't sort out by playing with the tension adjuster. Needless to say this is probably the laziest way of trying to sort it out - a bit of attention in the bike stand and I'm sure it'll be fine.

The rims make the tyres come up larger than expected - a lot larger than Howards, and he has the same tyres (but on narrower rims), and they provided a lot of grip and a surprising turn of speed off-road.

The brakes need to be burned in still, after ~ 60Km of riding I can still ride through the back brake being fully on, which is a bit surprising. I suspect I need to get the rotors wet, that's worked in the past. At the moment my old, twin piston Level's with smaller discs significantly out-gun the now fitted XTR four-piston calipers with big rotors.

Is your camera broken?

Edit: that came out wrong. More photos of the bike please

I am kinda doing this (the spirit of the thread) but on EXTREME budget.

SO far I have;
A cheap MTB; Pinnacle Iroko with Rockshox Reverb dropper with the only upgrade of ESI Grips
A helmet, Giro Fixture £34.99
Shoes; Five Ten Sleuth, used from ebay for £36
Shorts and knee pads (because I am scared); Morvelo £30, Dainese Trail Skins £44

What I don't have;
Courage
Car
Friends
Location

I won't muddy this thread, will take it to DBAD thread.

Beginners welcome

defo coming for the next one :)

You'll be fine :-)

I might have a weekday slackers ride later this week, but not sure what day

I might have a weekday slackers ride later this week

pls do this

I drove out to Bedgebury today, first time I've been there. I did a lap of the red circuit, which was fun - I would say that it's more challenging overall than red at Swinley, but lacks Swinleys section 20 and the jumps there. Not that those are hard, but they're larger than anything at Bedgebury.

It's definitely easier to get too from SE London, being down the A21, although it's £13 to park rather than £4 at Swinley - although as a Friend (AKA, member) of Kew Gardens I get a discounted rate of £5.

I'll head down again - Amey you'd be welcome.

Onto the bike - the pad transfer that I'm waiting for is resolutely refusing to occur, so the brakes remain (for big stops) crap.

For those moments when you are just looking to adjust your speed slightly they're fine -so you don't notice the absence of big stopping power on the singletrack, until you over-cook it and end up stopped, in the bush, having fired yourself over the top of the corner. But that's fun in a way.

I'm struggling with the indexing, also, so the bike didn't get exiled to the garage once I got home, it's in the hallway and will go into the bike stand when i've finished my tea. I am wondering if I've maybe tweaked the mech hanger, as on the larger cogs it's as if there is too much tension, whereas on the smaller cogs it's as if there is too little.

Of course, 12 speed may just need the type of fine adjustment that isn't that amenable to being done through full-finger gloves whilst riding down a trail.

The weight balance on the bike has changed - dropping half a kilo off the back means that I need to have my weight slightly further back when going over jumps, otherwise the back comes up too far.

Less grip today when turning than yesterday, probably unsurprisingly given the loose gravel of the man-made singletrack, but less wheelspin whilst climbing than I was expecting (based on experience with my older tyres).

I'll head down again - Amey you'd be welcome.

yes pls!

Strange that some large rotors and 4 pot brakes are lacking bite. Especially when Shimano is known for 'bitey' brakes

One assumes you're already familiar with common bedding in practices for these things

Friends

Hmmpft

"Find steep hill, get up to ~20mph, haul on brakes" is the technique I use, it's not very technical though and I'm very open to suggestions.

Have arranged Thursday with 7Üp for a chilled ride

I find that a longer, less steep hill is better. Get lots of heat in the rotors by dragging the brakes for the first two thirds, then do some short, hard braking bursts for the final third.

I grab the levers hard enough that I have to put a reasonable effort into pedalling downhill for 10-20 seconds. I have no idea if this makes any difference, but it's worked for my last few sets of brakes

I find that a longer, less steep hill is better. Get lots of heat in the rotors by dragging the brakes for the first two thirds, then do some short, hard braking bursts for the final third.

It did occur to me that 203mm rotor, with huge fins, being clamped by four piston ceramic calipers with pads that have heat-exchanger fins, might be conspiring against me.

Indexing fixed - the b-screw was screw rather too far in. Amazing difference actually, from winding it in, I'll have to pay closer attention to that in future.

What do I win?

I’ve kept all the mud that came off the bike before I put it in the stand, PM me your address and I’ll get it in the post.

I can bake a mud pie for the next Badgers ride

In all seriousness I was thinking of our conversation when I started tinkering, the b screw was the first thing I looked at and I was genuinely surprised at how much difference it made.

I was almost convinced it was a bent mech hanger beforehand.

I do think the chain might be a little long, and that that is why the b screw was screwed in to far.

What’s the forum approved method of setting chain length for a 1*12 full suspension bike?

Friends

:(

Bike is 12.9kg on the bathroom scales, measurement fans.

What’s the forum approved method of setting chain length for a 1*12 full suspension bike?

Uh...I’ve always lamely copied the length of the factory fitted chain, providing the largest or smallest cog hasn’t changed.

Let the air out of the shock and fully compress the suspension before applying the normal big-big plus two links rule, seems to be the one