Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

^ I think I've seen enough broken forumengers for the time being :-/

Most confused bike ever.

I thought for one moment that scoble had built it.

^ You forgot dangerous ;-)

Well I just rode it to the dentist via some local trails and I came back with all my teeth, so it can't be that bad.

Are you going to put them all under your pillow?

Yeah, hopefully the tooth fairy will bring me enough money to buy a proper bike.

Or some bigger wheels.

So after a 14year absence I've got another mountain bike. Nothing at all special compared to pretty much everyones elses on here but it should do for some fun on zero budget. It's a 1999 Timberline that my sister got new in 2000. She's hardly ridden it and now lives in OZ so after months of pestering, I've managed to get it off her. Completely original down to the WTB Velociraptors and late 90's narrow flat bars. I need to free up some cash so I'm currently thinking about selling my fixed gear and running this as an everything bike. Probably going to regret it but needs must. :-(
As it stands I'm thinking of changing to some wider risers and getting some foot retention. Have to say, although not nearly as fast as my usual bike, it's pretty fun to buzz around on.

In my head, I can make this into a relatively modern looking traily hardtail. Am I barking up the wrong tree.? The last MTB I had was a conncoction I dreamt up as a 15 year old that included jumpy style frame, ridiculous RST Mozo Pro XL's (like so) ,even more ridiculous Amoeba risers with welded cross bar and a Tioga multi-control DH sofa! I didn't understand much about what it too to make a nice, rideable and geo sound MTB back then so after a while out I could do with some pointers!

Measure the steerer first, I've got an old lts but its an inch steerer so upgrades aren't happening. If it 1 1/8 then onone have got some cheap rockshox forks on at the minute, id just go that way, disc front n vs back. They've also got some nice cheap carbon bars n posts on.

Other options leave it ridgid, carbon n fat tyres for comfort

anyone been to swinley since the overhaul?

Measure the steerer first, I've got an old lts but its an inch steerer so upgrades aren't happening. If it 1 1/8 then onone have got some cheap rockshox forks on at the minute, id just go that way, disc front n vs back. They've also got some nice cheap carbon bars n posts on.

Other options leave it ridgid, carbon n fat tyres for comfort

I've been doing up my old Cannondale mtb from the late nineties and toyed with putting front shocks on, but if you measure the current fork axle to crown and compare it with modern forks, there's at least a 6cm difference. Other option is to buy some refurbed or NOS Fox RC's or Rockshox Judy's, Quadra's etc but they're not good by today's standards. In the end I bought some short carbon forks cheap off the bay and some fat tyres. I'm only riding trails though, no dropping off hills!

If it was mine id get some xt vs, carbon bars n post, single ring up front and wheelie it everywhere rather than adding a kg+ to it and get the comfort from the tyres

2.0 Kojaks for road use, biggest knobblies you can fit for off road and leave it at that.

Maybe a sticker or two.

Oh, wider bars would probably be good too.

Cheers for the pointers chaps. Wider bars are definitely on the cards. Tried on an old set of Azonic World Force's that I had in my parts box. They were cut down from when they were on my fixed gear so are a bit narrow but something similar height and wider would be perfect.
I've been wondering about the forks. It has an ahead set but was wondering from the look of it whether it was 1" rather than 1 1/8" as it does look quite narrow. Have nothing to compare it to as my fg is 1" threaded. Will measure this weekend and see. I would like to get a short travel fork but also like the look of straight bladed carbon forks that are a bit taller giving the front a little lift. Will see what my options are with regards to head tube.
As for tyres I had thought about some slick 1.5's but also want a bit of comfort. Do the kojacks roll pretty well? It's a bit of a shock getting off my fg and then onto this interns of speed and responsiveness!

A 'guided' trip to and around Swinley Forest.

Trains to Martins Heron from Waterloo every 20 mins or so.

Suggest Sunday 23rd June 9.39am train

1. Howard
   

I've run a 94 alu frame until last year.
I was lucky to have ended up with a 1 1/8" frame.
Front end started rigid,
moved on to a modern (then)125mm fork against the advice of all,
it worked marvels.
Started singlespeeding with a rigid on one 410mm fork, very harsh downhill.
Stick a suspended corrected modern fork on it without hesitation if you can.
A few pros can change Marzocchi steel 1 1/8" stearers to 1" if you want sus.
I would run 2 sets of wheels cheap ones with skinny tires for the road.

Thinking about it, it's on 8-speed so surely from that point of view, it must have been too new to have a 1"headset?! Bikepedia states that a 99 Timberline came with Rockshox Jetts and had a 1 1/8 headset but I know that this was also a 99 bike so should be the same. What's a surefire way to measure? Verniers?

You should be able to do it with a ruler or tape measure, there's enough of a difference between 1" and 1 1/8" to measure without needing the accuracy of verniers.

anyone been to swinley since the overhaul?

The blue trail is excellent and is mostly new, the red uses more of the existing trails with a few new sections, and feels a little underwhelming. It's now best avoided at weekends, the number of riders must have doubled.

^ this. I can skive there this week if anyone fancies it.

A 'guided' trip to and around Swinley Forest.

Trains to Martins Heron from Waterloo every 20 mins or so.

Suggest Sunday 23rd June 9.39am train

1. Howard
   
2. umop3pisdn
   
   

In. The 29gnarr should be ready by then.

Can someone reccommend me some decent 40 or 50mm risers, 31.8, around 695 + wide and not too expensive?

This is a good bar if you don't want to pay extra for Easton, Answer, etc..

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/bars-stems/handlebars-riser/truvativ-holzfeller-riser-bar.html