Any question answered...

Thanks

I don't they exist..

You're right. Bollocks to it. French house it is.

What would you recomend then Andy?

What do you want the bike for? Winter road riding? Commuting? A bit of off road?

All of the above, really.

I sold the MTB today so it would be nice to have something that would cope with some mud- or more pertinently snow.

Get a cyclocross bike.

I thought those were, ho hum!

They are but both are heavy (regardless of what Lethal says). A decent cross bike is similar to weight to a road bike and will be fun to ride.

Evans have some good deals on cross bikes at the moment but the Boardman Pro CX bike gets very good reviews.

I am strongly drawn to disc brakes for bikes that will be ridden in mud- am I going mad or did you have discs at muddy hell?

If so what are they?

Avid BB7s. That was their last outing, as I got fed up with having brakes that didn't work and weigh a fuckton.

I'm now riding the same frame with cantilevers.

genuine question, are cantis beter than disck???

genuine question, are cantis beter than disck???

No, they are generally a PITA

I've used BB7's before and found them to be pretty good, that said I did not ride the bike for a great length of time as it got nicked.

Well set up V-brakes are on a par with hydro disc brakes- until it gets wet and muddy, when they are hugely worse (for initial bite, anyway).

Cantis continue to work in muddy conditions, hence why they are used in cyclocross. Hydraulic discs are superior to cantis by some margin but don't work with road gear levers, although now the UCI have lifted their ban on disc brakes in high level cyclocross I'd expect this to change and quite quickly. Cable operated discs are, in my experience, utter shite, offering no discernible advantages over cantis and adding a considerable weight penalty.

Canti's will work, but they'll need to scrape off the crap on the rim first.

I did a lot of mountain biking in the 90's with canti's, and you just got used to dragging the pads very lightly most of the time when in shite conditions so that the brakes would work when needed.

Hydro discs with road levers sound like a winner- I might look for a frame with the disc mounts but that comes with canti's for now.

I've had canti studs added to my cross frame so when hydro discs do appear - and SRAM are rumoured to be developing them now - I have the option of switching.

What is your frame?

An Everti Odyssey.

Yup - cables are crap, period. Hydro discs. Great when they are working. Which they don't that well when it's really cold, really hot, really salty, really sandy, when you bash the rotor, rip the line, store your bike hanging up, and so on. Then they drag, shudder, squeal, eat pads, and so on. But they do, when they work, work very well.

Cantis. Simple and effective, if not, in the pure sense, as good as discs.

Discs on 700 23/25 - overkill.

Discs on 700 23/25 - overkill.

It's not just about absolute power, though. Modulation and not having to incorporate a heavy and disposable brake track at the perimeter of the wheel are strong arguments for road discs with carbon rims.

hyperthetically, if I were to use a 9 speed shimano chain on my brakless fixie skidder, will is it likely to skip off or snap or something?

I wouldn't.

I used a sram 9 speed 3/32 chain for a while and it was fine. probably not the best idea long term though.

I wouldn't.

liar

I did for a few months, fix and playing polo, it will be fine, but the chain streches faster