Hi Y'all, I just wanted to introduce myself. :wave: My name is John, and I grew up in Fullerton and have been back since July 2012. Growing up close to Mormon Hill, I'm very familiar with the north/western quadrant of the Fullerton Loop or Delgado as some of you who ran SHHS cross country would know it as. More of my experience has been on my feet as a jogger rather than on two wheels. Anyhow, I've been on and off two wheels my whole life. I had actually been turned off of mountain biking, in general, since the mid 90s with so many close calls on a Performance brand bike (they used to have a shop on Imperial next to that Trader Joes) with v-brakes that only worked going up hill :lol:. After moving back to Fullerton, I began taking the Metrolink from Buena Park to LA Union Station for work. The lack of parking and abundance of door dings with the available parking made me think of finding a car alternative. The thoughts of getting another motorcycle did cross my mind, but after my accident in 2009 and general discontent from family friends I had to improvise. That's when the research began, and I found a loop hole: http://www.stealthelectricbikesusa.com/bomber-electric-bike.html Not having $10,000 to spend and an accountant wife, this idea quickly went out of the window as well. In the meantime, I decided to borrow my brother's Trek 3500. This was my first experience with disc brakes, and it really changed my world. I could actually go downhill, slow down, and actually stop for a change. Not long after, I wanted my own bike. The whole e-bike thing was still in my mind, so I did a ton of research and started putting one together on my own: http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=46164#p690597 It's still a work in progress, but as of now, this is what it looks like: It's a 2005 Kona Stinky with a GNG 450W Mid Drive. I've had to make many modifications to make it trail worthy. It does comply with all the local laws as well as federal laws to still be considered a bicycle by definition. You may see me riding this bike on the Loop from time to time, but it sees more commuting miles than anything. In terms of speed, it really doesn't go any faster than a pedal bike. It sort of flattens the hill so to speak or makes you feel like an incredible athlete while pedaling and throttling. Others describe the experience as juicing without the side effects. It can throttle without pedaling, but it'll slow to about a walking pace on any mild grade incline. It is not a motorcycle. It's as much a motorcycle as a golf cart is a Tesla Model S. During my e-bike build process, I would run into issues that would leave the bike inoperable here and there, and I'd go back to riding my brother's Trek. After a few times borrowing his bike, I ended up picking up a 2012 Giant Roam 1 from Ricardo at BP Cycles sometime in February 2013. This bike saw more dirt that pavement, and I quickly realized I should've gotten a mountain bike rather than commuter. Long story short, I cannibalized all the parts and put together a full suspension 29er with a Mongoose XR-Pro frame. It has undergone many changes as well. I'll probably end up putting a build thread on bigboxbikes.com sometime down the road and link it back here. As you can see by the parts, it's a total budget build. Ricardo from BP Cycles helped me out quite a bit with both of my builds. Without him and awesome local support, I probably would not be riding at all. This is the bike you'll likely see me on while riding the Loop. Well, that's just a little be on me and my bikes. Hope to see you on the trail. :wave:
Thanks for the warm welcomes. Aside from riding from the BP Metrolink station on that dirt path along side Malvern, up Burning Tree, through Emery Park, up Sunny Ridge to W Pioneer I wasn't doing much riding this evening. I'm usually working 4/10's during the week, so it makes it difficult to ride during the week days. Fortunately, I'll be working a more normal schedule soon which should free me up more for group rides. I realize I did not post a picture of myself. ... and this is where I realize there are no pictures of me riding except the really small pictures from this year's Turkey Ride and this past Sunday's ride. (-_-!) I'm on the very right wearing the Domo shirt. I always have on an OD Green Fox Transition Helmet with a light on it 24/7 (it's usually dark on my way to work or coming back from work). That helmet was a big mistake. It should be called the Heat Stroke since it feels like my brain is boiling when the weather is slightly warm. Edit: My friend got a picture of us on his camera on the Thanksgiving day ride. We were in the small group that broke off to do the extra section that brought us around the Summit House (State College/Bastanchury).
It's not that great of an achievement to some, but I finally was able to ride the Loop in under an hour on my Mongoose 29er. http://www.strava.com/activities/111256987
Since getting back into riding, I've found that my heart is really in messing around in the dirt, so I decided to dismantle my Mongoose 29er, rebuild my Giant Roam, and sell everything to fund a new FR project. What came about was me finding an '05 Iron Horse Yakuza Kumicho (translation: Mob Boss). At first, it seemed like a great deal until I started stripping everything down. That's when all the headaches began. Upon purchase of the bike, I thought... It only needs a fork and a front wheel among tuning stuff up and replacing worn parts (tires, chain, etc). The first thing I noticed was that there was no front brake caliper. #-o Then when I was going to put on a new rear tire: #-o So... I found a DT Swiss FR6.1D wheelset (20mm thru axle front and 150x12 rear) on Craigslist for $100. I thought, I'll just run these and delete the floating brake for now. Then this happened: #-o Apparently, the original set up with the 135x12 and floating rear brake centers the wheel between the swing arm. Well, thanks to the internet, Ricardo and Hugo at Buena Park Cycles, they were able to dish the wheel toward the drive side: During this time, I found a 2009 Marzocchi 66 RCV on Craigslist for $150 w/ a FSA Pig, and Race Face stem, some Hayes Stroker Trails on PB for $68 shipped, and a new 10 speed Shimano cassette on eBay for $26: Most of the other parts I already had on hand, and I was able to get everything together in about 2 weeks: So far, as a budget build, the bike has been a lot of fun. My gut is telling me to leave it as is, but there are a few things that are bothering me: The front fork lower post mount thread insert was backing out. I screwed it back in and I was able to torque down the front caliper fine, but I know it's going to back out again when I change the pads and bleed the brakes. The question is whether I deal with it now or when I do the pads and bleed. I was also planning on rebuilding my 135x12 and running the floating brake set up again (the way it was intended for this model year), but then this happened: #-o Is it even worth salvaging the floating brake set up? I've never ridden a bike that had one, so I'm very curious. On the other hand, nobody seems to use them anymore. :?: What do y'all think? Leave it as is or salvage that floating rear brake set up. It's a given that I have to deal with that threaded insert sooner or later on my fork, but I'm more curious about the potentially unnecessary money pit in rebuilding my 135x12 and running that floating brake. At this point, the bike is still the budget build I had planned, but it certainly wasn't nearly as straight forward as I thought. Next time I won't buy an old DH frame that's been sitting outside for a few years no matter how cheap it is. :lol: Anyhow, until then, I'll keep on riding. http://www.strava.com/activities/124523396
