tomac eli beginner bike biuld thread, here we go!

Haha, you guys are on Reef Central too??

 

yes, i did check my shifting and braking. i had alot of cable slap when i left it loose. right now, everything is good and i do'nt have any anomolies. i am so happy that everythign is working great. i am going to post updates as i ride...

 

Most people post them AFTER they ride, cause it's safer that way.

 

there was a guy at my first ride. he helped me setup the rear... and man, it is working out great!

i already checked out the full swing for the seat post. so far, verythign works good. i have it at a setting to where i can climb a bit (still held back with my tires) and i can still downhill safely. although i am still new to biking, i feel comfortable doing it... so far so good...

you are on? incase people dont' know, reeefcentral is another forum like this for tropical fish... and yes, i have a tank that i built also! i love to build! here is a picture of my tank few months ago... this tank is 8 feet long and relaxes me when i look at it...



if you want to check out that build... you can check it out here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1133316&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

Nice fish tank. I'll be building one also once I get a house to put it in.

 

I started out two years ago on a 29 gallon freshwater Amazon biotope and have started building up a 75 gallon fish-only with live rock marine tank. Kinda slow on that though. Reefcentral has lots of good deals on gear. Kinda like here!

 

i think of all the forums i have been in, which isn't like a crazy amount, i think the people here are of better quality... reefcentral, you have to find them... but they do have good people and deals...

march 12, 2008

i broke my first chain! i think it was during my solo fullerton loop? i went on my second bike trip to the fullerton loop. it was so fun. but i remember at the end of the loop i had some problems with shifting. like hopping up and down sometimes. very intermittent. anyways, last night i took the bike for a ride with the girlfriend and it was getting worse. i thought it was due to tuning, so i tried to ride and tune. i also cleaned it up and stuff. but still had the problems.

as i put the bike upside down, and went through the gears, i noticed something in the chain. so i examined it, and one of the links was bent? like it was barely hanging on. i am not sure how i broke it. but it looks like the pin just got loose on one side.

i wanted to also mention, i did end up using the sram chain. i do have to say, it is the easiest job i have every done. all i do is break of the broken link and then put in the power link. so easy. just sucks cause i bought the links for like 5 bucks each. so now my chain has 2 power links now. i think i may have to buy a new chain soon, as i am not sure how many power links i can use in 1 chain...

i am going to take my bike for another fullerton loop may be tomorrow? i hope to get another good ride in.

 

okay, so the last week i have been messing around with my bike. i took some parts off to fix an old bike and give to my GF's sister and brother in law. anyways, so this is what happened.

i put on some:

shimano xt dual control mechanical brake shifters
shimano 118mm x 73mm bottom bracket
avid 203mm roundagon front rotor
avid 185mm clean sweep rear rotor
continental diesel front tire
WTB mutano rear tire

putting all those on was just a piece of cake! after building the bike, man, i know every part of the bike and it is one with me! i guess i am happy with my setup and it is very enjoyable.

here is a pic of me on my ride today with my GF to peters canyon.



nice view with the bike...



i do need to reweigh my bike, as i am sure it went up like crazy. i am actually interested to see how much it weighs with all my water, tools, and stuff.

shifters: oh boy, i love them. i have been thinking about the rear deraileur that moves in the opposite direction (low normal VS. high normal) and i think the standard works for me the best. not even sure if most people know about it, but is i definately good to consider. basically it is how the rear deraileur is setup, clicking will either shift up or down (as opposed to cranking the usually goes to bigger gears). the dual control wasn't too hard to learn. it was simple and didn't take too much though for shifting. i didn't have 1 mis-shift even though i constantly was riding looking backwards to keep an eye on my GF. modulation of the brakes didn't change, so everything was SWEET!



tires: now, after much research and price hunting. i decided to go with a nice continental diesel for my front tire.



reading up on how it has alot of air volume to cushion and the width to stick and also the width and tread life to last. i thought it was a good tire to start with as my first trail and learning tire. and with it being only 19 bucks... you can't really complain.

for my rear tire i went with the wtb mutano.



i like how it was fully treaded with small blocks. i also read up that it has a good roll and good grip with a nice tread life. this tire also i picked up for a good price at 18 bucks.

the first impression coming from street 1.95 tires, was "OMG sooo huge!". i had a hard time setting the beads right, but with alittle baby shampoo and water, it set fine at around 45 PSI. i did run at 37 PSI at peters, and traction was never an issue. i kept my concentration on my GF behind me and didn't need to worry about slipping into a rut. so it worked out great! no more slipping while climbing, although i didn't go on anything steep i felt my tires were planted. i will definately write how long they last me later on my build thread.

bottom bracket: wow, i think i went through 3 bottom brackets in the first few weeks of my build! finding the perfect one was a bit difficult. i took a picture of how it looks now. finally my front 3 chainrings are perfectly in the center of the rear cassette. from the picture, you can see the chain itself if semi straight. it is on the middle front rings and kinda in the middle of the rear cassette. now my chain noises are down to a minimum. perfect!



brakes: this upgrade was unwarrented. only cause i got the front for 10 bucks, and the rear i bought cause someone was semi intersted in buying my 160mm rotors. any how, i did feel a better modulation in the brake lever feel. i didn't get to push the brakes hard, but i did like the better sensativity the larger rotors gave me. i am sure i will have to practice my lever control, but the upgrade was marginally better. although the 160mm is smaller, there were absolutely no bad differences. i can still lock up the brakes and if needed i can superman over the front bars.

i did also want to mention, the roundagon discs are very thick. compared to the cleansweeps, they are very rigid. this may have to do with the diamter or design. but it was just an observation.

front closeup



rear closeup



so what now? i am still working on my issues with the crankset color. hahaha, i tried to stick with the blue, but the older lx crank set color still bugs me slightly? anyways, i am hunting for the XT crankset cause they come in the black and can be found for a great price slightly used. on top of that, i am moving to all XT parts... so other then the crankset, i got the rear deraileur left... which works great (lx) so there is no rush to swap that one out either. so, i will basically upgrade when a good deals comes by or somethign breaks...

i also picked up another fron wheel, mavic 325. i am going to put the continental/mutano tires on a set of rims. and i am going to probably run my bontrager rims with my street tires. will need to find a rugged rear wheel to do this... so, still need to work out the details, but you see my plans.

so far the bike doesn't feel different at all with all the added weight. i am going to try the fullerton loop tomorrow sometime to see if i notice a difference, as my main trail time was there (only 3 loops so far in my MTB carreer with a partial aliso and partial peters). my main reason for walking up the hills were due to my street knobby tires. so, no excuses now! gotta make it all the way!

recap, future upgrades:

xt rear shifter
xt crankset
xt pedals (clip on ones)
night headlight (blackburn x6 very possible, modification fun will be logged here)
shimano mountain midtop shoes (saw some onsale, looked very nice. have to find them again)

 

Congrats on the build and ride... Nothing better then riding a bike that you built...

 

Nice rig!! No pics of the GF??:lol:

 

i have to get permission, i doubt she will. cause she is kinda shy and she had helmet hair... as for me, i don't care! hahaha...

man, best said... i love riding my bike! this has been a very enjoyable and rewarding build!

thanks for all your feedback! it has helped me so much!

 

Glad to see you're enjoying the bike.

Just a note, maybe you should put another zip tie on the front fork where the arch is. Brake cable looks kind of close to the front tire.

Also, why the 185mm rotor in the back?

Otherwise, looking good so far. Try to break some stuff and then replace. Else you'll end up with all these extra parts which inherently turn into a 2nd bike.

 

yea, i am going to take a look at it again this week. so far, i have no rubbin at all. i am going to check out all my cables to check on wear and tear. seems like a good time to check all of that...

i guess if it wasn't a bit more expensive, 5-10 more for a new rotor (185mm vs 203mm), i just went to a 185mm. i know from somewhere, front brakes take most of the braking. so rear doesn't have to be as strong to give the same balance. so, i thought the 203mm F and 185mm R was a great combo. i am sure if i find a cheap rotor and adapter, i may just put it on... there was no other reason for my brake rotor upgrade. just got it for cheap. i think i may just build a full set of 160mm, 185mm, and 203mm rotors. so i can adjust to what ever my needs... finding them used is really cheap. so it may be a good idea for a versatile biker? but in terms of cosmetically... i like the 203 front and 185 rear. i think the clean sweeps are very cool looking rotors too...

 

You have some serious stopping power now! Glad to see the bike coming along. As others mentioned, with upgrades and stuff leaving you with extra parts, you can see how easy many of us got our second bikes.

By the way, cut your brake cables considerably shorter (leave about an inch). The long cables could get pushed by branches or brush into the rotors causing your bike to instantly stop. I've actually heard of this happening, and considering how excessively long your cables are, it would seem more likely.

 

yea, after this mornings ride i will check all cables and lengths. time to start a maintinance plan!

btw, you are talking about the handle bar side of the brake cables right? and particularly the front brake lines?

 

I was referring to the cables themselves where they stick out of the caliper (and you have the end pinched on). The cable should stick no more than one inch past the caliper.

As for the overall housing and cable length, I think they look ok. I generally set mine up so that the bars can turn at least 180 degrees (and up to about 200 degrees) in both directions.

 

3-31-08

cool... i know what you mean now! i will have to take some time to buy a can of those cable ends... i saw it somewhere... i guess i will try to find a medium sized pack of ends... cause i know i will need to adjust that all the time... when the cables get longer and stuff... something will always happen...

okay... off to chino hills for my first time run! camera batteries charged... i hope i don't have too much fun to where i forget to take pics!

4-10-08

okay, current wheel setup after some tube flat follies with installation... i popped another hole while installing... tires...

so... road set used with GF while cruising the parks and stuff...

bontrager racelite complete wheelset with slime tube and forte versa trak MTB 2.0 tire (the reason, want to get cheapest tire to just put milage on, got the tires today for 7 each new at performance. can't beat that to just ride on... i am sure they will be just perfect for park and beach riding)

trail setup:

front - mavic 325, dt spokes, xt hub, xt skewer, continental diesel 2.5 tire, and bontrager tube with slime
rear - mavic 321, dt spokes, xt hub, xt skewer, wtb mutano 2.4 tire, and slime tube

my xt setup is coming together! i do need to pick up another set of rotors and another cassette for the second set of wheels. that way i can make is a simple wheels swap with minimal downtime if i want to just hit the trail after going on a ride with GF. i think it will be the perfect setup for me...

04-28-06

okay, i just weighed my bike! wow, i just loaded up a full water bottle and my multitool. also my rear super flash rear light. and i weighed in at 34 pounds on my bathroom scale! holy moly... i got slime tubes and nice wide tires that give me lots of traction, 203mm rotors to help me trail brake and stop when i need to...

the only thing that isn't ont he bike for trail setup is my front headlights, still working out my headlight situation with jenson... going to get a new one may be tomorrow?

ride with GF road setup = 30 pounds
trail setup = 35 pounds