giving mountain biking a try

[Mo1959]

@RWright That is really looking great Rocky. I had a bit of a mad moment last night and won an old Marin Bobcat on ebay for £80. Only one poorish picture and virtually no description so I am taking a chance it will be ok and do me for a couple of seasons and not be a pile of junk.

 

[Dibs]

I thought I would post another picture since this is probably as clean and fresh as my MTB will ever be again. I will try to find a cheap riser bar to replace the ones on it now. The ones on it don't feel bad but they are just a little too upright. I think something about the same width with about half the rise will work. I may have to visit bikes shops to find one with the sweep I like. I might even try to find a matching bottle cage or two. I like the new tires but I do miss the sound of the old ones, on the road at normal speed it sounded like a swarm of hornets, down a decent hill it sounded like a WW2 Stuka dive bomber.

That is one good looking bike...

 

[Crackle]

I think I said before, I have the Velociraptor's on my mtn bike, great tyre, not so trendy anymore, over here anyway but I've never had any 'moments' on mine, unlike on a few hire bikes I've used with Maxxis on. They are slow on the road though and indeed noisy

Yeah, you need different bars, they make it look a bit BMX'y.

 

[Venod]

I agree with lukesdad a real bargain, I have a later model a Caffeine with a Headshock, I know a lot of people don't like Headshocks but for me they are fine, I have run all singing and dancing Fox forks with more adjustments than you can get your round, but the legs still run in bushes, the Headshock runs in bearings and has the best lockout of any fork I have had, ( yours may not have lockout) and its design makes it light, so if your not doing anything extreme I would think twice about changing the fork.

 

[dan_bo]

My favourite Cannondale era. Lush bike- Jammy find.

 

[RWright]

I think I said before, I have the Velociraptor's on my mtn bike, great tyre, not so trendy anymore, over here anyway but I've never had any 'moments' on mine, unlike on a few hire bikes I've used with Maxxis on. They are slow on the road though and indeed noisy

Yeah, you need different bars, they make it look a bit BMX'y.

The way I wrote the post .looks a little confusing now that I read it again. The tires I took off made a lot of noise. I was expecting the same from the Velociraptors but they are quieter so far. I don't recall reading anything bad about the Velociraptors and I think I saw you mention them and saw a lot of other good reviews and comments on them. They seemed to be reasonably prices to me at about 25 dollars. I almost ordered some of the red Panaracer Fires but figured I better learn how to ride a little before I get something that looks as fast as they do.

The bars put me just a little too upright, would be rough on my butt if I rode very far without a little more weight forward.

Afnug, The forks seem like they will be fine for what I will be doing. The lockout is very nice, this one has it on it. I will more than likely stick with these. I just need to pay close attention to the maintenance tutorials I have seen on them. I don't think they need anything at the moment. Hopefully I can ride a while before anything is required.

 

[RWright]

@Mo1959 Cool ! congrats on the new bike. Just check the normal maintenance stuff and ride it. I think you will have fun, I bet there are tons of cool places there to ride off road. If you have never done much off road riding, start out easy, it takes more concentration anyway, also starting out it won't be as boring as it can sometimes get on long road rides, far from it.

 

[Venod]

@RWright

The last MTB Orienteering Event of the season was on Saturday, so I thought I would have a look at the Headshock Suspension, clean it out & regrease it, the bike is over 4 years old & I have never touched the suspension apart from checking the pressure now & again, I read all the info I could find on the web & decided it was within my capabilities, I didn't have any of the special tools required, I removed the top cap using pointed noise pliers instead of the recommended pin wrench, I made a castellated tool out of an old seat post, I made a pin spanner for the bottom of the outer cylinder by drilling my Shimano bottom bracket spanner & fitting 2 pegs, it came to bits easily, I have not treated this bike with kid gloves, it has covered some mileage & rough trails so I was pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness & condition of the bearings & slides, ( I have heard of bearings full of crud) I did not strip the hydraulic cylinder as it was not giving trouble, the fiddly bit is getting it all back together but if you tape the bearings as shown on line that helps, I did not use the inner tube trick to hold the outer bearing guides in position, I rolled some pipe insulation inserted it in the cylinder and let it expand to hold the slides, for anybody with a good grasp of all things mechanical its a fairly easy job that I would not hesitate to tackle again.

 

[RWright]

Afnug, Thanks for that info. I feel like it is ok for now and I am going to ride it like it is, when things dry out a little around here. Some of the tracks don't allow riding if they are wet and to be honest I don't want to be on them if they are wet and slick either. Your post does make me feel better about doing servicing on my forks when the time comes. If anything starts to feel or sound like it isn't right I now feel like I may be able to handle it ok.

I found this at Sheldon's site http://sheldonbrown.com/cannondale-headshok.html I am not sure if it is the exact forks that I have but it does give me some idea of what to look for and expect to see. That along with your info makes me feel a lot more comfortable about doing it when the time comes.

 

[Venod]

Yes that's were I got most of the info from, although mine is an air shock, but the bearing configuration is the same.

I think Sheldon may have lifted it from here.

http://forums.mtbr.com/cannondale/s...eassembly-step-step-my-experience-140972.html

 

[DaveyM]

@RWright
How funny I am just in the process of getting nearly the same bike...I pick up my Cannondale F800 sl this weekend. Can't wait

Glad to see your enjoying yours so much.

I'll let you see photos as soon as I get it

 

[RWright]

@RWright
How funny I am just in the process of getting nearly the same bike...I pick up my Cannondale F800 sl this weekend. Can't wait

Glad to see your enjoying yours so much.

I'll let you see photos as soon as I get it

Cool Post em up would like to see it.

 

[DaveyM]

heres a photo (finally)
still waiting for new pedals.
I must give thanks to my good friend Mark, who I met through cycling this year and has become a very good friend. He has given me this bike (yes a free gift) and a load of spare upgrades just to help me keep cycling over the winter. (plus he has to get rid of a few to make room for new ones).

Been out a couple of times and it is an amazing piece of kit.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Wow! That is some gift.

 

[RWright]

@DaveyM very sharp bike. Have fun on it.