GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
MacB any half decent frame builder restorer will weld an extra bit of steerer tube on your forks for less than the price of a decent tyre.
Which bike/fork and why?
- Thread starter lulubel
- Start date
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MacB
Lover of things that come in 3's
- Location
- Farnborough, Hampshire
oh I know but can you imagine me being happy with that? I've already bought their replacements anyway
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
no. But the weld would be stronger than the original tube!oh I know but can you imagine me being happy with that? I've already bought their replacements anyway
OP
OP
lulubel
Über Member
- Location
- Malaga, Spain
Of course. I'd read that about air somewhere. I think the point that was being made was that the ride gets progressively harsher as the spring is compressed further, and dual air forks go some way towards compensating for this by opening up the second chamber at a certain compression point. Maybe?
My proposed donor bike has a 140mm head tube and the XS Soul has a 100mm head tube, so that should be fine, I think, even if I want a bit of steerer stuck out. (In fact, I'd have to have a bit of steerer stuck out if I wanted to be able to put them back on the old frame at all.)
I think you and I are quite alike in our approach, except that you may be even more obsessed with geometry charts than I am.
OP
OP
lulubel
Über Member
- Location
- Malaga, Spain
Alternatively, I could buy the €1,000 bike, which is the Radon ZR Lady 7.0, muck around on it for a while to get more feel for riding a better quality MTB, then get a Cotic Soul frame and use the Radon as donor bike. (This would mean making sure the money for the Soul was put back somewhere so neither of us spent it in the mean time.)
Or I could save myself €200 by doing the same thing, but with the lower specced Radon ZR Lady 6.0, but that would mean a Recon Silver fork instead of the Reba, and not getting the Mavic wheels that are on the 7.0 (which aren't included in the original proposed donor bike anyway, so it's only really the loss of the Rebas that's different).
Or I could save myself €200 by doing the same thing, but with the lower specced Radon ZR Lady 6.0, but that would mean a Recon Silver fork instead of the Reba, and not getting the Mavic wheels that are on the 7.0 (which aren't included in the original proposed donor bike anyway, so it's only really the loss of the Rebas that's different).
Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Put your hands in the air and step away from the geometry charts citizen.......
The longer top tube on the Soul should indeed be countered by a shorter stem. You are a petite build, and I would suggest a 50mm stem with bars at least 685 wide. Also, think "effective" top tube, given the frame angles.
On descents on a hardtail you should be up on the pedals, shifting your weight backwards and forwards around a slammed seat, not fretting about geometry.
Dual Air forks do indeed have a negative air chamber which counters the compression thing, so that they continue to compress more linearly at the end of their travel. This way you get to use all the travel without having a massive hard squish at the end. Hence why I run mine on 30% sag and 10% less air in the negative chamber. Forget that for now though, you'll have oodles of fun finding the sweet spot when you get the fork.
Donor bikes! That Radon 7 is nearly there isn't it! Bit of a heads up though. The photo shows an SLX Crankset, but the spec list shows a FC M552 Hollowtech Deore. I'd want to be certain I was getting the SLX . The rest of the finishing kit is decent quality stuff, and of course the wheels are a bonus there.
The longer top tube on the Soul should indeed be countered by a shorter stem. You are a petite build, and I would suggest a 50mm stem with bars at least 685 wide. Also, think "effective" top tube, given the frame angles.
On descents on a hardtail you should be up on the pedals, shifting your weight backwards and forwards around a slammed seat, not fretting about geometry.
Dual Air forks do indeed have a negative air chamber which counters the compression thing, so that they continue to compress more linearly at the end of their travel. This way you get to use all the travel without having a massive hard squish at the end. Hence why I run mine on 30% sag and 10% less air in the negative chamber. Forget that for now though, you'll have oodles of fun finding the sweet spot when you get the fork.
Donor bikes! That Radon 7 is nearly there isn't it! Bit of a heads up though. The photo shows an SLX Crankset, but the spec list shows a FC M552 Hollowtech Deore. I'd want to be certain I was getting the SLX . The rest of the finishing kit is decent quality stuff, and of course the wheels are a bonus there.
Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Oh, and when you order the Soul you tell Cy what sort of fork you have, and he'll include a Hope headset to suit. My Reba was a straight 1 1/8", so you get an adapter to fit your fork crown, and the crown race drops down onto it. Total cost 65 plus a tenner for the adapter.
Cubist
Still wavin'
- Location
- Ovver 'thill
Check this donor. The Fox forks would fetch enough on ebay to buy your Rebas if you didn't love them enough.
http://www.hibike.de/shop/product/p...nt-XTC-Alliance-bike-size-S-16-blue-2010.html
http://www.hibike.de/shop/product/p...nt-XTC-Alliance-bike-size-S-16-blue-2010.html
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
No geometry chart ever won a race or got a rider down a mountain. Sometimes you just have to decide what to ride and run what you brung.
OP
OP
lulubel
Über Member
- Location
- Malaga, Spain
Geometry. The reason I'm making this important is because I'm short - 5'2" - and a typical female build. My legs are long, relative to my height, and my upper body and arms are short. That means, if I were to find a typically built man of my height, and we rode identical bikes, I would be more stretched out than he would be. Since unisex frames are typically built for male proportions, I have to be careful not to make an expensive mistake.
The Piglet is really stretched out - 588mm ETT in the 14" frame size, compared to the Soul's 560mm, or the 530mm I have at the moment. I think that would be pushing it too far. Besides which, it seems silly to save £200 on the total cost of a bike by not getting the frame I want. And I won't stay at my current level of experience forever. Hopefully, I'll improve, and if I've already got a Soul, I won't then keep hankering after one and knowing I can't afford it. Once you've already got the HT that everyone who's got one raves about, there isn't really anywhere to go (other than FS, and I've decided against that), so I won't spend my time wanting something that I can't have.
This Corratec X-Vert is another option for a donor bike that I could probably ride for a bit (with a short stem) and get some experience before I move all the components over to the Soul frame. It's a 2011, and I can't find the - yes, I know - geometry chart for that year, but the 2012 model has a 560mm ETT, and I've noticed a trend for increasing top tube length in the newer models, so if it's different, it's most likely to be shorter. My OH should also be able to use that frame after I've finished with it, if she wants to try MTBing. What they show of the spec looks good, the head tube on the 2012 model is 110mm (10mm longer than the Soul), there's nothing about the wheels, but they look like DT Swiss rims and Conti Race King tyres. Now I've found that, I'm itching to hit the buy button, actually, but I need to wait for my CC bill to be issued on Friday so it goes onto the next month's statement - the other big positive of ordering that bike is that it's in stock, so I won't have to wait ages for it (I notice the availability has changed to week 46 now on the Radon ZR Lady 7.0).
The Piglet is really stretched out - 588mm ETT in the 14" frame size, compared to the Soul's 560mm, or the 530mm I have at the moment. I think that would be pushing it too far. Besides which, it seems silly to save £200 on the total cost of a bike by not getting the frame I want. And I won't stay at my current level of experience forever. Hopefully, I'll improve, and if I've already got a Soul, I won't then keep hankering after one and knowing I can't afford it. Once you've already got the HT that everyone who's got one raves about, there isn't really anywhere to go (other than FS, and I've decided against that), so I won't spend my time wanting something that I can't have.
This Corratec X-Vert is another option for a donor bike that I could probably ride for a bit (with a short stem) and get some experience before I move all the components over to the Soul frame. It's a 2011, and I can't find the - yes, I know - geometry chart for that year, but the 2012 model has a 560mm ETT, and I've noticed a trend for increasing top tube length in the newer models, so if it's different, it's most likely to be shorter. My OH should also be able to use that frame after I've finished with it, if she wants to try MTBing. What they show of the spec looks good, the head tube on the 2012 model is 110mm (10mm longer than the Soul), there's nothing about the wheels, but they look like DT Swiss rims and Conti Race King tyres. Now I've found that, I'm itching to hit the buy button, actually, but I need to wait for my CC bill to be issued on Friday so it goes onto the next month's statement - the other big positive of ordering that bike is that it's in stock, so I won't have to wait ages for it (I notice the availability has changed to week 46 now on the Radon ZR Lady 7.0).
