Any of you tall dudes out there looking for a full-suspension bike? A friend has a 2007 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp for sale, size XL, heck of a deal - it's just too big for him (trade for smaller??). PM me if you're interested, I'm not gonna spam this thread with a link to his sale.
ooof. XL is too big. I have a '02 FSR Disc Medium that I'd love to trade for a Large. I've upgraded my Mantilou forks with heftier springs, too (stock was setup for someone about 130 lbs, I swear).
Yeah, that M is WAY too small for you. Just about right for me tho! Send it to Gummee! XXXX Gatehinge Ct Tucson, AZ M
Great thread! I've recently started commuting on an older Raleigh M5000 full-suspension MTB. I did swap out the knobbies for a set of Serfas Drifter city tires (which aren't half bad for light off-road duty, BTW), but I feel like too much of my pedaling effort is being lost to movement of the suspension. So, I'm going to return my early 90's vintage GT Timberline to duty as a commuter/hybrid. Can't beat that CroMo Triple-Triangle frame! My dad has used it sparingly over the years, but mostly it has laid in state for the last 10 years. It's been kept indoors, so no worries there. Should I be thinking about getting into the headset and bottom bracket for cleaning and regreasing? Also, the rear derailleur will only shift up. It's a Shimano Exage 500LX with the indexing shifters that have two thumb levers rather than the modern thumb and forefinger setup. I think the shifter itself is broken and they seem to be in short supply on the Interwebs. Could I used something like an Shimano Alivio shifter as a replacement? Just trying to keep the costs to a minimum. Any other suggestions for this little project would be welcome.
I have a pair of XT 7sp shifters if you need em. Not sure what I'd charge ya tho... Not as much as ebay! Cantilever only. You can get shifters that'll work with yer old stuff from yer LBS, but ya gotta be careful to order the right stuff. Get V-brake compatible stuff and yer gonna be upgrading other things as well. To try and get started, blast the stuff out of the shifters with Tri-Flow or WD-40. That may free up stuff for a bit, but its temporary. If yer gonna make this bike into a road-only bike, you're gonna want a smaller cassette and/or bigger chainrings. Mtn sized stuff is gonna mean boat slow on the road. HTH M
Thanks Gummee! Yeah, shifters/brake levers are intergrated together, so it's looking like a seperate shifter won't do the trick. I'm definately going to try to clean out the shifter mechaninsim, maybe I'll get lucky. If that doesn't work, I saw a nifty looking singlespeed conversion kit from Nashbar. Gonna talk to the guys at my LBS too, they helped me get the Raleigh back on the road. Thanks for the tip re: the chainrings and cassettes, something for me to remember once I find this elusive thing called "fitness". As slow as it is, this bike can go faster than I'm currently able to pedal it!
My girlfriend has been a good bit happier with her full-suspension Myka than with her old Gary Fisher hardtail, but I think that has at least as much to do with the better fit and the better-quality fork as with the rear suspension. I find FS helpful when I want to go really fast or ride all day on moderately rocky/rooty trails. Most of the trails you've posted look pretty nontechnical to me (no offense intended), so I'd think a hardtail would be fine. It'd help keep the weight down, too.
I've done many a rebuild on supposedly non-rebuildable rapidfire shifters (the thumb and forefinger ones, though). On the thumb and forefinger models there's a little lever on a spring that acts as a ratchet into a rotating disk that prevents it from spinning backwards until the release button pulls it back out of the way. On every old shifter I've ever fixed, the ratchet had stopped rotating freely on its post, which caused it to no longer act as a ratchet effectively. The disk would push it out of the way, but then it wouldn't spring into the next groove. Some careful disassembly and lube always fixes it. A squirt of spray lube and some judicious fiddling would probably work just as well. I'd definitely try to open them up and see if you can't figure out what is wrong with them. Some of the internal parts are inevitably just not designed to come apart, but unless one of those is one of the broken parts, odds are good you'll be able to repair it. They aren't that complicated, internally.
And the cost. I agree, for trails like the ones you showed us, don't really "need" a fully sprung bike. Money better spent on higher quality components, maybe even a better fitting option like a women's specific, which only tend to be available in higher level models.
That is the same as the early XT shifter/brake levers I updated off my old Rocky Mountain. The shifters didn't work that well, but worked a bit. I'll look around for the box of parts when I get home. I'm not so sure they still exist in my garage. They were sort of trashy when I [pulled them off. I bought a $120 set of Performance wheels, (rim brake or disc), swapped out the brakes for V-brakes. Shifters for 9-speed along with a new XT take-off rear and a 9-speed cassette for the wheel. Maybe $300 total? Not more than that. The Take-off XT ran about $50 or so. The shifters were the most money I think, about $100 or so. The XT front V-brake was on sale a year or so ago, but never did get the rear I wanted. I can't remember if I paid for it or not. :huh Anyway, I think if I had it to do all over again, I'd just go spring for the full squishie Stumpie and have been done with it for a year. I would have broekn the ribs long ago so be all healed by now too.
for this to happen when you sign up for your first race? Thought I would clean and lube the bike for my race this Saturday and what do I find? LBS had one tire in my size thank dog. Utah Tour de Donut here I come!
Yeah if I had spotted it sooner I would have swapped front to rear. I've been riding during the heat of the day which I think contributed to it's demise. Well that and my fat ass.
Thanks for the advice regarding picking a MTB for my wife. I think were going to get her a hard tail. No brand picked yet she's got to try them on. So now I need some input/advice. I'm currently riding a Redline Monocog 29er. I love it but I like to fiddle with stuff. Which means either throw money at it or keep it and build a new 29er. I'm leaning towards new bike and keep the Monocog as the beater bike. So now onto picking a new bike (frame). What I'd like: 1) Steel frame 2) Rigid fork (but could upgrade to a front suspension fork) 3) Can run as single speed and geared with minimal hassle. 4) No more then ~$1500 for complete bike or better yet ~$500 for the frame. 5) Must be 29er. So at first I thought I just get the Monocog Flight, then I started to dig a bit on the interweb. Oh boy I think I've found the frame for me. Vassago Jabberwocky
Yabbut why have two of the same bike? Whatevr you do, just don't let the same guy who built that jabberwocky in the picture build yours. There's enough brake hose there for three bikes!
