Paranoid beginner

kryptonick

So I just picked up Rockhopper Comp 09 this afternoon, due to receiving the wrong roof bars (calling the company responsible tomorrow) I had to transport it the 30 miles home in the boot of my 3 door hatchback.

In order to make the bike fit I had to remove the front wheel, I didn't reattach it until around 10pm due to having basketball training in the evening, and now when I spin the wheel there is a very faint rubbing sound. It also comes from the rearwheel, which wasn't removed, if I lift it off the ground and spin it. I gave it a very short ride on the road once I got home and it seemed to ride and break fine.

Is this something I should worry about? Assuming the weather stays dry I plan to go out for a ride on a trail tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks for any reassurances or advice you can offer me,

Nick

nicklouse

dont worry, the pads need to bed in and the rubbing will reduce but soem contact is normal.

kryptonick

they are hydrolic disc breaks, but I assume it's still ok?

Thanks alot for your advise, I'm much more excited and less nervous about tomorrow now. First time I'll have ridden a bike in a good 5 years or so, and probably about 10 years or more since I've taken one off road.

rhann

not a real problem although annoying, one reason could be how tight the axle loosening or tightening it can adjust where the disc sits in the callipers if not then you will need to adjust the pads themselves, but it sounds like the pads.

kryptonick

i took my bike out for a quick ride today, i seem to remember the trails in the forest very close by being alot more forgiving than they were, I'll be taking it to a nice sedated forestry commision bike trail tomorrow assuming it stays fair. The brake noise was not noticible when I was riding, I'll get my more experienced mate to check it out for me next time he is about.

I do have a few other questions that I tried googling, but they must be so common knowledge that no one bothers to post them online, I'll ask them in this thread since I don't want to clog the board with lots of posts.

1. Bike trails seem to be colour coded, much like climbing routes are. I assume that colours such as green and blue indicate an easier ride than say black or red, but is there a resource that either lists the colours in order, or defines exactly what each colour means?

2. I bought a very cheap (£8) 6L hydration pack from Tesco, it seems very fiddly to use when riding probably because the valve is difficult to open in the mouth. Am I being stupid by trying to use this whilst cycling, should I stop to drink, or am I just doing it wrong?

Sorry to be a burden, I really appreciate the help I've been given here so far!

andrewjoseph

most valves have a lock to prevent them seeping. in camelbback the valve is a yellow 'lever'. other makes have a valve that pulls up.

in use, open the lock and then just suck.

also make sure the valve end is open, i.e. has a split in the rubber.

deadliest

This may answer the grade question but be aware that not all trail centres read from the same songsheet.

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/infd-6mrmeu

kryptonick

Thanks again,

This forum continues to be a helpful resource, cant wait to get out of work early tomorrow now!

stumpyjon

Don't worry about the discs kissing the pads, it's quite normal. As long as the wheel spins for a couple of revolutions when you spin it by hand it's fine. You can lose your sanity trying to set some brakes up perfectly and they end up touching next time you take the wheel out anyway.

As for the trail grading it goes green, blue, red, black and orange for freeride parks. As said before though one centre's black (Landegla) is another centre's red (Afan) so it's always worth asking here before hitting the trails . Also unlike climbing there is only one grading system so some blacks are very long endurance fests whilst others are short but may have very difficult technical sections.

Ditch Witch

andrewjoseph wrote:

most valves have a lock to prevent them seeping. in camelbback the valve is a yellow 'lever'. other makes have a valve that pulls up.

in use, open the lock and then just suck.

also make sure the valve end is open, i.e. has a split in the rubber.

I find it helps to bite down on the end. This opens it up and makes it easier to suck the water out

Vimeous

I've the same combo and a similar brake issue.

I noticed the pad rub and it doesn't seem to affect general riding.
However I did note that fact one pad is closer, i.e. less than a mill from touching, means when you apply the brakes the disc distorts about a mill because it's not centred.

Again these are my first set of bike discs so will a simple pad adjustment solve this or will the whole caliper need repositioning?

Grabbed the hydration pack last night for a stonking £3.75!
Yes it's not the greatest quality but for amount I'll be using it I can't justify the full-blown Camelback just yet

aberfeldyweather

I think stopping having a swig and continuing is the way forward unless you are/have

1. in a race
2. being chased by bears
3. in a forest fire scenario
4. spent good money on a camel thingy and wish to justify the marketing trap you have unwittingly fallen into

Ditch Witch

I stop to have a drink, but use a camelback because I can't fit that much water in a bottle in a cage. Also, bottles in cages get covered in mud if it's raining. They're fine if it's dry.

blister pus

I use a 1 litre Sigg bottle with screw bung for all short / mid-length journeys, no plastic taste, holds enough and it can get covered in sh!te as much as it likes provided the screw bung tightly covers the thick lip rim of the hole. I find the underside of the frame and bottle cage takes the bulk of the sh!te anyway, although I have seen people stick the entire bottle in a small tight fitting supermarket transparent veg bag with a bread tie clamping the top.