"AMY" 2011 GT Force Carbon Expert

tarbot18

Lovely bike i have the 120mm version the gt sensor and wouldnt mind upgrading to one of these at some point , great colour too.

Thewaylander

looking fwd to seeing how you decend on that one,

Your old bike was very very nervous... get a 160 fork on that and you got a real beast!

chez_m356

very nice, i bet superstar love you

Gazlar

I hope they do, I must cost them a fortune in haribo mind. never had a bad product from them though. Was gutted my superstar seatclamp didn't fit (I'm a bit ocd with brands)

VWsurfbum

First time i've looked through with pictures, Amy does look like a hottie and i'm hoping you let me have a go next week?

Thewaylander

gaz will let you have a go on her, if he can have a go on you :P

Gazlar

Well, how about we both have a go on her and Shakira at the same time make it aproperly premiership experience.

Just taken her for he first outing at Cwmcarn an shaved 35 mins off my best time, got round in an hour 5 including 3 laps of the freeride.

Initial impressions were a little odd though, very light and twitchy on tech climbs given the geometry, butsettled down a bit when I steepened her further dropping to 100mm up front and locking out. I think a 50mm stem and a 750 bar may be overkill and the cause of some of this so going to try a 70/75 mm see if that sures her up. Downhill though she was planted and felt seemed like I was riding slow but was carrying more speed round the freeride than usual uas I was getting a fair bit of air off the jumps, not hge amounts but more than usual, despite the thick mist.

positive so far but now shes undergoing surgery to fettle her stretched cabling and make her suitable for a road jaunt next week. 3x9 gearing and some semi slicks about to be installed

Gazlar

Ok fettling done, and for the short term shes now running 22/32/44 SLX rings thanks to Bails, the chain device has been ditched and she has new shoes in the form of a set of Schwalbe Sammy Slicks. Also gone for the time being is the x9l chain for a standard x9, mainly because it was cheap and I needed the extra length for running a big ring. I have had far much more reliability from kmc chains than shimano.



Shes undergone this surgery to make her more suited to a 200 mile (over 3 days) road ride for The Kaiser Challenge, in memory of forumite Alex Kaiser (Kaise) who passed away in May aged just 28. The ride is to raise cash, and awareness for CMA, The Cardio Myopathy Associatein and CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young. The ride is from Kaise's home town of Glossop in Derbyshire, to just south of Bristol on the 7th July,the day, and the place he was due to marry his Fiance Sarah.

If you would like to support me and the the other 60+ riders taking part in this challenge, go to www.thekaiserchallenge.com and give just a few quid, or at least stop by and have a look.

Cheers

bails87

Good luck to you and everyone else on the challenge Gaz.

Have you bought any chamois cream yet? I'd recommend it!

The bike's looking good, bet you're chuffed with it from the sound of things. I'll have to pencil myself in for a demo ride too

Gazlar

cheers dude, and chears for lending me your ring really chuffed, apart from just getting the setup perfect.

Not got chamois cream yet but dont worry, I will

bails87

Gazlar wrote:

Not got chamois cream yet but dont worry, I will

Are you having a raffle to pick who gets the honour of applying it? :twisted:

Clank

bails87 wrote:

Are you having a raffle to pick who gets the honour of applying it? :twisted:

Ewwwww. You need help.

Gazlar

No, no its just whoever brings a comb

CraigXXL

Gaz, just noticed you've routed the cables wrong . They should go on the inside of the swing arm but put some helitape around the seat post tube to stop any rubbing, looking good though.

Gazlar

Cheers for that Craig, I was aware that I'd routed them "wrong" but had done so with reason. I saw the routing on some pics when I was putting it together and I found that there is very little clearance inside the swingarm and the cables tended to drop down and almost wedge, I just felt routing them outside was less problematic, they are tight enough that I dont catch them too and the outsides are well helitaped too

Clank

Smashin' looking build. I look forward to seeing her in the flesh.


Hang on, you're riding Amy. By deduction, doesn't that make you the inflatable-faced Kif Kroaker?

Or even worse - Bender?!

Welsh_Wizard

lush bike, fair play..

..and for us newbie's who have no idea of how much something like that could cost.. ball-park figure?????

Gazlar

Most I of it came from my old bike but them again a lot was upgraded on that. Let's just say the frame with shock was a bargain 630 quid from Ebay direct from Taiwan, then shipped by a different method to what I'd paid for, so Ebay refunder the postage, meaning It in the end cost 540. All in all as the talas's came on my old bike and should have been suntour epicons its cost me under 1500 notes to build

Zziplex

I've got a Force Carbon Expert and would offer the following advice,

1) Keep the cables outside the rear swingarm or else they will rub in to the frame, I doubt blade tape will help long term.

2) Apply some jointing compound between the rear dropouts and where they touch the frame. This will prevent the horrible squeeking noise that will develop. Some use grease, but that will eventually wash out.

3) Keep an eye on the lower bearings, the sealing isn't great, maybe add some O rings to prevent dirt getting in.

I love the colour btw, enjoy the bike 8)

ilovedirt

Gazlar wrote:

Shes undergone this surgery to make her more suited to a 200 mile (over 3 days) road ride for The Kaiser Challenge, in memory of forumite Alex Kaiser (Kaise) who passed away in May aged just 28. The ride is to raise cash, and awareness for CMA, The Cardio Myopathy Associatein and CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young. The ride is from Kaise's home town of Glossop in Derbyshire, to just south of Bristol on the 7th July,the day, and the place he was due to marry his Fiance Sarah.

If you would like to support me and the the other 60+ riders taking part in this challenge, go to http://www.thekaiserchallenge.com and give just a few quid, or at least stop by and have a look.

Cheers

Oh shit, was this the guy that was found in his van at Rheola? Real shame that, didn't realise he was a forumite as well. Good luck with the ride, sounds like a good cause.

Oh, and nice bike.

The Northern Monkey

That looks lovely well played!

What happened to the cube in the end?

BTW, 661 Recon helmet is a win.. fit is nice and comfy, would recommend!

Gazlar

Cheers re the cables, that's why I kept them there, they don't get in the way any.

Yeah out was the hi that passed away at Rheola, was a cracking tribute to him and much money had been raised for the two charities so far, over 45k

Northernmonkey, I'm confused, may have confused me with someone, was never a cube lol

Gazlar

Some more pics to follow,, but some changes made today, now running tubeless mountain king black chilis in 2.2 flavour, was finding not only was it a bit sketchy climbing, but was also losing grip. I figured I'd try adding more grip first before fiddling with putting a longer stem or narrowing the bar or combination of the both.

A quick blast today shows that its helped, but may still elect to go up to a 70/75mm stem

VWsurfbum

Gazlar wrote:

70/75mm stem

blimey, up to a 70, whats on it now?
both mine run a 70mm

Gazlar

VWsurfbum wrote:

Gazlar wrote:

70/75mm stem

blimey, up to a 70, whats on it now?
both mine run a 70mm

Running a 50mm stem at the minute, the reach of the thunder was a bit too long so shortened it up, as I've swapped parts over that's what I popped on, but wide bars, a 140 fork steepening it up and the short stem have made it a bit twitchy climbing, not helped by end of life tyres, so one by one I'm changing bits and trying them out until its just so, tyres first

The Northern Monkey

Looks really good mate... when my XC bike is up and running, will have to have a blast somewhere!

BigJimmyB

I just read this from the top.

Didn't like the look/colour of the frame on it's own, but as a whole bike it looks really nice.

I'd have stayed with the white saddle and blue grips tho 8)

BTW - would that dropper cable be better routed inside the seatstay?

Nice work.

Gazlar

It just looked a bit too garish in the flesh, I'm ususally a very bling shopper, but this has been toned back in comparison for me.

I've played about with t he cable routing, especially the dropper and found that it ran best there, inside the seatstay it tended to gather up a bit. I did try with it cable tied to the top cables before and after the internal section but that just got in the way

NM, look forward to it

GTnut

Hi Gazlar, Nice Build!
I have just bought a NOS GT 2009 Carbon Force pro frame and could do with a bit of advice please.
Where can I buy the internal cable routing grommets and what size Diameter are the internal headset bearings in mm?
I hope you can help as GT do not seem too bothered to reply to my messages!

The Northern Monkey

Was just wondering, did you buy the frame from a shop or from a classified/ebay?

I didn't think GT did frame only!