New(ish) Member New(ish) Bike. The Kraken

kerbbumper

Evening

I have just bought a second hand Carrera Kraken yesterday as I have been looking for a while for a 16" that would be a good beginner bike and serve me when for future upgrades. Here's a picture.

Looking to do a few upgrades in the new year, forks, pedals, handle bars. Maybe a orange seat and grips keep with the colour scheme.


p.s thanks to all the advice from you guys in the buying section.

Cqc

Nice bike, don't ruin it with an orange seat...

The Rookie

Feel free to post in the Carrera HT thread (link in sig below), you can also take a look at my Kraken thread if you want to see how far the upgrade bug can take you!

Kraken is a good starter bike, but that saddle looks a bit low, and not orange, PLEASE!

mcnultycop

A charge spoon in black with the orange underside would be OK.

The Rookie

Agreed (as one of My spoons has a red underside!)

morepower

I would be tempted with one of these in white for that bike.... Hell I am tempted with the black one for mine too. lol

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cran ... -prod68937

Kowalski675

The Rookie wrote:

Agreed (as one of My spoons has a red underside!)

Like a baboon?

The Rookie

Whatever floats you boat....

The CB in Black is £43, I'd get a spoon at half that first!

cj11

unless the current saddle is uncomfortable I would just get out and ride. Then as your skills improve upgrade parts to suit. On my first proper bike I found the saddle unbearable on longer rides so changed it not based on appearance but comfort (now only use charge spoons on both bikes). I also found as my speed improved my forks were very poor and changed them too. From what i am led to believe the Kraken is a great bike that should last well.

Kowalski675

The OE saddle on my 2007 Kraken is comfy, but looks different to the one on this newer version.

kerbbumper

Cqc wrote:

Nice bike, don't ruin it with an orange seat...

Haha the Orange seat thing was just a joke,although few not bad ones, I do like the spoon seats tho, black with orange underside would be decent.

saddle options:

Peddles:

orange grips

Bring out the orange in the Colour scheme, white and grey and black a little boring.

kerbbumper

The Rookie wrote:

Feel free to post in the Carrera HT thread (link in sig below), you can also take a look at my Kraken thread if you want to see how far the upgrade bug can take you!

Kraken is a good starter bike, but that saddle looks a bit low, and not orange, PLEASE!

I will post in the kraken thread i will be honored. Had the bike out for the last few days I love it, only real concern is the brakes i assume needs new pads stopping power isnt great, I can hold the brakes on and push the wheel round. I have them clamped on for tonight see if it helps.I want to upgrade the brakes seen some decent sets for around £60 -£80.

Inspired by yourself I weighed the bike, says its 14.3KG not the most accurate scales, I have shed some gramms from purchase tho, Pie plate Gone, Bell (20g) Relfectors (44g) Bottle Cage (45g) Lights (145g) wanted to ask how much weight to you need to remove to *feel*a difference??



The saddle was too low good spot,I also moved the brakes and gear levers inwards as they were very close to the grips.

Any suggestions for some cheep starter tools and stand, didnt realise all the extras required.. Helmet,Cleaning equipment,tools.

kerbbumper

From my first Ever bike ride, pre-weight shedding lol



She tore down this wee brae

Kowalski675

[quote="kerbbumperInspired by yourself I weighed the bike, says its 14.3KG not the most accurate scales,[/quote]

Sounds about right. My 2007 was bang on 15kg in standard trim, but that's a 20" frame.

kerbbumper

Kowalski675 wrote:

[quote="kerbbumperInspired by yourself I weighed the bike, says its 14.3KG not the most accurate scales,

Sounds about right. My 2007 was bang on 15kg in standard trim, but that's a 20" frame.[/quote]

Superb mate, on halfords it says 13.8 approx but says that for 20" and 16" , so far i have it down to 14.05Kg quick clean and i might get her below 14..

Longer term I am looking to lighten and improve over all, I will be riding here a lot: http://www.highlandwildcat.com/ and also going to the new Glenlivet http://www.glenlivetestate.co.uk/things ... ke-trails/.

I am looking an new forks and brakes as my first purchase once I get a few months out of these. I am thinking Marzocchi Marathon R for the upgraded forks.

Kowalski675

kerbbumper wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

[quote="kerbbumperInspired by yourself I weighed the bike, says its 14.3KG not the most accurate scales,

I am looking an new forks and brakes as my first purchase once I get a few months out of these. I am thinking Marzocchi Marathon R for the upgraded forks.

I've just ordered some bargain Epicons from Ebay (£121.50 from a UK seller) to put on mine (will convert them to 120mm travel before fitting). Got a 50mm Kore stem and 750mm Funn bars waiting to go on (it's currently wearing the 25.4mm higher rise version of the same bars and a 90mm stem), along with an inline seatpost and 180mm Avid G3 front disc (my Boardman's donating its Elixir 3 brakes to replace the Tektro cable discs). Will be interesting to see what it weighs with those changes (and some lighter tyres - the OE Tioga tyres are v heavy). Still need to get the tyres (Bontrager XR3 team issues probably), some grippy pedals and a pair of bar grips (Superstar size zeros, colour undecided).

kerbbumper

Kowalski675 wrote:

kerbbumper wrote:

Kowalski675 wrote:

[quote="kerbbumperInspired by yourself I weighed the bike, says its 14.3KG not the most accurate scales,

I am looking an new forks and brakes as my first purchase once I get a few months out of these. I am thinking Marzocchi Marathon R for the upgraded forks.

I've just ordered some bargain Epicons from Ebay (£121.50 from a UK seller) to put on mine (will convert them to 120mm travel before fitting). Got a 50mm Kore stem and 750mm Funn bars waiting to go on (it's currently wearing the 25.4mm higher rise version of the same bars and a 90mm stem), along with an inline seatpost and 180mm Avid G3 front disc (my Boardman's donating its Elixir 3 brakes to replace the Tektro cable discs). Will be interesting to see what it weighs with those changes (and some lighter tyres - the OE Tioga tyres are v heavy). Still need to get the tyres (Bontrager XR3 team issues probably), some grippy pedals and a pair of bar grips (Superstar size zeros, colour undecided).

Yea I looked at the epicons, are defo a great option. I am just going to take it slow, hammer it till something gives them replace and upgrade

The Rookie

Tools, Decent set of Allen keys and a phillips and blade screwdriver to start with, after that get one of the budget bike toolkits with cassette/crank/BB toos in and go from there.

Save 100g on a wheel rim (Tyre/tube) and you'll notice it (accelerating), otherwise you have to save about 0.5Kg on the bike to notice it.

My Christmas prezzies will be saving me about 100g, but most of the bits needed replacing anyway as they were damaged/old (seatpost and clamp).

There are some decent budget savings, foam grips will save you about 120g for about £7, Alligator discs (I only use one at the back) will save about 50-80g for about £5 and so on.

morepower

What he said.. ^.

Some tools would be handy. I always carry a puncture repair kit. Allen keys, zip ties and chain tool. I would suggest at least one or two power links and a spare tube as this weekend one of the guys had two punctures and another snapped his chain. A chain tool will fix a broken chain but quicker and easier is a power link you may just need to use the chain tool to remove the one snapped link. A spare tube just saves time but a puncture repair kit will be handy on those unlucky days when you puncture your spare tube too.....

morepower

The Rookie wrote:

Whatever floats you boat....

The CB in Black is £43, I'd get a spoon at half that first!

They were both the same price when I first looked... But then sometimes you miss out on a bargain other times you drop lucky.. I just got a CB Iodine 3 handle bar for £24.99 and they were £49.99 the other day.. That is one of the problems with CRC at times. They can change prices daily or weekly. You just never know..

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/cran ... -prod53293