First ride with my new bike - includes slugs and brakes!!!
Mertyn
Posts: 51
Hi All,
I just went out with my new Rockhopper 08 to Swinley Forest in Bracknell and had a brilliant time! I've been there a few times before but only renting bikes out and the RH was so much better than what i'm used to.
Gotta recommend Swinly too, its great fun and massive - plenty to do!
Two things...I've got V brakes (Avid), I like that they are very light, but I don't like how weak they seemed and the back especially was very spongy after a while, is there any way to improve these? In the mid to long term I will be moving to hydraulics.
Second, I seem to have a very slight grinding noise coming from the crank shaft(?), is this normal?
Oh yea, after a couple of hours my brother pointed out that I had a 'leaf' stuck to my tyre, on closer inspection it turned out to be a bright green (squashed) slug, gross! :shock:
I just went out with my new Rockhopper 08 to Swinley Forest in Bracknell and had a brilliant time! I've been there a few times before but only renting bikes out and the RH was so much better than what i'm used to.
Gotta recommend Swinly too, its great fun and massive - plenty to do!
Two things...I've got V brakes (Avid), I like that they are very light, but I don't like how weak they seemed and the back especially was very spongy after a while, is there any way to improve these? In the mid to long term I will be moving to hydraulics.
Second, I seem to have a very slight grinding noise coming from the crank shaft(?), is this normal?
Oh yea, after a couple of hours my brother pointed out that I had a 'leaf' stuck to my tyre, on closer inspection it turned out to be a bright green (squashed) slug, gross! :shock:
0
Comments
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V brakes, as any brake, work better after careful set up and a bedding in period. In the wet they can suffer though, and so can the cables.
Often bikes come with pretty poor pads, I recommend KoolStop EagleClaw 2 as a cheap upgrade.
Noise could be a bit of grit, or maybe the derailer needs adjusting. As bikes bed in from new, readjustments are needed.
Wait until you run over a frog!0 -
I heard about night riding but you went out at 12am :Phttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v407/ ... CF5579.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v407/ ... CF5577.jpg0 -
One thing I found is that from new the brakes get better and the gears get worse as the cables stretch etc Once it's all beddedin and adjusted you'll find the gear are sweet.2008 Rockhopper Disc (Silver)
2009 RockShox SID Race forks.
XT Drivetrain
Continental Speed Kings (PR) Traction
Garmin 705 Navigation
Fat bloke on a bike engine0 -
Haha no I went out Sat morning! :P I'm just a bit of a night owl.
Running over a frog just sounds plain nasty...will have to try and avoid that
Are there any website that explains how to tinker with deraileurs and v brakes?
Thinking about it when shifting to the largest cog on the front I have to push it a little bit further to actualy get the chain to move over.
Thanks for your help guys0 -
Park Tools site is excellent.
Sounds like the front mech needs a touch more cable tension.0
