What kind of bike do you have? - Page 4

Orbea Team - see sig for pics. Great XC bike. One of the lightest frames around. Hope to have it around 20 lbs by X-mas (or shortly thereafter).

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Road: 2004 BMC SLT 01 Team Machine
Mtn: 2003 Orbea Team (Columbus Starship)

I'm riding a Scalpel 3000. I also have a Felt pro which is nice and lite, but the Scalpel has the best of both worlds. Enough suspension to take the edge off and as lite as most hardtails. I also have a Giant XTC with XT for muddy days.

This spring I'll be sporting a new Cannondale RUSH. It's an amazing bike and just now hitting the market. The cannondale rep was in Austin a couple weeks ago and let me take one out to my favorite trail. It's amazing! It weighs in at 24 lbs.- full suspension with a lefty carbon fork - XTR - Crossmax sl's. It's fast and capable of handling very technical stuff as well. Highly recommend a test ride.

I'm giving up the hard tail and sticking with the Scalpel for racing and Rush for selected races and training.

I have an early '90s Giant ATX 780 with a Softride suspension stem, cantilever brakes, a mix of XT,DX, and LX drivetrain. I gotta work the bike to get through some trails, but I think it's better for me. I rode a Gary Fisher full suspension once, but it made the trail too easy. I feel you get sloppy when the bike does all of the work, plus I don't want to spend all that money on another bike.

For many years I rode a Klein Pulse II. The last of the Chehalis Washington made Klein bikes before acquisition by Trek Bikes.

It was light (21.5 lbs), climbed extremely well, and handled like a dream.

But alas, my aging bones don't do well with the hardtail anymore so I finally succumbed to dual suspension.

I recently built a bike based on a 2000 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR XC frame utilizing parts from my spare parts bins and parts acquired from eBay.

Isn't as fast as my Klein, but it climbs very well and descends confidently. Final weight is 25.5lbs as pictured.

Easton EA50 bars
SRAM ESP 9.0 short twist shifters
SRAM ESP X9 Rear Derailleur
Shimano XT E-type front derailleur
Truvativ Isis Crankset
White Industries Ti-Racer hubs 32spoke 3X
Mavic 517 Ceramic Rims
Shimano XTR V-Brakes/Levers
IRC Mythos II Tires
Specialized Body Geometry Seat
Fox Vanilla Shock
MRP Swinglink/cartridge bearing upgrade
Manitou Mars Front Fork
Chris King Headset
Trek OCLV Carbon Fiber Bar ends

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98 Colnago Altain
96 Specialized Epic Roadbike
00 Specialized Stumpjumper FSR XC
96 Klein Pulse II

Hey to all; The bike I own is a Intense UZZI SL, med size along with alot of goodies. Its covered with dust,haven't done any riding.......my only wheels belong to a wheelchair. I can't walk so no riding, I'm looking into Hand cycles,so if anyone can help me with one e-mail me...If you want to be a proud ower of a Intense just let me know..............e-mail (Ecaynot@cox.net)

Litespeed Obed with XTR. (2000) I had gone from bike to bike every 3 or 4 years, but with this one I've been monogomous. FS has its advantages, but with a suspension post and the cushy ride of Ti and a good fork (Marzocchi Superfly X2) it is perfecto for the type of riding I do.

I have a 2005 Rocky Mountain Element 50, and a 2001 Norco Rush. I love both of these bikes. It's freaking awesome!
My norco is stock, except for Michelin Comp tires, and my Element I just purchased an EC90 flatbar and Selle Italia Flite saddle for...I might change the wheels on my RM. I've heard not so good things of the LX hubsets...

I have no actual pics, but here they are...

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I do have a kona cinder cone 2004 edition. I think its the best cross country mtb I every possessed. It is the best climbing bike I had even though it is only run by Shimano LX group set (crank, hubs, v-brakes, derailleurs and shifters). I congratulate all kona users there. I hope you love your bike like I do.

I just got a Trek SU200 yesterday, first time on a bike in 15 years. Tonight I did 4 miles in 20 minutes for a first ride other then a quick ride up the street last night.

I have a 04 GF Big Sur mainly XT, Skareb SPV fork, Avid V-brakes. Also have a 03 GF Sugar with Skareb Platinum SPV fork with Fox Rear shock. Disc brakes and SRAM 9.0 and XT. Also have a 94 GT Avalanche converted to Single Speed.

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When you come to a climb, hit it hard!

Schwinn (pacific bikes) cruiser "Alloy 7" runs all around Houston, TX., paces at about 20 miles per hour with a slow cadence. Of course I put about 60 pounds in the rear tire and slightly under 50 for the front. This is a bit more than recommended by the label, but Schwinn said they would stand 65 pounds air and hold 300 pounds weight with no problem. Although it looks a bit silly, it is very fun and surprisingly speedy. Road bikes with their 23 MPH plus will slowly gain on me and pass me; however, most mountain bikes are toast! I just love the comments like: "What the heII was that? It couldn't be!" Cornering is sometimes clumsy due to a lot of understeer, in that the comfy, laid back, riding makes it take about the same room as a car to turn. This is no problem for my commutes and pleasure rides; but the 28" handlebars can be a problem on the trails. Surprisingly, tree spacing isn't a minimum 29" apart. Oh well. The understeer and huge handlebars do provide a lot of safety when I hit a loose brick, tree branch, those darned road reflectors, or any other obstacle that I might hit while cruising really fast. There's just a slight bounce and the whatever-it-was is successfully run over while the bike remains upright and still going fast. Does this qualify as a mountain bike?

Hey whats up? listen about your handle bars. if it is to long you might want to cut them, about 1/2 on each side. That was the reason for me. a few years ago...I was known as CHASH because that is all I did, Hitting trees on every ride i went on . After a while I started just to lAUGH because it was painfull and I would laugh the pain off.
Tony

By the looks of it, I could remove about an inch from each side before it becomes difficult to mount the brake levers.
So, trees are at least 27 inches apart? I don't hit the trail with the cruiser very often, but you should see the looks on people's faces when I detour off the pavement in favor of a fun ride down the trail. I especially like the drop-jawed, open mouth, expressions/stares when the rather ridiculous-looking cruiser shoots out of the forrest and onto the open grass on the park trails at about a 15 to 20 mph clip. That is, if I don't hit a tree somewhere. In that case, all that happens is a rather clumsy and quick stop because the brake levers are mounted forward and that's what hits the tree. It's funny that the bike shop has been unable to keep these fast, lightweight cruisers in stock. I guess they'll find out about the handlebars vs. tree problem sooner or later.

Hey, as for me, I'm off to order some North Road (touring, English) handlebars. At 23" wide, they're exactly the same width as mountain bike bars, but they're swept back at an angle. They're old fashioned, but somewhat attractive, like the bicycles in the old movies.

There's a couple of advantages to the North Road style. You're not going to go over them because you're sitting farther towards the back of the bike. Your neck isn't going to hurt. Your wrists aren't going to hurt. Your "goodies" aren't going to go numb on a long ride (and you're less likely to suddenly sit on them). The bars are available in $9 steel (Wald #8095, safe 23") and aluminum (Nitto Alloy for road bikes, but only 21" so you might get "gored" BMX rubber grips might help the smaller bars). Upside down=road bike bars. Lots of weird looks from your fellow cyclists (until they hit a tree and you don't). Oh, yeah! Swept back = completely tree-proof.

Giant VT


Kona Unit


Orbea Volata

A Giant NRS Composite 2 with lots of extras...25 lbs...