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Previously, when writing reviews of MTB equipment or components that I've purchased, I've tended to write about them on the home page, the contents of which
get archived regularly, making it hard to refer back to a specific review.
I've now created an MTB Equipment Reviews section, in which I'll place future product reviews. There are very
few reviews in there at the moment, and I've cheated by linking to the gallery page for each of my bikes, but this section will become populated very quickly, as I get the
chance to write the reviews. First reviews are the Polaris neck warmer / gaiter, and the
Altura Altitude MTB gloves.
I got my bike back from Evans last night, with the service / parts costing to the tune of £205.
That was including the use of a voucher for 20% off servicing.
The final list of components is as follows:
- Deore cassette (HG50)
- LX bottom bracket (UN73)
- LX Chain (HG73)
- 2 sets of Avid brake blocks
- 2 Avid Noodles for the V brakes
- LX middle chain ring (M580)
- 1 x brake cable set
- 1 x gear cable set
- 2 x Specialized Hemisphere tyres, 26 x 1.95
- 1 set of wheel bearings
- 1 set of headset bearings
- Full strip / rebuild
Overall, I'm pretty happy with the bike - the tyres certainly make things a lot smoother - it
rolls for longer without pedalling once some speed has been built up, and there is much less rolling resistance.
The brakes are also a lot better - more power for less effort is always a good thing when you have
a not-quite-fully-healed-yet tendon, and the gears are shifting a lot more slickly too - thanks to the almost
fully renewed drive train, no doubt.
However, after about 30 seconds of riding the bike after picking it up, I noticed what I
originally thought was the classic creaking noise from the bottom bracket, which made me question whether
a new one had been fitted; I later realised that it was the chain rubbing on the front derailleur, because
it got worse in certain ratios. I think what has happened, is that the gears were tuned well on the stand,
but under load something is slightly out. Not chuffed, as I was looking forward to almost perfect silence.
I'm almost certainly going to take the bike back in today to get the gears sorted, as it's one
of the most annoying noises when riding; I'm sure the rubbing is not going to help with the wear and tear on the
chain either!
So, what is my conclusion? Well, I think Evans know what they're doing to a much higher extent
than a certain other chain; the sales men were genuinely pretty knowledgeable and managed to answer all the
questions I had, which is always good, and the bike is running smoothly.. I'll make a proper conclusion based on
how well they deal with my gears problem.
In Brighton we’ve recently been lucky enough to have two new bike shops open, within two weeks of each other, and closer to the main shopping area than
any of the many other bike shops that we have dotted around.
These are Evans Cycles and a branch of Bikehut, the specialist bike department of Halfords.
I’ve voiced my opinion several times before about Bikehut, based on previous experiences with some of the stores, but as far as I’m aware, Evans generally
has a better reputation with the quality of work.
I hope this proves to be the case, because what started as a trip in to buy a £3.99 pump due to some lost air from my rear tyre, turned in to the booking of
a major ("Stage 2", in fact!) service for my Fire Mountain, in preparation for the longer daily commute which I’ll start doing soon.
I waited in the shop while the bike had a check over, and the list of required items is as follows:
- Bottom bracket (wanted one anyway, as it’d started to creak) – a UN73
- Chain – the old one is stretched
- Cassette
- Middle chain ring – the others are OK so a full crankset is not required
- Brake cables - these have rusted
- Brake Pads
- Two tyres – not strictly needed but thought I’d get it all over with at once – these are Specialized Hemispheres; semi-slicks which at 1.95 inches wide, are still wide,
but should be a lot easier to pedal with than the current off road tyres I use, one of which is bald nearly anyway. They should make cornering easier too.
- A complete strip down and re-build, including re-facing of the bottom bracket shell and the headet, which should result in the bike being like new, so I’m told.
So far I’ve been quoted over £250 for all this, but for what I’m getting, I’m pretty happy – the Fire Mountain has served me well for over four years now, so
it deserves a little TLC.
One of the reasons I took my bike here was that the store had only been open for two days - I think in fact that I was the first service that they will have
done.
This is great, because based on the quality of work, I'll be able to report how well the service went. Just in case, by the way, anyone is planning on
getting their bike serviced at Evans, there's a 20% off voucher on the web site for servicing - I'll certainly be using it!!
In using Evans, I do feel a little like I'm betraying my LBS, but the convenience of same-day service (which will inevitably change once they become more
established), and the inside information on how good they are, overrides my loyalty to them - for this service, anyway.
I get the bike back tonight, and I'll report as soon as I get the chance on how it turns out - bloody well I hope, for that money!
I'm so excited about the fact that I rode to work today that I'm posting about it just before 9:00, rather than waiting till lunch! I rode 5 miles in about
25 minutes, which is a bit more than normal, but not too bad really - I do feel the loss of fitness though - it'll take a while to get it back I guess. I'm aiming for the
South Downs Way in a Day next year, and I'm moving further away from work soon (a further 8 miles), so I'm planning on riding back and forth every day as training.
As for the Fire Mountain, it's riding pretty well considering it's been kept in the garage doing nothing for at least three months; I changed the inner tube
after work on Friday, so that was fine, and I had to top up the back wheel after getting to the end of my road and realising that it was slide-yer-back-wheel-out low on air.
Apart from that, it's all cool. It has been a while since I renewed the drive
train though, so in preparation for the huge amount of miles I'll been putting on her, I may do
that next payday. TTFN!
As well as updating the header image at the top of the page for one appropriate to the season, I've added a few more pictures to the
tendon injury gallery page. Only two weeks until I can ride a bike off-road now, although I have been told that I
could ride one on the road, which I'll be doing as soon as my new inner tube is fitted.
More bike riding accessories purchased; firstly, a "Polaris Neck Gaiter" - this was admittedly mainly for using my motorbike (OK, scooter..), but I'm sure
it'll come in useful when I'm riding to work, which'll be soon. Secondly, I purchased a new Bike Hut inner tube for my Fire Mountain.. this is filled with puncture resistant
slime. I'm also planning on purchasing some semi-slick tyres for commuting. Pictures of my new accessories to follow.
Updated the latest bike riding accessories page, with some new pics, including the Fire Mountain with
the new seat-post / saddle installed.
Regarding seat-posts, in an earlier post somewhere, I said that I thought that the diameter of the seat-post on the Fire Mountain was 31.8mm.. this actually refers to the
external diameter of the bikes' seat-tube, rather than the seat-post diameter - this, for seat-tubes of 31.8mm is 27.2mm, so I'm told (this is the diameter of my seat-post)
- hope that makes things clearer.
Wow, two posts in one day - amazing! As the whole tendon thing isn't too pleasant, thought I'd get back on track with some pictures of my new
bike riding accessories, as referred to in a previous post.
I promised a few posts ago that I'd get some pics of my tendon injury live; these aren't that pleasant (I've not linked them in from the gallery for that
reason!), so click at your own risk!
This is the cast that I had to wear for about 5 weeks, plus another two weeks at night only. The hand has to be kept at a right-angle to avoid putting any
strain on the tendon, which would snap it.
This was the first of three weird-and-wonderful casts that I've been through so far; one other one is on the gallery page, and the other is only for use at
night, and I don't have any photos yet.
The balloons in the background are there because it was my brothers birthday.
My last few visits to the hospital for physiotherapy have been pretty successful in terms of the fact that my finger is now straightening pretty well, and
gripping pretty well too. I was even told that in two weeks time, I'd be able to start riding my bike to work, which even with the current weather, feels absolutely great!
I'll still have to wait till the 12 week point, which is exactly 4 weeks today, before I can ride off-road though.
However, in preparation for riding to and from work, as well as the fact that winter is upon us, I've been on a bit of a shopping spree, purchasing the
following items:
- Altura "Altitude" riding gloves, which I'm told are wind-proof and waterproof as well as breathable - should be a whole lot better than the Kona full fingered gloves I
had a few years ago.
- A new seat post - a bargain at £14.99 - I was never going to be spending too much on a seat post for a commuting bike..
- Some new Cateye lights - these are apparently new models - the "HL-EL135" and the "TL-LD130-R" - both can have either a flashing or constant light.
So, I'm all stocked up on the stuff I need, and raring to go! I'll stick in some reviews of the new bits once I've started using them.
I'm having some issues getting photos on to my computer at the moment - my digital camera is
kaput, and I don't have a Bluetooth dongle to transfer the photos from my mobile - this has been ordered and should be arriving soon, at which point I'll also get the photos
of my grim tendon injury live. TTFN!
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