Bill_B

Cool, I'll get some light machine oil in it before I run it. To be honest its a cheap freewheel that was in with the cranks, I don't really care if its killed it, I just need to know not to do it again (esp with the tryall ). thanks

Hmmmm, I think the silver is a bit boring to be honest (finish looks ok from a distance though), I would have gone for something a bit more off the wall in a colour. I'm doing my Monty in Prismatic black (gloss black with a holographic flake) when it comes back from blasting and I get the powder from the states (gotta love that exchange rate ).

I bought a pair of cranks with an ACS claw (welded) free wheel fitted. when you spin the freewheel it felt a bit rough and occasionally jammed. So I drowned it in WD40 (I'm thinking this may not have been my wisest move) and the solvent in the WD40 dissolved a LOT of crap out of there (and any grease/oil that was in there), it now spins much more freely but still jams occasionally (I am just spinning it by hand, not on the bike yet). I'm now thinking removing any lubrication from inside the freewheel may not have been very clever for the longevity of the freewheel. What should I do, am I worrying about nothing, I cannot strip and lubricate the mech as its the welded version. I have bought a second hand TryAll incase I have shafted the ACS, and the TryAll also has a slight jam/drag occasionally (and many more engagement points, feels much nicer in that respect). Do freewheels drag and stiffen up occasionally and am I worrying about nothing or is there something that can be done about it?? its not like they are locking solid or anything that serious and on the bike it will probably not be particularly noticeable. Am I being silly or can I do anything to make them super smooth?

T45 and good old 4130 are pretty common grades of steel used as well. Reynolds website has some info about their different grades of tubing and allowable manufacturing processes. Have a look at iolobikes.com, and contact them, I've been looking at custom frames and Aran had loads of time for me when I phoned, and was happy to talk about construction materials and techniques.

Has anyone tried a larger disc, going up to an 8 or 10" disc, should be easy enough to get one manufactured or find a suitable motorbike one and have an adapter made. Incresing braking force has many options, larger discs, larger caliper/more pistons, dual discs etc, the issue is which system will be simplest (simple is always good and less to go wrong) and lightest. A dual disc and caliper setup would be relative complex and heavy.

Due for a phone upgrade? I've just go a Sonly W880 and taht will play MP3s off its internal memory card. Comes with a 1gb card but you can fit upto 6gb I think. I'll probably use it in preference to my sony NWA3000 because of its size and I always have it with me.

Yeah, thought about it, I don't really know too much about them apart from quote 'americans seem to love them so they are probably a crap gimmick' There really doesn't seem the range of wheel bits which worries me slightly but we are talking about november for the frame build, so there maybe a load of new stuff come out over summer. I wonder if the wheel being that bit bigger would really outweigh the lack of front suss? I don;t know enought about them yet to make a really informed decision. What did Clive make of this and what was the service like? I know the butted tubing does get crazy thin in places, I'm talking about an XC bike though, even my lardy ass shouldn;t put those kind of forces through it. Spoke to Aran and he seems a very cool guy, he can do what I need so I'm certainly considering him for the job. Thanks for all the input guys, between Leeson and Iolo I don't see that I can really go wrong when the time comes.

That is what I really wanted to know, the quality of workmanship is up there with the best I have spoken to Aran or Iolo and he could also sort out a frame for me. It looks like it will be an Iolo or Leeson at the moment, pricewise they are pretty much on par for what I want. I am getting help from a friend of mine who is a certified XC nut and does a bit of dirt jumping, he used to sell bikes a couple of years ago and has many friends still in the trade, so we can use contacts to measure up the geo of known good frames and I'll be basing the basic geo of it on a specialized XC frame, but moving the tubes around a little and IMHO tidying up the design somewhat. It will not be a particuarly new or radical geo. I'm just looking at taking a regular relaxed XC bike (specialized rockhopper), stretching the wheelbase a little with the top tube, lowering the top and seat tube to a more trialsy/Dirt Jump sort of style to give me more clearance and putting more thought into the positioning of calipers, cable routing etc. this is all for 6 months time mind, I'm just starting my research early.

It isn't far off! Broomer: I really like the idea of a single speed XC bike, it wouldn't be practical all year round but I have friends who all go single speed for winter. I would still want a Mech hanger are 135mm rear so I can run gears most of the time but I would like the option for single speed, the Dialled bikes Love/Hate is like that and if they would make me a long 21" frame (or even just reply to my emails ) I'd go for that. http://www.dialledbikes.com/products/mtb/lovehate.html I think the concept of a sinlge speedable bike is a good one, I want something like that dialled. I like Clives 360 dropouts and I want the cabling run through the frame, his workmanship looks good and pricing is significantly better than anyone else who has listened to me. Clive has suggested he can do what I want at a price I think is very reasonable. Curtis design and workmanship looks good, but it is almost double the price for them to build it exactly how I want.

Yep phoned Curtis first, they seem really nice guys there, very knowledgable and had a lot of time for me, there is quite a price difference between a Leeson and a Curtis though, can anyone justify to me that a curtis would be almost twice the bike a Leeson would be? My intention is to buy a 23" specialized rockhopper and ride that for 6 months, then design the Leeson based on how I would change/improve the rockhopper.

Not tried everything no, I've tried quite a few though, most of the major brands (if anyone knows anything particularly long I'm listening), its more the length than anything, I can bodge with longer stems etc to effectively lengthen the bike but I'd rather go for a better proportioned frame (easier than correcting my bodies geometry ). I really want a 21" frame with a couple of inches extra length in the top tubes, I can get there using a 23" frame, pushing the seat right back and fitting a much longer stem (it leave a frighteningly small ammount of top tube to bollock clearance though in case of accident), the problem is that is sort of what I'm doing with my old 21" XC bike (which is knackered) and it still doesn't ride 'right'. My problem is more proportion than outright size. Despite that, the Leeson frames are well priced IMHO and the idea of having a proper custom frame is damn cool. I've ridden a couple of aluminium frames and find them a bit harsh in comparison to steel, I also have an irrational fear of aluminium fatigue after an aluminium ladder collapsed on me while stood on it using a stihl saw EDIT: I know it may not be the most sensible solution to getting the right bike, but IMHO its not bad, the leeson frames are not expensive (under £400 for a custom frame is not that bad IMHO) it would get me the right Geo. I really like the look of the leeson style, I think a shiny white leeson frame with black hardware would look the nuts.

The Geo is a none issue, this won't even be a trials bike, I want a nice chuckable LONG XC bike in steel. I'm 6'5" with really long arms, I want a frame with about a 17-19" seat tube (I'll be buying a 23" rockhopper in the meantime) and a 26-27" top tube!! something longer than most and lower than your average XC bike (so I can keep my balls in place when I fall off!) I liked the look of the Leeson frames so contacted him about the possibility of building something a bit different in about 6-9 months time when things are a bit quieter. Clive was enthusiastic and said he was prepared to have a go I'm looking at something geo wise between a jump bike and XC bike (could be classed as a freeride bike I guess) and looooooong. I really posted this to get an idea of what impartial people thought of Clives work and service. EDIT: His prices seem very reasonable too IMHO

Spoke to Mr Leeson yesterday about a custom frame build for the future (he seems a tad busy at the moment), I like the look of his designs and work (EBB and the 360deg dropouts, internal cables and fitting the rear caliper in the rear triangle etc) from what I can see the quality of welds etc look good (unlike some frames I've seen recently), and he thinks he can build what I'm looking for. So anyone got any comments about Leesons in general, anyone had a bad experience with one etc or are they all fantastic with awesome aftersales service? Just lookng for peoples opinions. thanks

6'5" and about 18ish stone (floats between 18 and 19 depending on my credit rating at the pie shop)! I did get down to 16 something a year or so ago which was nice but then I got a job in a pub with free beer and food, 8oz of ham and 6 pints of guiness a night 5 days a week took its toll . I've got really long arms too (never can get long sleveld shirts or jackets to fit 'off the peg') which is a PITA went shopping for a XC bike recently and sat on a 21" Specialized hardrock and the guy in the shop is looking confused as I'm almost sat upright on it, need to find something with a real long top tube.

Try Isoproply Alcohol (works well but not cheap) B&Q Leaf shine/polish (handy aerosol, doen't smell great though and can leave a bit of a residue) WD40 (the solvent in it should do the trick, GT85 and many 'bike' lubricants lack the solvent in WD40)

QUOTE(deanie-b @ Apr 3 2007, 03:17 PM) ←Paint gives just as good an effect as all that fancy stuff up there ^ if it's done properly Properly applied 2-pack paint on a clean etched frame will give as good finish as powder-coat, BUT its not the kind of thing you can do at home so will be no cheaper than powdercoating (possibly more expensive for a good job). It would give you a wider range of colours to chose from though. If you want paint, find a good car bodyshop get your frame prepped and primed then get them to paint it along with a car they are doing in the same colour, that way they have the paint mixed and the oven on etc they can just paint it in the corner of the oven and it will cost you less.

powder costs only (from Columbia Coatings) for the powdercoating cos my monty frame will JUST fit in my mates oven and he is doing it. £30 to blast the frame and forks because his mate it doing it. The frame has to cope with about 210degC for 20mins to bake the powder on, my frame is 4130 CrMo so no probs for me, I THINK an aluminium frame would be ok with this but check first with someone who knows. I was quoted £30(cash) to powder coat a bigger frame by a local firm providing it was supplied stripped and clean.

I'm getting my Monty shotblasted (its flakey chrome at the moment) and powder coated next week. I'm going matt black (at the moment I think ) but there are loads of colours of powder and 'effects' out there. Have a look at http://www.columbiacoatings.com/ and look in the online store for examples of powder and look at the 'illusions' and 'additives' if you fancy something a bit different.

I dont understand why having a PC at home would mean you wanted a PC laptop, I'd vote Mac, you will get most of the benefits that Vista would give you, pretty good virus immunity it will talk to your XP machine and do easy file transfers (which Vista will give you issues with I'm told). Oh, and yes get it insured if you are taking it out and about, we had 4 laptops stolen at work this week

How come LED sidelights failed? I'm thinking of fitting these becase my sidelights are a pain to remove (well for some reason you cannot get them out, so you have to take arch liner out and go in behing the wing to the back of the lamp housing) and I thought these could be a good long term solution. are they white or blue LEDS?

try parcel2go they are lousy at picking up on time, but most of their work is done by DHL, as long as you pack it well and don't mind waiting a couple of days for pickup, they are very good rates.

I think you can get 75/110W bulbs (not sure on exact ratings) but much higher than your 55/60W in there currently, in a std H4 fitment. the good points are: they are notably brighter due to higher wattage, they are no more expensive than std bulbs the bad points are: more watts = more heat, if you have plastic lenses and reflectors the may well melt they are illegal (if you lights are lousy and these are a bit brighter no one should notice, I ran them for years in my 306, passed MOTs etc) more power needed, if you power wires are thin they could be overloaded and melt (may need larger fuses too)! you can try them and check the wiring and lamp housing temperatures after 10/20/30/45mins to check they are not overheating. you may find just cleaning all your connectors and maybe fitting new, thicker earth cables from your lights helps.

cable brakes are actuated by pulling on the cable, hydraulic brakes are actuated by compressing fluid. cables have a certain ammount of elastic stretch to them making your cable brakes comparatively spongey and imprecise to the hydraulic setup. Hydraulics should allow you to put more pressure on the disc. the only real difference is the use of fluid to push the pads onto the disc rather than the cables pull and lever system. Hydraulics are more expensive because the hydraulic pistons and seals are more expensive to produce they have to be more accurate and precise.

I'd get the laptop, I lug iMacs around most days and they are not portable really, they might not seem that big but trust me, they are not a portable computer. (I'm not convinced the hard-drives like being rattled about either), if you want it to be in any way portable get the macbook, or mug an old person on the way back from a decent bingo win and get a macbook pro!!! (just kidding, don;t go mugging little old ladies )

Thanks for the info guys, 22:18 seems to be the 'std ratio' for stock bikes, so I'm assuming going down from 26" wheels to 20"s I'll need to up the ratio a bit. I will try with the smallest rear freewheel I can find first (16t at the moment) and then up the front sprocket if I need to increase the gearing. I'm not too worried about protecting the freewheel and clearance issues while I gain a bit of confidence on the bike, if it becomes an issue I'll put the 12t rear cog back on that I'm getting with the wheel and invest in a 18t front freewheel and suitable second hand cranks.... if I ever get that serious So I'm correct in thinking, I should have no problems fitting a rear freewheel to a 19" rear wheel on a mod. Thanks