New MTB Thread

[Richard]

PlaneMan wrote:

On my way home today and heard a funny noise at the back of the bike.  That’s a tear in the tyre, the bead is still in place. Had to do the last 6 or 7 miles with about 3 psi in the tyre and go slow and careful. Seemed to take all day.

I have never seen a bike tyre go like that unless it was thumped or mistreated in some other way. It looks quite new from the bit of treat I could see. Any clue as to why or how the failure happened as it could have been dangerous.I have seen both bicycle tyres and car tyres develop bulges but usually when the tyres were old and probably past their use by dates. Apparently by do age and with increasing age come the risk of failure. Some come pre-aged before they are even sold. There was a bit of a drains up two to maybe five years ago, it could be more, when tyres on sale were found to be up to about 10 years old, yet still being sold as ‘new’.

I shared a flat with someone who had an almost new tyre fail on his car when on a motorway. It turned out to be one from a faulty batch but that was back in the 1960s. He was lucky to avoid any harm at the time, the tyre was less lucky. I think he did get a replacement as the maker knew of the issue by then.

[PlaneMan]

From looking at the rest of the tyre (when I got home) it looks to me as if it was a fault in the construction of the tyre. The section that failed was very easy to make bigger by about 1/2 an inch, then it’s impossible (for me) to tear it anymore.

The tyres do have a hard life on my fat bike, they run at low psi and get thumped and abused almost every ride,there are some clips on my instagram and YouTube, links in my sig. If the tyre was going to fail, it was only going to be where it did. I can’t really complain, I only paid about £15 for the tyre as it was a end of line clearance, of course it happened when I was hoping to save money instead of spending it, a new tyre that’s at least as good is £54.  :wacko:

[PlaneMan]

Went for a ride on my 650b bike yesterday while waiting for Amazon to deliver a new tyre for my fat bike.

Bad move. Did 3 miles in total and was in agony.

So it has to go. :negative:

[PlaneMan]

Had a bit of time spare this afternoon while over at mum’s place waiting for a parcel to be delivered so I went hunting for bits of wood, found some old slats off a bed that’s long gone so made a stand for my fat bike.   It’s not pretty or precise but it works.  :good:

[doctoryorkie]

I use lifts in the garage. Similar to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-20kg-Bicycle-Lift-Bike-Cycling-554289-/351224195214?hash=item51c697e88e:g:6YcAAOSw4GVYNK8G

Mine come from Lidl. They are £6 when they have them.

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[PlaneMan]

Looked at those kind of things before, no space to hang them and no garage.

In airport duties so when I was waiting for the flight information to update I built another one for my single speed bike.

My much loved 650 b mountain bike has gone. Local independent bike shop bought it from me.

[doctoryorkie]

PlaneMan wrote:

no space to hang them

That’s a shame. Mine live in roof (not suspended from lower beams) and keep bikes above head height.

Sad about your 650. I tried a 29. Not for me.

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[PlaneMan]

I tried a 29er as well, looked like a kid that had nicked a grown ups bike!

Even though the lard bike is the same overall tyre size (height wise) as a 29er it’s just so much better. I’m always amazed at how it just keeps going. Far more capable than I am.

The new Schwalbe Jumbo Jim help a lot, I was really impressed with the On One Floaters, the Jumbo Jim’s are even better, as they should be, £115 for 2, which is cheap!  :wacko:

[doctoryorkie]

You learn something new every day.

Puncture! :negative:

Staying with friends and forgot puncture repair kit.

Out of desperation I wrapped a piece of self fusing silicone tape around the tube.

Fixed. No glue. Just 120mm of tape.

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[PlaneMan]

The yanks often use a dollar note for tyre gashes and sometimes punctures. Pump the tyre up slowly, wedge the dollar between the tyre and the tube, get you home fix.

I always have 2 tubes for my fat bike (bog standard 26″ tubes) and one for my single speed.

I was going to post about my fat bike, the front mech was playing up and the 38 tooth chain ring was knackered. Getting a new 38t chain ring locally was impossible, online was almost as hard.

So I ditched the front mechanism and put a 32t single speed chain ring on. Loving the 1*8 setup, have to work harder on hills but that’s OK.

[The Duke]

I always used to carry a spare tube, couldn’t be doing with road side repairs.

[doctoryorkie]

CRC have an offer on.

Spend £75 on the ‘cleanout’ items and get an extra £10 off. Ends 5th April.

Cheap tyres to rip rip up on roads this summer for me:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/geax-mezcal-ii-tnt-mtb-tyre/rp-prod151136

 

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[PlaneMan]

Planet X have a pretty good sale on, bagged 8 inner tubes, a pair of lock on grips and some blinky lights (4) all for under £20 delivered.  :yahoo:

 

[PlaneMan]

2 Sundays ago my fat bike died on me. The rear quick release skewer somehow got bent and because of the extra force skewed the wheel right over against the frame. The free hub also went with it. Which failed first I have no idea, all I know is they failed and the rear dropouts are now mangled, maybe 2mm of metal missing from each one. I’m not riding that frame again, not worth the risk.

To say I was annoyed is an understatement, it was the morning of the Cardiff half marathon and it happened on the road near the castle, which along with most of the other roads in the area, were closed. That meant no chance of getting a taxi to get home so I had to bodge it with the help of a very powerful bloke with a lump hammer who managed to bend the skewer straight enough so he could kick the wheel almost straight. No free hub meant no pedaling so I had to scoot the bike home, not fun with a ruined hip. Got home and I dragged the bike over the threshold and the rear wheel dropped out, the QR skewer had been lost somewhere on the way home.

I’m not spending out on another bike until I get to speak to a surgeon, which could be months or years so for now I’ve ordered a 16 tooth sprocket for my single speed and a new chain. It currently runs 46 up front and 14 in the rear, fast but damn hard work on hills. I’ll strip the fat bike of anything worthwhile and really bash the frame up before recycling it, just in case anyone has a bright idea of using it.

I’ve had more than my moneys worth from the bike, in all honesty it should have died about 3 months after I had it! I just wish it had died closer to home!!!!

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

I had a rear hub fail once on the way back from a long ride. The first i knew about it was when i heard a ticking from the back of the bike. When i stopped i found the derailleur was now hitting the spokes for some reason. I could not work out why so i just adjusted the derailleur out a bit, loosing first gear but letting me carry on. About 5 miles from home the ticking started again so i did the same thing again loosing second gear this time.

The rear hub i was using was a cheap one that came with the bike and when i got home i found the weld attatching the flange the spokes connect to had completly failed on the block side. The wheel was wobbling about and i was lucky to get home without accident.

[PlaneMan]

New sprocket fitted and the old chain was in better condition than I thought, also enough space in the dropouts to mean using the new chain wasn’t needed. I’ll be giving it a proper run on Sunday.

[PlaneMan]

The single speed is much better on hills now. Amazing what a difference a £5 part makes.

As an aside if anyone is getting a swanky new bike have a look at the video below, a very comprehensive lock test.

[Author]

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