- Location
- Vehicular limbo
Just in case anyone is in the market...
Any Mtn Bikers on RME?
- Thread starter glockman
- Start date
I had my Kona for sale for 3 months without a single call. I had it priced a little less than identical bikes. Today I had one call and one sale.
I listed mine because a bike I wanted was listed for a good price, and it’s still available.
So I think there is a pretty stagnant bike market right now.
While double checking that the one I wanted was still the one for me, I found a slightly lower priced, more upgraded version.
Went and picked up this 2022 giant trance x.
It’s got some signs of use. But not bad, and certainly not as bad as it will look after me.
I listed mine because a bike I wanted was listed for a good price, and it’s still available.
So I think there is a pretty stagnant bike market right now.
While double checking that the one I wanted was still the one for me, I found a slightly lower priced, more upgraded version.
Went and picked up this 2022 giant trance x.
It’s got some signs of use. But not bad, and certainly not as bad as it will look after me.
- Location
- Vehicular limbo
TranceX gang rise up. What upgrades?
I don't know.
It's supposed to have longer travel suspension over the trance 2 I was looking at, and has fox forks instead of the Rockshox. I noticed the shifter will shift down from both pushing and pulling the lever. I've never seen that before.
- Location
- Vehicular limbo
Oh yeah, just better spec components you mean. TranceX is supposed to be Trance's big brother, should be 150/130 over 130/120 on the Trance, Fox36 fork, better brakes, etc. Longer and slacker too, with a pretty low bottom bracket. I've had to relearn all sorts of things about pedal placement and timing!
Shimano stuff has that dual release, and if you go to XT or better it has a double downshift as well as the three or four step upshift. I have GX on my TranceX 29 and I miss my double downshift.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
My nine year old had a really nice custom 20 incher that I built for her a couple years back. Then she had a growth spurt and it didn’t really fit her any longer. So I promised her a custom 24 incher and gave her 20 incher to her cousin for Christmas.
I have most of the parts to build the 24 incher, but it takes time and motivation to build frames. I’m running low on both of those right now.
Anyway, my kid was mad she didn’t have a bike and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to build her frame any time soon, so I just snagged this bike off KSL so she would have something to ride.
I was in a rush because it was raining and I was on my lunch break so I just paid the guy and tossed it in my truck.
Once I got it home, I realized it was not an aluminum frame— those giant tubes are in fact steel— and it weighs 37.94 lbs. My kid only weighs 54 lbs.
I was starting to regret my decision. In order to assuage my conscience and have some fun, I decided to perform an experiment— how rideable can I make a $250 (retail) Walmart bike using crap from my garage and the Bicycle Collective? Setting a budget of $100 so I don’t lose my a$$ when I go to resell.
First pound lost was ditching the reflectors and installing a non QR seat binder, replacing the steel seatpost an aluminum 28.6mm one from my junk pile and adding a random 1993 Vetta Gel saddle.
It has a 3x7 drivetrain, so next up was making it 1x. Ditched the front derailleur and shifter. The cranks were 152mm long. I feel that’s too long for a kids bike. The drive side crank arm had all three steel chainrings swaged to it, so there was no chance of removing two of them. I tossed an old set of Shimano STX cranks in the mill and went to work.
Now I have a set of 140mm 1x cranks. Saved a ton of weight here.
Final weight for the bike was 35 lbs for an afternoon’s efforts.
Looks like I’ll need to buy a BB. I don’t have a short enough spindle in my junk pile and the chain line is way off.
Next I will address the six pound suspension fork…
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Scout 24 Inch 10 Speed Kids Mountain Bike - Cleary Bikes
The Scout 24 inch kids mountain bike is the best bike for seven to ten year olds. Equipped with front suspension, Shimano drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes
www.clearybikes.com
This is what I got my oldest for his birthday.
Money well spent. I think the components are worth more than the asking price. Especially the tubliss ready rims.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
That’s a pretty sweet ride. Especially at that sale price. Lucky kid.Scout 24 Inch 10 Speed Kids Mountain Bike - Cleary Bikes
The Scout 24 inch kids mountain bike is the best bike for seven to ten year olds. Equipped with front suspension, Shimano drivetrain and hydraulic disc brakes
This is what I got my oldest for his birthday.
Money well spent. I think the components are worth more than the asking price. Especially the tubliss ready rims.
I have all the parts— carbon fork, already built custom wheels and 1x9 drivetrain ready to go. I have all the frame tubes and even the powder coat. I’m really just not feeling doing a frame build at the moment.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
This stem originally came off a low end Specialized. I needed it for this build because I am running some old Answer Taperlite bars with a 25.4mm clamp. I don’t think it had any post-casting machine work done that was not absolutely necessary to be functional as a stem. It was practically solid. I decided to lighten it up a bit. I think I took out 60 grams of material just by drilling out the extension to 1”. That was the biggest drill bit I had. I probably could’ve safely taken out another 10 or 20 grams, but I didn’t want to set up the boring head to do it.
Also faced the top and bottom because many of these cast stems are not particularly square. And my steerer tube is too short and I don’t want to splice in an extension so every millimeter of stack is sacred.
Also faced the top and bottom because many of these cast stems are not particularly square. And my steerer tube is too short and I don’t want to splice in an extension so every millimeter of stack is sacred.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
While we’re on the topic of steerer tube extensions— here is one I’m doing for a friend of a friend who cut his steerer too short. The fork was paint matched with the frame and the factory isn’t doing this paint scheme anymore, so it ended up at my place to get fixed.
In the pics it still needs a few more taps with the hammer to close the gap before welding.
In the pics it still needs a few more taps with the hammer to close the gap before welding.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
It seems I’ve been doing quite a bit of machine work on crank arms lately. Since they’re forged in weird, not square shapes, they’re difficult to clamp in a vise. Made this little guy help hold them.
This is an M22 x 1.0 thread. My lathe is old school and can’t make metric threads without a bunch of gears I don’t have. However 1.0 mm thread = 25.4 TPI and I can cut a 26 TPI thread. Turns out it’s close enough for this short of thread length. Would have preferred a 25 TPI thread, but once again, gears I don’t have.
This is an M22 x 1.0 thread. My lathe is old school and can’t make metric threads without a bunch of gears I don’t have. However 1.0 mm thread = 25.4 TPI and I can cut a 26 TPI thread. Turns out it’s close enough for this short of thread length. Would have preferred a 25 TPI thread, but once again, gears I don’t have.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
Here is the finished product. It’s almost like it never even happened. Extenz for bicycle forks.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
Due to my inability to properly operate a measuring tape, I had to extend the steerer on the fork I got from the Bicycle Collective for my daughter’s Schwinn. Here we go again. 
I just MIGed this one since, I’m between TIG welders right now. Then I got tired of filing the welds down, so into the lathe it went….
And then some good old Rustoleum appliance enamel for stylish good looks.
I just MIGed this one since, I’m between TIG welders right now. Then I got tired of filing the welds down, so into the lathe it went….
And then some good old Rustoleum appliance enamel for stylish good looks.
jsudar
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Cedar Hills
All finished up. Didn’t quite make the sub 30 pound weight goal. Got it down to 30.66 lbs which really isn’t bad considering it started at 37.98 lbs. I spent about $120 on it, in addition to the $75 I paid for the bike. I used a lot of parts from my “inventory” —most of which came from 90s mountain bikes that I got for free. It has nicer parts that what I would have gotten for $200 on KSL, but it’s still heavy for a kids bike. For comparison, her 20 incher also had a 1x8 drivetrain and disc brakes, but it weighed 16.24 lbs.
- Location
- The Village of Kay
I need to work on my skills...
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And just like that, it is Kids Parcours time again. 🤩Der Monte Ceneri erstrahlt in seiner vollen Pracht, rechtzeitig für den zweiten Kids Parcours des... | By CIC Swiss Bike CupFacebook
And just like that, it is Kids Parcours time again. 🤩Der Monte Ceneri erstrahlt in seiner vollen Pracht, rechtzeitig für den zweiten Kids Parcours des...
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I have to vent somewhere…
Riding Zen today I went down the big g out downhill at the top of the first climb, and my rear pivot on my pivot failed
I think Pivot is pretty good about warranties, but now I’m 3 weeks without a bike in prime riding season.
Is this the price we pay for riding plastic bikes?
Riding Zen today I went down the big g out downhill at the top of the first climb, and my rear pivot on my pivot failed
I think Pivot is pretty good about warranties, but now I’m 3 weeks without a bike in prime riding season.
Is this the price we pay for riding plastic bikes?
RockChucker
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Highland
Dang that stinks. I ride a metal bike because plastic is out of my budget 🤣
- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
That stinks, glad it didn't cause an injury! 🤕
What's the difference in weight between the metal and carbon frame versions of that bike?
What's the difference in weight between the metal and carbon frame versions of that bike?
Pivot doesn’t do aluminum…
This is only my second CF bike, first was a Santa Cruz 5010, and now this Pivot Trail 429. I’m not married to CF, and have been planning on a steel Reeb SST for my next ride, even before this failure. I’ve never had a preference (or even noticed) compliance vs stiffness.
The weight penalty is minimal, I think 1-2 pounds for CF vs Aluminum. Usually CF bikes are spec’d better overall. I am not nice to my bikes, and am always a bit anxious about hitting my frame on a rock.
This is only my second CF bike, first was a Santa Cruz 5010, and now this Pivot Trail 429. I’m not married to CF, and have been planning on a steel Reeb SST for my next ride, even before this failure. I’ve never had a preference (or even noticed) compliance vs stiffness.
The weight penalty is minimal, I think 1-2 pounds for CF vs Aluminum. Usually CF bikes are spec’d better overall. I am not nice to my bikes, and am always a bit anxious about hitting my frame on a rock.