back onto bike stuff
kendo training last night was cold, very cold. As a result my back is suffering and I am going to ramble on about bike stuff for a change.
Back in very early 2007 I built up my Santa Cruz heckler. It was, and indeed remains my dram bike. My comments and pic are here http://mr-cvb.livejournal.com/13663.html
The heckler and I have done many miles, had a few offs and a heaps of fun. But the front end was always a bit of a bother. The 66 forks were heavy and I was feeling had too much travel. While the heckler was a better climbing bike then the old ‘dale, it did have its limitations. The front end being so high wandered about on steep climbs making it very techy in the steering. Added to this, I am simply not the sort of rider who would use the 66 to the level they were able to do (big drops off and jumpy stuff).
Despite Dr Nicks comments, we as a riding group mainly did the sort of riding that did not require armour and big travel bikes.
So I have been looking at changing out the forks on the heckler for something a bit lighter, less travel (around 150-140mm as opposed to the 170mm of the 66). This is also (I admit it) looking on adding some new bling to my ride.
So the research was on. I had to add to my criteria list the capacity for a 20mm though axle, as I was not keen on having to get some new hub/wheels.
Options-
Marzocchi 55 I looked at these and passed them over very early in the process, not sure why though.
DT Swiss - some lovely carbon fibre and the right colour. I ended up feeling that these would no be robust enough and they only can with 15mm axles.
Fox - this was looking good but I was having difficulty in working out what was what...also I was not keen on the grey..
Magura - hmmm German engineering.....I was initially looking at the Wotans but thought that it was going to be too much in the way of travel. This then brought me to the Thors.
The Thors got some very good reviews in several mags and it meet all the other criteria. Only problem is that they only came in white.....grrrrrr. Anyway - I managed to find them for a resonable price and they arrived last week.
So after figuring out how to swap them around the heckler has a new front end. The first two rides and things are looking good. The bike is going up very well (sorry Nick for those hills) and is going down in a suitable manner. Over all I think it has moved by bike into a much more ‘do-it-all’ sort of ride.
Very happy indeed.
Back in very early 2007 I built up my Santa Cruz heckler. It was, and indeed remains my dram bike. My comments and pic are here http://mr-cvb.livejournal.com/13663.html
The heckler and I have done many miles, had a few offs and a heaps of fun. But the front end was always a bit of a bother. The 66 forks were heavy and I was feeling had too much travel. While the heckler was a better climbing bike then the old ‘dale, it did have its limitations. The front end being so high wandered about on steep climbs making it very techy in the steering. Added to this, I am simply not the sort of rider who would use the 66 to the level they were able to do (big drops off and jumpy stuff).
Despite Dr Nicks comments, we as a riding group mainly did the sort of riding that did not require armour and big travel bikes.
So I have been looking at changing out the forks on the heckler for something a bit lighter, less travel (around 150-140mm as opposed to the 170mm of the 66). This is also (I admit it) looking on adding some new bling to my ride.
So the research was on. I had to add to my criteria list the capacity for a 20mm though axle, as I was not keen on having to get some new hub/wheels.
Options-
Marzocchi 55 I looked at these and passed them over very early in the process, not sure why though.
DT Swiss - some lovely carbon fibre and the right colour. I ended up feeling that these would no be robust enough and they only can with 15mm axles.
Fox - this was looking good but I was having difficulty in working out what was what...also I was not keen on the grey..
Magura - hmmm German engineering.....I was initially looking at the Wotans but thought that it was going to be too much in the way of travel. This then brought me to the Thors.
The Thors got some very good reviews in several mags and it meet all the other criteria. Only problem is that they only came in white.....grrrrrr. Anyway - I managed to find them for a resonable price and they arrived last week.
So after figuring out how to swap them around the heckler has a new front end. The first two rides and things are looking good. The bike is going up very well (sorry Nick for those hills) and is going down in a suitable manner. Over all I think it has moved by bike into a much more ‘do-it-all’ sort of ride.
Very happy indeed.