Ritchey, Serotta and at least one more all make 1" t-less forks. Personally, unless you're dead set on having a frankenbike, hit up Pricepoint.com and get one of their AL road frames. The only thing a carbon fork does is drop some weight and absorb some of the road buzz. Big hits still feel like big hits. On the downside, its more fragile, you won't be able to get as many spacers under the stem like you've got now unless you're using at least an AL steerer (or steel) if you can find one, and well... save your $ for that pricepoint frame above. M
I used to visit my grandparents in Tucson and I remember those Jumping Chollas. The barbs must have hooks in them because it hurts like hell to pull them out.
:huh Damn man, that's insane! Just ordered up some MTB love for the upcoming season! New rear Maxxis high roller, Camelback bladder, new grips and nicer/non snapped pedals. I'm officially pumped. Just gotta order up my AM full face and I'm good to go.
Yep, they're curved and trying to remove them often just results in them "rolling" down your arm. What we do is carry what we call a "Cho-Comb" (think Fro pic). You slide it under the cholla, and then flick them off. Still hurts like hell but works well. Our club distributes them all the time... here you can see our "cho-comb tree" that we decorated at the 24 Hours in teh Old Pueblo race that was just this last weekend. Here it is in-action, from a night ride. That's my leg, by the way: <iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8GG-92eGx-A?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
haha oh yeah sorry about that, yes, i have 1" threaded right now, and the fork i got is a slightly older cannondale SI 1" steer tube fork...so its staying 1", just switching from threaded to threadless....
i am kinda set on having a frankenbike...its sorta my nature... i like making things that the majority of folks say cant be done, work....LOL as for the spacer issue, i already ordered a 130mm adjustable reach stem... the bars are a bit high for my liking currently, because of the stem mount shifters... i ordered a set of brake lever shifters last night so that solves that issue as well...and i didnt want the carbon for big hits, i wanted it for the cut down on road vibes...i am planning a 450mi one week ride this summer, and dont want numb hands...LOL and a side note.... i dont know what it is that i like, but i prefer a chro-mo road frame over aluminum... i cant put a finger on it, but i dislike the feel of my brothers aluminum frame bike, but love my chro-mo that i have built up....
yes, btut hat is getting swapped out with a BMX conversion to a square taper, and have a new crankset already on the way....
The bike in question's a department store bike with stuff added to it. No matter what gets added to it, its still a department store bike. I'd posit that the person in question hasn't ridden enough AL bikes to make a determination of 'how AL rides.' See Aurelius' experience for a recent example. I can tell you from personal experience that one AL bike doesn't ride the same as another, even within categories. IOW a Cannondale is going to ride differently than a Specialized which will be different from a Vitus which will be different from an Airplane frame, etc You wanna make a frankenbike? At least start with something worth riding. M
Seems like you're going to a lot of trouble for just a little gain. Personally, I'd rather start with something worth putting money into - but, it's a free country and obviously, it's your time & money so have fun with your project! Keep us updated.
So I was watching the weather radar and it looked like another band of rain was coming my way. :eek1 So I hopped on the trainer for the 2nd time this year. If I'd thought about it a little more, I woulda ridden my quiet trainer so I could hear the dialog in the first season of Game of Thrones. As it was, I had to make do with fan noise. So what happened? Nothing. No rain. ...and now the sun's peeking out from under the clouds. Aaah well. C'est la vie! At least I did something! M
i just retired my trek 3900 with 15,000 miles on it... yes, the frame i am working off of is a department store bike... BUT.... i dont really care what anyone thinks, i gonna make it work... also i had 5 years of riding on a schwinn 754, so i do know how an AL bike rides... in addition to that i have done a good bit of riding my brothers Dawes..... i prefer the chro-mo frame that i am riding now... and i know that not all frames ride the same.... then if you really understand this, you would understand why i am sticking with the frame i have....BECAUSE i like the way it rides.... i had the frame, it WORKS, why try another frame that i most likely wont like? then i am SOL on getting the money back that i would have spent on a $400 frame....:eek1 just because a frame isnt worth something to YOU, doesnt mean it isnt worth something to ME... you would probably think that both of my dual sports are worthless too....a kawi ke100 and an f11....technology from the late 60s... but i like em....LOL
for this is more that i like the challenge of proving folks wrong... theres serious merit to some of the frames of department store bikes.... this frame started out as an MTB frame...../.geo was all wrong for mtb so i threw a set of 27" rims i had laying around on it and it worked great... i liked the ride better than my old 754, so i sold the 754 and used the money to get some better wheels and brakes.... this year i am getting the crankset and shifters and stuff... i only have about 250 into the whole thing, and 99% could be transferred to a new frame down the road... so if i do want to upgrade the frame, i can just strip it and get a frame and build off the stuff i already have...
Whatever dood. If it floats your boat, have at it. Just don't expect the nice stuff to work on that thing. I'd say 'go buy an older SL steel bike' but you don't want to hear that either. M
and by nice stuff you mean? i am not going to like Sora components....im just updating it to more modern stuff...integrated shifters instead of the head tube mounted ones, newer crank since the one piece limits my pedal selection SEVERELY...LOL no one makes decent half inch thread pedals... im not building a race bike here.... im just having fun turning a piece of shit bike into something rideable....LOL
and the kicker is i will be taking it on a 450 mi trip this july too....LOL one week of riding, and tenting... only support is a is a gear truck so i dont have to run panniers...
