SOLD

Due to my ongoing back problems I am selling my singlespeed. I bought it more or less new 2 years ago.

£350.00 ono – pickup available ST17, WA14 or M6 Between Stafford and Manchester
Contact me on mark@stodgell.co.uk

 

 

 

Spec
Size Medium

OnOne Inbred Light Blue 26er Steel frame  good used condition
OnOne Carbon forks
OnOne Reetardwheelset
Truvativ Firex singlespeed cranks 33 x 16
Chain tug device
Avid Juicy 3 Brakes
Kenda 2.35 x 26 Bluegroove tyres
Bar ends,RicheyComp seatpost, OnOne Saddle and Stem
OneOne Smoothie headset.
Spare original OnOne Mary handlebar.

       

 

Linus Mood is one of the top Swedish MTBO riders who I had a few head to heads with last year and got to know well, his English (well American really) being better than some of the British riders. This winters training has really paid off and his results in 2012 have really improved. His blog is normally in swedish with a translation but I asked him to write this in English as it really interests me. I am of the opinion other than the potential for going fully rigid the current trend for 29nrs is mainly a very clever marketing exercise by the major manufacturers.  Linus’s blog is available here http://linusmood.wordpress.com/

over to Linus…….

So there’s a lot of discussion about wheel sizes for mountainbiking. World cups have been won this year on 26ers, 29ers and on the new 650b (27,5inch). Those who think that the 29er is the better bike usually claims that the larger wheels rolls better over bumps and gives better traction when climbing. The disadvantages would be that the larger wheels are heavier which makes acceleration slower. Also the overall weight of the bike is higher since wheels, tires and the fork is heavier then on a 26er. 650b is sort of in between the two and there’s not that many models out on the market yet.

 In the last year I’ve seen that more and more people are switching to 29ers and I wanted to give it a try myself, to see if I was faster on one. I decided to do a back to back test on my two testloops to see which bike’s the fastest for me. The bikes I used was these two:

26er Aluminum 1350g wheelset w/ 500g race king 2,2 (my current race bike)

29er Aluminum 1495g wheelset w/ 450g Geax barro race 2,0

Basically there’s not much weight differens between the two bikes except the wheels and tires. Also the fork on the 29er is about 100g heavier then on the 26er.

The first testloop is pretty flat with lots of twists and turns and also quite a lot of roots and stones.

29er 8:39
26er 7:38

2nd testloop has a hilly and technical section and also a flat and easy section.

29er 9:19
26er 8:46

 Conclusion: I thought the 29er would be faster on the 2nd loop since you get better traction with the 29er on the climbs. Turned out I was faster with the 26er on both. I was surprised over how big the difference it was between the bikes. Going from the 29er to the 26er it became very clear that the 26er feels a lot quicker, which is also why I was faster with it (I think). Acceleration is a lot easier and faster. Tho the 29er feels a lot smother over the bumps once you’re up to speed and it’s easier to keep the momentum over the technical stuff.

I don’t think 29ers are for everyone. I think it comes down to your riding style and what type of racing you do. If a 29er supports your weakness (climbing or technical riding) then maybe you’re faster then with one. I’ll continue to race my 26er.

The trouble with being injured bored and welded to the sofa is that one tends to have time to peruse ebay. My latest back flair up has reinforced the fact that I will probably not be able to ride rigid or hard tail bikes in the future. A couple of years ago I realised that you had to have two mountain bikes, one race, one training bike else you spend a fortune and run around the whole time trying to fix it the night before a race. I bought my complete bargain of a Whyte E5 in January and have been keeping an eye out for another frame with a more traditional horst link type suspension setup as my second bike. If I ever get back racing again I’m sure I will be able to justify a new frame but not at the moment.

I’ve known about British bike manufacturer Moda since being supported by Cycle shack so when a Moda Presto (their aluminium framed full susser) came up on ebay I thought Id have a dabble and bid. Stuck on the sofa I was able to leave my bid until the last 3 minutes and managed to get the frame (brand new) for £229 + £15 postage – bargain.

If it turns up (always a worry with ebay) Ill be a happy chappy.

    

Holly has been struggling with 20 inch wheels not rolling smoothly over bumps for a while, but her legs have been too short for a 24 inch wheeled bike. Luckily, a growth spurt over the last couple of months has coincided with her birthday and she has taken delivery of a very purple new Beinn 24 Isla bike.

For those not in the know, Isla make ‘proper’ kids bikes: lightweight, kid-sized adult-style components and no daft cheapo suspension which never seems to work on kids bikes anyway….

Based out of Ludlow in Shropshire, they even have a test track your kids can zoom around to get the feel of the right size http://www.islabikes.co.uk/

Hopefully, her next bike she will be a full-sized 26 inch, so this one should keep her going for a while. Today it had its first mud splatters, getting ridden around Gentleshaw. Tomorrow it will do the first leg of her Sport Relief Challenge, and next weekend its first MTBO!

 

My old wheels have been on Cath’s bike for a while. The rear wheel bearings in the Hope XCs have given up the ghost with the amount of riding she has been doing recently, so I thought I would have a go at the service myself.

I found out the bearing reference numbers ‘6001 2rs’ from the Hope tech website and then found a local supplier to get some top notch SKF ones. I can recommend PT Bearings of Wolverhampton, they have an ebay shop and they arrived the next day! http://www.ptandbearings.co.uk

It all started well enough but I could not get the axle shaft and bearing to come out of the brake side of the hub body. I used bigger and bigger hammers and soon had shards and splinters of wood flying all over the place, forget the ‘soft-faced hammer’ in the service notes.

I went inside to check the service notes again, with pins and needles in my hands from all the banging, before I got the sledge hammer out. However, a quick Google search suggested a fantastic idea. Wrap the hub in an old cotton rag and then soak it with boiling water straight out of the kettle.

A fairly gentle tap from the sledge hammer (well, not that gentle) and it came out, the water having expanded the aluminium hub enough to release everything. Other than a particularly pesky circlip, the rest went like a dream, tapping in the new bearings with a 17mm socket as I haven’t got a working vice at the moment.

So, a complete hub rebuild for £12.82 and a smear of grease. Can’t be bad!