Big Bike Thread

Berger · 22 Sep 2011 at 21:40

Rybo89 said:
Just rode up to my house from my mums, which is about a mile away, all up hill and i am dying.....

Glad its all downhill on the way back to fetch car.

Sounds about how good I was 6 months ago!

Rybo89 · 22 Sep 2011 at 22:27

What are you like now? What has it done for you over the last 6 months?

Back in my young teens i could do a 15mile trip easy without hardly breaking a sweat. O how times have change, especially since having a car.

Berger · 22 Sep 2011 at 22:33

Rybo89 said:
What are you like now? What has it done for you over the last 6 months?

Back in my young teens i could do a 15mile trip easy without hardly breaking a sweat. O how times have change, especially since having a car.

I have been doing 100+ miles a month now, mostly 5 or 10 mile rides 3-4 times a week of which my speed has gradually increased. Need to increase this now to improve more, but havn't had the opportunity.

The harder you work, the more enjoyable the riding becomes and less hardwork/chore.

mistercrabb · 22 Sep 2011 at 22:57

Supercow said:
Doing UK Bikepark uplift on Sunday if anyone's keen?

I did it last weekend, you can get a lot of runs in with the new uplift route! I got 18 in a day, it would have been more but we missed a few due to mechanicals.

Have you been before?
Devil's Dyke and Tsubo are good

I wasn't a fan of the new track, take the jumps slow first time because it's tempting to huck them, and they have flat landings..

The jumps at the bottom of Devil's Dyke are ridiculously fast though - hit them flat out!

On the downside they only have about 3 tracks open :/ Although there are a few variations on the top half of the new track.

Supercow · 22 Sep 2011 at 23:00

Cheers mate - no i've never been there before.
Really looking forward to riding something new!

dazz25 · 23 Sep 2011 at 10:40

Has anybody used superstar pads? I need some new ones but my disc says 'use resin pads only' (shimano M445 brakes). Do you think their organic pads would be ok? Or could I get away with the sintered pads?

SDK^ · 23 Sep 2011 at 11:05

I'll be ordering one of these soon - we had a new arrival on Thursday morning; a baby boy called Ethan, weight 7lbs 5oz :cool:

Berger said:
The harder you work, the more enjoyable the riding becomes and less hardwork/chore.

Riding doesn't get any easier, you just get faster

Andelusion · 23 Sep 2011 at 11:14

Congrats SDK

eXist · 23 Sep 2011 at 11:20

dazz25 said:
Has anybody used superstar pads? I need some new ones but my disc says 'use resin pads only' (shimano M445 brakes). Do you think their organic pads would be ok? Or could I get away with the sintered pads?

DO NOT buy superstar pads!!!!!

unless you like the pad coming away from the metal backing plate in which case they are easily the best!

shauncr91 · 23 Sep 2011 at 12:24

Rybo89 said:
Just rode up to my house from my mums, which is about a mile away, all up hill and i am dying.....

Glad its all downhill on the way back to fetch car.

Don't forget to check your bike setup such as seat position and what not, it's surprising how many people get that wrong when starting out riding and the difference will be night and day.

eXist said:
DO NOT buy superstar pads!!!!!

unless you like the pad coming away from the metal backing plate in which case they are easily the best!

Been using SS pads for a year on 2 different bikes and not had any issues with them, they've been excelling in fact

booyaka · 23 Sep 2011 at 12:54

congrats SDK - all the fun starts now!

dazz25 · 23 Sep 2011 at 13:33

eXist said:
DO NOT buy superstar pads!!!!!

unless you like the pad coming away from the metal backing plate in which case they are easily the best!

I've read that it was a manufacturing problem that was sorted a long time ago. People still seem to think that the pads break up but most people using them now have no problems and find them quite good.

What I really wanted to know was whether my discs could take something a bit more than resin pads.

Do you have any pad recommendations if you don't use superstar?

eXist · 23 Sep 2011 at 13:40

why not just stick to the original shimano pads?

as for fitting different types , sure they ll work just the same, its just that the brake was designed with resin pads in mind or so the shimano marketing team would like you to think.....

dazz25 · 23 Sep 2011 at 14:02

The superstar pads are cheaper and (apparently) better than the original shimano pads so wanted to give them a try.

The only thing i've read is that the discs aren't hardened so they're more likely to warp with the heat etc from harder pad materials. Just wanted to know if anyone has experience of this or if, as you say, the shimano marketing team trying to make you buy their own pads.

weescott · 23 Sep 2011 at 14:40

dazz25 said:
The only thing i've read is that the discs aren't hardened so they're more likely to warp with the heat etc from harder pad materials. Just wanted to know if anyone has experience of this or if, as you say, the shimano marketing team trying to make you buy their own pads.

I have heard something likethis for some lightweight rotors and sintered pads - not Shimano rotors though.

The A2Z Semi sintered pads are an awesome alternative.

eXist · 23 Sep 2011 at 15:00

the ones i massively recommened to my customers from personal experiance are jagwire reds.

every brake iv put them on ( especially Avids for some reason ) are transformed

Supercow · 23 Sep 2011 at 15:08

I'm a big superstar fan, however the pads are really really bad, at least the last few batches I've had.

The superstar pads, turrned my Formula the one brakeset, from the strongest brakes Iver ever had, to very poor/below par brakes.

Once I swapped back to the Furmula sintered, they were back to their magic self again.

Appelhanns · 23 Sep 2011 at 15:39

I know it's not a big bike but

TheBrooder · 23 Sep 2011 at 16:01

I think Joey's dead ...

dazz25 · 23 Sep 2011 at 16:05

weescott said:
I have heard something likethis for some lightweight rotors and sintered pads - not Shimano rotors though.

The A2Z Semi sintered pads are an awesome alternative.

eXist said:
the ones i massively recommened to my customers from personal experiance are jagwire reds.

every brake iv put them on ( especially Avids for some reason ) are transformed

Supercow said:
I'm a big superstar fan, however the pads are really really bad, at least the last few batches I've had.

The superstar pads, turrned my Formula the one brakeset, from the strongest brakes Iver ever had, to very poor/below par brakes.

Once I swapped back to the Furmula sintered, they were back to their magic self again.

Thanks for the advice and recomedations guys. Think i'll steer clear of the superstars for now and have a look at the A2Z's and Jagwire reds.

Also, while we're talking superstar. I asked a few weeks ago about new pedals and i'm gonna order them tomorrow. I've been set on getting the superstar nanotech thru pins but are they worth the extra £21 over the Wellgo V12 copies?