new to site

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
hi,
I am new to this forum stuff I mostly just lurk in the shadows. :)
I have been hitting allaire about 5 years now and will keep coming back.
wish i could get more time to ride in but works just like that....
anyway glad to post.

Mike S.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
What does the 243 mean??

And welcome to heel on wheels..er keyboards..
 

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
243 hmm not alot just after 242 and before 244....
it should have had more but I guess the last 2 chars. got truncated.
or when I typed it during the giants game I screwed it up.... :)
which if it did not it should have matched an email address but it did so it don't.

and I try and ride allaire as much as possible in when the weather breaks and it is lighter out I stop on the way home from work around 5:30.

Mike S..
 

Brian Snyder

JORBA "Roaming Gnome"
JORBA.ORG
Great, just what this site needs.... another wise ass. Just kidding. See you out on the trails.
 

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
most likely I am the one you see with the bike on top of him at the bottom of the hills :)
yes and I do this for my health....

going to try for today with my new ride...

Mike S..
 

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
picked up the Cannondale F7 it was time to upgrade from the costco mongoose that i have crashed so many time in the past 5 years and my wife and daughter took sympathy on me and gave me cash :)
the cannondale was in the price range for me i did test the trek,giant and specialized
this one just felt better.

Mike .
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
picked up the Cannondale F7 it was time to upgrade from the costco mongoose that i have crashed so many time in the past 5 years and my wife and daughter took sympathy on me and gave me cash :)
the cannondale was in the price range for me i did test the trek,giant and specialized
this one just felt better.

Mike .


If your F7 is an o8 you should ditch the CST tires ASAP! They are not trail worthy and maybe even dangerous!
 

mike_243

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
If your F7 is an o8 you should ditch the CST tires ASAP! They are not trail worthy and maybe even dangerous!



dangerous what like the Firestone wilderness tires?
thread separation at high speeds which would be worse for whomever is behind me :)
OK now that I have that out of my system what tire do you recomend?
i buy my road tires from bike nashbar they seem to have good prices and are good to ship quick.

Mike
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
I had a Cdale F600 and loved it. The only things I upgraded were the contact points -- the saddle (to a nicer Spesh model), the grips (to ODIs) and the tires (to Nevegals, and later, road tires). The bike rode great til I started riding Skyline (aluminum hardtail on rocks makes for ouch).
 

Shaggz

A strong 7
i would say ride 'em til you need to replace them, but, i'd like to hear more about the "safety" issue jdog is referring to. if you do a search on the site, there are a couple of good threads about tire suggestions.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
ramble on rose..

Those tires are on there so that the bike feels good in a parking lot for test rides. The are also the cheapest tire that they could find.

I was told this by the product manager. Really.

The reality is that a higher volume tire with some deeper knobs will give you better traction and add some dampening to the ride.

Those tires will be good for dry summer conditions but that is about it.

Dangerous might be an overstatement but your confidence in the corners Will increase with a bit more tread.

By safety i mean that in some cases some more tread will keep you on the trail instead of smashing into the woods.

At a rocky place like Round Valley the consequences of slipping off a trail at speed are serious. Less so for 6 mile or similar terrain.

Tires can make a huge change in the way a bike feels. I would say that you need to try a few to see what you like. I tend to run a smaller volume, smoother tire in rear and a larger knobby tire in the front.

I have found that a big gnarly tire on the rear will slow you down a lot while it makes little change up front. I am pretty sure that this is due to the fact that your weight distribution on a mtb is decidedly rear tire biased.

A 26 x 2.25 tire (or maybe a bit bigger) on the front and a 2.1 on the rear would be about right. Remember that the same numerical size from any 2 brand usually are very different. Conti tends to fun very small. For instance the new Trail king 29x 2.4 looks much smaller than my panaracer 29 x 2.35 tires.

Also you can read the review on mtbr.com (since they have more users) but keep in mind that tires that work well in southern California may not be the best here and vice versa. May times someone will buy a tire and tear the sidewall the first time out. The same tire could last another rider on the same terrain for years. This is mostly luck but partially riding style. Based on this luck of the draw phenomenon some people swear off certain tire brands forever based on one bad luck experience.

I see that nevegals seem to be very popular. You would think that this is purely due to the fact that it is a super tire. It might be a really good choice but it might also might get a ton of O.E. spec since Kenda can make tires so cheap.

I rarely see the tire that I like the most as original Equipment on any off the shelf bike. That is because most bikes come tires that fit certain requirements.

For example this might be:

-Lightest (so the bike feels light on the shop floor)
-Trendiest (so they seem cool)
-Best looking (sex sells)
-Cheapest ( this is the most likely, since Product managers are in a race to get the complete cost as low as possible.
-smoothest rolling. (most sub $1000 bikes never see dirt, so if it rolls well on a test ride on pavement it can sell a bike that is perceived to be faster) (duh!)


Note.. Just before I wrote this I smashed my head into a tree so hard that I crushed my helmet. I literally wasn't looking where I was headed and rode right into it. I was on a trail I have ridden countless times. WEAR One!
 
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