Bicycle Thread

[Mr Holden]

i might be getting an 06 GT Chucker 2.0 off a mate for 500 bucks, barley ridden

wat do you guys think?

[mad082]

not a bad buy

[Mr Eps]

its 3 years old.

....3....years...old...

tell him he's dreaming

[mad082]

LOL

[Mr Holden]

hahah

he said 300

[Mr Eps]

was gonna say...

i have a friend selling a $1500 track bike like really ducks dick track bike for $400

no way is a 3 year old jumps bike worth 5 hunje!

[xALmoN]

What kind of components come on the chucker?

Fork

brakes

cranks

bars

Go ss if you can, there's less heartache if you crash.

[mad082]

off the top of my head...

forks are rst gila

brakes are cable disc

cranks are turvatic isis spline

bars... dunno. probably just a generic steel bar

[xALmoN]

The RST Gila will kill anyone using it for dirt jump. RST forks are dangerous. I had an RST fork once, 32mm stanchions and all 130mm of travel, the fork locked up for no reason, i crashed. Scary.

The only cable discs that are actually reliable are those from avid, bb5 and bb7.

The cranks are okay, isis stuff are okay, until the splines get worn.

I reckon for 300 its okay, i don't know much about the Australia bike stuff prices but if it was in Singapore, $300 is okay.

Edited May 29, 2009 by xALmoN

[mad082]

rst forks aren't that bad. they are just as good/bad as any other low end fork of the same price. the whole bike is only about $800 new. that is about half the price of a high end set of forks, LOL, so you can't expect the same performance. if you are regularly jumping the bike i would suggest getting a better bike than this one..... like a bmx, LOL

well isis spline cranks are about 1000 times better than square taper cranks (which i have seen stuffed after 1 day of riding). it's the same basic design as shimano use on their high end XTR gear, and there are a lot of high end bikes using isis drive. and similar systems are used on most bmx bikes with 3 piece cranks (although the high end stuff uses different splines).

as for cable discs, i don't really like any. sure some will work ok, but not as good as hydraulic.

[xALmoN]

Oh well, the truvativ stylo type cranks are worth a look at. And also the shimano hollowtech cranks, pretty reliable.

But for jumping, i'd go for deity bmx cranks.

Although i use xt ht2 cranks.

[mad082]

just to be picky, the deity cranks aren't actually bmx cranks. they are a bmx style mtb crank, LOL.

but they are just a copy of other cranks on the market (as a lot of them are).

no matter what cranks you run though you still end up with the same problem, and that is that the bottom bracket is still a euro bb which has the weakest bearings of all of the bottom bracket sizes due to having to run cups and tiny bearings.

and then still being a mtb you will buckle wheels easier than a bmx due to the extra leverage, have weaker frames and forks and bars

[Mr Holden]

i just know the brakes on this particular model are Chang Star mechanical brakes

but i got a pair of Tektro I0's on my bike now that im gunna swap over

cuz the chang stars suck ass.

Tektro I0's are really good mechanical disc brakes, they pull my 100kilo frame up pretty well

i do endos and everything no problem. skidss easily too.

[xALmoN]

Chang Stars sound china made and i don't think they're any good. I agree, chuck them.

Oh well, the deitys are pretty tested and proven so i'm partial to them, but i still use real mtb parts, cranks and all.

And Kyle, why don't you consider a hydraulic system? Something like a shimano deore, great brakes, and they're cheap. I'm from a humid country so i don't really recommend dot4 systems because they absorb moisture and expand too quickly. Like Hayes brakes.

Magura does good brakes too, like the Louise and Marta, but they're exhorbitant.

Cable systems require regular cable replacement, and hydro systems probably need a bleed every what, 1yr or so. And thats if you ride a lot.

[mad082]

Chang Stars sound china made and i don't think they're any good. I agree, chuck them.

Oh well, the deitys are pretty tested and proven so i'm partial to them, but i still use real mtb parts, cranks and all.

And Kyle, why don't you consider a hydraulic system? Something like a shimano deore, great brakes, and they're cheap. I'm from a humid country so i don't really recommend dot4 systems because they absorb moisture and expand too quickly. Like Hayes brakes.

Magura does good brakes too, like the Louise and Marta, but they're exhorbitant.

Cable systems require regular cable replacement, and hydro systems probably need a bleed every what, 1yr or so. And thats if you ride a lot.

tektro are made in asia as well. and the shimano's come out of malaysia, but shimano also has a few factories in china. a lot of the time the european or USA made stuff is only much more expensive because of the higher labour costs, not because it is any better. i used to sell a brand that came out of the same factory as another brand (even had the other brands name stamped into the back of the frame) and for an identical bike minus the name written on all the parts it was about 30% cheaper.

i really do get sick of people saying something is shit simply because it's made in china. it is only shit if the company who ordered it wanted it to be as cheap as possible and didn't care about quality. there are some rather respectable bike companies who do dodgy things when getting bikes made as far as saying where the bike was made. generally the high end asain made bikes we get here are from taiwan, and the cheaper stuff from china. however most of the factories in taiwan also own factories in china as well, so they will get things made in china, send them to taiwan and put the bike together with them but the bike gets classified as made in taiwan.

now the really cheap nasty stuff is starting to come out of india, vietnam and the philipenes

oh and cable discs don't require regular cable replacement unless there is an issue with the cable or the way it is mounted. they shouldn't require a cable to be replaced any more often than a regular brake system, and a good cable should last at least 5 years. i know people who ride everyday and haven't had to replace a cable in 10 years

[xALmoN]

Yes, i'm sorry. I was over-generalising.

Its about QC most of the time, not about the place where its made. I do use a lot of china branded bike stuff, like i used to ride an Echo Pure frame, with full echo parts. And taiwanese parts, such as Kenda Tires and Cheng Shin tubes.

I used to change cables a lot, derailluer cables were changed about once every 6 months and when i was using vees, i changed those every 6 months too. I use xt cables.

I'm told the cables would stretch actually, and when i was still using vees, i've had a brake cable snap on me on a wheelie, landed hard on my ass. I've been scared ever since. So i usually advise people to change their cables once 6 months or a year if one doesn't ride so often.

[Gus-]

i want a new bike...hard tail...budget of around 1000.

im looking at a giant...any recomendatinosness???

[Mr Eps]

stretch it a hundred more and you can get an alias if you pay cash and shop around a bit. but truth be told it mainly comes down to what YOU WANT

most people these days automatically think "i want a mountain bike" - without thinking "how often do i actually go mountain biking???"... in the event that buying a mountain bike is not justifiable then consider a road bike! lot of people regard road bikes as being "sissy" or "gay" because of their riding position and skinny tyres. but the reality is - YOU'RE the one riding the bike, YOU'RE the one burning fat and calories and getting fit, and YOU'RE the one riding on the road when traffic is flowing then zooming past idiots in cars on the footpaths while they are stuck in traffic jams or stuck 500m back at a set of lights! so who cares what anybody says...

if you're looking at a mountain bike style riding position - put some skinnies on it and you have a bike that will cane *most* bike couriers thru urban riding

or if you want a dedicated road bike get a crx-2 - same price - similiar componentry only it's a road bike

the BEST option however - is go to a bike shop, mention your budget and take them for test rides to sort out what you like the most - that will make your mind up for you - not us!

[Gus-]

well my other bike is a hardtail...haven't ridden it for a while but deff want somehting i can go trails with. ive got some neat ones jsut 5 up the road + i was something a bit more cruisey for the streets etc etc...

whats this alias you speak off...i havent really looked at bikes for quite a while.

[mad082]

Yes, i'm sorry. I was over-generalising.

Its about QC most of the time, not about the place where its made. I do use a lot of china branded bike stuff, like i used to ride an Echo Pure frame, with full echo parts. And taiwanese parts, such as Kenda Tires and Cheng Shin tubes.

I used to change cables a lot, derailluer cables were changed about once every 6 months and when i was using vees, i changed those every 6 months too. I use xt cables.

I'm told the cables would stretch actually, and when i was still using vees, i've had a brake cable snap on me on a wheelie, landed hard on my ass. I've been scared ever since. So i usually advise people to change their cables once 6 months or a year if one doesn't ride so often.

umm why?

cables shouldn't stretch. they are prestretched in the factory. people who say they stretch (even people in bike shops) are idiots who don't know what they are on about. what actually happens is that the casing compresses, especially brake casing. gear casing is designed to be compressionless, but it does still compress a little bit.

as for brake cables snapping, the biggest cause if cables snapping is actually the casing and the cable adjuster. if there is a burr on the end of the casing it will wear through the cable. but if it is fine then as i said before, they should last years. my old road bike still has it's original cables on and the guy that owns it now does about 300km a week, probably more. last time it was in here for tyres the speedo read over 7000km and that was probably 6 months ago