Help me pimp my bike.

snollup

As the title says, I'm looking for some pointers on pimping my mountain bike.

The bike in question is a Raleigh mountain bike. I think it's one of their old Max series. The bike itself is in good condition and runs fairly smoothly.

I've had quite a few half decent bikes in my time but the riding position & control of this one is really great so don't really want to change it.

I have semi-slicks on it and next time out will get full slicks. The main thing I dont like about it are the gears. I find that I only ever use the top front ring and only ever the last three rings on the back cogs. The gears on the bike never seem to align correctly so would consider upgrading the whole pedal and gears system.

Also would consider changing the wheels to road wheels if this is passable?

Finally would like to put better saddle on it. Cant quite afford a Brooks but really like the old-school leather ones.

So lads & ladies - advise please.

Oh ya, the sort of use the bike will get is mainly around the city.

Thanks.

Caroline_ie

snollup

Now that's style!

One day....

Morgan

You can't use road wheels - the brakes won't reach (unless you're running discs of course).

You can replace your chainrings and rear cassette with different ratios (large rings at the front, smaller more closely spaced cogs at the back).

You can get some good deals on Brooks saddles online - they're not that expensive when you consider how long they last.

snollup

Do you reckon I'm making a lot of work for myself? Would I be better off just trying to get new bike with same frame measurements & angles?

Where would be a good place to start with the chainset? I'm not all that good at doing these sort of things! Any bike shops that are good at this sort of thing?

Thanks again.

penexpers

If you've never carried out any kind of bike maintainence before then the learning curve might be a bit steep. Having said that if you educate yourself to do it, it'll be worth it in the long run.

PeadarofAodh

Neon underlights FTW!

Caroline_ie

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

Neon underlights FTW!

Like that ? Xmas tree on wheels

snollup

Firstly both Neon underlights & furry dice are inn!!

I did do some bike building in the past - mostly BMX's tho (ah, skyway frames were the things I used to dream about!!!).

Any good books or websites?

Ta.

snollup

Caroline_ie wrote: »

Like that ? Xmas tree on wheels

Pure class!!!

PeadarofAodh

snollup wrote: »

Pure class!!!

Thanks very much. People doubted me, but when I rolled up on that bad boy I showed all them haters

snollup

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

Thanks very much. People doubted me, but when I rolled up on that bad boy I showed all them haters

Man, how could you but love that. Where are the furry dice tho???

blorg

snollup wrote: »

Do you reckon I'm making a lot of work for myself? Would I be better off just trying to get new bike with same frame measurements & angles?

To be honest, I wouldn't think an old Raleigh Max would be worth it myself, especially with the level of changes you are considering (new chainset, road wheels, etc.) Likely to be pricey for a frame that fundamentally just isn't up to much.

If you go with similar geometries you should be able to get similar comfort on another bike.

Brooks saddles are really excellent and as said the B17 is not too expensive (and would be the best saddle for this sort of bike) but Brooks have raised their prices into the stratosphere only in the last couple of months- I know because I was looking to buy a couple while Wiggle had 20% off all saddles but held off a little too long and saw prices as much as double overnight. On Wiggle, the B17 went from £23 to £49, the Swift from £92 to £170!).

I think this is part Brooks and part Wiggle as Wiggle in general have been raising prices significantly across the board in recent months. You can still find a B17 in UK shops at around the £30 mark but you would have to add postage.

I ended up getting a good deal on a Swift and Swallow on eBay which is in general a good place to look for bike parts, although watch out with Brooks, some people buying them are not quite right in the head and go bid crazy. B17 you will probably get cheaper in a normal bike shop (for now, I suspect some of the £30 offerings are old stock and will go up with the Brooks price increases.)

Also www.bikepimp.co.uk is an excellent price comparison service for bike parts, I use it all the time.

Gavin

blorg wrote: »

To be honest, I wouldn't think an old Raleigh Max would be worth it myself, especially with the level of changes you are considering (new chainset, road wheels, etc.) Likely to be pricey for a frame that fundamentally just isn't up to much.

This is bad blorgo. Errors with tyre sizes and pressures, proposing killer cycling routes and now, what's this ? The insulting of a Raleigh Max ! The finest frame possible for conversion to a gaudy singlespeed !!




Yo snollup, stick up a photo of your bike. Curious to see if it's the same as mine.

Other pimping options are, coloured rims, coloured tyres, zaney handlebars, a bodacious bell, coloured saddle, powercoating of frame for a lovely new shiney colour. Lots of colour is the key to quality pimp.

Caroline_ie

blorg

Ha, sorry there Verb. Doesn't apply to your Banana Bike of course! Think a conversion to a single speed would indeed make more sense than trying to upgrade the whole drivetrain.

snollup

Verb wrote: »

This is bad blorgo. Errors with tyre sizes and pressures, proposing killer cycling routes and now, what's this ? The insulting of a Raleigh Max ! The finest frame possible for conversion to a gaudy singlespeed !!




Yo snollup, stick up a photo of your bike. Curious to see if it's the same as mine.

Other pimping options are, coloured rims, coloured tyres, zaney handlebars, a bodacious bell, coloured saddle, powercoating of frame for a lovely new shiney colour. Lots of colour is the key to quality pimp.

hey - that's a class lookin bike. exactly the sort of thing i had in mind. do it all yourself?

snollup

blorg wrote: »

Ha, sorry there Verb. Doesn't apply to your Banana Bike of course! Think a conversion to a single speed would indeed make more sense than trying to upgrade the whole drivetrain.

Reckon your right. Is it an expensive thing to do?

Gavin

Hey,
It's very straightforward to convert.

To do it fully you'll need new cranks, chainring, chain. A new rear wheel with a splined freewheel will make things easier than a screw on. You've got more leeway with chainline.

Best place I've found to get cranks/chainrings for singlespeed is from wheelandsprocket on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/BLACK-TRACK-FIXED-GEAR-ROAD-BIKE-CRANKS-CRANKSET-170MM_W0QQitemZ370062231755QQihZ024QQcategoryZ56195QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

You might want to find someone else looking for stuff as well, to dilute the cost of delivery. You don't have to get the new chainrings/cranks of course. I cycled mine for several months with the original front chainrings on.

On top of that then, you might want to get new brakes and brake cables.

www.sheldonbrown.com has lots of information on converting to singlespeed.
www.bikeforums.net has a singlespeed forum. Just register and search through it, you'll find every question under the sun already answered several times over.

If you want a hand or get stuck, post here, or feel free to PM me! When you get the bits and pieces, it's really just an afternoons work to put it all on.

In total I think it probably cost me the guts of around 300 euro. If I was doing it again though, I'd be able to do it for around 150. I made several poor purchases by mistake and of course, tools are a one off buy.

oh yeah, a thread about that bike is here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055238178