Beone Karma 3 2007

rash

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=14969

Is this bike any good, I'm not too bothered about the lack of disk brakes.
Would be looking to use it for forest roads/tracks. Did a bit of MTB in the early 90's and would like to start doing a bit again.


Thanks in advance

Gavin

It's a decent bike with disc mountable hubs and frame so upgradable. Plenty good for getting back into it.

rash

Thanks for the reply

Can anyone offer advise on the size.
My road bike is a Giant TCR, it's a small compact frame, think it has a 44cm seat tube. I have an inseam of 29.5 inches.

It seems that the 17" frame (43.2 cm) is the correct size if I compare it to my road frame, but I saw somewhere that a MTB frame should be smaller than a road frame, so do I go for the 15"

Queried CRC and was emailed a sizing sheet and advised that a 17" could suit, hovever I'm waiting for them to confirm if the sizing sheet is based on traditional frame geometry or compact.

Thanks

Gavin

There's a good bit of range really. I've a 32" inseam, 5'8" and have a 19" rockhopper. I was a bit concerned that it's too large for me, but it's actually fine. 17" would be fine for you I'd imagine, you could change the stem and/or bars to make it more comfortable.

Although actually, looking at the frame geometry at http://www.beone-bikes.com/NL/producten/karma_geometry.html, the toptube/seattube intersection point height from ground, for the 17" frame, is approximately 16.26" + 13" = 29.26". (calculate height from angle and seatube length + 26"/2). The wheel size would probably be a bit more than 13" too.

That's not great for you though.

The 15" frame is 14.34 + 13 = 27.34, giving you around 2 inches of standover. So perhaps the 15" frame is the one to go for.

I don't know if these calculations are correct.

novarapid

Verb wrote: »

It's a decent bike with disc mountable hubs and frame so upgradable. Plenty good for getting back into it.

does this mean that all i need to do is buy the disk breaks and put em on. no need to change the wheels. thanks. (i'm half thinking of buying a mountainbike but want disk breaks.)

rash

Verb thanks for the reply...I'm not sure which one to go for, but sounds like I should be somewhat OK with both sizes.
How much would a good set of disc brakes cost if I was to upgrade later.

Gavin

Yeah, the frame and wheels are disc mount ready, so disc hubs and IS standard mount on the rear of the frame. Not sure if the fork is IS mount or post mount. No problem either way.

Decent hydraulic brakes can be had for around 120 or so, probably get very good ones if you shop second hand at that price.

novarapid

Thanks for that verb.
Another silly question, but how do you know if the wheels are disk compatible, does it say on the specs or is it just a think you know by looking at what type of wheels they are?

Gavin

novarapid wrote: »

Thanks for that verb.
Another silly question, but how do you know if the wheels are disk compatible, does it say on the specs or is it just a think you know by looking at what type of wheels they are?

It doesn't say, and the pictures are hard to make out. My brother has one though and he stuck disk brakes on recently !