Buying the right bike for the right reasons

[Gubbins]

You can try SCOTT, KTM and Lapierre at OnBike as well as others...

Unfortunately it's a 340miles round trip.....

 

[DAJ]

I have a FAT bike that is only 52 miles away and at a steal of a price.

 

[Gubbins]

I have a FAT bike that is only 52 miles away and at a steal of a price.

Hi
Thanks for the offer.. and fat bikes look cool... especially under the younger guys I have seen riding them... lol.. not for me though...
I have never bought a used bike as I always buy new.. Ideally from a shop near enough to ride it to if there is a problem..
Especially having just had 20kg of bicycle in my really small car ... a physically difficult task I do not want to repeat ever...

 

[DAJ]

No worries Phil, I am sure it will find a buyer. It is killing me having to sell it as I have been saving up for it for a year and the day before it gets delivered my employer drops a redundancy proposal in my lap.

If I am lucky I may find alternative employment with an acceptable wage before it sells, but as ebay doesn't offer me 50% off sale fees very often I have to edge my bets, I had till tomorrow to make the listing.

I would love to give it a once around the block, but of course that would devalue it. I am having to make do slumming it on the Cube SUV which my wife is graciously allowing me to ride and when she does accompany me I will just have to work harder on a conventional MTB .

 

[Gubbins]

No worries Phil, I am sure it will find a buyer. It is killing me having to sell it as I have been saving up for it for a year and the day before it gets delivered my employer drops a redundancy proposal in my lap.

If I am lucky I may find alternative employment with an acceptable wage before it sells, but as ebay doesn't offer me 50% off sale fees very often I have to edge my bets, I had till tomorrow to make the listing.

I would love to give it a once around the block, but of course that would devalue it. I am having to make do slumming it on the Cube SUV which my wife is graciously allowing me to ride and when she does accompany me I will just have to work harder on a conventional MTB .

Sorry to hear that.. having lived my working life through times of abundant employment I keep forgetting that times have changed...
Hope something turns up for you...

 

[flecc]

From a cleaning and maintenance point of view I see that some have the rear shock just in front of the back wheel (Haibike, KTM etc) and some have it just under the crossbar (Lapierre, Scott etc). Common sense seems to suggest that the former will cop more dirt than the latter and so be harder to keep in order.. but is there another reason for the difference in placement?

Just looked in on this thread for the first time Phill, and am surprised that your question on the shock position hasn't been answered.

Basically a direct acting suspension unit between the rear pivoting section and main frame in a bicycle is inefficient. The reason is that pedal down thrust can be partially absorbed by the give of the suspension unit, instead of wholly transmitted to the rear wheel drive.

By interposing a pivoting link, the later half of the link driving the suspension unit, the pedal downthrust directs into the pivot on the mainframe and therefore into both sides of the pivoting link. Since both sides cannot deflect the same way at once, the result is that all the downthrust remains as the intended forward drive.

Of course this is of less importance on an e-bike since much of the drive is due to the motor and less due to the rider effort.

Going into this design aspect more deeply, you'll notice that on many interposed link designs, the two sides of the link are not the same length. The differences result from the designer trying to accurately assess the input forces and suspension unit rate, while maintaining as far as possible the highest pedal thrust efficiency.

Some direct thrust designs try to hide the fact that they are still the less efficient direct type, this Cannondale one being an example.

There have been other far more complex rear suspension designs intended to optimise various factors, but the extra weight usually outweighs any gains. This Marin four pivot design is an example.
.

 

[Gubbins]

Just looked in on this thread for the first time Phill, and am surprised that your question on the shock position hasn't been answered.

Basically a direct acting suspension unit between the rear pivoting section and main frame in a bicycle is inefficient. The reason is that pedal down thrust can be partially absorbed by the give of the suspension unit, instead of wholly transmitted to the rear wheel drive.

By interposing a pivoting link, the later half of the link driving the suspension unit, the pedal downthrust directs into the pivot on the mainframe and therefore into both sides of the pivoting link. Since both sides cannot deflect the same way at once, the result is that all the downthrust remains as the intended forward drive.

Of course this is of less importance on an e-bike since much of the drive is due to the motor and less due to the rider effort.

Going into this design aspect more deeply, you'll notice that on many interposed link designs, the two sides of the link are not the same length. The differences result from the designer trying to accurately assess the input forces and suspension unit rate, while maintaining as far as possible the highest pedal thrust efficiency.

Some direct thrust designs try to hide the fact that they are still the less efficient direct type, this Cannondale one being an example.

There have been other far more complex rear suspension designs intended to optimise various factors, but the extra weight usually outweighs any gains. This Marin four pivot design is an example.
.

Thanks for this flecc.
It's taken a bit of googling for me to understand what you are saying here but if I have it right the Scott i am considering has a less efficient rear suspension design than the others..
In reality this doesn't make any difference for what I will do with it but it's nice to know and try to understand the reasoning behind it.
The frustrating thing for me is that ebikes in my area are readily available but the support is still in its infancy... but evolving....
I had a long chat with the manager at one of my local dealers and they are trying...... it's just that (IMHO) they are years behind the established dealers further south from here..

 

[soundwave]

stick a motor on it and will make no difference, had a guy on a race bike try and chase me down yesterday stuck it in turbo and left him and his 5k carbon bike for dust.

must have peed him right of seeing a 20kg full sus bike nuke his ass

 

[Gubbins]

stick a motor on it and will make no difference, had a guy on a race bike try and chase me down yesterday stuck it in turbo and left him and his 5k carbon bike for dust.

must have peed him right of seeing a 20kg full sus bike nuke his ass

Picture this..
Some old geezer on a sit up mtb bike with saddlebags and mirrors up in front and you are out with your mates showing how good you are.. off the seat get stuck in and blast past, make him jump!.... only thing is we have just hit a hill! A steep hill! Well this old bloke will probably get off and push...... ha ha!![emoji39]

 

[Gubbins]

Oh I forgot, to add insult to injury... I have mudguards as well

 

[soundwave]

not 1 person has been able to keep up with me on a race bike, i just blast past them all

 

[Gubbins]

not 1 person has been able to keep up with me on a race bike, i just blast past them all

Yes but doesn't the shotgun strapped to the side intimidate them?

 

[soundwave]

with my body armor on its like Moses parting the waves lol

 

[soundwave]

and just in case any 1 wants to play with me.


ill rip half there face off

 

[D C]

not 1 person has been able to keep up with me on a race bike, i just blast past them all

That's because you're cheating [emoji4]
Dave.

 

[Gubbins]

New bike is ordered and should be here next week..
I hadn't overly considered the mud and rain as I am partly made of sugar and might dissolve if I get too wet.
Is riding an FS bike through mud compulsory? Are you allowed to ride it and keep it clean?

 

[soundwave]

i will not ride my bike in the rain and try to avoid mud much as possible

 

[paul20v]

New bike is ordered and should be here next week..
I hadn't overly considered the mud and rain as I am partly made of sugar and might dissolve if I get too wet.
Is riding an FS bike through mud compulsory? Are you allowed to ride it and keep it clean?

Your bike your rules

 

[EddiePJ]

No point owning one and having it sitting around doing nothing for eight months of the year!

Tonight's ride was roughly 21 miles, and being truthful it was one of the first times that I have felt tired of riding in mud. I really had enough of it tonight, and it must have been a tough one, as I had to really nurse the battery to get home, and I'd only been using eco and tour. Not a good ride, and I'm fed up.

 

[Gubbins]

No point owning one and having it sitting around doing nothing for eight months of the year!

Tonight's ride was roughly 21 miles, and being truthful it was one of the first times that I have felt tired of riding in mud. I really had enough of it tonight, and it must have been a tough one, as I had to really nurse the battery to get home, and I'd only been using eco and tour. Not a good ride, and I'm fed up.

I was once cought out in a summer thunderstorm .. actually once i was thoughrowly wet it was quite invigorating and yes in a strange way enjoyable....
The hard pack track turned into a river in minutes but only problem was that as a spectacle wearer my vision was severely compromised making it hard to see where I was going...