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a venture out to land between the lakes

886 views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  supaman 
#1 · (Edited)

striking a pre-ride pose with my single speed redline.


carving up some nice single-track.


hammering a climb while biting on my camelbak


we found this tagged at an overlook. out of coincidence, the tagger's name was kris. apparently "glory = tits"


standing like a dip.

the north south trail, which covers ky and tn, features a fair amount of decent and mostly vacant track (approx. 40 miles). there were a couple of descents where i wish i had front suspension, very few gravel death traps, and VERY few riders. the only serious rider i saw was some buzz-cut behemoth on a yeti.

sadly, the trip was cut short a day. after i went out for a fifth run at portions of the trail, mid-climb, i started to hear some ping and knock, stare down, the stock (cane creek) headset had seen better days (just ordered an american classic headset).

looking to upgrade my redline now (thanks to some sales and graphic design jobs falling through). any suggestions on a new crankset/v-brakes/etc? i plan to stay rigid, i am more than satisfied with the fork.
 
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#2 ·
i think i will probably upgrade to a profile racing bmx crank set, possibly go for the cane creek v-brakes.

i would like to remain rigid, but i feel that a suspension fork will give me added piece of mind when taking to more technical descents on XC track.
 
#3 ·
any v-brake you get will be better than what you have...the best ones IMO are the avid's and the xtr's though

as for a suspension fork i would suggest sticking with the rigid on the monocog because if you do add suspension your going to change the way it handles pretty dramtically

DMR
 
#4 ·
i've heard some good things about the avids, i just wasn't sure if it was worth the higher cost.

i knew that the suspension fork change would impact the handling, but at the same time, i wasn't sure if the stock rigid flexed enough to shed away any impact that would be focused on the rim and headset. i wouldn't want to shy away from some trails because of possible drawbacks regarding the current assembly. but i do love the control i have going down, i'm just not sure if it can withstand it.
 
#5 ·
yeah v-brakes are kinda of weird upgrade becuase there doesn't seem to be a clear best like there is for discs. Proabaly the biggest thing effecting v-brake performance is the pad material...maybe try a different (ie softer) pad compoud for better braking. The avids definately make a difference...now i don't have any experience with cane creeks so i can't say how they compare to the avids. (a bit of spam I have a set of SD SL's that I could sell ya for quite a bit less than retail-pm me if your interested...i'm gone till tuesday but I'll get back to you then)

Also if you could swing it for around 150 you can set your self up with avid BB7's which are really nice if you ride in wet conditions.

as to the fork thats one thing that really rider preference if you want to go with suspension definately don't go over 80mm...it will feel really sluggish steering especially on singletrack.

as to sheading impacts away form the headset and rim...if you keep you wheel and your headset tight with a high quality headset like the american classic will last a long time. I beat on canadian tire(dep't store) bike with a crappy for that just about amounted to a rigid fork with a crappier headset than the one on the redline...and it was still running when I sold it. one thing you might want to try is a set of higher volume tires at fairly low pressure..this will give you some shock absobtion(sp?)

DMR
 
#6 ·
DMR For Life said:
yeah v-brakes are kinda of weird upgrade becuase there doesn't seem to be a clear best like there is for discs. Proabaly the biggest thing effecting v-brake performance is the pad material...maybe try a different (ie softer) pad compoud for better braking. The avids definately make a difference...now i don't have any experience with cane creeks so i can't say how they compare to the avids. (a bit of spam I have a set of SD SL's that I could sell ya for quite a bit less than retail-pm me if your interested...i'm gone till tuesday but I'll get back to you then)

Also if you could swing it for around 150 you can set your self up with avid BB7's which are really nice if you ride in wet conditions.

as to the fork thats one thing that really rider preference if you want to go with suspension definately don't go over 80mm...it will feel really sluggish steering especially on singletrack.

as to sheading impacts away form the headset and rim...if you keep you wheel and your headset tight with a high quality headset like the american classic will last a long time. I beat on canadian tire(dep't store) bike with a crappy for that just about amounted to a rigid fork with a crappier headset than the one on the redline...and it was still running when I sold it. one thing you might want to try is a set of higher volume tires at fairly low pressure..this will give you some shock absobtion(sp?)

DMR
as far as the fork i was considering the rock shox sid, which i could wind down to 63mm travel with spacers. but the other part of me looks at the price and absolutely cringes, because i love ridiing rigid. perhaps a smart a cost effective thing to do to give me piece of mind is just carry arround a spare headset.

i bike mainly in dry conditions and remain on pavement when the trails are little sloppy, so discs are not a pressing need. perhaps go to the lbs tomorrow and see what they can get in stock as far as bmx crankset, new linears.
 
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