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I Need Your Help!

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  • October 12, 2009 at 4:32 pm #11986
    road

    Myself and 3 friends have decided to embark on a challenge that we have talked about for many years.

    It came about when I bought a full suspension MTB for a good few grand, and had a discussion with a work colleague who had just bought an equivalent (in his eyes) bike for about £120- full suspension MTB, that’s kind of where the similarity ended, but he was having none of it, and said how can my bike be worth best part of 30 times what his was.

    This got me thinking, and hatched the plan. We each have to purchase a new, but very cheap, full suspension MTB from a legit source, and we are going to give it full throttle around Afan, doing Whites Level and the Wall initially. The desire is for the bike to break catastrophically before the end of the run.
    We will be in full body armour and full face lids, due to the almost inevitable crashes due to component failure.

    For me the best bit will be arriving in the Glyncorrwg carpark in my mates very cool sign written bike shop van, emerging in about a grands worth of clothing and lids each, then producing the Apollo, or Universals from the back and steaming off up the trail.

    This is were I need the help, the cheapest adults dual suspension bike I can find is from Amazon at £89.99, is there anywhere else cheaper that isn’t some dubious internet deal from a shill company set up to part me from less than a ton yet supplying no bike.

    I’ve checked Argos, Tesco Direct (they had a deal for £79.99 but I was too slow), Halfords and Amazon. Where else should I look?

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  • November 22, 2009 at 9:03 pm #631373
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    Anonymous

    Tony, my mate did point out
    Tony, my mate did point out that we have two total failures, the other three with no usable brakes or gears, and one with collapsed forks – which incidentally were marked Activ Suspention, not being able to spell on the stickers isn’t a good sign.

    All this happened in the bikes first 11 miles, so I’m not sure quite what we proved, but it did teach me to pick a good line that requires no brakes…

    November 22, 2009 at 9:02 pm #631371
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    Fringe

    there’s people driving back
    there’s people driving back from Afan as we speak saying “did you see those idiots on cheap bikes, one of them was throwing his at the other who then rode over it” fantastic.

    November 22, 2009 at 8:58 pm #631369
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    Anonymous

    We have stills of the 6 pack
    We have stills of the 6 pack run, the weather meant that the video equipment had to be left in the van.

    It was an epic, we drove 300 miles to ride 11 miles, break 5 bikes and waste about £500! It’s a proud moment.

    I overtook my mate at one point, and as I went past he jumped off his bike and flung it after me, it wheeled past me and crashed in front of me, I managed to cycled straight over the top of it, in front of a group of very bemused riders, which we then overtook on the next descent.

    November 22, 2009 at 8:56 pm #631367
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    Tony Farrelly

    So in a way then, your mate
    So in a way then, your mate with the £120 bike had a point… :O 😕 🙂

    November 22, 2009 at 8:52 pm #631365
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    dave atkinson

    hahahahahahahaha! sounds
    hahahahahahahaha! sounds amazing. have you got video of X-ups on a BSO? i *must* see it 🙂

    interesting that three bikes made it round, more than i would expect if i’m honest…

    November 22, 2009 at 8:51 pm #631363
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    Fringe

    hey DaSy do you think Rapha
    hey DaSy do you think Rapha might class this as an epic! 😀

    cant wait to see a few pictures. brilliant stuff, well done that man.

    November 22, 2009 at 8:47 pm #631361
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    Anonymous

    Just back from Afan, and I’m
    Just back from Afan, and I’m still functioning.

    Five riders made muster, one dropping out due to some lame excuse.

    The weather was insane, with torrential rain and a freezing hail storm!

    Two bikes died, but three made it round pretty well! All those three had total brake failure, and I mean total, mine also had to have the chain moved by hand to get different gears.

    I overtook quite a few on the climb! We all overtook quite a few on the descent, which was mental when you consider the Whites descent is really best approached with brakes. I really can’t stress quite how much our brakes didn’t work, absolutely nothing at all…

    One of our number is a national standard downhiller, and his run through the tabletops on the Energy section was truly amazing. He was getting ridiculous air, crossing up in the air than spotting the landing on every one. All this on a bike with no useable suspension and weighing 40lbs.

    We only made The Whites Level due to the weather and bike breakages, one set of forks bending so far back the bike was rendered unrideable, and meant a 3km walk for one…of course we didn’t wait for him.

    November 22, 2009 at 8:27 pm #631359
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    dave atkinson

    DaSy? Are you there? Did you
    DaSy? Are you there? Did you survive? Do your limbs work?

    November 20, 2009 at 5:14 pm #631357
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    cat1commuter

    “Virus” is too funny; it’s
    “Virus” is too funny; it’s not a bike – it’s a disease!

    I hope you take a photographer on a bike which is capable of following the BSOs around the route to record their failures!

    November 19, 2009 at 4:37 pm #631355
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    Anonymous

    I think we may need to
    I think we may need to No-More-Nails my Time Atacs on too, the pedal fit is vague to say the least.

    High cadence, low power it is, but I’m sure to get carried away if I see a potential overtake on the cards!

    November 19, 2009 at 4:17 pm #631353
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    dave atkinson

    low gear and high cadence
    low gear and high cadence then. if you get to choose a gear 🙂

    November 19, 2009 at 4:13 pm #631351
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    Anonymous

    I think it is forecast to
    I think it is forecast to rain in Afan area, I don’t care about stopping at the moment though, I am focussed on overtaking someone on the way up.

    The main problem is that the drive train really cannot cope with power through it. The square taper cranks will very easily convert to round taper, especially as the inside of them appears to have a plastic coating to interfere with the fit.
    I also found that I was only getting meaningful drive from about 3/4 of the full pedal revolution, and it turned out I was screwing the freewheel on tighter – this went on for about 10 pedal revs!

    I want to nurse it up the climb though just to get a chance to test this Troy Lee lid on the way down if nothing else.

    November 19, 2009 at 1:38 pm #631349
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    Fringe

    hey DaSy, if your really
    hey DaSy, if your really lucky it may rain all day sunday 😀 them brakes will be even worse than no brakes…hmmm

    November 19, 2009 at 11:33 am #631347
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    ctznsmith

    ouch!
    How can that be legal?
    ouch!

    How can that be legal?

    November 19, 2009 at 11:28 am #631345
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    Anonymous

    The brakes are amazing. From
    The brakes are amazing. From the front they appear to be a fairly normal V-type brake arm, but when you look at the back of the arm you realise they are actually just made of pressed sheet steel. They flex inward so much that increasing the force on the lever doesn’t increase the force of the pad on the rim. The pad is made of plastic rather than rubber too.

    My chosen bike has much worse brake performance than the other tested so far, not sure why, just lucky I suppose!

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