Resolutely not spending. Ish.
I’m sat here in front of my PC, drinking a gert big glass of Robinsons Summer Fruits Squash. Its really cold, and tastes like those cheap freeze-it-yourself ice pops, the red ones. I approve.
I’ve got Chain Reaction Cycles open in one tab and Merlin Cycles in another, weighing up my options. I want to put gears on the Stiffee, or perhaps get some disc wheels for it.
You see, I like it as a singlespeed, but its a complete beeeyatch to get it up the hills. I seem to remember that Dave H had trouble getting gears to work on the front of it though — the mad chainline led to chainsuck galore at the first sign of mud (the chainstay is testament to that). I can probably afford to nine-speed it though.
Once I’m up the hills though, the completely useless brakes do little or nowt to give me any confidence in the thing. Fairly non-technical descents are fine, but as soon as it gets tricky I get scared silly (no change there then). So getting a set of disc-brake compabible wheels with nice wide rims would be a nice upgrade. I’ve already got a pair of Hope E4 brakes – they need a seal kit and service but that’s not exactly an expensive process.
The thing is though, a decent set of hubs is quite expensive. I can get a set of wheels based on Shimano Deore disc hubs for under £100 – but I’ve had a set of those before and they weren’t the most reliable hub. Spec some nice Hope XC hubs and suddenly the price goes up to about £170. Expensive, but they’re nice bits of kit.
Oh what to do, what to do… oh now look – I’ve gone and procrastinated the whole evening away. Winner!
Gears work fine on the Stiffee once you tame them.
Might have some cheap Deore disc-hubbed wheels available.
I know what you mean, although I spend half my time at work trying not to spend money on wiggle et al…
I managed to get away with only buying some inner tubes yesterday… at the weekend it was a pair of leggings… will it ever stop?
Hope hubs are ace and will last for a long long long time. My oldest are just as good as new and that;s after 9 years and only 5 new bearings (30quid’s worth)
NEver had gear problems on my Stiffee.
Hmmm… Rich, those wheels. What rims and what condition? And more importantly, how much?
I’m fairly sure Dave H had tried everything to get gears to work – even went as far as a Middleburn Duo. Maybe he just didn’t get a long enough BB? Or maybe mine’s just a freak-o-frame :-)
Hang on a minute, I’ve still got a working Deore Disc front wheel (with a subtly dented F519 rim). Maybe I could get a Hope rear now and save up for the front one? Hmm…
Flangeless hubs, x139 rims, came off a Rocky Mountain jobber. Not really used that much. £cheap.
Personally I’d get the Hope ones :)
Stiffee gears work well bar the occasionally chainsuck problems. Currently it’s got an 8spd block and a standard Deore chainset with 22/34/bashring.
fix the chainsuck with a sharktooth :)
(or just 8/9 speed it)
(all the coolest dudes run 8/9 speed on their geared bikes)
Mmm, I was thinking ninespeed would be cool – its how I used to run it.
/me goes back to dreaming of a BlackSpire NS1 to put on the front… ARGH NO!!! TOO EXPENSIVE!!! ;-)
E13 DRS :)
Dewlie?
Apparently Dewlies will throw the chain if you back-pedal, and DRSs won’t.
Not that I’ve actually used either of them.
£105 though :-/
I would suggest that you get some XM321disc hubs and lace them to hope hubs. Lovely combination :^)
WTF is an XM321 Disc hub!? ;-)
LOL! Rim then :)
That’d be lovely. That’d be one hundred and seventy two pounds and ninety nine pence though.
/tempted
That was my dlilema, don’t regret doing it though :^)
I HAVE 321 / hope :o)