Shimano gears ... aargh!! - Page 2

danielf · 17-07-2004, 00:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

wtf are you going on about , why would it take twice as long

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just have this image of cycling on wheelchair/forklift tyres, which I would think would not be very comfortable (re. cushioning), or (if it does cushion) might not be very effective in transferring the force you exert into actual speed (hence twice as long). Now, if they do cushion and transfer speed as well as normal tyres, they sound brilliant, and we may all be using them shortly. But seeing we're not right now, I was wondering if we should.

17-07-2004, 00:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulyoung666

wtf are you going on about , why would it take twice as long

Excuse me!!! Please get out of my head. Thats where you got that post from i assume!!!

17-07-2004, 00:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

might not be very effective in transferring the force you exert into actual speed .

ermm so the fact that loads of people ride around on soft tail bikes makes no difference to the amount of pedal force being transfered into forward motion?

17-07-2004, 00:31

too many variables, under-inflated tyre good at low speed traction, but a drag at higher speed, weight of rider ?

how well do they grip the road in the rain?

sound good, though

danielf · 17-07-2004, 00:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by gary_580

ermm so the fact that loads of people ride around on soft tail bikes makes no difference to the amount of pedal force being transfered into forward motion?

Are you referring to suspension bikes? If so, I would think that (especially front) suspension is not very good for speed on the road. I've not seen many of them in the Tour de France this year.

Kidding aside, my original question was serious. Are these tyres as good as regular tyres or not?

17-07-2004, 01:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielf

I've not seen many of them in the Tour de France this year.

Exactly my point. Rear suspension bikes you lose so much energy

ntl customer · 17-07-2004, 01:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Strzelecki

Right, what you need to do is use the gear shift for the rear gear mech to shift it into the highest gear (smallest sprocket at the rear when the whell is on normally). Loosen the quick release axel on the rear wheel (or the nuts if it's a solid axel). Pull the rear mech gear cage that holds the two jockey wheels (small cogs) up towards the bottom chainstay (the part of the frame that goes from where the pedals rotate to the back wheel) and then using the other hand pull the wheel upwards or move the rear of the bike downwardsso that is slots into the frame. Let go of the rear gears, tighten up the quick release or axel nut and off you go. I can take photos if you still need them!

Thanks for the info, photos would be great!

Also some annotated pics would be good too - I don't know my sprockets from my chainstays.

Strzelecki · 17-07-2004, 01:29

Hmm the tyre may be ok if you don't do too much riding, or ride mainly on the road, definitely a no no if you ride proper off road stuff. They're good on road in that they have less rolling resistance (compared to MTB tires) but off road they're firmness does allow them to grip as well as a decent set of conventional tyres, such as WTB's. ATS used to sell (maybe still do) them. As for the rear suspension arguement it all depends on the design, cheap and cheerful sus bike are very bad at transferring thier energy, mainly becuase of their single pivot design (which is cheap to manufacture) where as bikes such as the GT iDrive are exceptionally good (google for it to find out more). Pictures to follow shortly!

Strzelecki · 17-07-2004, 01:52

Here we go:
www.strzelecki.co.uk/images/1.jpg
www.strzelecki.co.uk/images/2.jpg
www.strzelecki.co.uk/images/3.jpg
www.strzelecki.co.uk/images/4.jpg
www.strzelecki.co.uk/images/5.jpg (annotated)

They're kind of in sequence, if a little blurry! The 4th one's showing the quick release being done up.

Bifta · 17-07-2004, 02:30

mmmm Marzocchi bombers

17-07-2004, 13:10

On the subject of "no puncture" tyres, there was a brand called "Care Free" that was sold some years ago that was a solid (slightly compressible to allow a bit of "give") band around the rim. Unfortunately from what I heard they had poor grip in the rain.

Having said that, I've just done a quick google and found the following site http://www.kairfree.co.uk/ which seem to be the same people with a slightly different product.