[ebonho]

Originally Posted by TSIVTEC

I'm forwarding a message I got in one of the groups. Cyclops just restocked some maxxis MTB tyres. Grab them before they go out of stock!
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *27.5 x 2.10*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...dable-tubeless - *29x 2.35*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *27.5 x 2.25*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *29 x 2.35*

Black Gold!

This is what road bike riders across the country will soon be running on ...

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by TSIVTEC

I'm forwarding a message I got in one of the groups. Cyclops just restocked some maxxis MTB tyres. Grab them before they go out of stock!
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *27.5 x 2.10*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...dable-tubeless - *29x 2.35*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *27.5 x 2.25*
https://www.cyclop.in/products/maxxi...tain-bike-tire - *29 x 2.35*

Thanks, but this is not what I'd call attractive pricing - over 4k for a 29er...???

I can actually get 29" Maxxis / Kenda here in Manali for ₹900-1200, believe it or not... but on one the tread is more aggressive than what I wanted, on the other too smooth - and latter is a 29x2.5 - super-wide smoothy???!!!

Just looking for options. Are none of our Indian manufacturers up and running with stocks of improved cycle tyres? Again, the Ralson Explorer series look ok - but where to get them? Amazon.in had something in 29 at about ₹1200 a month ago - but only a couple pieces left. I guess I should have grabbed them...

But as for wires, cassettes, shifters, saddles, etc, etc??? Is there really NOTHING out there?

-Eric

EDIT: Ah, here we go:

https://www.amazon.in/Ralson-Explore...8164093&sr=8-2

But still looking for something a little more hybrid-oriented...

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ringoism

But as for wires, cassettes, shifters, saddles, etc, etc??? Is there really NOTHING out there?

There is supply from Shimano, but all the big workshops are getting it directly from the distributor channels and keeping the stuff in house for paying customers only.

Paying = Labour added on.

So the "dry up" online.

[Jaguar]

After months of waiting, yesterday I spotted the Rockroder ST 540 in stock in size L and XL. I was not considering the 27.5" sizes but after some chat with @narayanang76, changed the decision. Since I had already tried the bobcat 3 XL and wanted something a bit smaller, went with the XL size of the 540. geometrygeeks.bike came in handy in selecting the size. The final push came from the Blr-Bhpian-Cyclists. Thanks boys! The pickup from the nearby Decathlon was only next week, but there was availability at a store across town today itself. Decided to go with that option and bring the cycle home asap. Did not get any accessories, not even the stand yet. Was planning to buy the helmet at least, but had to rush back in time for the next office call. Will do that soon.

The only pics I have for now

The technician taking some pics to upload on their google page


The current state of the cycle. This is the only way it would fit in the polo. A cycle carrier is a must-buy.


The vlogger Aj's vLog was there filming the new ST 30 that had come in stock. I had seen his review videos before but didn't realize it was him till after I had left the store. I might make a guest appearance in that video trying out helmets

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by ebonho

That's completely the wrong way to do it in my opinion (keeping the saddle height the same for both bikes).

Originally Posted by ebonho

Using your method (BB center to saddle top)

ACT 110 - 72 cm

CAAD8 - 74.5 cm

I am not convinced. I don't think my inseam length changes from one bicycle to another. So the length of saddle top from BB center should exactly remain same. I am not sure if seat tube length or top tube length should have any bearing on the saddle top to BB center. If a bike has longer seat tube, the saddle post may not stick out compared to other.

As for crank lengths, I don't think the pedal crank arm lengths are different. I remember there are 3 standard arm lengths. 170 mm, 172.5 mm and 175 mm. I think one of them is the most common, not sure which one. Probably 170 mm. So that should be the one on both the bikes.

[fawad0222]

Hello Everyone. Good to see us talking on our dear CYCLES, on which ,most of us have spent our childhood having a lovely time riding them.
My first bicycle at the age of 7 or so years was a junior Atlas, blue and silver with solid rubber tyres. Boy, what a tough machine it was! My whole generation of cousins learnt riding on it. It lasted for around 25 years and finally we lost it somehow. Next bigger bike was again a red and silver Atlas, which perhaps I got it while I was around 10-11 and was studying in 4th standard. After being with us for next 7-8 years, finally was handed over to one of my younger cousins. ATLAS were really Atlas, tough and long lasting. Thereafter owned a Mac One while I was in the Medical College. Currently I have been riding OMO for last 10 months.

[cnaganathan]

Originally Posted by swami69

Want to share a new beginning..

Anyone from Chennai, please connect with me if possible Now that, I am into this, I will go through this Bicycle section more closely as I always wander in the Car and 4x4 sections.

Swami

Swami, am from Chennai - Sholinganallur and I regularly ridealong OMR and ECR along with a group of riders who are from South Chennai areas of Thiruvanmiyur, Palavakkam, Velachery, Thuraippakkam, OMR. If you are interested and if you live in South Chennai you can join us. Please PM me if you are interested.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by shipnil

I am not convinced. I don't think my inseam length changes from one bicycle to another. So the length of saddle top from BB center should exactly remain same. I am not sure if seat tube length or top tube length should have any bearing on the saddle top to BB center. If a bike has longer seat tube, the saddle post may not stick out compared to other.

As for crank lengths, I don't think the pedal crank arm lengths are different. I remember there are 3 standard arm lengths. 170 mm, 172.5 mm and 175 mm. I think one of them is the most common, not sure which one. Probably 170 mm. So that should be the one on both the bikes.

Fair enough, if it's working for you no reason to change.

Cranks come all the way from 165 mm in increments of 2.5 mm.

170, 172.5 and 175 are all very common from the factory.

Cheers, Doc

[cnaganathan]

Like many in this forum, my friendship with a bicycle started during my school days albeit a bit late when I was in my 8th grade. I grew up in a quaint little town called Karaikkudi. My first cycle I remember was my Dad's trusted Atlas Raised bar Fixie. Geared cycles were unheard of those days. After 3 years, I got my cousin's coveted Raleigh - A bantam weight bicycle! The Atlas stayed at home as a standby and later joined me when I went to Coimbatore for my college days.
In my 3rd Year in College, I put up a big show at home targeting the then newly launched BSA SLR Mach 3 and ended up getting the Mach 1 with drop handle bars for a whopping 850 rupees (big money in mid 80s for a bicycle). Later I bought a Hercules MTB after taking up a job in Chennai. This one stayed with me for a few years before I grew tired of it and it was given away to a cousin right after my marriage.
For the next 22 years I rode cycles only when on vacation. Then in 2013 I landed a job in SG and met my gud ole School mate who had 2 cycles. We started riding the ECP lanes on weekend nights and the passion for cycling was rekindled.
Back to Chennai in 2015, I started hunting for a good cycle. Then in 2019 I decided to gift myself a Firefox Momentum pro Alloy frame 27.5" Hybrid for my 25th wedding anniversary. The driving force was a leaky knee that hindered my efforts in weight reduction as I could not walk or jog long distances.
Aug 2019, I came across this group of cycling enthusiasts (or should I call them fanatics) and started joining them on some of their morning rides. Initially I joined only the sub 30 km rides and managed to move from an average of 14kmh to around 19kmph. Then slowly I started trying out the sub 50km rides. And then Lockdown 1.0 stuck us and my rides came to a grinding halt in Mar 2020.
As the lock down eased, I started with solo rides on Sundays along OMR and soon the group rides resumed.
The second part of 2020 was interesting and I started doing a lot of 50+ rides but the first 100+ ride had to wait till Jan 3rd. did a repeat 100+ by the month end and even did a total of 940Km in Feb as part of a challenge.
Lockdown 2.0 brought another halt to my riding spree and now since mid July am back on the saddle doing about 100-140kms a week.
My favorite road in Chennai is the ECR with its super smooth surface and not so bad traffic in the early mornings.

[ringoism]

Been really enjoying riding more regularly now with the combination of a little increase in physical strength/stamina and this 29er Raleigh Conan… I used to be skeptical of the claims, but the 29’s do seem to roll WAYYY easier than my 26” cycles. Did about a 15km loop a couple times in the past week that includes about 700ft of elevation gain (peaking at around 7600ft); Both times with my 7-year old son who was pressing on admirably on his 24” Stärkenn MTB – So I had to take it easy, and presumably it was a few km's more for me as I kept turning around to rejoin him every time I got a couple hundred meters ahead, but at any rate as an, eh, “older fella” just beginning to ramp up, it was probably better to be doing something more like “interval training” here at the beginning, till my cardio system is good and strong.

This morning's solo ride tuened out to be considerably more vigorous:










Managed to climb about 800ft (elevation gain) to a little village above here, in almost exactly 30 minutes. Probably really ought to get a watch with a heart-rate monitor… felt I may have pushed a bit too hard this early on.

Lovely ride, though... with a few justifications for going for more aggressive tyres (ordered a pair of Ralson Vasco's that came in at ₹1400 delivered - they seem to have quite positive reviews on Amazon).


Anyway, despite its not being too lightweight (~16kg at present), the Conan is smooth and generally unfatiguing and as a size-L frame, fits me better than most of what I've ridden till now (I probably ought to have an XL, but that's a rare bird up in these hills, especially).

This is also my first bike equipped with hydraulic (Shimano) stoppers - another thing I used to be skeptical about but now really like for their firmness and power. They are probably especially helpful on something like this that’s a bit heavy with big wheels (=more leverage, when you think about it).

Front chainwheels are 42/34/24, and rear cassette 34/12)… I have managed well enough on the steepest on-road climbs so far but a 36 low in back and a 22T small ring up front would grant me some extra “oomph” for the most challenging gradients or long ascents. I don't really enjoy riding at high speeds, since here that's usually downhill, so with the 29” wheels could probably just about eliminate the largest front ring and save a couple hundred grams. I guess a 36/22 front and 11/36 rear (maybe a 9-gear) would give me about all I'll ever need without fouling the derailleurs, so let's see if I can come up with some parts (pre-owned if necessary) to do that. A lot of Shimano cassette gear stacks are held together with two or three long pins which, when removed, allow you to mix and match individual gears according to personal gearing preference. Being that I spend a lot of time in the lowest gears, it makes more sense to have closer ratios there, vs. at the higher speed end, as is more common…


A few reasons for it being a little heavier than original are:



• The B-twin tool bag w/ folding allen-key set and puncture kit;
• Light-alloy carry-rack salvaged from a derelict (imported) Decathlon Riverside a friend gave me; this will provide backpack-free riding when doing errands… will mount a thin plastic panel there to give me a mudguard!
• 3-mode LED tail-light and reflector (taxi-wallahs insane here).




• Some pretty heavy but extremely robust Wellgo brand pedals – the knobs of which just so happen to lock perfectly into my Vans' lowtops… and on the less negative side don't seem.much heavier than the Bontragers I saw in the showroom today with a ₹5,500 pricetag (these were freebies basically)...



• This aftermarket (presumably low-grade Chinese) adjustable neck (original actually had a slight DOWNWARD angle, this one I have set at 20-degrees upwards which suits my height better)



• In lieu of this South African self-sealing tube (which weighs a whopping 450g!!),



...added about 100g in each tyre of this Amerseal tyre sealant.



A friend is working on setting up the India distributorship for this aforementioned product…which seems to be a good one. Versus Slime it's a bit gritty, but he's used it in all kinds of stuff and claims it is far superior. Let's see - I've put it in tubes that already have 3-4 patches apiece, inside the rather dry original Maxxis Pace at <20% tread up front (just rotated)…



Will test and report back here. On account of the grittiness the slurry won't pump through the valve and in particular with the Presta-equipped Bontrager, besides removing the valve core, I had to use a small drill to open up the innermost part of the stem a bit. My rear rim is actually a Bontrager tubeless, so later might try a 700C (same 622mm) tubeless hybrid tyre, something smooth in the middle with knobs on the shoulders, which should both roll easier on-rosd, and give enough bite for both road edges and light trail… But all in good time... eager to try out these new-era Ralsons... and hope they'll serve a lot better than their old-era ones!



I know this (jugaad) mudguard is ugly... no-one need tell me so! But it is a necessary evil in this place in this season, and lightweight enough. I'm just gonna put a strip of black duct tape on the rear carrier to serve the same purpose in the simplest, lightest way possible.

The Suntour XCT fork is pretty horrible and lacks poise even on moderately rough roads (nevermind trails), so if I happen to find a deal on something better (or find something serviceable in anyone's scrap bin) will go for that.

Till then trying to focus on physical conditioning, to where I can climb 1000ft or more in good time (~40 min?) without feeling too fatigued.

Rohtang Pass is about 5000ft above where I sit, so I'd guess it's gonna be awhile - if ever - that I've progressed enough to top it...

-Eric

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ringoism

Been really enjoying riding more regularly now with the combination of a little increase in physical strength/stamina and this 29er Raleigh Conan…

Rohtang Pass is about 5000ft above where I sit, so I'd guess it's gonna be awhile - if ever - that I've progressed enough to top it...

-Eric

Great seeing you enjoying your riding up there Eric.

Here is the new gen Ralsons ... look quite beefy. A friend has fitted them on his Scott Subcross for the monsoons and fort hopping (no roads).







Cheers, Doc

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Here is the new gen Ralsons ... look quite beefy. A friend has fitted them on his Scott Subcross for the monsoons and fort hopping (no roads).

They've also got an Explorer Marco and a Micro-Octave, which is what my friend here got cheap from Omobikes for the Giant MTB I'd sold him.

All these liok pretty good and seem modern and light with the "skinwall" construction. There may be others as well...







Unfortunately I find Ralson's website useless; it seems to make no distinctions and have no separate section for these modern, better quality lines of theirs. Also no intimation re:available sizes, MRP's, etc.... Hope they'll improve this...

Whatever, if these hold up well I'll look forward to their coming up with other good modern designs, maybe even tubeless.

Seems this would be a great time for Indian manufacturers to get into midrange component / spares /

-Eric

[ebonho]

We were having a discussion some time back here about custom built roof racks for carrying cycles.

Today while going to get my waxed chain installed, I came upon this locally manufactured one, by a group of guys who regularly take their bikes to the foot of big climbs and practice tge climbs and then load their bikes and head back.

Sharing the photos here ... maybe someone would get some ideas for the fabrication.







These guys are training for the Sahyadri Classic, which has quickly in 2 years become India's marque climbing race, with 2, 3 and 4 ghat challenges, and seperate Masters and Women's categories.

Decent prize money and participation from around the country too.

Cheers, Doc

[amvj]

Looks like Firefox discontinued Volante and other hybrids, such as Surfelo and Miyabi. As a Volante owner, this is making me bit sad and I getting the ' (Blue Flame, my Hercules ACT 110 | The big hearted road warrior)ACT 110' moment that doc and other owners are having

Posting one photo from my archive:



Image from choosemybicycle

https://www.firefoxbikes.com/bicycle...sc&order=price

Also now I see only one road bike on Firefox website.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by amvj

Looks like Firefox discontinued Volante and other hybrids, such as Surfelo and Miyabi. As a Volante owner, this is making me bit sad and I getting the ' (Blue Flame, my Hercules ACT 110 | The big hearted road warrior)ACT 110' moment that doc and other owners are having .

I see very few of these classic shape barebone hybrids by the Indian companies anymore.

Even the Triban RC100 flatbar is shockingly overpriced for essentially a 7 speed drivetrain with a very rudimentary shifter. But it's saving grace is it's frame, which is really light and for some reason other Indian manufacturers cannot manage on their hybrids. Remember even RC100 as well as a lot of Tribans and Rockriders are made in India in Ludhiana only. So the tech is there.

Instead what we get nowadays are weird shaped heavy frames, clunky bouncy bottoming out forks, and blingy grabby crappy disc brakes as the hybrid offerings.

The ACT 110 10 years ago was 13.5 kilos. With a steel fork. And a steel handlebar.

Cheers, Doc