Look at that! Two grand!

"Wheelerguy" (wheelerguy) 07/01/2015 at 06:51 • Filed to: None

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Not too trickable, yes (at least not the slopestyle kind), but this is the kind of bike I want. And again, just two thousand.

XJDano > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 07:11

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Bring your own pedals

Big Bubba Ray > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 07:24

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I bought a whole car for 2 thousand.

But that is a pretty sweet bike.

petebmwm > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 07:36

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i just got a new one of these for 2g’s

GTI Sprinks > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 08:21

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Looks good as an XC bike. Definitely not a slopestyle, but it’ll be a great bike. Friends have had the superfly’s in the past and loved em.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 08:38

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i’m with you. what do you ride now? do you wear clip ins?

Wheelerguy > OPPOsaurus WRX 07/01/2015 at 08:50

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Get ready to be disappointed, human. Because I only have a 20” single-speed (non-fixie) folding bike. It hoons rather well, though, able to take most bumpy roads here in Manila with ease, and while I would have wanted a slightly more power-giving ratio, it does fine. In fact, I once logged about 20 kilometers in one day. It’s both a testament of what my bike is made of and how far my 60-lb body can really go. 4 years with me, seen a bearing replacement and three inner tube replacements, and I’ve yet to see if I popped my tire again or it was just merely under-pumped, but I’ll put it in a TopGear-style plinth as a personal monument when I grow a bit older and riding that bike I just posted or a custom, scratch built rig, with a recording describing it.

Jazzy > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 08:52

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Looking good! I’ve been eyeballing a Rocky Mountain Thunderbolt for a year now. If only I didn’t already have expensive hobbies.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 09:25

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This'll be a great XC bike...just remember mountain bike skills....they are quite hard. I have a Barely used Focus Raven and I rarely use it. Because ish ish skills.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 09:31

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I have a Trek rumblefish Pro from 2012, it’s a good bike. My next bike will probably be more travel, and 27.5 wheels like a Santa Cruz 5010.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 10:24

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It’s hard to beat a good full-suspension bike for everyday riding. My mountain bike is 19 years old and still going strong (although I am not the rider I once was). This was taken a couple of years ago while out for a ride with my son.

For riding longer distances, I depend on something a bit more conventional but with some important changes. First, it is a cyclocross bike, not a road bike. Cyclocross frames have more clearance for larger tires and in my case, fenders. Many road bikes will have 23-25mm tires, those shown below are 38mm. Second, I ditched the conventional drop bars and brifters for a set of moustache bars and barcons (bar-end shifters). Third, for long hauls, it’s hard to beat a Brooks leather saddle. Much more comfortable!

I usually ride with clipless pedals, but I keep a set of pedals with clips and straps to swap out when I know that I won’t be pushing hard and will be walking around as much as I am riding.

Wheelerguy > TheRealBicycleBuck 07/01/2015 at 10:38

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*looks at the CX bike*

YES! That’s the handlebar I’m looking for!

Grindintosecond > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 11:21

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I’m trying to find some sort of 27.5 version of the Salsa Spearfish. lightweight, short travel FS endurance racer. I don’t know how I’ll have time to even ride it enough to justify buying one tho.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Wheelerguy 07/01/2015 at 11:39

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Moustache conversion isn’t a simple affair. You will need a set of moustache bars, ROAD brake levers (because of the bar diameter), and appropriate shifters. These could be barcons, stem-mounted, or if you want to go really old-school, downtube shifters.

To do it cheaply, you can give the Nashbar chrome version a try. Just know that the chrome is thin and they will rust a bit. Better bars will come from Nitto and will be aluminum.

Bar-end shifters are still made by Shimano and a kit is available for about $50 (check Nashbar). Indexed versions are available for 10-speed cassettes, but a 9-speed version will work fine if you run in friction mode.

The brake levers can be either aero (the cable runs through the lever or old-school with a top-mounted cable. They MUST be road levers in order to fit the bars. A set of Shimano Sora levers will run about $25.

If you want to do this to a mountain bike, your best bet is a set of Soma Dirt Drops or Sparrows as they are designed for a mountain bike stem and levers. Old standard bar diameters were 25.4mm for mountain bikes and 26.0mm for road bikes, which tapers down to 22mm to fit road levers. A new bike may have the new 31.8mm diameter bars whether it is road or mountain.

One more thing about stems. The old quill style stem worked well with drop and moustache style bars since it could be easily raised or lowered. These will only work with older forks with 1” steerer tubes. Newer bikes with 1.25” steerer tubes will only work with threadless stems. With the threadless system, it is advisable to buy an adjustable stem to give yourself the same flexibility when setting up the bars for the first time. Once you find the optimal position, then you can swap out for a non-adjustable stem with your preferred angle. It’s hard to see in the picture of my bike, but it is still sporting the adjustable stem.

On my road bike, I found that I never used the drops. I was looking for more hand positions, so making the conversion made sense. I looked at options for the mountain bike and finally settled on a set of butterfly bars. I’m not as fond of these since the forward portion of the bars is too far for comfort and the nearer portion of the bars is too close. I’ve been tempted to cut down the bars to make them look more like moustache bars and then getting a shorter stem. That would be just right....