Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Huh??!

Lesson learned today: Just because you know how to build and maintain a road bike does NOT mean you can assemble a mountain bike.

When did these bikes get so complicated? Hydraulic disc brakes!?! Oh man...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I bet one of your trusty mtb teammates could help if you need assistance ;-)

John

Marco Fanelli said...

Roger that! I think I will visit Bicycle Bob's today...

Anonymous said...

Never pump the brake lever unless the wheel (disk) is in the caliper.

John P.

Marco Fanelli said...

> Never pump the brake lever unless
> the wheel (disk) is in the caliper.

Ooops. Yep, I did that. After I put the bars on upside down and strung the cables the wrong way... what a moron.

What I don't understand is why mountain bikes with all their high-tech stuff--like fancy suspension and hydraulic brakes--don't cost way more than road bikes.

Anyway, if I can get all this sorted out, then Saturday will be my first ever MTB race. Probably gonna be DFL in 45+ Beginner babay!!!

Anonymous said...

Right on Marco. Way to go for it. I laughed hard about putting the bars upside down a screwing up the cables because that's exactly what I did too. Too frigin funny.

And who cares if you DNF. What really matters is that you will look all bad ass on your new bike with hydraulic disk brakes.

Jason

Anonymous said...

I did not want to comment on the pads clamped shut ;-)

I did wonder if you were doing this weekends race. Very cool. Should be fun.

John

Anonymous said...

Mark,

There's a lot of local mtn bike races this year. Take the bike out and get used to it, do some trails, or if you do race be ultra conservative. Crashing sucks and getting hurt sucks even more.

hey

Steve said...

Marco,

The OtherSteve said:

Just ride it like you know what your doing, think like a kid and remember trees + rocks hurt, and wet roots with the bark worn off are like ICE. We rode our Mtn. Bikes Tue night back east in Conn. with ICY Rutted trails at night with lights in a snow storm. We had a BLAST.... But I had studded tires with 296 studs per tire - Yea were nuts ...

Now that was fun for sure.. Mtn bike riding is a good hard work out . I hit my therotical MAX HR all the time cause it's constant ups and downs. Enjoy.........

Sorta like intervals ......

Steve D

Marco Fanelli said...

Thanks Dad D'Velo! I must admit that I'm more preoccupied mentally and emotionally with this MTB race than I've been for any bike-related event for a long time. Took the bike out for maiden voyage today, and it was awesome (except for a broken chain).

Love your comment "Enjoy...Sorta like intervals..." YEAH!!

dr-nitro said...

Oh, don't be fooled into thinking they cost less. Them little brake pads cost a bit, and wear out fairly quickly. Suspension needs to be rebuilt from time to time. Pivots replaced. It all adds up.

But man, it sure is better than riding a fully rigid bike with weak cantilever brakes.