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Hood Mussel...

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
I finished building the Hood up last week and have gotten to ride it on some local stuff to test it out, no serious stuff yet. Has to be one of the stiffest feeling frames I have ridden, can't feel any lateral flex in the swing arm at all. I was suprised how well it pedals, the pulley helps. Yes it is heavy, but more manuverable than I expected. Eats up anything in its path, point and destroy. :) In the pics it is in 26/24 mode, but I think the front end is a little too slack, so I will probably run it with dual 24s with 3.0s. The 4130 dh wrap bars were made by Chris at Thick Bikes, nicest feeling bars I have ridden, very confidence inspiring. If you want to know more, ask...







 

Fulton

Monkey
Nov 9, 2001
825
0
thats amazing. I'm trying to remember......did they always have the pulley? What's that frame weigh?
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
Fulton said:
thats amazing. I'm trying to remember......did they always have the pulley? What's that frame weigh?
The pulley was custom made for this bike, adapted from a bb7. It is the only one with a pulley. The frame weighs somewhere around 17.5 lbs. Its built out of straight 4130 chromo, and built to rock 365 days a year. Its not a frame that would shave seconds off your race run, it is built to last forever.
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
NineFingers said:
That thing looks friggin mean! PA eh? Where do you ride? I saw a short clip of Reading redbull DH race, looks tight!
I wanted to make it to the Reading race, but wasn't able to. Looked like they had some sick stuff there this year. I ride dh at snowshoe and wisp; and ride trails at laurel mtn and a couple places around pittsburgh.
 

KleinMp99

Monkey
Nov 5, 2001
479
1
United States
Dual 24's with 3 inchers :dead:

I am done with big bikes for awhile. Time for pizza cutting 2.3's and a ~35 pound 6X6 bike with a single crown!!!!!
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
seismic said:
That is one super nice bike you got there ! How do you like the fork ??
Thanks. The Mr Dirt Quad Bypass fork is great. This was the last version of the fork that Bob Barnett made. I still think it out performs a lot of new mass produced dh forks. It is super smooth and tracks great. It lacks the dampening technology of newer forks, but makes up for that in many other ways. Stock it uses a 17mm axle with the Mr Dirt 17mm hub, but I have adapters that let me use a regular 20mm hub. It also has an adapter to work with hope brakes, they came with a hayes 22mm mount. It is super high quality (like avy and wb), all machined parts, no plastic junk. It is very easy to take apart and the seals last for ages. Mojo suspension in the uk is making a new version of this fork with ti internals and other improvements.
 

seismic

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2003
3,254
0
South East Asia
RD3 said:
Thanks. The Mr Dirt Quad Bypass fork is great. This was the last version of the fork that Bob Barnett made. I still think it out performs a lot of new mass produced dh forks. It is super smooth and tracks great. It lacks the dampening technology of newer forks, but makes up for that in many other ways. Stock it uses a 17mm axle with the Mr Dirt 17mm hub, but I have adapters that let me use a regular 20mm hub. It also has an adapter to work with hope brakes, they came with a hayes 22mm mount. It is super high quality (like avy and wb), all machined parts, no plastic junk. It is very easy to take apart and the seals last for ages. Mojo suspension in the uk is making a new version of this fork with ti internals and other improvements.
Sounds awesome...and looks awesome too !! :love: Congrats !!! :cool:
 

dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
That thing looks sick man, congrats!

Give it a try without the pulley. I bet you a bag of donuts it pedals even better without it!

dw
 

Fulton

Monkey
Nov 9, 2001
825
0
Is the pulley attached to the swingarm? If so, i'm with dw on this one, it should pedal better without it. Your probably getting lots more chain stretch between the chainring and the pulley than you would chainring to cassette.
 

zedro

Turbo Monkey
Sep 14, 2001
4,144
1
at the end of the longest line
dw said:
That thing looks sick man, congrats!

Give it a try without the pulley. I bet you a bag of donuts it pedals even better without it!

dw
that pulley is really in the wrong place tho, it would pedal even better in the proper location than without IMO....of course thats the system i'm in love with ;)
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
The pulley is attached to the swingarm, it can be moved up or down. It pedals good with or without the pulley, I will have to ride it some more each way. It does add a little bit more friction to the driveline. With the pulley it seems to plant the rear wheel a little more on the take off. The pulley also keeps the chain away from the swingarm because I am running a 34t ring up front.
 

nh dude

Monkey
May 30, 2003
571
16
Vt
thats the same pulley i have on my 01 balfa
that bike looks sick you will have it for a long time
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
TheInedibleHulk said:
I'll be that guy...... I know it doesnt matter, but how much does it weigh?
Its heavy...but since you had to ask, I got the scale out. :) As pictured it weighs 57 lbs, not too bad considering the parts are all heavy duty items. So if you wanted to build it differently you could pretty easily get the weight under 50lbs, not that I see any reason to, because this frame lends itself so well to a bomb proof build. I know some people are thinking why such a heavy bike...it is a FUN bike to ride...I don't care about the weight at all, this isn't my race bike, thought it would be a fun bike to race. My bcd race bike is 40 lbs, so if I want a lighter dh bike that is what I ride.
 

Matt D

Monkey
Mar 19, 2002
996
0
charlottesville, va
RD3 said:
Its heavy...but since you had to ask, I got the scale out. As pictured it weighs 57 lbs, not too bad considering the parts are all heavy duty items. So if you wanted to build it differently you could pretty easily get the weight under 50lbs, not that I see any reason to, because this frame lends itself so well to a bomb proof build. I know some people are thinking why such a heavy bike...it is a FUN bike to ride...I don't care about the weight at all, this isn't my race bike, thought it would be a fun bike to race. My bcd race bike is 40 lbs, so if I want a lighter dh bike that is what I ride.
Cool man, as long as it's got two wheels!
:thumb:
 

seismic

Turbo Monkey
Dec 22, 2003
3,254
0
South East Asia
RD3 said:
Its heavy...but since you had to ask, I got the scale out. :) As pictured it weighs 57 lbs, not too bad considering the parts are all heavy duty items. So if you wanted to build it differently you could pretty easily get the weight under 50lbs, not that I see any reason to, because this frame lends itself so well to a bomb proof build. I know some people are thinking why such a heavy bike...it is a FUN bike to ride...I don't care about the weight at all, this isn't my race bike, thought it would be a fun bike to race. My bcd race bike is 40 lbs, so if I want a lighter dh bike that is what I ride.
See. - that is an attitude I like :)
 

dw

Wiffle Ball ninja
Sep 10, 2001
2,943
0
MV
RD3 said:
The pulley is attached to the swingarm, it can be moved up or down. It pedals good with or without the pulley, I will have to ride it some more each way. It does add a little bit more friction to the driveline. With the pulley it seems to plant the rear wheel a little more on the take off. The pulley also keeps the chain away from the swingarm because I am running a 34t ring up front.
Because the pulley is attached to the swingarm, and just because of the position of the pulley itself and the yube that it rides on, moving the pulley up or down will have very little affect on the suspension when you accelerate. With the pulley, the suspension will compress more when you accelerate than without the pulley. Have fun playing with it and feeleing the differences! I bet you can run a 1/2 to a full turn less compression damping without the pulley and still get the same pedaling performance.

That is an awesome looking bike. I always tell Jimmy, those things are as much a work of art as they are bikes.

Dave
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
E.C. said:
Are there many in existance?
I think there are 9 Hoods.

dw said:
That is an awesome looking bike. I always tell Jimmy, those things are as much a work of art as they are bikes.
Dave
It's truely a work of art that is also a beefy icon of a bike.
...(credit goes to scott for saying that)
 

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
17
NM
nice ride Rob.

bcd team rode the fat forks one year.

i have some black stickers for it still if you want them.
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
The 24" on the rear is great. With the 3.0 gazzi on it, it is about the same size as a regular 26", but gives the huge air volume of the 3.0, smoother over the rough stuff. If I ride down some sets of stairs, I can hardly feel the steps. It also helps with going up hills, easier to pedal. It does make the front end more slack, so I think I will get a 24" for the front also. On most bikes I don't really like 24"s but seems like this bike just asks for them.
 

sh*t scared

Monkey
Sep 30, 2004
125
0
RD3

i´m half way through the process of buying a Hood. Do you have any advice for me with the build, or things i should do, like the pulley (i guess the pulley is there to stop chain slap?) as i reckon it´d be noisy without one.
 

ÆX

Turbo Monkey
Sep 8, 2001
4,920
17
NM
sh*t scared said:
RD3

i´m half way through the process of buying a Hood. Do you have any advice for me with the build, or things i should do, like the pulley (i guess the pulley is there to stop chain slap?) as i reckon it´d be noisy without one.


as for chain slap. if the chain almost sits on the CH anyway it will
not have a lot of time to get going to slap hard. just run a think pad.
like is pictured. no pully it will pedal with less resistance
 

RD3

Monkey
Nov 30, 2003
661
14
PA
sh*t scared said:
RD3

i´m half way through the process of buying a Hood. Do you have any advice for me with the build, or things i should do, like the pulley (i guess the pulley is there to stop chain slap?) as i reckon it´d be noisy without one.
The pulley really isn't necessary on this bike as I have found out. Alex has the right idea about just wrapping the chainstay, that will do the trick, to avoid the chain banging on it. Also depends on how big of a chainring you run up front, I have a 34t on it and can still ride up most hills with some good effort. It seems from your other posts you want to build a really strong rig and don't care about weight, this good bike for that. I still need to get a 24" wheel for the front of mine (even though I thought I would never go there, but with big tires it is a good set up for the purpose of this bike), the current combo is a little too choppered out. Its a fun bike to build up, make it as mean as you want.
 

sh*t scared

Monkey
Sep 30, 2004
125
0
Thanks mate, i´ll run with lots of Neoprene and no pulley. Any other tips or techinques i should know about??