Turner RFX Redux: To Valhalla
- Thread starter MikeD
- Start date
I have one of these in the box too.
Box is getting loaded. E.13 2x guide with multiple mounting standard options. I have a ton of new or near new granny and middle rings if you want them. That is assuming you end up running 2x... 2 SDG saddles, 3x lock-on grips. I'm keeping my 9sp for Haley's bike. If you know your front der standard, I might have a few. I can throw front shifters too. Box is filling and I haven't gotten to tires yet...
Thanks, guys! If you happen to have any King crown races, I could use an extra or two as well...
I looked but couldn't find one. I did find some new minion dh tires though. A couple of advantage and HR2, but used. I think the HR2 needs a small sidewall patch though.
Found a huge box of middle and granny rings but I am OK with taking them to El Sal for donation if you want to do that...
I will run single ring on the bike...not sure I want to deal with 2x; probably invest in a wide range cassette instead, if the bike warrants it.
Thanks again, man. (Et al!) You guys rock. Looking forward to getting back Thursday and hopefully starting to build it.
You want those rings? If you are planning on running 2x, you'll never need rings again.
Edit: I'll give them to a bike charity here. That my is heavy and it's going in a wheel box because of the tires.
Back home tomorrow...have enough stuff out of the shed and arrived in the mail to start putting it together; can throw the wheels from my hardtail on for now too, as they have tires...depending on what rotor adapters are in my pile.
Thanks again to all contributors!!
Thanks again to all contributors!!
Humble beginnings
Strange improvisations
(Eventually borrowed top cap from my hardtail...favorite move of the day was cutting a plastic shim for the wobbly derailleur bolt out of the plastic SRAM chain container I had just opened...)
And eventually something like a bike appeared.
Shakedown ride today! Once again, thanks to parts donors.
Riding the front mech locked into place as an ersatz chainguide for now. Will get a little top-only guide, probably skipping a bashplate for time being. That little 30t ring should be perfect for local conditions...all constant up-down, compartmentalized terrain with no big descents but short, steep pitches in every direction.
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Rear end TNT, so that half is post '08 isn't it?
Oh, I missed that. Strange, I thought they had gone back to round tubing then, as I got a later front triangle and it was round, that may have been one of the "in between" that had a shorter production run. Sweet rig though, I prefer the TNT. It's dynamite.
Ohhell yess.
I haven't had that much fun clothed in years. It was like taking off the hair shirt of my rigid bike. I was worried it would feel ponderous, but it was liberating and super fast.
I am so glad I did this.
My tires, however, suuuuck. . Can't wait for Stoney's contributions to arrive.
(PayPal imminent upon getting home)
I need a new spring for the suspension... #50 more would be good, I think, and need to read up on spring swaps for fox fork coils. It was good fore and aft after much fettling, but could probably use a bit more spring and a little less compression damping.
Popping off little rises into banked turns was something I could sort of do on the rigid, with caution and a lot of work, but the sensation of effortlessly flying off, hitting the bank sideways, compressing the squish, and slinging around the berm was...just unbelievable.
I am so happy with this.
Can't wait to mess with the offset bushings. With the 888 and lower/slack angles this thing could be a mini monster.
Old school geometry, turns out, is still fun.
I am so happy with this.
Can't wait to mess with the offset bushings. With the 888 and lower/slack angles this thing could be a mini monster.
Old school geometry, turns out, is still fun.
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Where in New England are you? What spring weight/size do you need?
Back in northern VA now...
Bike uses a 7.5x2.0 shock; need #600 springx 2.25-2.5 stroke. (We aren't supposed to use a 2.0 spring on a 2.0 stroke shock because it will reach coil bind if bottomed, yah?)
Ed: Fox seems to spec a spring by the shock stroke it's for rather than the actual spring stroke, labeled 2.0-2.25" for example
Bike uses a 7.5x2.0 shock; need #600 springx 2.25-2.5 stroke. (We aren't supposed to use a 2.0 spring on a 2.0 stroke shock because it will reach coil bind if bottomed, yah?)
Ed: Fox seems to spec a spring by the shock stroke it's for rather than the actual spring stroke, labeled 2.0-2.25" for example
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You'll enjoy them. Thanks for covering the shipping!
Modern geometry made bikes more capable. I am not sure it made them any more fun, probably less so if you aren't riding super steep stuff.
Still one of my all time favorite bikes.
I do feel vindicated, in that back in 2003 I wanted longer, slacker bikes with short stems and short rear ends.
jimmydean, I was just looking for an air shock, not a bike... Since you're on the courtesy phone, though...are you still running Hayes Mags? If you are, I have a kickass selection of Dangerboy and GRC lever blades...
For whatever reason I have been thinking a lot about the history and progression of geometry. Short stems couldn't really work without wide bars. Wide bars really don't work with small clamping diameters. Long slack bikes really don't corner or climb well without a steep seat angle. Steep seat angles kind of suck without dropper posts. Super long bikes would be flexy or really heavy without carbon or really good hydroformed aluminium. So if you went back 20 years and built a bike with modern geometry, it would probably suck and you would want that twitchy and nervous bike that would try to kill you if you weren't paying attention.
My Nicolai BMXtb with a 50mm stem, widest bars I could find, and a 65-66HA with 15.75" chainstays was the closest I ever got to it...giant-tubed super-stiff rigid frame, of course, and the top tube was always about an inch and a half shorter than I wanted.
One of Cove's slalom-type AL bikes was longer and lower and I always wanted to try it. Hooker, might have been?
One of Cove's slalom-type AL bikes was longer and lower and I always wanted to try it. Hooker, might have been?
These are some astute observations.
I have been known to ass-toot quite a lot.
@SirChomps-a-Lot had one. Probably the most fun slalom/jumping bike I rode. The 4x was still a better race bike because the Cove was a noodle, but it was fun as all hell. We took turns jumping his bike and racing mine.
Wait, I think it was the Stiffee SL I was talking about, not the Hooker which was F/S...
No. It was a traditional round tube frame. Let me ask Kurt
Yep stiffee SL. There was a roundtube version with a headtube guesset and a version with the shaped easton tubes (RAD?) and no headtube gusset. I think I had the roundtube version. I think it only felt noodly because of the qr fox fork (which eventually cracked at the dropout). I bet it would have been even better with a 20mm axle fork. It was pretty long and low for the time, but I'm pretty sure it was a 69* head tube angle. I wonder what the reach was on that thing?
The yeti 4x also had longer chainstays than the cove which was better for racing but worse for shenanigans.
The yeti 4x also had longer chainstays than the cove which was better for racing but worse for shenanigans.
Round tube for sure. The reach was super long, but that might be why it worked so well for both of us...
Chomps! Yeah, it was the RAD tubing the year I was considering buying one. Would be hard to envision that frame being noodly...!
In other RFX news, I am putting TRP Slates on the bike vice the beat XTs on ther e, which I found super cheap on fleabay. Alas, the rear (which I need more to replace the shot Shimano, which only sporadically decides to function) won't show in international shipping for another week or two, but after trimming the hose and rebleeding with an Amazon-procured kit, the front is mounted...feels nice and solid at the lever.
Messed with suspension a little more...learned about the Fox 'boost' compression damper on the fork and dialed a little propedal back in the shock. Firmer now, maybe too much so.
And here is the photo showing my twin obsessive threads on RM, together:
In other RFX news, I am putting TRP Slates on the bike vice the beat XTs on ther e, which I found super cheap on fleabay. Alas, the rear (which I need more to replace the shot Shimano, which only sporadically decides to function) won't show in international shipping for another week or two, but after trimming the hose and rebleeding with an Amazon-procured kit, the front is mounted...feels nice and solid at the lever.
Messed with suspension a little more...learned about the Fox 'boost' compression damper on the fork and dialed a little propedal back in the shock. Firmer now, maybe too much so.
And here is the photo showing my twin obsessive threads on RM, together:
What tires ended up in the box anyhow?
I rode a g-spot that was a fun bike, but I always liked the looks of the stiffie sl.