Category Archives: Main Page - Page 7

Back From the Grave – Saracen Kili Flyer

Posted by on 02/11/2009 No comments

If you were into MTB’s in the UK back in the 1980’s then no doubt the name Kili Flyer will bring back misty eyed memories of a long forgotten iconic steed.

Well, I had an email from Simon Wild at Saracen today and he tells me they are re-launching the Kili and its going to be Fillet Brazed Tange Prestige and built around a modern 120mm fork. There’s not much info around so far but Singletrackworld have some pix available here: http://www.singletrackworld.com/2009/10/saracen-revive-the-kili-flyer/

It certainly has a nice clean look to it, the bike will be available in either SLX or XTR flavours when it hits the streets.

Picture – Copyright 2009 Singletrack Mountain Bike Magazine

EWR Project – Phase Eight….tweaks & eBay scoreage

Posted by on 01/11/2009 8 comments

No Sunday ride today, just some minor tweaks on my Woods Bike. I’ve been having problems with shifts to the granny ring, the Front Mech has been throwing the chain…..turns out to be a schoolboy error, I had the granny ring on the wrong way round

If you look at the picture below you can see the profile of the ring is raised on one side and I had it fitted the other way, closing the gap between the middle ring just enough for the chain to ‘miss’ the ring when down shifted from middle, I switched this round and tweaked the stop adjustment and its near perfect.

SGX Granny ring showing profile

Previously fitted…..wrong !!

Got a good result on eBay recently, a pair of NOS M-650 DX hubs, complete with Quick Release skewers for £15 . A fellow RetroBiker in the USA assisted with getting these to me as the US seller wouldn’t ship out of America. These are gonna get laced to the Campag Mirox in place of the black LX hubs I have on there now.

Mmmmmm…..NOS hubs

1 x 7 Beater Project – Pt 2

Posted by on 23/10/2009 No comments

Found the original rear mech that came with this bike back in 1991, this badboy has covered at least 10,000 miles and is still going strong




Then I found some spare cranks I had laying around and also an old 36t HyperGlide ring



And last but not least a saddle in……erm…..rather a distressed state

RetroBike – Grove Explosion

Posted by on 20/10/2009 No comments

A German Grove collector burst onto the RetroBike consciousness this week with a jaw dropping series of posts documenting his huge and impressive collection of all things Grove. There are stunning examples of fully built Aggressors, Hardcores, X’s, Titans in all manner of paint schemes and as if that wasn’t enough he also has a 1989 Tamarac and a Progear 

The BIG Grove Innovations thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75246

1989 Tamarac: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75720

Progear : http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=75795

One ‘teaser’ pic…..

Sunday Ride – Big balls and big logs….

Posted by on 18/10/2009 No comments

Wasted some time tweaking my rear mech so lost some valuable daylight, cutting down the ride time but I had a nice little 17 mile ride along the curiously named Clay Dick Track and across to Fermyn Woods which is a ‘working forest’ run by the Forestry Comission.

This was a MASSIVE load of dirt nearly as tall as my EWR that has been dug out by Foxes, Badgers or Rabbits…..I’ve no idea which


Badass MoFo Bull giving me the eye (check the size of his balls )

Woods Bike in the woods


Forest trail – Fermyn Woods

Original Woods Bike on the woodpile

EWR 1 – GoatSurfer 0

Posted by on 15/10/2009 1 comment

These new platform pedal things are still something of a novelty to me, I’m still stuck in 1990 using PD-M735 (XT flatties) and toe clips

I’ve heard the phrase ‘getting tattooed by your pedals’ and scoffed at it……..well the V8’s on my EWR did more than tattoo me last week, the damn things gnashed my shins up real good . I know there’s not much skin on your shins but those deep grooves in the pic below go almost down to the bone, thankfully with no pain though.

The cause: Riding slowly uphill on a forest trail, in the wet, in the wrong gear and trying to manual off a tree root……in the pitch black

EWR Project – Phase Seven – Barbara ann ba ba

Posted by on 10/10/2009 No comments

Saw Time
So, the Race Face bars were TOO wide so out came Mr Sandvik and I’ve lost 20mm of each end, sanded down the ends and reset the controls. Grips got refitted and some Helicopter Tape applied on the cabled side of the head tube and also on the Syncros Revolution cranks.

Minor tweak on saddle height too so it matches my Pace.

Freshly cut (and out of focus )

You should have seen them BEFORE they were cut!!!

So, you’ve read about using GT-85 and WD-40, Hairspray, water, glue……what about the ‘Zip Tie Trick’? Well, it works a treat. Get two long and strong Zip Ties, feed them down inside the grip, one either side, so the ‘teeth’ side faces the grip….push to get it started, make sure any logos or patterns are lined up how you want them, then ‘ski’ them up using the ties by pulling the ends (for best results ziptie the ties together so you have a ‘handle’). Once they are all the way up, pull harder and the Zip Ties will slide out.

Zip Tricks

EWR Project – Phase Six…Dial Time

Posted by on 09/10/2009 No comments

Another week, another configuration and I’m back in that pine forest again for some more shakedown time, it’s a shame the place is a 100 mile round trip from my house else I’d be blasting round there all weekend….sadly I only get to go once a week and after work as it’s near my office

Last week was the first ever ride on my EWR and it highlighted some ‘handling weirdness’ that needed ironing out….and fast, so last weekend I pulled the front end apart, switched from a 0° rise 135mm stem to a 10° rise stem, lost the 1″ rise Club Roost bars in favour of some Race Face Air Alloy in 1.5″ rise flavour, moved one poker chip above the stem (leaving 20mm of spacing below), dropped the saddle height by 20mm, nudged the rails back and bled the back brake so it’s now ultra vicious

As much as hunting down elusive bike parts is a whole lotta fun, there’s nothing more satisfying than dialling a bike in so the ride is El Perfecto. Plenty of bikes look good in pictures but ride like a wheelbarrow full of runny shit…

So, it got blasted round the woods in the pitch black and wet and gnarly tree roots hidden by freshly fallen leaves focussed the brain   

That aside, my OWB rides 100% better than it did last week but I think these bars are a bit too Cowhorn for my liking. Since 1988 I’ve ridden flat bars and bar ends so this whole riser bar thing is a little freaky to me full stop and these Race Face bars are about a mile wide ……

I suspect that if they stay on the bike they will be saying hello to my little friend….the Sandvik Hacksaw for some ‘amputational correctness’

Cowhorns in the pines

Good job the trail was wide here…

Cowhorns in the pines Part II

Magura HydroStops ‘Bleed Jig’

Posted by on 07/10/2009 No comments

Magura HydroStops are very cool brakes…..no wait, they are not cool as in ‘hip CNC bike bling’ because they are bulky and most likely heavy (these are the reasons why most folk ‘dis’-like them). In my world which is a practical world where stuff on a bike needs to perform a task and perform it so well it doesn’t need tweaking while you are out on the trail, Magura HydroStops ARE cool
They are VERY powerful, work in the most hideous conditions if you use the right pads and once they are setup correct will carry on for decades.

The real bummer about Magura HydroStops is if you actually break the ‘system’ then you have a whole bunch of work to do. Most will know that they are a ‘closed/sealed’ hydraulic braking system filled with mineral oil and they have a master cylinder at the lever end and a slave cylinder at the pad end, with a connecting ‘bridge’ linking one side of the wheel to the other. Everything links up with tough plastic hose and at every junction there are compression joints using brass olives or bolt up connectors with barbed joints. If you buy a set of Magura HydroStops, hang them on your bike out the packet and just switch pads then your life will indeed be painless and full of smile inducing, aggressive stops, but if you meddle with lots of different bikes, pull HydroStop systems apart to replace parts or extend hoses then you are into the whole dull bleed routine.

Basically you need to pump fresh Magura Blood into the system, make sure no air gets it and fix everything back together but like most things in life the previous sentence was a LARGE understatement

So you check out the documentation that Magura supply….try doing it while the brakes are attached to your bike and sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don’t. This is also one of those jobs where four hands would make it really easy and….listen carefully Magura……bleed valves that don’t need removing!!

Everyone has their own way to do this task but I’ve settled on using a ‘jig’ to do mine as it solves the gravity problems and it solves the ‘I wish I was an octopus’ problems too.

Take the brakes off the bike, fix them up on a workstand (or fence post) like in the pix below, fill the syringe to maximum, pump fluid through until your air bubbles have stopped and when you remove the overflow at the top get your finger over the hole and get that grub screw in there real fast. Now…..don’t do it up real tight but get it very close, keeping the Allen key in there, then reach down to the syringe and pump more blood through as you are tigthening, this maximises the fluid and prevents any air getting back inside.
Now the top is sealed tight getting the bottom end off is easier and if the fluid level falls slightly just fill up the bleed screw hole with fluid before you screw it back in. Your brakes should now be air free and powerful

Getting jiggy with it

Top end

Bottom end

EWR Project – Phase Five…Testing in Eastern Woods

Posted by on 03/10/2009 No comments

So the time has come to test ride my baby…….where better to test a bike like this than some woods in the East of England 

I rushed out real quick before we got riding to snap some pix cos the light was failing fast (and so it turned out were my camera batteries), so excuses again for the lame picture quality but here is my EWR, where it belongs, back out in the woods again.

It’s still in testing mode so the stem spacers and stem are not permanent fixtures and the jury is still out on the handlebars….the bars are certainly ‘down in the weeds’ on this bike. Those blokes at EWR really know how to make a bike though, it rides beautifully and just goes where you point it. At slow speeds it is really ‘Trialsy’ and very responsive and at speed it just rolls and rolls and is just screaming at you to manual it off some tree roots and humps….this bike makes you grow horns 

This bike is going to get well used and to endure the British winter conditions I
have fitted Gore RideOn GoreTex durallier cables, these are PTFE coated
cables that run in a continuous, sealed sleeve which runs inside the
outer cable and is sealed with rubber ‘boots’ at the mech ends. They
are expensive but if you want to keep the mud and shit out and have
silky smooth shifting then these are the babies to fit.

Overall I am REALLY pleased with how it rides although I need to nail that bar/stem configuration and my back brake is non-existant, despite me bleeding it twice . The bottle cage is on there solely for my Lumicycle Halogen lights, this time of year we ride in total darkness. My buddies have ‘outgunned’ me with lights recently so I’m feeling a little inadequate…..one has the HID (Halide) Lumicycle lights and the other has Hope Visions AND some helmet mounted Ay Ups .

I guess I could even things up and buy a Lumicycle LED system


Back in the Woods again….where EWR’s belong…


Up close and personal….my Woods in the woods


Then it got dark….we had nearly two hours of flat out night riding