This bike is basically the reason I have been on ilf for a while. I’m rebuilding the rear wheel with the matching (to the front) rim later this week.
The short version is that this is my deep-custom 650b ~’94 Paramount Series 60. It’s the best bike in the world.
that thing is sick
did they have disc brakes back in the early 90s or did you add posts for them?
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:57 am
by ThurberMingus
The fork is aftermarket (Soma Low Trail Disc) and I work with a guy who builds frames. He brazed on the rear disc tab for a cool $40.
I just got my new rear hub yesterday, so I’ll be building up the matching rear wheel hopefully tonight, if not sometime over the weekend.
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:01 am
by dubkitty
IIRC disc brakes weren't a thing until around 1997 or 98. when i bought my Klein mb in 1996 everything was still regular old pull brakes. personally, i never saw the point in disc brakes since i can already launch myself over the bars just fine with old-school brakes, and they seem like an obvious fail point that you can't fix while away from home. i can jerry-rig a fix on regular brakes, but good luck doing that with discs.
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 9:25 am
by BetterOffShred
Yeah they aren't really necessary. I have them because I bought a new bike in like 2005, but they don't work any better than the old rim brakes for sure
This thread has given me GAS to get my bike back from my dad's house and go on a ride this weekend maybe!
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:47 am
by MrNovember
dubkitty wrote:IIRC disc brakes weren't a thing until around 1997 or 98. when i bought my Klein mb in 1996 everything was still regular old pull brakes. personally, i never saw the point in disc brakes since i can already launch myself over the bars just fine with old-school brakes, and they seem like an obvious fail point that you can't fix while away from home. i can jerry-rig a fix on regular brakes, but good luck doing that with discs.
I actually hate disc brakes at this point. The brakes on my mountain bike somehow got contaminated, I lost almost all my brake power and they squealed like mad. So I replaced the pads and cleaned the discs. Road it twice. Contaminated again. I just want the simplicity of rim brakes back.
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 3:24 pm
by nogodsnobedtimes
Hydro disk brakes are far superior to every other brake. Fact.
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 8:52 pm
by repoman
[youtube][/youtube]
cantis baby
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2018 11:14 pm
by nogodsnobedtimes
Ahh, the good old days.
Vintage MTBs like Thurber has are great for cruising around (been building and riding those as commuters for years), but I'll take a modern bike with wet discs, slack HT, longer front center, taller stack, and a dropper post any day off road. Especially after riding old XC bikes on trails back in the day. MTB evolution has been fantastic (mostly).
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:31 am
by repoman
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 10:50 am
by repoman
I transferred all the stuff I had on this cheapo Chinese carbon CX frame to this Soma a couple weeks ago, I'm actually not sure if I like it. I want to throw some racks on it and start bike camping/touring and stuff but the frame actually doesn't ride as nice as the cheap Chinese CX frame I had, and its also surprisingly kind of twitchy in handling.
It's not horrible, its still a good frame but kind of not living up to reputations I've read about Wolverines from reviews, I mean you'd think a frame made for touring/gravel would be really comfy and handle nice and lazy, but this thing is less comfortable with 32mm tires than my aluminum CAAD12 is on 28mms, and it's twitchier.
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:03 am
by nogodsnobedtimes
I bet when you load it down with some bags and racks it'll be less twitchy.
What even is going on here? This looks incredible. I used race downhill skateboards and this reminds me of "the good ol' days" of downhill skateboarding. By that I mean now everyone is incredibly good and I can't keep up
For nastalgia sake, I'm in this around the :40 mark.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeontkY7VDk[/youtube]
repoman wrote:
I transferred all the stuff I had on this cheapo Chinese carbon CX frame to this Soma a couple weeks ago, I'm actually not sure if I like it. I want to throw some racks on it and start bike camping/touring and stuff but the frame actually doesn't ride as nice as the cheap Chinese CX frame I had, and its also surprisingly kind of twitchy in handling.
It's not horrible, its still a good frame but kind of not living up to reputations I've read about Wolverines from reviews, I mean you'd think a frame made for touring/gravel would be really comfy and handle nice and lazy, but this thing is less comfortable with 32mm tires than my aluminum CAAD12 is on 28mms, and it's twitchier.
That’s really interesting to hear...I always though that SOMA stuff was over engineered...to hear its twitchy and not comfy is not good!
Re: Let's see your BICYCLE!
Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 7:54 pm
by PeteeBee
Anyone on here do any bikepacking? I’ve been loving riding my bike about, and I love backpacking. Seems like a great combo of two things I love. The thing I’m nervous about is my lack of mountain bike skills (I’ve never even tried it) but it seems bikepacking is mostly about riding dirt trails that don’t require any intense skills. Kind of like how you don’t need to know how to rock climb to go hiking...