Hello & My BMW Enduro MTB

[jabbott]

Hello Riders. Just showing my machine in Dominican Republic. Nice trail and MTB place.

[Bill]

Awesome looking bike! A BMW wow!

[jabbott]

(02-16-2011, 12:50 PM)Bill Wrote:  Awesome looking bike! A BMW wow!

Thanks for your enthusiasm.

[nameused]

Wow! A BMW mountain bike!? That's pretty sweet!

[JohnV]

Nice MT bike. I had absolutely no idea that BMW made bicycles.

[JonB]

ooh! Manitou suspension! Set that up properly and it'll go like stink.

They've also done the pivot properly. THE best suspension design is a linkage-activated single pivot, as you have an easy-to maintain frame (i.e. you don't have 2 million bearings in the back end) that relies primarily on the shock tune for a proper damping stroke (producing a better ride than relying on the frame to control how much progression's in the travel); but the linkage gives the end of the travel a bit more progression to stop it bottoming out too harshly.

How much travel have you got at both ends on that?

[jabbott]

140 mm front suspension. As you mention JonB it's a nice ride. Rear Suspension is a Manitou Radium with Rebound adjustment. I have a 5" travel on the rear end. The ride is very similar to a Santa Cruz Nomad, just heavier. The components package is Sram X9, Hates Nine H Brakes. DT Swiss rims. It's a great All Mountain bike. Both out of a BMW Dealer US2,500.
There is other BMW MTB XC. I'll throw some pics later.

[JonB]

Really only 140mm? they looked bigger than that to me.

Radium's are not bad shocks, and I'm pretty sure you can get them custom valved for peanuts if you wanted to make it even better (here in the UK it only costs an extra £10 on top of a normal service). Keep to the service intervals you get with the paperwork and those will keep going for years. I'd always have Manitou over Fox for the simple reason you can fully service them yourself (the manual's on their site). I've got a Revox (top end Downhill shock) on my bike I've serviced myself, in my opinion it feels so much nicer than a Fox DHX.

Pretty good spec as well, did you really get that for (UK eq.) £1500? Bargain! That won't quite buy you a Specialized Big Hit with inferior specs over here.

[jabbott]

Thats' right. Payed good price and I very happy with it. I'm planing on upgrade the Brakes first, then I'll think on suspension.

[JonB]

What are you thinking of replacing them with?

Hayes 9 brakes aren't exactly feeble, heck they still work as budget Downhill brakes if you put 8" rotors on them!

[jabbott]

I like Magura Martha, Shimano XT or Hayes Stroker. Looking to get some weight off.
It brakes beautifully at the moment, but need to get off some heavy stuff.
It's a 29 lbs. bike.
Any recommendations?

[JonB]

To be honest, you won't really notice a hundred grammes difference on a bike that weighs that much. My Orange weights about 39lb (though to be fair it is a Downhill bike) and couldn't feel any weight difference when I changed to slightly lighter bars (I broke the old ones); 29lb is not that bad.

Best place to start is with wheels, because of rotational weight the effective loss is tripled compared to anything else (or something like that, Someone on here will probs confirm it). You've already got the other major weight saving measure (air suspension).

Best bet is to get some Mavic XC rims (xc519 or something, the first number represents the quality of the rim 1 being cheapest, 7 strongest; the other two are the width). Built well these should survive whatever you throw at it bar serious downhill.

As for brakes, they're all pretty good. The Stroker won't have much of a noticeable edge over Hayes 9s (they feel pretty much the same to me) unless you buy the Ace model, which is a scarily powerful brake. Not much wrong with the others either, then again neither are noticeably more powerful or considerably lighter. Having said that you could buy the Stroker Gram, the light-weight version. I'm not convinced it's worth it though.

If you're going to shed some pounds, best way is to do it all at once or you won't really notice the difference (lighter wheels and faster rolling tyres will make the most obvious difference though), so get lighter derallieurs, stem, seatpost, crankset (though XTs aren't that heavy) etc. if you want to do it. Really though I don't think it's that bad, and if you try and do some serious weight shedding you will end up spending a fair amount of money. Unfortunately the best way to seriously shed the pounds is with a lighter frame, but if it rides that well then I really wouldn't bother. The difference weight shedding makes in mountain biking is not as dramatic as on road bikes.

Enjoy the descending, and just consider the extra weight on the climbs "fitness training"

[jabbott]

Hey JonB I appreciate you comments.
Definitely, I will consider the rim and tires, even though I have DT Swiss 510 with Continental Gravity which I love.

Totally agree on Frame weight is the real way to get some lbs. off.

[atulkunte69]

(02-16-2011, 12:46 PM)jabbott Wrote:  Hello Riders. Just showing my machine in Dominican Republic. Nice trail and MTB place.[/size][/font]

That's amazing bike !!!!!
How did you manage to take a picture with out any background. How come bike stands without any support!!!!!.....This is more amazing!!!!!!!!!!

[JonB]

Oh they're conti Gravitys? that's interesting, as they're normally quite fast (I've used a set, but prefer the grippier, albeit slower, Mountain King. Personal preference and different riding conditions at the end of the day though).

Having had a closer look at the photo, lighter wheels would actually make a difference. My mate has a DT-swiss 5.1 on his bike and I was quite surprised by how heavy it was; it weighs about the same as the one on my Orange, which is fairly beefy.

[jabbott]

(02-17-2011, 11:39 PM)atulkunte69 Wrote:  

(02-16-2011, 12:46 PM)jabbott Wrote:  Hello Riders. Just showing my machine in Dominican Republic. Nice trail and MTB place.[/size][/font]

That's amazing bike !!!!!
How did you manage to take a picture with out any background. How come bike stands without any support!!!!!.....This is more amazing!!!!!!!!!!

atulkunte69, that's a catalog pic. here is the real one.

[JohnV]

Yet another reason to stay on the road However, it does look like it would be a lot of fun. Enjoy it while you are young.

[jabbott]

JonB, rims will be the next upgrade. Thanks a lot for all your advice. By the way, that river use to be about 1 foot deep. Unfortunately that day we took that route, the week before was very rainy. I'm sure you all could notice.

[JonB]

Woah! That's impressive!

I've seen something like that happen where I ride, though not THAT flooded. Went flying down a trail to what looked like a moderate puddle. drowned my headset and nearly threw me over the bars! doh!

Looks like an awesome place to ride. You got any more photos of the trails?

[jabbott]

Sure I do, I throw some more today.
Here in DR we have excellent trails. Nice XC, Semi DH, and a perfect weather all year long.