Which is better for long ride - road bike or MTB?

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.28.2021.  

Which is better for long ride:   MTB or road bike based on 3 factors:

                                             Road bike                            Mt bike

1.   Weight                                   /                                       x

2.   Tires                                      x                                        /

                                            MTB tires safer at night and for rutted roads

3.    Riding position                    x                                       /

                                            MTB at upright comfortable position especially for endurance rides

Lightweight MTB pedals

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.28.2021

Many are enamored with clipless pedals made of aluminium and or carbon from a along time Japanese manufacturer.

But for MTB pedals, not governed by strict rules of UCI for manufacturing, there are a number of lightweight pedals (if you are weighty weenie)  there are plenty of lightweight pedals   

A 200 grams clipless pedals would set you back back by P4k to P5k.  I got my carbon fiber pedal at 88 gms for P7k+

But these pedals weigh less than 400 gms a pair at 25% price of the original.  P1,200 and made of chromium molybdenum material

  

                                                      I am buying this one - the blue one

                                                     With QR only 300+ grams for a pair

                                                        308 grams only P1,121

                                                    Half lock pedals:  flat and with lock

Having a much lighter MTB

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.28.2021

Most MTB riders dream of sub 10 kg MTB;   however their prices would not be lower than  6 numbers.

Low cost options are however available

1.  Tires -  going tubeless or lighter exterior.   Available from Maxxis or Continental.  Possible savings in weight -  about 200 grams each or 400 grams total

2.  Suspension forks

     1.  Replacement with lightweight  air suspension forks with Bolany, Fox, or  Weapons.      Bolany claims a weight of 1.6 to 1.8 kg or a weight savings from stock weighing 2.2 kg or  up to 0.6 kg savings. Cost nearly P5,000 with remote.  400 to 600 gms savings   

     2.  Converting to ridgid front forks -  Mosso, Toseek or Weapon. Sagmit   Very easily your front end weight si reduced from  2.2 kg to only 600 grams max.  That is  savings of  1.4 kg x 2.2 lbs/kgs or 3.08 lbsThus your 15 kg mtb can be brought down to only 13.6 kgs This is for non technical riders (MTBs riding on road)

Improvements in Chinese bike and bike parts technology

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.28.2021

We often associated Chinese bike parts for shoddy quality, one day life span and for low end plastic products -   horns, lamps, plastic accessories. and others like seat posts, saddles, handlebars.  

But it is no longer true today if you follow the e commerce platforms.   They are into the mainstream of bike technology and may have overtaken the rest of the world

The progress is observed in the following

1.  Low end mountain bike:     ASB, Foxter, Trinx

2.  Middle end mountain bike:   Mountainpeak,   Sunpeed, Phantom, Batallion, Forever Toseek.  

     You find two brike brands with 13 speed (only Campagnolo has that in the west)    Twitter Storm is

     13 speed and Forever.       Forever Coolf MTB   Can you beat that?   only P28,500!!!

     13 speed GS about 700 grams and $780 by S Ride.  (Aside from Campagnolo, the other Western             producer is Rotor)

3   China producers of MTB among world's top 10  Pardus

4  Cogs:   Sunrace, Z race  Sagmit, Ztto.   Even lighter than the original manufacturers  You can find much lighter cogs at 300 grams + only but with hefty prices

5   GS -  LTWOO, Senshah. Restrospec.  LTWOO was established by former head of R & D of SRAM

Even for rear lamps of Rockbros (they are now into Q5) you find advanced features as:  stop light, automatic shut off at daytime, on at dusk, etc.   I only have the q3 

Now is the time to take advantage of low priced products while Chinese producers are trying ot build brands and market share (it means while prices are still low)

We are not pro Chinese.  This post is pro savings pro more money in the pocket/bank

Got a carbon fiber bike yesterday at an E commerce platform for the price of a frame

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.28.2021

This post usually ignores the special events/date sale at a very popular e commerce platform.   Yesterday was its birthday. 

I wanted the bike because it is 1.  carbon fiber.   2.  3 by -  it fits my age   3.   its equipped with Shimano M5100  4  relatively low price.   An MTP of the same specs costs about  P42,000,  and locally the same model is priced at P33K at its distirbutor.

The Ecommerce lists its price at P30,000+  However my daughter who has cc discounts as a preferred customer of a Unibank was able to close the deal for only P25 k plus.   

Continuous improvement (Kaizen) of the Mosso MTB

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.27.2021.

Jorgeusbiker Mosso MTB

There is not much to be done while under quarantine

I made improvements on the MTB:

1.  Changed the tires to 1.95 from 2.2 to make it ligther and have less friction (I placed talc inside the tires to lessen friction between tire and interior)

2.  Lessened tightness of hub to make the wheel turn faster.

3.  Changed the RD cable which snapped (a P20.00 repair)

Tried the MTB today.  Well it ran smoother and faster.  

My carbon fiber wheelset can be repaired by a local Fiberglass fabricator

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.26.2021

Our colleague whom we sent to scout for the carbon bike wheel repair just came and reported that the wheelset can be repaired.  All that they have to do is to build up the rim and sand paper to be flat.

That is nothing compared to big job repair of cut and/or broken wheelset, stays, and even tube.

The workers according to the staff are very young,, and hopefully they will not charge much.   

I can only surmise this is their site?    https://rj-bodykits-carbon-fiber-fiberglass.business.site/

However I was quoted a steep price P2,500 for the job.    I negotiated.  Last price is P2,000.  But they will make sure the repair leaves the wheel balanced and flat/even.  

                                                    The more high end alternative

However, I just learned that all that they can do is:

1.   Build up the rim;

2.   With another color (not the original one) and the friction part cant be redone

3.   The wheel seem to be a bit twisted (arising from the motorcycle collision last February 1 2020  at Mabalacat.  

Aborted San Felipe Zambales ride

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.26.2021

he long anticipated ride to Jeff2 place in San Felipe, 200 km long has been aborted.    Zambales is closed to tourist.  Everybody is scare with ballooning number of cases which climbed up beyond 8000 cases yesterday.   

n the case of Olongapo City, it will be treated also as a part of Zambales and you only need a Travel Pass from your Chief of Police. This is for Persons Not Authorized Outside Residence.      (Only those allowed to work in essential industries.  

Let the virus rest first and get lazy. 

Making MTBs lighter

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.25.2021

Lately my interest has been to lighten the two MTBs that I have because of the difficulty I had in the reverse Laguna Loop - the MTB could be heavy.  I estimate that the Mosso is 13 kg  (28.6 lbs  and the Ti bike is 12 kg or less.   Most of the MTB alum would be about 14 -15 kg, and the steel ones about 16 - 18 kgs.  

My option is to buy a Chinese carbon fiber bike with Shimano drive train M5100 whose estimated weight is  11.8 kg  (25.96 lbs   The good light weight would be between 24 to 28 lbs)

I reviewed vids and articles on how I can reduce the weight of MTB   The largest gain could be made on wheelsets, frame and fork

                                                

Weight of MTB parts

                                                                                       Weight shaved

Wheels                 Go tubeless  -       save 200 grams  each wheel                                400 grams

                             Use Conti  or  Maxxis Crossmark  300 grans eac                            600 grams

Group set             Go one by                                                                                         500 grans

Change fork         Bolany                                                                                          1,300 grams

                             Rigid fork                                                                                     2,000 grams

Carbon fiber frame                                                                                                   1,000 grams

Light cogs                                                                                                                   300 grams

Estimated weight reduction                                                                                      2,800 grams

                               If you go carbon fiber                                                                3,800 grams   

Added cost:

                          Wheels      P1,200 x 2                             P2,400

                          Fork                                                          5,000

                          Cogs                                                         3,000

                          One by                                                  14,000

                          Frame                                                    27,000

                                Total                                               51,400

                                    

Percentage of total weight…Component…Weight
18.49%…Wheel (rear)…4 pounds, 7.5 ounces
15.11%…Wheel (front)…3 pounds, 10.4 ounces
14.85%…Fork…3 pounds, 9.4 ounces
11.38%…Frame triangle…2 pounds, 12 ounces
4.6%…Swingarm…1 pound, 1.8 ounces
4.45%…Crankarm (right) …1 pound, 1.2 ounces
2.97%…Pedals (pair…11.5 ounces
2.48%…Chain…9.6 ounces
2.38%…Brake (rear) …9.2 ounces
2.17%…Seatpost…8.4 ounces
2.17%…Shock…8.4 ounces
1.99%…Brake (front) …7.7 ounces
1.94%…Saddle…7.5 ounces
1.86%…Crankarm (left)…7.2 ounces
1.78%…Derailleur (rear)…6.9 ounces
1.60%…Handlebar (with plugs)…6.2 ounces
1.35%…Derailleur (front) …5.2 ounces
1.11%…Swinglink…4.3 ounces
1.06%…Stem…4.1 ounces
1.06%…Shifter (front…4.1 ounces
.98%…Shifter (rear)…3.8 ounces
.83%…Bottom bracket…3.2 ounces
.80%…Seatstay (right)…3.1 ounces
.80%…SeatStay (left)…3.1 ounces
.59%…Headset…2.3 ounces
.39%…Derailleur Cable/House (rear)…1.5 ounces
.21%…Derailleur Cable/House (front)…0.8 ounces
.18%…Seatpost clamp…0.7 ounces
.18%…Grips (pair)…0.7 ounces
.16%…Derailleur hanger…0.6 ounces
.05%…Derailleur cable guide…0.2 ounces
Total bike weight: 24 pounds, 3 ounces.

So you must strive to reduce weight of wheels which is 33%of the total bike weight

And the fork which is14.85% of total weight

If  I were to choose:

1.  I will buy lighter tires   spokes nipple and rim                                           500 grams

2.  Buy Bolany   or rigid fork                                                                       1,300 grams  

3.  Go one by                                                                                                   500 grams

                                           Total                                                                2,300 grams

                                           In lbs                                                               5.06 lbs

                                          From 12.7 kg to                                               10.4 kg   =  22.8 lbs

3.                                                                

                                                                                                                                     

Challenges with my Carbon Fiber wheelset

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.25.2021

I have troubles with my Bora carbon fiber wheel set.   The bearings are toast and I have to replace this.  There is a humming sound when free wheeling.  The mechanic confirmed this.  I have to find out the bearing number.

The other one is the rim is worn out.  I used the wrong brake pad and the pad has eaten into the rim.  It is good that there is someone in a town that specializes in carbon wheel repair.   I hope he can do the job.  

Hub Preload adjustment learning

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.24.2021

Preload adjustment from Park Tools

This post believes that in the hub repair, the preload adjustment can be the most difficult part (in my case the cone on the drive side is defective.     

If it is too tight, it is difficult to pedal and drive the bike, if it is too loose, the wheel wiggles from side to side.  It is challenging to get this right.    Sometimes the tighter tightening of the QR can solve the problem

Repairing the alum seat post; saving a costly seat post purchase

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.24.2021. 

This post had a difficulty with an old seatpost.   The serrations  at the top of the seat post and the semi half moon at its top had worn out.  Thus no matter how you tighten the nuts and bolts, the alum parts keep slipping.  

The solution is to restore friction between the bottom and middle part.   How do you restore the friction

So this post disassembled the seat post and tried to restore the reaming.  All that was needed was a thin screw driver to retrace the reaming.  Patiently, this post did this for the bottom part and the half moon insert.   

After an hour, this post was done and the seat post restoration was complete

Testing this afterwards resulted in tight and non moving saddle.  Perfect

Going back to Google Blogger for JorgeusBiker posts.

Wheels of Happiness

Rizal Philippines

3.24.2021

This post shifted to another social media because most of the reading public where there.  It is is easy to post upload pictures.  and make make comments,

However there are plenty of disadvantages:

     1.  Loss of privacy;

     2.  Violation of community standards (and this sometimes means post contrary to their editorial

          policy) means:   deleted posts or deleted page. 

    3.  Proliferation of scammers.   The platform administrators have not been effective in filtering the

         fake entities and the ease by which scammers can block entities who did business with them

    4.  The ease of harassment negative comments  by other parties.  

We are unpaid volunteer authors and yet we get raw deals as mentioned above.  Rather not post, keep silent