Diary of a Mountain Biker

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If you ain't tryin' new wheels you ain't nuthin'

Wheels

Hope_XC_Hubs
Mavic eX 721 Rims
Mavic_FR519_Rims
Mavic XM 719 Rims
Sunn DS1 XC Rims

Pedals

DMR V8 flatties
Shimano PDM 515 SPD clipless

Hope Hubs

Price Paid: £37 (front) £70 (rear)
Length of use: continuous (since October 2002)
Overall Score:
Comments: Quality hubs that are reliant, smooth and easily serviced. They
also come in a wide selection of colours for all of us bike tarts. Get some
to ensure compatibility with the Hope_Discs that you're just gonna
have to buy next.

Mavic FR519 rims

Price Paid: £22
Length of use: continuous (since October 2002)
Overall Score:
Comments: Bombproof rims that take everything in their stride. A vast
improvement over the previous Mavic XC 127 rims I had that seemed to be made out of tin foil. The only maintenance necessary since purchase is to check the spoke tension.

Rims have stayed true despite my 13 stone, ride straight through anything (whaddya mean bunnyhop?) style of riding.

DMR V8 Flat Pedals

Price Paid: £21-99
Length of use: Fitted October 2004
Overall Score:
Comments: High quality platform pedal for a price that's too good to ignore. Features abound:-

Regular ball bearings
Removable screw-in pins
Cro-mo axle
Grease port
Comes complete with grease syringe
Size 9/16" (MTB)

I rode these for 3 months and found that they were surprisingly good to ride even on more XC oriented rides. The only thing I missed on the SPDs was the additional pull on the upswing when pedaling. Other than that, the DMR V8's were grippy and easy to use. A large platform is always useful in those winter months when you are sliding all over the place and are looking for any contact with the bike.

My jumping abilities are limited and I don't go too large but they certainly gave me assurance that my feet would stay on the pedals when getting air.

I rode these in the Alps and they were great. In combination with the skate shoes my feet never slipped during the whole week. This was a serious work out and the pedals required regreasing on their return. This is fairly simple. the most difficult part is unplugging the dirt from the tiny allan key sunk into the pedal. Once this is free, use the plastic syringe to keep pumping grease in until you see it start to flow out at the axle.

Mavic XM 719 Rim

Price Paid: £65-99
Length of use: Fitted September 2005
Overall Score:
Comments: The whole point of buying this was to allow me to build up the Prince Albert again, which has been hanging in the garage, stripped and unhappy since the arrival of the ti frame. It's a beauty too, Shimano XT hub with Mavic XM 719 rims and DT Champion double butted spokes.

This is Mavic's replacement for the FR519 which I have ridden since October 2002.

Weight of 1144g plus a quality XT skewer at 64g.

I will amend score once I have a few miles on the rim.

The new rear wheel - no prizes for guessing where I got it from

Mavic XM719 rim - bomproof

The XT hub and sparkling XT cassette

Mavic eX721 Rim

Price Paid: euros100
Length of use: second bike (since July 2005)
Overall Score:
Comments: I was forced to buy a new wheel in the Alps this year and with little choice available bought the Mavic Ex 721 Rim from the MTB shop in front of the Pleney lift.

As usual, the price was inflated and I paid 100 euros for the whole wheel which had a cheap Scott hub and an old fashioned all aluminium look. Having said that, the Mavic Ex 721 Rim is described as a 'top of the line, extreme MTB rim'. It feels pretty hefty, by far the heaviest wheel I have but I will keep it for future Alps and jump excursions.

The Scott hub The wheel in place

Sunn DS1 xc rim

Price Paid: £10
Length of use: rarely
Overall Score:
Comments: I bought this second hand off a mate who shall remain nameless. The rim is just too large to fit a tyre over. Once you have fought to get the tyre on (any tyre at all, I tried a few) you cannot get the tyre off. Four of us spent an hour and a half on my first day in the Alps trying to repair a flat on this rim. Even using a large spanner didn't give enough leverage to get the tyre over the rim. In the end, I bought another wheel and hacksawed the Sunn DS1 xc rim in half to recover the new tyre and so that I can use the hub and spokes in a rebuild.

This rim is poor.

Hacksawing the rim to recover the tyre.

Shimano PDM 515 SPD's

Price Paid: c.£24 April 2001
Length of use: continuous from April 2001 until 24th October 2004
Overall Score:
Comments: Cheap and reliable but full of quality features:-

Dual-sided engagement, dual-sided tension adjustment
Cartridge-style chrome-moly axle
Sealed Cartridge Axle / Water, dirt, and mud are shut out for long term durability.
Compact Open Design / Helps prevent mud accumulation to assure dependable cleat entry and exit in any environment.
Dual SPD Bindings / No pedal flipping - SPD cleat conveniently engages into either side of pedal.
Adjustable Binding Tension / Binding tension can be easily adjusted to rider preference.

These pedals are the mutt's nuts. For what you get they are so cheap they should be outlawed. These have lasted for 3 and a half years with very little attention required from me. The odd squirt of grease every 6 months or so and that's it. I have never had to dismantle/service them.

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