MK999

Change of change of plan Got an email from the guy selling the reefer, and picked it up this evening, looks well used but no cracks etc around it, Had a quick check over it and all seems to rotate smoothly etc, headset seems a little crunchy though, nothing too bad just maybe needs regreasing.

Well it seems the seller of the mission has disappeared after it's sold, had no contact in 3 days but a payment reminder Seems to be a couple of alternatives around at a decent price atm, mainly onza, either raptor or woodstocks, one of which looks promising, T-Raptor magura HS33's front and rear, but the chain is 'skipping' it's got a tensioner on it that doesn't promote a lot of chain wrap but I'd imagine with a tensioner it should be fine? So that leads me to believe it's the freewheel/hub (not sure which is normal on a relatively 'standard' bike?) Also seems to have a lot of DDG parts (front hub/rim, headset, pedals) Which it appears there is no information about on the web! Some evidence of them making bikes but nothing besides. Other good options are mostly stock onza woodstocks with HS33/11's fitted. I actually already have a HS33 on the way for the last bike so can always swap that for one of the 11's if they're not as good. edit: Also run almost totally off topic, may as well change the title to new riders spanish inquisition or something

Its a fair point and one my housemate brought up too, however I'm not exactly jumping into modding it as much as addressing a flaw... pretty much every review on the bike I read said the standard breaks are shocking, probably has a lot to do with the V's being sat on some nice flexy adapters with standard pads etc. Everything else will be untouched until I'm quite at home on it, unless it needs replacing as you say

Ah ok, that's not so bad then really, I think I could live with that, especially since people seem to have problems with the quick adjust feature! I'd say either will do Unfortunately heard nothing back from the ebay seller at the moment Hoping they don't decide to do a runner because they were expecting more for the bike!

and am I correct in thinking the HS11 is without the adjustment, and HS33 with?

Little info required on the magura's... Found a few on ebay/here, massive variations in price some going for £50 each, some £15, or £25-30 a set, main difference seems to be the older ones don't have the tpa adjuster? Which appear to be the HS11, HS33 are with? I guess the main question is what do you do as pads wear with the HS11/non adjusting, does it need re setting a lot?

In Oxford for uni but only just starting... might be cool to watch how its done while I'm trying to stay still on 2 wheels though

Orange black and white is the combo to go for imo, you have 3 strong colours that way, bright, dark, and light... and pretty much the strongest you can get of each! The pic linked is pretty cool, but black cranks and white pedals would continue the orange frame with black immediately attached/white extremities theme

I guess my comment about the agricultural design comes from background, I'm studying motorsport engineering at uni, and have always had a competitive mind, I'm sure they're very effective, but there could certainly be improvements seen from casting or even machining from billet, the entire setup including the clamps and the brake booster into one unit to drop any chance of misalignment/lower flex. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" doesn't apply to motorsport Just how my mind works I guess Are there recommended torque ratings given, or do they depend on the frame/mounts/calipers used? Or is it just a case of dont jump on the ratchet and you'll be ok? Looking around for a cheap hydraulic setup atm but it seems people on ebay love them and they sell very very well (aka high)

Just found a spec for it; http://www.hellopro.co.uk/MISSION_CYCLES-8452-noprofil-2006961-44827-0-1-1-fr-societe.html. And it says "Magura Mounts" I.e plural, so it seems it has them front and rear from that? Although it says that in the bullet point for the frame. At least has them for the rear though. Right, didn't see your reply Adam til just now, so basically it was sold with some v brakes on it to keep the retail cheap but had magura mounts for what was I assume, the normal choice for a proper trials rider at the time? No idea whats going on with the clamps to be honest, I'm sure it will become more clear after I look at some pictures of them mounted up have the bike in front of me Edit: I'm understanding the clamps now, maguras are just cylinders that are bolted to the frame via those clamps... Quite an agricultural design really!

Cool, so maguras will fit straight on? Whats between the brakes and the frame then? Are they just bulky things? I was moderately into bikes when I was younger and we thought saracens were cool as, and then about a year ago but details/tech im pretty shaky on.

I was also looking at single speed conversions, may also use this for commuting and as an exercise thing with a mate (he rides a hybrid commuter) so I'm not sure if I could get along with one gear for both of those things, I imagine trials relies on a good sharp acceleration gear for pedal kicks etc and obviously commuting or trying to keep up with a hybrid, the opposite, it's definitely something I will try though when I get the bike, and see if there's a one gear fits all ratio. I'm not sure on the mounts, being a 2001 bike is that before magura's were popular? the full bike used to retail around 3-400 from what I've seen so I'd be surprised. Found this: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/skaforever/flash%20star/CRIM0059.jpg on a google image search, thats with magura HS33's front and back, and it seems to have something between the frame and the brakes which could well be an adapter? Appears to be the same year as mine too as from what I've found on the net the welded gussets on the back were added in 01. Found no evidence of them being made in anything other than '00 '01.

Magura's I've seen have been a lot more expensive than that, so that may well be cheaper option overall, depending if they have good pads etc. I don't think they front hub is disc ready, the forks definitely have the mount for them but from what I can tell it's all standard parts and they don't appear to have disc hubs as standard. Looking at hubs/full wheels it looks like building a wheel with a disc hub would be more expensive than the bike in the first place! I'll have a hunt for some magura bits see what turns up, and maybe look at the price of good vee setups. Thanks for the pointer Also I'm sure there's one somewhere, but I can't seem to find a guide to grinding rims?

Cheers for the info, reason for not wanting Magura HSxx (I didn't realise there was anything around bar 33's until just now ) was from the hydraulic vs vee's thread (stickied in the main forum somewhere) it seemed that most that had tried both setups preferred the vee's, and with them being cheaper and easier to maintain as well it seemed like an obvious choice. Characteristic wise from what I can tell they seem to bite reasonably well but hold better compared to hydraulics from what people have said there. Discs seem popular but I haven't found any information on their characteristics, I assume from what you've said braking requirements for the rear are higher than the front for some reason? It does make sense mechanically that rim brakes would be more effective. Main thing at the moment is a very very low budget, I'm selling my bmx to fund this so it leaves about £50 to spend on the bike after buying, meaning 2nd hand parts wherever possible and cheap is good! Realise this restricts me quite a bit for now but a lot of the simpler stuff can be learnt on any bike, so you can view it as a restriction, or you can view it as a lot more freedom than nothing at all If I found the money for it an inspired fourplay is still very much a possibility later on, and spending on parts that can be carried onto a fourplay frame is probably the most painless way to get there money wise! With that in mind, mechanical discs seem to go cheap on ebay, as well as vee's, however it has been said that the actual vee mechanisms are relatively unimportant, and pads/grind are the key. So I was planning either discs, or buying good pads for the current vee's/possibly upgrading if the ones on the bike are decent. Hydraulic is a possibility if it comes up cheap I guess, but it seems it rarely does? Bearing in mind that I'm also quite light (10-11st?) so I don't need the absolute very best could throw a 25st man over the bars braking, and the budget involved, whats the best way forward, good vee's on front and a 2nd hand hydraulic setup (like the HS11 suggested) within £50? or would I be more likely to get good vee's both ends for that, or a disc for the front maybe?

Well I am now the owner of This. I hope anyway, assuming the seller doesn't disappear when I ask when I can pick it up Not bad for £50! Now to work out the best way of improving the brakes... Have had a look around the forum and don't really fancy the hassle/cost of HS33's/hydraulic not to mention that it seems most people that have tried V brakes actually prefer them, one thing I couldn't see much info on was discs? Other than it seems they don't feel right on the back, why is that? Although it appears to me that bike has the mountings on the front for a disc brake, but not on the rear anyway. I assume I'd need to build new wheels if I did go discs front and rear, and since I started by looking at an inspired fourplay, it makes me wonder what the deal would be with changing to 24" rims with fr/rear discs?

Found a couple of posts on here from people having it as a first bike, seems they swapped up fairly soon but it at least looks ridable. It being unknown isn't a bad thing, makes it cheap

It's a 2001 Mission Reefer, which appears to have all standard parts. Seems it's main advantage is lightweight and decent strength frame so seems perfect to start on, main down point being the brakes, which Im not too worried about as if it's something I get into they can be transferred onto another bike easily enough, I still love the look of the inspired fourplay but with 10x + the price tag it'll definitely be a later upgrade if anything! Brakes seem to be a very personal thing anyway so no doubt I'll develop a certain preference.

Had a quick look in last year sometime as I was after a 24" trials bike after trying out BMXing and finding it doesn't really suit me at all (I'm 6'1 so it was fairly awkward) and also I was trying/wanting to do more trials style stuff like hopping/rocking onto low brick walls etc on the BMX. I've recently found a 26" Trials bike that I believe can be had for <£100, looking around it seems to be quite well reviewed from what little I can find, it's a 2001 bike so there's not much info on it. The only thing I can see that concerns me is it seems to have a negative BB rise (I think! The bottom bracket appears to be very slightly below the line drawn between the axles/hubs). Which only ever seems to get mentioned as a bad thing/questions it even being a proper trials bike? Only info I can find seems to suggest that it makes the bike more stable/predictable but less reactive to input to have it closer to 0, but nothing about when it goes negative, just wondering what the effects of this are and whether it'd be suitable?

I didn't realise there were so few options for 24" until just now, so that explains the prices. Will have to see what I can do

I've just found a phase 1.3 that may sell for around £100, thinking about picking that up for now, since I can always sell it on later for something better (the inspired fourplay really does look good) Anyone have any input on these? Web searches turn up very little. Also tempted by the Adamant A1 in for sale, but they seem to be an 'acquired' taste for those that do ride them?

I'm sure I would, and they look awesome, but at £1000 they're a bit out of my budget! Might have a job lined up soon, so a second hand one might be doable Probably gonna wait until I hear back on this job before I change bikes.

After having a search in the forums I was surprised to see very few beginners bike debates around, unless I'm just rubbish at searching. I got a BMX recently but haven't really been able to get on with it that well, I managed to learn a bunnyhop to the point where I can get up a fairly high curb, short manuals etc but the size and feel of it just isn't all that comfortable as I'm around 6'1. Looking around a bit I'm fairly set on a 24" trials, after watching a couple of Danny Macaskill videos I really like the trials style with a mix of bmx style stuff in there, so I'm after a bike suited to that. I haven't got much, or well anything to spend but I have got my BMX, a pretty much brand new mirraco blend 1 as a swap, worth around 150 I guess now. The main thing I'm looking for in a bike is light weight, I'm tall but fairly lanky and skinny so I don't have that much weight to throw about, meaning the strongest bike around is not really necessary for me, but relatively lightweight is a must. Any advice/suggestions/pointers?