|   Another of my recent aquisitions... | terminaut
Nov 23, 2002 4:09 PM | | If Darth Vader took up singlespeeding he'd probably enjoy the standover on this Trimble X-frame... ;-)
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| The one off ebay last week? | DeeEight
Nov 23, 2002 4:27 PM | | I saw it and decided after it went past $360 US that it was a bit much for a 6 1/2 pound carbon frame from a decade ago with a non-suspension
correct 1" steerer size. :) |
| The one off ebay last week? | terminaut
Nov 23, 2002 10:49 PM | | Obviously "bit much" is all relative. Some may say any amount is a bit much for this...
Ok, well maybe Shiggy would dig those colors.
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| Frame weighs a lot less than the trimble and was $151US... | DeeEight
Nov 24, 2002 3:49 AM | | and brand new / never assembled. |
| Oh and btw, THIS was my trimble... | DeeEight
Nov 24, 2002 3:51 AM | | frame which I sold about 7 years ago. |
| I bet I know why you sold it | Spar¡cus
Nov 24, 2002 8:08 AM | | Fit issues? Whenever you rode that frame, you musta looked like you were riding a BMX bike. Tam's not exactly a towering giant and the Trimble frame he just bought is larger than that one. Didn't you say you are 6'5".?
Perhaps those are your shoes in the background. They look out of proportion compared to the bike.
--Spary |
| Why do you think there's a 150mm stem in the pic... | DeeEight
Nov 24, 2002 12:23 PM | | and all trimble's fit small and seem small on people. They didn't exactly
come with long top tubes. A 1992 Trimble Unlimited series frame (the
new improved version that weighed half as much as the originals) in
20.5" size had a 22.5" toptube length. Mine was a 1990 vintage 20.5", and
yes, same 22.5" TT. |
| 150mm stems were common spec in '92 | shiggy©®
Nov 24, 2002 10:15 PM | | Even on 16" frames |
| Cool....the last time I saw a Trimble.... | gpsser
Nov 23, 2002 4:57 PM | | was in 1991 when I was a freshman in college. Have to let us know how it rides as a single.
cheers
Ken |
| Hmmm...Trimbles....weren't they in a Star Trek episode? nm | quaffimodo
Nov 23, 2002 5:42 PM | | |
| Nope.....it was a Trek, impulse drive equipped | Edith Keeler
Nov 23, 2002 7:55 PM | | etb |
| Big ride tomorrow... | terminaut
Nov 23, 2002 10:43 PM | | It's going to be a pretty long trek up Holy Jim trail, across Main Divide, then down Joplin... It feels pretty comfortable (much more so than my Huffy) so as long as the rear end doesn't fall off I think it should be plenty fun to ride. :-) |
| Nice score! | Spar¡cus
Nov 23, 2002 8:03 PM | | A delicious addition to your tasteful collection!
I think it's cool.
--Spary |
| Thanks... | terminaut
Nov 23, 2002 10:53 PM | | Been looking for one of these for a long time. Ok, well maybe not all that long... I saw a picture of it in my "magazine collection" last year and have been keeping an eye out. The bike's kinda neat, but I don't think it'll hold up to my abusive riding so I'm only going to ride it on occasion. |
| amazing | DAS
Nov 24, 2002 8:11 PM | | There's only one Terminaut when it comes to bike acquisition. Term the collector, the connoisseur, the historian, the gourmet, the enthusiast, the museum curator? |
| protective tapes needed around seat tube. nm | weather
Nov 23, 2002 10:01 PM | | nm |
| That sure wouldn't hurt... | terminaut
Nov 23, 2002 10:42 PM | | It has protective tubing around the straddle cable already, but some tape would help hide the prior scarring. |
| One troublespot with old trimbles was the headset cups... | DeeEight
Nov 24, 2002 5:27 PM | | inside the actual headtube. There are aluminium inserts bonded inside
the carbon headtube that are often prone to loosening (I lost count of
the # of times some friends I had with Trimbles had to re-epoxy their
headcups). Mine never did that but still, 4 local trimble frames of that
era and two needed it. |
| VERY nice addition to the fold Term... | martini
Nov 25, 2002 12:38 PM | | I was also one of the people watching that auction, more for the curiosity of seeing how much it went for than anything else. I know I'd never be able to ride it. Unlike D8, I like my bikes to FIT me.
Nice looking. I bet it'd be able to handle a good amount of abuse, but no real drop-ins or anything like that though...
Marty |
| Thanks! ...and the ride report... | terminaut
Nov 25, 2002 7:10 PM | | Took it on a pretty good ride yesterday where a group of us climbed all the way up to Santiago Peak (the highest point in our local mountains at 5400ft) and descended one of the loosest rocky trails in these necks of the woods. The bike fit and handled pretty nicely, with only one huge glaring problem to speak of... The U-brakes suck!!! Even with my XTR brake levers set for maximum leverage the rear brakes had a really difficult time getting even close to stopping the wheel. That made going through technical downhill sections somewhat tricky. It definitely kept me on my toes, and my poor fingers were sore from having to squeeze the levers so hard.
I see why U-brakes are extinct! |
| You did use a cantilever compatible lever didn't you? | DeeEight
Nov 25, 2002 8:09 PM | | Oh wait, adjusted for max leverage...xtr... you used a V-brake lever?
BAD BAD BAD
U-brakes need cantilever compatible brake levers, just like ohhhh...
cantilevers. Actually U-brakes are actually VERY powerful. Too powerful
in fact, which is why they were NEVER used as front brakes on bikes. |
| Uhhh... Unless you're using some sort of magic... | terminaut
Nov 25, 2002 9:16 PM | | I don't know what the difference would be between the XTR lever set to minimum throw (around 26mm):
versus an old-school Shimano canti lever (also a throw of 26mm):
As a matter of fact, if I lay the canti lever on top of the XTR lever, you'd hardly be able to tell the difference in terms of the physics of pulling on the cable:
Now, if you had said to use a big ol' honking four-finger lever to get more power that might have made some sense.
Questions?
PS: I have several forks that use U-brakes, including a Ritchey and McMahon titanium. |
| Try measuring the actual cable pull now... | DeeEight
Nov 26, 2002 5:04 AM | | as it'll vary with the lever blade length and shape as to how far you
can actually PULL the lever before it reaches the grip. I sell tektro
cnc machined levers that are canti specific, have pivot to barrel distances
of 27mm and they only pull 19mm of cable. Also you DO know how to
vary the straddle carrier geometry to change the leverage ratio right?
Perhaps that counts as magic since many people actually don't know,
even if they have used u-brakes and cantilevers for a decade. |
| 18mm from extension to grip for both levers... | terminaut
Nov 26, 2002 10:45 AM | | With the reach on my XTR levers set to minimum (for technical riding - see adjustment in pic), I get identical cable pull as the old XT/SLR lever; which is 18mm till it reaches the grips. For most intents and purposes, the XTR lever can be setup to identically mimic the old canti levers in functionality.
Now, leverage ratios from the straddle cable are a whole different story from levers (changing the storyline here)... You do realize that U-brakes behave differently from cantis in that they have a fixed range of motion, right? ...and on the Trimble in particular, the straddle cable is limited as to how short in can be due to the fact that it has to straddle the seat tower? There's nothing magical going on at all. U-brakes stink in performance compared to a good set of V-brakes. |
| ok, but more importantly... | Hollywood
Nov 26, 2002 12:15 PM | | when do we get to see the Stable Slide Show???! What about
i our
needs?
I'm squinting, trying to see what's piled up behind the Trimble.
I want full color, music, narration, the works!
HW |
| One of these days... | terminaut
Nov 27, 2002 9:32 AM | | I will definitely have to put up a page with all the bikes. It's pretty time-consuming to get them out and take pics, but that's definitely something I want to get to eventually. :-) |
| I have never had any power problems with U-brakes... | DeeEight
Nov 26, 2002 2:59 PM | | and find they work fine if not better (aside from cable routing issues and spring adjustments) than V's. I have an XT U-brake on my Thunderbolt still and ran an XT on my Trimble. |
| Depends on what type of riding you do... | terminaut
Nov 27, 2002 9:30 AM | | The U-brakes might be sufficient for general XC tooling around, but if you're bombing miles of buff downhill it's a whole different story... Vees have a lot more power and doesn't tire your fingers out nearly as much. That's why you don't see anybody making four-finger V-levers whereas it was pretty much the norm with U-brakes and roller-brakes. |
| One of the tricks with UBrakes... | shiggy
Nov 27, 2002 3:09 PM | | ..was to cross the straddle cable around the seat tube. It did help. |
| Depends on what type of riding you do... | Martin
Dec 11, 2002 9:13 AM | | I want to do my Trimble as a singlespeed. How did you do it without a chain tensioner?Thanks Martin |
| I have never had any power problems with U-brakes... | martin
Dec 8, 2002 11:16 AM | | U brakes by Odyssey are great, with Odyssey lever or the old standard of the Dia compe 990 with a 990 lever. These brakes are way powerful and durable!! Be careful when the pads wear to adjust them so they don't give tire rub. I use an Odyssey on my Trimble. |
| Actual cable pull is not as important as leverage | shiggy
Nov 27, 2002 3:16 PM | | As long as there is enough for the brake to work.
The lever pivot-to-cable anchor distance and length of the lever is more important for power. |
| Oh and as memory serves, that XTR will pull 22mm in the... | DeeEight
Nov 26, 2002 5:06 AM | | max leverage setting while the XT SLR 2-finger will pull 20mm of cable.
2mm may not sound like much but it is 10% less leverage with the XTR,
and it just gets worse if you adjust the straddle cable carrier wrong. |
| Can be set to pull as little as 18mm (nm) | terminaut
Nov 26, 2002 10:48 AM | | |
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