Balance AL350

Hi,

I'm fat, hopefully this old beast will inspire me to lose some pounds! First normal XC bike since my '98 Kona Caldera.

Cheers

Matt


Frame: ~1995 Balance AL350 (bought as NOS 10 years ago and never ridden!)

Fork: Pace Air Force

Headset: FSA
Stem: D-System
Handlebar: Zoom 170
Grips: Titec Foam
Barends: X-Lite

Brakes: XTR
Brake Pads: XTR (style)
Brake Cables: Gore/Shimano
Cantilever cable hangers: n/a
Brake Levers: XTR

Shifters: XTR
Front Derailleur: XT
Rear Derailleur: XTR Rapidrise (swapped for my black Pro-Shift BITD, works 100x better!)
Derailleur Cables: XTR
Cassette: XT
Chain: SRAM
Cranks: Race Face Turbine (one pewter one black, both warranty replacements, non matching as needed one ASAP BITD and that's what the shop had on display)
Crank Bolts: unknown
Chainrings: Race Face 44T / Talon 32
Chainring bolts: Unkown
Bottom Bracket: Race Face Taperlock
Pedals: Eggbeaters

Hub Skewers: XTR
Rims: Mavic X517 r / F519 f
Hubs: Mavic Crossland r / XTR f
Nipples: unknown
Spokes: unknown
Tyres: Scwalbe Racing Ralph (modern, my old skinwall contis went to powder)
Tubes: Bontrager

Saddle: Flite
Seatpost: Race Face (modern boo)
Seatpost Binder: Alloy

Weight:

Nice bike, another US brand that we didnt ever see much of in the UK.

That flite saddle is going to feel painfull at a guess.

Thanks,

And yes god it hurts (when stationary), I'm sure they never used to hurt that much which I was younger!

It's not the most glam bike and certainly not my unicorn, however it's tester and something to ease me back in.

Just about every part has a story, so it means quite a bit to me anyway.

I've got a 50 mile charity ride in the summer, better get on it!

Cheers

Hi,

Slight up date,

I've tried to go Shimano free, slight failure as I couldn't put my old Avid v-brakes on, just weren't actually that good back in the day so the M95x stayed put.

Now featuring X9 mechs, cassette and shifters. Also a switch to an old Fatty R folk and some modern Carbon bars. And some Hope/X517 wheels…

Been busy.

So the old parts, going on Mrs s_m's Klein (eBay tatty one) thread on that to follow.

Swap the Flite for a WTB Pure Race, same weight, very comfortable, Flites are all together wrong shapewise. You will never get used to a Flite.

Regarding the Flite, some Endura padded shorts have helped. I used to be alright with Flites, I'll give it a while if not I'll try one of them. To be fair, going from the Pace forks to the Fattys was far more harsh.

Cheers