1985 Ridgeback XT
- Thread starter Rampage
- Start date
..Re:
It's quite a handful on a trailcentre, the short forks and long stem make it want to chuck you over the bars, and the slackish 69° headangle and long stem make it hard to steer on corners. The long wheelbase also makes it hard on the sharp turns.
The front is very rigid and unforgiving, although part of this may be the 40psi in the front tyre to stop it rotating around the rim!
I need to extend the seatpost as it's not long enough. Where the top tube is welded on the seattube inner diameter reduces quite a bit, so I need to either grind it out or make a seatpost with a step.
Headset was constantly coming loose despite me tightening it the previous night. I'll drill and tap some holes in the locknut and put grub screws in I think.
The brakes are surprisingly good. Even though the previously used pads don't make full contact on the rims.
The 28 / 42 / 48 chainrings don't work at all for off-road and is probably the worst thing on the bike. I guess it's a touring chainset designed for road use with the added smaller ring rather than being off-road specific.
By the time you've adjusted the friction shifting rear mech to not make any noise it's time to change gear again!
Still fun to ride though.
It's quite a handful on a trailcentre, the short forks and long stem make it want to chuck you over the bars, and the slackish 69° headangle and long stem make it hard to steer on corners. The long wheelbase also makes it hard on the sharp turns.
The front is very rigid and unforgiving, although part of this may be the 40psi in the front tyre to stop it rotating around the rim!
I need to extend the seatpost as it's not long enough. Where the top tube is welded on the seattube inner diameter reduces quite a bit, so I need to either grind it out or make a seatpost with a step.
Headset was constantly coming loose despite me tightening it the previous night. I'll drill and tap some holes in the locknut and put grub screws in I think.
The brakes are surprisingly good. Even though the previously used pads don't make full contact on the rims.
The 28 / 42 / 48 chainrings don't work at all for off-road and is probably the worst thing on the bike. I guess it's a touring chainset designed for road use with the added smaller ring rather than being off-road specific.
By the time you've adjusted the friction shifting rear mech to not make any noise it's time to change gear again!
Still fun to ride though.
Yes the pre 90's bikes did have some poor frame angles for off roading but they do pretty well for cruising with the long wheel base and their not very well suited to going uphill on loose trail surfaces as
your body weight isn't directly over the rea wheel to give better traction but they do tend to be good on the down hill's though and yes i have to agree about the tyre pressure being too hard but their again if your very light then that won't help the tyres dig in out on the trails but ignoring all the negatives your lovely bike is an ideal light trails and canal path bike .
your body weight isn't directly over the rea wheel to give better traction but they do tend to be good on the down hill's though and yes i have to agree about the tyre pressure being too hard but their again if your very light then that won't help the tyres dig in out on the trails but ignoring all the negatives your lovely bike is an ideal light trails and canal path bike .
