Dave Yates & Me...

[davidj]

I bought a Dave Yates, from another forum member. A lovely lady called Lisa, she sadly lost her husband Geoff and is looking for good homes for his collection of bikes and tools.

It started here:

For Sale - Dave Yates Mountain Bike

Dave Yates MTB suspension bike with shimano XT,, syncros seat pin, Muddy Fox Shocks. My husband had the frames and bike made up for him by Dave Yates. He was 6ft 2inch so would suit someone of that height. Looking for £1100 or sensible offers. Still in great condition just needs a service and a...

www.retrobike.co.uk

 

[davidj]

Upon arriving home I pumped up the tyres and set off for a ride to my local pub, as you do on new bike day .

What a shock! Sorry Lisa.

I was way forward and not enjoying the ride at all .

At the pub I knew the seat was about an inch too low and I realised that despite putting air in the tyres I neglected to check the pressure in the front forks. So I locked out the forks and rode home - much better despite the gale force headwind!

 

[davidj]

Back home I increased the fork pressure, I swapped out the very nice Synchros seat post for a sacrificial Easton one (just whilst I get the height right for me). The Synchros saddle isn't for me either so I fitted a trusty selle royal whilst I get the bike set up.

Then off to the off-licence for a 4 pack (there's a theme here!).

Now we are getting there . The bike is way lighter than my current daily warrior.

 

[davidj]

More to come as I look to transition from my trusty old P7 to this Dave Yates

 

[slackboy]

You can add the photos into the post which make my easier to view. Hope you don't mind me adding yours

 

[davidj]

Skackboy if only you told me how to embed the pictures...

 

[davidj]

Today, still full of new bike enthusiasm, I continued with my goal of making the bike fit me as well as the P7 that has been my daily ride for the last 3 years or so.

Fitted my favourite grips, they are Clarks - yes I know.... They are bar tape grips and I love them.

Next job was to sort out the Hope brake reservoir caps, one was Hope Tech branded the other the Hope Union flag. Luckily hope brakes are "flip flop", so I took the Union flag cap from the bottom of one and swapped it with Tech cap from the other. Happy days

A new battery in the Cateye computer and we now have a Speedo.... Just as well as the 1.5 section road tyres are at 70psi and it's speedy but a bit more butt punishing than I am used to.

The brakes work really well, but with the reservoir caps off I could see there is some fluid contamination - milky white swirls, so a fluid swap is now in the diary.

Polished a few marks out of the paintwork of the frame, rode to the pub for a swifty. On the way home I decided the stem is too high so I have swapped the spacers around , guess I will have to visit the pub again to test out that change.

 

[davidj]

Where is the fun in rushing it, it's our hobby so we have to make it last. When it's done - well it's done!

Scrub the tyres, polish a bit here and there. Crack a beer and stand back and admire, I'm falling in love with this bike, just need to keep working on the fit.

 

[davidj]

Dave Yates had to take a back seat, I already had a project bike on the go and space issues meant Dave had to go into short term storage due to a lack of space.

Ebay came up with a discounted sales fee offer so I put the almost complete project Stumpjumper FSR up for sale. I fully expected it to take weeks to sell and give me time to carry out a fork service I had planned to do. It sold within hours to a zero feedback bidder, yes I know! Surprise though he turned up with the cash and took the bike away! Guess we all have to start somewhere. Nice kid, I knocked him £90 off the price and gave him a spare back tyre. He wanted the Stumpjumper and I wanted the space.

Within a few Hours Dave was back at home and now I can continue with plans to replace my Orange P7 frame. I use the P7 as my main form of transport so there is no way this is going to be a quick component switch! I need to be sure Dave's frame is at least as suitable for me as the P7.
.

First issue, I felt like I was way to high and too far forward so that 100mm hope stem has been swapped out for a "test" 80mm stem & 50mm wider bars from my spares.

It's still not quite right but it's much better suited for me. The test ride also Identified the back brake isn't very effective! Best look at that next

 

[davidj]