Sunday with my Ritchey

[tristanspeed]

Went out for a 'normal', modern day mountain bike ride with my regular buddies this Sunday on my 1989 Ritchey Ascent Comp. My modern hard tail is being serviced, so I stuck the old 1989 XT derailler and some mixed up modern new bits and bobs on to the frame and changed the tyres for some new Michelins.
Thirty kilometres and 850 metres climbing, and it was great fun riding alongside modern full suspension bikes.
I was actually just as fast, or faster on the way up as normal, and considerably slower going down. It felt like it was as much due to the brakes as the lack of suspension fork.
This is the first longish mountain bike ride on that bike off road for about 10 years.

 

[tristanspeed]

Another pic from yesterday. This is in the Beaujolais region of France.

 

[M-Power]

That's the kind of real world review I enjoy. Interesting, do you think the braking downhill was just a lot more hard work, tiring your hands out more, forcing you to go slower or was it that the braking was significantly poorer forcing you to go slower for safety compared to others using hydraulic disc brakes ?

 

[jonthefish]

Hmmm. I'm intrigued as well. I suspect the brakes and suspension issues go together. Hit a big hole/boulder with a suspension fork you might be ok. Without suspension my level of trepidation is greater so am on brakes more lowering speed. But then I'm a crap rider, springs or not......
Good on ya regardless of technicalities - get those bikes out there and muddy.

 

[girlonbike]

I also appreciate this kind of story. Good for you!

 

[tristanspeed]

Thanks for the nice comments. The brakes were just not good enough, especially on a steep but totally rideable downhill single track, I simply couldn't haul myself to a halt as easily as I was used to, so I didn't feel I could let go and gather speed as easily, as it was so hard to rein in. I found that with the saddle down the lack of suspension was not really a massive problem on most sections - with a new 2.25 section chunky Michelin on the front I had cushion and grip. The only time the lack of fork really hit me was on a little steep ramp down into a shallow gravel gutter - that kind of transition is so much easier with suspension forks, whereas I really felt the 'twang' of the frame as the bike rolled through the dip.

But nothing scary happened, that's the great news, and I wasn't dropped, apart from on the trail-centre style downhill single track. Uphill and cross country the bike was totally excellent, even with only seven gears to hand.

 

[24pouces]

And did you drink Beaujolais for riding ?

 

[tristanspeed]

The story ends well in that respect - we got chatting with the guy with the white Specialized, who we'd seen around on the trails a few times, and he invited us back to his farm for some Pouilly Fuissé. He's actually a producer of organic Beaujolais 'crus' like Chiroubles and Morgon, but it isn't really done to drink red before midday, so we went with the southern Burgundy white instead.
All good, as Bradley would say.

 

[M-Power]

Tough life eh When I finally get my bikes finished I wonder if I will have the same issues with Cantis. I'm aiming for a powerful system and Manitou 3/4 forks. Bitd I could handle anything. Better lay off the Squashed Fly buns :facepalm: and get seriously fit.

 

[JoeG]

At least you have V brakes. They have to be at least 2x better...

I have an 85 Ascent. I can ride all of the normal stuff that I ride regularly, but a bit slower no doubt. Partially due to changing gear less; its harder shifting w/o indexing so I shift a lot less. Line choice is much more important on a rigid, too.

But mostly because the brakes (front canti, chainstay rollercam) are horrible! I almost need a calendar to schedule my stops! Squeezing the levers harder doesn't slow you down more; it just flexes the fork or stays!