Naughties in bikes

Everyone else seems to be in their stride posting best of lists and the like so I thought I’d look back at the last ten years, what I’ve been riding and how things have changed…..

Most notably I suppose at the start of the last decade I was still fairly heavily obsessed with XC racing (although that may make a bit of a comeback for me this year). I was sponsored by Southwater Cycles and my Kona spent two years in my loft as I had a sucsession of nice Cannondale race bikes to ride. So I started the decade with a Cannondale F4000SL, this was a super tricked out bike, very light and very fast too.

Cannondale F4000SL

Then the Southwater Cycles thing eventually came to an end, brought mainly by the fact they wanted me to wear a beige race shirt The trusty Kona Hei Hei came back out of retirement. This bike lasted right the way through to 1998, I had it 14 years and it had countless groupset changes, forks, wheels and everything else that goes with it. If you look at the 2000 photo and then the 2008 one you can see it went from a race set up to what would be considered a fairly trail friendly set up today. It was an amazing machine and it was sad to see it go, but it was only corrected for a 63.5mm travel fork and it had no disk mounts! It worked out to have cost me well less than a tenth of a penny per mile for the use I got from it

Hei hei 2000 - XTR v brakes, pace forks 75mm travel

Hei hei 2008 - 120mm fork, disk brakes, tubeless tyres

July 2008 everything changed, I bought a Cove Stiffee, essentially as a plaything I thought I’d ride occasionally. How wrong was I? The Kona went into the shed and only came out another handful of times for races before it was sold. This was the future, my only regret was that I didn’t get a bike like this earlier. 130mm forks 200mm disks, tubeless 2.35″ tyres run way down low. This was here to stay, or was it?

Cove Stiffee - big forks, big brakes, big tyres - BIG FUN!

Despite my love affair with the Stiffee I still fancied the ride qualities of titanium and after some careful ‘negotiation’ at home decided it was time to get rid of the Kona and the Cove Stiffee and move on to the best of both worlds, the Cove Hummer…..

Cove Hummer - trail perfection? Well I think so

So this brings us up to date. I love this bike and I’m sure I’ll have it for a long time. Like the trusty Kona Hei Hei of old I don’t doubt others will come and go in the mean time, there will be changes of forks and other kit, but I reckon this will be around for a while….

Of course as well as these there has been a constant parade of road bikes, cyclocross bikes, BMX’s, singlespeeds and jump bikes going through the revolving doors of the shed! They have all had many swaps of components, but really none of them have really hung around for long. You can have a look at all the photos in the gallery here.

What are your favourites and not so favourites from the last ten years? Lets hear about it in the comments…..

Hummerlicious

This is a first impressions review of my new Lynskey manufactured 2009-2010 Ti Cove Hummer. I previously owned a 2008 Litespeed Cove Hummer which I absolutely loved, so this is also a bit of a comparison review too.

The new frame has undergone a few modifications, compared to the 2008 Litespeed frame.

At first glance, the most obvious change is that the frame now sports a shinier, raw Ti finish and a new Cove sticker design, which I prefer. But then I would say that.

The 2009 frame also has a new, solid Ti plate where the seat tube meets the chain stay on the drive side, this effectively eliminates any chainsuck the 2008 model used to suffer. The plate is also stamped with the Cove logo, which is nice touch.

Because of the huge and much appreciated tyre clearance on a Hummer, if the chain rings weren't in good condition and well adjusted, bang on the 50mm chain line, chainsuck was quite common. But this modification puts a stop to that 'mare of having your cranks jam to a stop when swapping down to the granny on a steep muddy climb!

The new frame comes with replaceable mech hangers. Whether these are actually needed on a Titanium frame is debatable, but they're here now and I suppose it's good to know that I just need to replace the hanger if my mech gets smashed off at some point.

There is also a new, small, additional bracing strut between the seat stay and chain stay on the non-drive side by the rear axle. I suppose this is to help dissipate the loads & stress placed on the chainstay from the axle.

All cables are now routed under the top tube rather than on top, which I also prefer. But then I would say that too.

Gone is the Cove 'skull' head badge sticker, replaced by a lovely laser etched version.

But probably the most important addition to the new Cove 2009 frame, which was a serious omission from the 2008 frame, is a bottle opener on the rear brake mount! Oh yeah! It's Miller time!

So on to the ride characteristics: I loved the way my 2008 Hummer rode. Nothing else suited my riding style so perfectly. A possessed, singletrack animal. So quick to change direction at speed, it's as if it was hard-wired into my brain. The frame tracking the narrow line without fuss. Rooty steps and drops, sent and despatched with carefree, smile inducing, abandon. All the while the bike relaying every tiny message from the trail straight through my feet, legs, hands and arms. The Ti frame soaking up the worst of the hits, urging me to go faster and faster. But also letting me know, as if by premonition, that it's getting a bit sketchy, a quick dab on the brakes, release and pow! Instant acceleration into the next berm!

I was hoping the new frame would match these characteristics, but I needn't have worried. It's the same excellent frame it always was, after all the geometry has hardly changed, but the way it is produced has changed big style!

The old Litespeed frame was up-front, honest even, with simple and attractively clean lines, no mech hangers, or welded plates here. The new frame seems to have had the perfectionist touch, with the all the concerns about the old frame addressed using Lynskey's slick production values. The whole frame looks and feels much more professionally produced.

As I've said, I loved the old frame's trail attitude. It was a full on rock concert of a bike, every ride giving you that spine tingling, good all over vibe that left you wanting more when your legs couldn't give more. The new bike is just the same, just not quite so raw in it's attitude. The rear of the bike is slightly more compliant and has a drop more of that unmistakable Ti spring. The new larger Bi-Ovalised downtube adds more stiffness to the frame, making the bike more assured and unshakeable through the high speed twists and turns. So it's the same story, you know what you're getting with a Hummer. But although it's the same music, this time its production values have increased massively, giving a fuller, more rounded sound. Don't get me wrong, the edgy rock roughness is still there, just pushed further out to the edge. I'm definitely riding the trails quicker on this bike before it kicks and complains and I'm sure it's not just all down to 'that new bike feeling', but time will tell.

So sorry Jim, I do think this bike is better. But then I prefer Metallica as they are now, not the early years. But there are plenty of others that say the opposite, same goes for the Hummer.

Dobby

So why the hummer? Well previously I had a Kona Hei Hei and a Cove Stiffee. I’d had the Kona since 1994 and it cost me a shedload back then! We’d done thousands of happy miles together, but when I bought the Cove Stiffee I realised there was more to life than ’90’s race geometry and 80mm travel forks.

Cove Stiffee

Kona Hei Hei

The Cove Stiffee was bought as a plaything really, but it changed the way I rode forever and there was no going back, I wanted the playfullness of the Stiffee and the comfort of the Hei hei. Enter the Hummer……..

Cove Hummer

My Kona had been built up really light, whereas the Stiffee had been built up quite burly. I wanted to go in between the two, dependable kit that wouldn’t hold me back, but reasonably light with it.

The bike in it’s current state weighs 27.5lb, some may say that is a tad heavy for a Ti hardtail, but at the end of the day I know I can ride it how I like and it’ll come back for more.

So what’s it like?

Well somewhat like my Kona when I first got it, it took some getting used to. Lighter and comfier than the Stiffee, but also slightly steeper angles which make it a bit more agile with it. So it took a bit of adjustment, but it was noticably quicker uphill and through singletrack, but slightly more nervous downhill. With the addition of the Pike up front with it’s bolt through axle you can happily plough through roots and obstacles without too much trouble.

The Verdict:

It was exactly what I was looking for and I’m very pleased with it, however it’s a lot of money to pay for a frame. The 2009 price hikes have put it up to £1595!! Is it worth that much? Well if you want a bulletproof singletrack muncher that should last you for ages then yes, but you could also get yourself a sweet full suspension frame for that sort of money.

Jimbo

I found myself questioning my own sanity when I recently rode a Marin Rocky Ridge hardtail, this bike was a lot of fun and yet the complete bike was less than my Hummer frame.

But I’ve always loved the ride qualities of Ti frames, so for me it was worth it, I’ve got the bike I want and it rides the way I want it to, hopefully it will last the 14 years that the trusty Hei Hei did…..

Jimbo

Every year the users of this site get to vote on the stuff they like and places they’ve ridden in the past twelve months. We ride a lot of different places and a few of the guys are compulsive kit purchasers, so it’s always interesting to see how it all pans out. This year was great as we had the highest number of voters ever

So have a look at the results below and see what you think, if you’ve got something to say, if you agree or disagree why not post a comment?………….

Best shop:

3rd Hafords / Bike store

2nd Freeborn

1st Quest Adventure

Best Cake Shop:

3rd Wiston Tea Rooms

2nd Peaslake Village Stores

1st Parklife

Best Crash:

Deadly

2nd Deadly at Pitch Hill

Headless Rider

1st Headless Slim

Best Trail:

3rd Anywhere on Pitch Hill

2nd Lion Trail / Anywhere in Morzine

Bubion, we love it!

1st Bubion / Spain

Best Bike / Component:

3rd Chameleon / Intense / Rock Shox Pikes

2nd Crank Bros Joplin seat post

1st Cove Hummer frame

The Spirit of Sussex-MTB:

This is always a hotly contested category and this year was no exception! There was only one vote between first and second! However Pete came out the winner and rightly so. His cheery disposition and enthusiasm whatever the weather are an inspiration to all. He falls off, he gets up and smiles and pedals off (most of the time). So I think he’s a fitting winner. Well done Pete…….

3rd Jimbo / Hoops

2nd Uncle Phil

Pete during some downtime in Spain!

1st Pete 

So my plan was hatched, with my 40th in the middle of the week an excuse was needed to go and ride some sweet trails and to eat some cake!

We did some of our usual singletracks as well as a ‘new’ one too. I had my new camera in tow and took a few photos, one or two of them were even in focus! This one of JonB was definitely my favourite of the day:

JonB sending it

 So I just want to say thanks to everyone for turning out and coming riding with me and here’s some more of the photos for you to check out, click through to see them all………

Jimbo