The anti-klunk? (Show us your urban bombers!)

[expjawa]

This is how a Jawa can be easily amused...

Klunkers are typically old cruiser frames with knobby tires and other MTB adaptations, right? Well, in trying for a lower-rolling resistance tire on my mountain bike for when I ride it on local stone dust paths, I've done the inverse.

I used a set of Schwinn Typhoon cord repops I had. The smooth tread definately rolls easier, and the rounder tread cross section makes for a narrower contact too. Plus, the white walls actually look pretty cool on the white rims against the olive paint.

 

[JoKeR63]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I don't know why more people don't do this. Most of your energy is wasted just pushing the knobby tires.

 

[ozzmonaut]

Re: The anti-klunk?

In my area most people actually do exactly that. Mountain bikes are very easy to come by cheap here. The people who need them as their primary transportation do so due to liscense issues or cost, and they use them for street travel, so they usually find some street tires. I sell those tires to them pretty cheap (which I usually get for free at the salvage yard) and as a result they leave me with the knobby tires. I now have 6 or 8 sets of almost identical knobbies in the basement.

 

[bmxerpete]

Re: The anti-klunk?

Hmmm...something about your bike seems very familiar to me...

Oh yeah, it reminds me of my urban assault bike! :mrgreen:
(Great minds think alike?)

 

[Michaels]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I have been thinking of doing that to my ancient Ross Mt. Hood. I never ride it off road so what's the use of the knobbies, plus the smoothies just look cool.

 

[mrfritz]

Re: The anti-klunk?

Urban Bombers are FUN!

I'm working on another one based on a GT Peace 29er. Front wheel swapped to a 28x2 big apple. Rear swapped to a 26" 8 sp alfine hub with disk, mammoth mountain rim and a 2.35 big apple. I've been pulling the bars in and up to mimic the cockpit triangle of an adult bmx bike and keeping the front rigid to lose weight and because I don't really think I need much more than the big apple as a suspension for street riding.

 

[flatflip]

Re: The anti-klunk?

This is my old mtn bike that my wife has confiscated (thus the comfort seat). I'm threatening to rob the tires for another build. She's threatening me :shock: .

 

[MadMax '58]

Re: The anti-klunk?

............

 

[mrfritz]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I think this swing of taking a hybrid, dirt jump or mountain bike and converting it to a road/park bike is getting common. If you google "Urban Bomber 29er" you'll find a lot of hits and images. Putting on the fat tires we're accustom to 38mm all the way to 2.35 and dropping the weight of the suspension fork (that's often not working anyway) for a compensated rigid fork and then geared makes for FUN bike. The bars come in and up a bit and often are cut narrower for the realities of street bombing. They fly over up and down everything!

 

[red_beard13]

Re: The anti-klunk?

Hmmm...something about your bike seems very familiar to me...

Oh yeah, it reminds me of my urban assault bike! :mrgreen:
(Great minds think alike?)

are your forks mounted backwards?
bike looks awesome. on these bikes i see multiple gears are left on, you actually use all the gears vs a ss in the city as an urban bike?

 

[Bendix]

Re: The anti-klunk?

are your forks mounted backwards?
bike looks awesome. on these bikes i see multiple gears are left on, you actually use all the gears vs a ss in the city as an urban bike?

some older manitou forks have the arch on the backside. :wink:

 

[Bendix]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I think this swing of taking a hybrid, dirt jump or mountain bike and converting it to a road/park bike is getting common. If you google "Urban Bomber 29er" you'll find a lot of hits and images. Putting on the fat tires we're accustom to 38mm all the way to 2.35 and dropping the weight of the suspension fork (that's often not working anyway) for a compensated rigid fork and then geared makes for FUN bike. The bars come in and up a bit and often are cut narrower for the realities of street bombing. They fly over up and down everything!

Boy, you're right about the suspension forks!

There are getting to be a LOT of perfectly good MTBs out there with obsolete forks that aren't repairable, and can't easily be replaced with a similar quality unit because of steerer tube size, limited travel, cable hangers, brake bosses, etc...


I'd like to see more folks take an 'obsolete' MTB and put the "fun" back in "functional"...

I picked up an old Fisher HooKooEKoo frame for forty bucks and built it up with a carbon rigid fork and a bunch of leftovers. It's really good for the local paved/gravel/dirt trails...

Sorry about the cell phone pic-

 

[mrfritz]

Re: The anti-klunk?

On these bikes i see multiple gears are left on, you actually use all the gears vs a ss in the city as an urban bike?

Offroad SS usually works out to the gearing that gets you up the steepest hill and then you coast, bombing down not having to worry about anything other than staying on the bike. The reduction in complexity pays off in parts that don't derail or break. Even a rigid fork SS 29er weighs in around 30lb.

Onroad SS "Fixies" are super light, super low rolling resistance bikes that you gear to either get up your steepest hill and that you can still skid with. You're engaged pedaling all the time, the bike becomes an extension of you. A 15lb fixie is pretty common.

On these bikes even after you remove everything you can and put a rigid for on it's still a HEAVY bike compared to a fixie. In urban settings the additional gears can get used all the time because of the weight. BUT most of that weight isn't the gears... It's a frame and wheelset that can take a beating that would leave the average fixie a pile of twisted metal... So you can BOMB! Bomb up and down stairs, over curbs..

They're a FUN form factor!

 

[bmxerpete]

Re: The anti-klunk?

Red Beard,
The forks aren't backwards, they just have the brace on the back side. They're the stock 110mm Manitous off my '08 Fuji dirt jumper. I do use all the gears on it, we do lots of back alley, jumping off loading dock type stuff and the lower gears come in handy for that. It's a 9 speed road bike cluster with tall gears.
They're fun, build one up!

 

[Carbon]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I don't know why more people don't do this. Most of your energy is wasted just pushing the knobby tires.

Strange, I've always felt knobbies were easier to pedal on then smooth street style tires, alot let less road contact due to the knobs only touching, I have knobbies on quite a few of my cruisers for that very reason. We may have to contact myth busters about this one. :lol:

 

[mrfritz]

Re: The anti-klunk?

I don't know why more people don't do this. Most of your energy is wasted just pushing the knobby tires.

Strange, I've always felt knobbies were easier to pedal on then smooth street style tires, alot let less road contact due to the knobs only touching, I have knobbies on quite a few of my cruisers for that very reason. We may have to contact myth busters about this one. :lol:

Once you roll on a full inflated big apple you're mind will change, mine sure did. The 2" in particular really rolls... and in a 29er form factor it's not doing much turning to make distance either! I'm also pretty impressed with fully inflated hookworms on pavement.. And they are plush riding..

 

[red_beard13]

Re: The anti-klunk?

i find all of this useful information on different builds. i see myself having almost a bike for each occasion, the fun in function i read right?!
thanks for helping me out there

 

[expjawa]

Re: The anti-klunk?

Strange, I've always felt knobbies were easier to pedal on then smooth street style tires, alot let less road contact due to the knobs only touching, I have knobbies on quite a few of my cruisers for that very reason. We may have to contact myth busters about this one. :lol:

You might have less contact area, but those knobs squirm and deflect a lot when they roll into the contact patch. The energy they absorb in moving around outweighs the reduced contact area, generally. Slick tires and street tires with shallow tread blocks have a lot less deflection when they hit the ground, so less energy is absorbed and rolling resistance is reduced. Less tread squirm also means sharper response and better grip on hard surfaces.

 

[mrfritz]

This is a mockup of the second one I'm working on. This is a 26" rock hopper that I put a 8 spd nexus on the back and am putting a voodoo rigid front fork and 29er on the front. I'm hoping the fork and new bars show up in the next day or two so I can complete it. The derailer will be replaced by a tensioner and I am planning on retaining the front 3sp chain ring. If it works out at some point I'll strip it all down and make a custom out of it.

Bikes are FUN!

I need to quite using my living room as a shop and garage.

 

[red_beard13]

sweet! man that front tire is stuffed in those forks huh? lol looks good, re post a pic after the 29er forks...