BustNuts37

Woohoo, just bought myself a new Specialized Stumpjumper FSR with front/rear disc brakes! I only went in to get a Camelbak and a new Helmet, but instead walked out with a Stumpjumper and a free camelbak, hehe. I've had a Trek 1000 alpha series road bike for about 1.5 years now, and although it's a lot of fun... the trails now call for me as well. I was just 'looking' at the bikes, and decided to take a test ride... but then i fell in love with it ... doh!

I paid $1,499 for it but got 6 months free interest, and a free 2 litre Camelbak (would've been $50 for it). I got it from SuperGo... does this seem like a good deal??

My gf is really gonna kill me later when she finds out... i better hide it! hehehhehe

BustNuts37

anyone know why my name, and some others are shown as red??

Maelstrom 

Your online. When you are offline it shows up black.

Maelstrom 

Congrats on a nice bike and deal. Those first 6 months were my favorite on my bike. Oh the bliss of a new ride

dazco

Congrats on the SJ. Just bought the SJ FSR myself last friday. Kinda scary dropping a wad like that on a bicycle ain't it !

BustNuts37

heh.. yea, my gf insisted on knowing how much I paid.. I told her about a thousand and she freaked out! Good thing i didnt tell her the exact amount.

Can't wait till tomorrow morning, there's some canyons accross the street, and I go running down there pretty often, but the canyons just keep going and going. I've gone nearly 12 miles out before (running back wasnt really fun) hoping to find an ending, but they kept going! Tomorrow is the day I find this ending.... hopefully. I'm in San Diego, and these canyons cant be THAT big.

BustNuts37

oooh.. got it. thanks.

a2psyklnut

let us know if your opinion has changed on this one!

Congrats on the new bike, and welcome to the forums. That is a sweet bike and a good deal.

L8R

PeterG1185

hey,
thats cool that you just a new ride. FSR's rock and are definately tops design wise out there. I have a 2002 FSR SJ Comp and just put Hope Mini's on it.
Have fun and make sure we get a ride report!

BustNuts37

===================
-- Official Ride Report --
===================
might be long...

I leave for the big ride this morning, everything's ready. I get on my bike and try to figure out how the heck these clipless pedals work. I pedal around the block a couple times trying to figure them out. After a few minutes of struggling with them, bam.. one is in... few seconds later, bam... the other is in. Here I am, all happy that I figured it out on my own. I then try to figure out how to take them off before I venture too far... struggling to get them off... no luck. I then tell myself that I'll figure it out during my long bike ride. After about a mile out, I still cant get either one off. Paying too much attention to them, I manage to run into the mountain, and I fall over.. One came off! Only problem is, I look at the pedal closely and realize the whole plate from the shoe stayed on the pedal! Now I'm thinking I didnt tighten the shoe plate thing enough, and that I'm doing it wrong.

I decide to head back home and figure this out before I go any further. I did a quick search on bikeforums, and find a thread about losening/tighting the pedals themselves... I grab my allen wrench, and find it was nearly on the tightest setting.. no wonder I couldnt get the dang things off!! Jeez!
I dunno if the people down at SuperGo thought it would be funny, or if it was just accidentel.. who knows.

I manage to get the plate off, loosen up the pedals, and after trying em out again.. they snap on/off nice and easy.. hehe.

The bike ride itself was awesome, man i love these shocks! I was out for about 3-4 hours trying to find the 'end' to these canyons... and when I thought I did... i climbed up the hill without my bike (would've been nearly impossible with it).. and I see that the trail still keeps going! By that time, my hands were nearly raw since I wasnt wearing gloves, so I decided to save those for some other day and head home. I ended up falling 3 times total, one was the collision with the mountain, the other 2 were when I tried climbing hills that were too steep, and I didnt get my feet unclamped in time.

Can't wait till I can head out again tomorrow... Lots of fun!

dazco

When i bought my stumpy i asked about regular pedals and they showed me some for $20 that have these spikes in them to help lock your shoes in place. I told them to go ahead and put them on, but i kept the clip-ons just in case i decided i didn't like the regular pedals. After a few rides i gotta say i don't think i'll ever use them. The regular pedals didn't cause the slightest problem in any way, and i prefer not having my feet locked in in case i take a spill. (something which i experienced on my first ride going downhill on a single track thru thick woods) My friend who is fairly experienced at MTB'ing and uses clip-ons was having a heck of a time on certain steep downhill parts that caused numerous slow fall-offs. I had no problem because of the ability to have both feet down much quicker and easier. The clip-ons may be good for some, but i see no reason to use em myself.

a2psyklnut

(Trying to say this in a nice way, but can't, so Think: NICE!) They are not clip-ons, they are actually called "clipless". Road bikes started using "Clips" (The hook thingy off the front of pedals with a leather or nylon strap) on their pedals to keep their feet in the proper position and to assist in keeping power to the upstroke as well. This was a great improvement in pedaling efficiency. Then, someone (who must've been a snow skier) thought of a similar binding mechanism for pedals. Viola! Since the old pedals are called "Clip" pedals, they decided to call these new pedals "Clipless". Personally, I would've called them Clip - INs or like you call them Clip - Ons. Who knows? Who really cares?

Anyways, clipless pedals do help for pedaling efficiency (even more than "Clip" pedals), so a lot of XC racers and recreational riders use them for longer smoother trails. A lot of people don't like being "Locked" onto their bikes, so it does take some practicing to get to a certain comfort level using them. I've been "Clipless" for a long time (about 6 or 7 years now), and I won't go back to platforms on my XC bike. I will however, use platforms on my Freeride bike when I know I'm going to a real technical ride.

L8R

PeterG1185

I think the desicision on weather or not to go clipless is due mostly to expereience. First time riders tend to fall a lot as it is and let alone trying to move their feet out to unclip while tryin to learn at the same time would be a hell of a expereience. As riders get more expereienced and want the HUGE advantage of clipless pedals for all XC riding, trail riding, and freeriders use them too. Dazco once you use the bike i think you should give the clipless pedals a try. They're probably one of the top 2 mechanical things you can do to your bike to make you faster

Dannihilator

Pics.

a2psyklnut

Yeah, I second that request!