Posts Tagged ‘mountain’
I ordered “The Help” for my kindle after reading customer reviews. I was hesitant; thinking it might be so political that I wouldn’t enjoy it. Not so. It is easy to get to know the characters, and descriptions are so that they are easy to visualize. I was on a mini vacation with my family and chose to read it in the car rather than riding go carts with them. I read it every chance I got; falling asleep with it in my lap. I would like to see a sequel, just to be able to get back into the character’s lives. Hard to put down!
Leonard Mountain Hazelnut Raisin
Sometimes, reading a book, you wonder about editorial decisions, mostly to do with scenes or plot twists/direction that just do not belong. With this book, I would not have included the photographs that begin each chapter. I thought the writer was doing a more than adequate job in her descriptions and thought the photos detracted. Also, do not need the author’s note at end. Don’t remind us this was fiction, created and crafted; we want to shut the book and remember the story.
Continental Mountain King UST
Love the Wii too bad Star Wars Force Unleashed was over in few days Star Wars: The Force Unleashedthe game is way too easy. Alright back to getting Wii fit!
Sombrio Pinner Mountain Bike
Great Bang for the Buck. My old Cannondale finally gave out. The Topkick looked like the ticket, so I gave GMC Topkick Dual-Suspension Mountain Bike a try. GREAT BANG FOR THE BUCK!!! At $150.00 and free shipping, how could you beat this deal. Dual suspension, disc breaks and tough aluminum frame make this one a steal.
PROs: What I said above, including; cool color/style and easy assembly (even though there were no assembly instructions).
CONs: Center frame shock takes up valuable space on the frame for accessories. The paint finish is easily scratched off. The disc breaks take a large amount of tweaking to get set properly. The handlebars are too low (no easy way to raise). This is one heavy bike.
Overall, like I said before. Great Bang For The Buck!!
Nice Bike. Ordered and received this bike very promptly; however, like one of the other reviewers, the back tire inner tube has a hole and will not inflate… have to take Pacific Tuscon Girls Dual-Suspension Mountain Bike to a bike shop to fix. Aside from that, this is a nice bike.
Terrible Bike!!!. I purchased this bike for my wife from fogdog through amazon. I must say the service was excellent.
I did have to return the bike because Mongoose Montana Womens Mountain Bike is very poorly designed. The bike’s frame was so short that the pedals would hit the front tire and you could get hurt riding it. In addition to the terrible design, it took me an entire day to get the brakes and wheels adjusted properly. The wheels were way out of true and the brakes would not align properly at all. I finally got it to an acceptable point with the wheels and brakes when we realized the pedals hit the tire.
The bike seems to have the mongoose name, while the manual said Pacific. That leads me to believe it’s not a true mongoose. The mongoose name and the other review led me to believe it was ok to purchase.
In closing, service was great and the bike was horrible.
Road bike for when $[...] is more than you can swing. I’m an inexperienced rider; 45 years old, 5′8″, about 160-165 pounds. I say “inexperienced” although I used to ride all the time when I was a kid – rode proper road bikes in my teens and early 20s and all but gave Pacific Evolution Womens Mountain Bike up since. I wanted to get back into riding after a doctor suggested regular exercise; I never liked running and my tolerance for treadmills, etc. is limited, but I remembered that I enjoyed riding when I was younger so I thought I’d get back into it. I’d had a Schwinn Caliente (24″) and then I rode my brother’s Schwinn LeTour II (or III, not sure) for a few years.
I tried a couple of Atlanta-area bike stores and was horrified to learn that the best I could do for a new bike was about $[...] for a last-year’s model. Stores like Sports Authority had no road bikes at all. I was willing to pay in the $[...] range, but there simply wasn’t anything.
I was worried about what I would get for the price, but I told myself that really, all I was looking for was a more or less direct replacement for the LeTour; I’m not trying to be Lance.
By way of clarification, this appears to be a Chinese-made Kent bicycle, re-badged as a “GMC Denali.” I don’t think that this branding is counterfeit; I think this bicycle was produced as part of a GM SUV promotion (i.e., buy an SUV; get a bike free) and they had a LOT of bikes left over. As some have noted, it is a weird agglomeration of parts with its twist shifters and mountain-bike gearing. It’s attractive; the photo does not do the electric deep blue pearl finish justice. In sunlight, it’s amazing.
So far I’ve ridden it up to thirteen miles in traffic on moderately hilly roads and up to sixteen miles on a flat coastal road with a proper bike lane. I’m not very in-shape so sometimes I have to drop it into 1/1 and creep to go uphill.
Shifters. Once the limits were set, the chain hasn’t been dropping off the edges. To take the rear gear reliably from, say, 3 to 4, you might have to twist the thing 3-5-4 to really get it set properly. I have not had any tooth jumping. On flat road, I’m finding myself going between 3/6 and 3/7; I don’t know if this means I need a taller sprocket somewhere or not.
Several people talked about punctured tubes almost as soon as they started riding the bike. The first time that happened to me, I think I pinched it coming into the driveway with the pressure at about 90PSI (it needs to be 100 the max at my weight and when I set off I take it to 105, assuming that it will be down to 100 at the end of my ride). However, I lost a tube again for no good reason and I investigated. It turns out that there was little or no cleanup after the spoke nut holes were drilled out and several of the holes had sharp crescent-shaped metal shards attached to them. I went around both wheels with a rattail file and got rid of all that and I replaced the thin rubber liners with heavier-duty ones. The wheels on my bike were reasonably straight and true.
I started wondering about what I perceived to be excessive rolling drag so I pulled off the wheels to turn the shafts by hand and they felt pretty crunchy and stiff on both ends; I stayed off the bike subsequently and had them rebuilt at a bike shop but I’m not sure how much better they are – the drag seems better at least. I would suggest having these bearings checked and repacked not long after you get the bike. They are of an old-school sort and I learned that not all bike shops can even really work on them.
The tires have held up pretty well for having been pinched and having been removed and put on a few times; I have a pair of Michelin replacements but I expect I’ll keep the OEMs on until they pop or wear out. They are 700×28c and I have yet to see tires that size in a bike shop or anywhere else; you’d better mail-order one or two and keep them as a spare because you may not be able to find one local to you.
I replaced the seat with a Bontrager that has the center groove and opening.
The brakes could be a lot better; the caliper arms bend appreciably during use. When I had the wheel bearings overhauled, I tried to have the shop replace the calipers outright but they did not have any that would fit. I’m finding the angle of the brake levers awkward. This is one area where you might consider making some changes as soon as you get the bike. You might consider taping up the rubber brake lever housing boots as soon as you get the bike because I’ve already torn up one and there’s no point in fixing them. You don’t strictly need them as they’re really only there for a little padding; I wear padded Bell gloves anyway, so I’m fine in that regard.
It made me nervous going really fast downhill initially; it’s harder than I remember it being back in the day to hold the bike in line going around a turn at speed; I feel like it’s a geometry and weight-distribution problem and not necessarily a flaw of the bicycle, but it will be interesting to see if it’s any different with new tires. With the tires pumped up to 100PSI going really fast can make your eyeballs vibrate too much to see clearly if the road is rough (raising butt up off the seat even just a little sorts that right out).
So to sum up, if you buy this bike and really want to ride it 1) replace the seat, although the original isn’t horrible 2) make sure everything’s adjusted 3) put some time, money, and attention into the brakes 4) clean up the wheel machining and upgrade the liners *immediately* 5) have at least one spare tube and tire on hand.