ElaineB wrote:Definitely ‘silver’ mudguards, that MF bike will look fabulous and ride like a ‘silver bullet’! Don’t forget to show us all the ‘finished product’ Derek.
Thanks Elaine
I'm not sure how tall you are but at £200 this could work out a whole lot cheaper than adding parts to the bike you have.
Derekn wrote:. I will probably not use a front carrier.
I know it's early days, but I wouldn't be discounting a rack at the front just yet. Obviously, if you don't need it, you don't need it, but for travelling on decent surfaces I prefer the weight distributed front and rear. My bike, (also a MTB convert) handles better. Off road, it's a different matter.
Also, on longer tours, 4 panniers as opposed to 2 gives me more options for having things handy (without having to rummage through everything) during the day. For example, my front panniers carry my stove, cooking gear & food. It means that even on the wettest day I can stop and make something warm without having to worry about getting my clothes or sleeping gear wet.
I can only agree with you now you mentioned the reasons
ElaineB wrote:Definitely ‘silver’ mudguards, that MF bike will look fabulous and ride like a ‘silver bullet’! Don’t forget to show us all the ‘finished product’ Derek.
Thanks Elaine
I'm not sure how tall you are but at £200 this could work out a whole lot cheaper than adding parts to the bike you have.
slowster wrote:Spa are currently selling Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 26" x 50mm tyres for only £20 each. The Marathon Supreme is Schwalbe's fast road touring tyre, but would still be robust enough for riding on gravel tracks and bridleways. Order 2 of them and £10 worth of other items* and you will get free postage.
* For example spare inner tubes - your Muddy Fox wheels take presta valve inner tubes. Hopefully the Decathlon wheel will also take presta (Decathlon doesn't say on the website, so you will just have to wait until it arrives). You don't want to be carrying extra spare inner tubes on tour because one of your wheels is presta and the other schraeder, so if the Decathlon wheel turns out to be schraeder, buy a valve hole reducer.
I've also just noticed that your current wheels have solid axles. The Decathlon wheel needs to be used with a quick release skewer, which the website says is not included. If it does indeed not come with a skewer, this one is only £4.99 and a bargain (Shimano enclosed cam quick release skewers are the only ones worth getting).
The advert for the Decathlon wheel is misleading, to my advantage The wheel arrived and it does INCLUDE the quick release skewer
As for the rim that the dynamo hub is set into, it is not particularly good and certainly doesn't look anything like the existing Muddy Fox rim. I have therefore decided to have the dynamo removed from the new wheel and installed in my MF rim. The MF rim is in very good condition and will no doubt last as long as I want it too
slowster wrote:Spa are currently selling Schwalbe Marathon Supreme 26" x 50mm tyres for only £20 each. The Marathon Supreme is Schwalbe's fast road touring tyre, but would still be robust enough for riding on gravel tracks and bridleways. Order 2 of them and £10 worth of other items* and you will get free postage.
* For example spare inner tubes - your Muddy Fox wheels take presta valve inner tubes. Hopefully the Decathlon wheel will also take presta (Decathlon doesn't say on the website, so you will just have to wait until it arrives). You don't want to be carrying extra spare inner tubes on tour because one of your wheels is presta and the other schraeder, so if the Decathlon wheel turns out to be schraeder, buy a valve hole reducer.
I've also just noticed that your current wheels have solid axles. The Decathlon wheel needs to be used with a quick release skewer, which the website says is not included. If it does indeed not come with a skewer, this one is only £4.99 and a bargain (Shimano enclosed cam quick release skewers are the only ones worth getting).
The advert for the Decathlon wheel is misleading, to my advantage The wheel arrived and it does INCLUDE the quick release skewer
As for the rim that the dynamo hub is set into, it is not particularly good and certainly doesn't look anything like the existing Muddy Fox rim. I have therefore decided to have the dynamo removed from the new wheel and installed in my MF rim. The MF rim is in very good condition and will no doubt last as long as I want it too
I've got one of these wheels in my tourer. The rim isn't very high quality but has seen a year of use. I don't use it very often but it did do a two week tour this summer carrying four panniers, a bar bag and a tent. It remained true and no great signs of sidewall wear. Wouldn't it make sense to keep the orignal rim on and then change over the hub when the rim wears out?
Derekn wrote:As for the rim that the dynamo hub is set into, it is not particularly good and certainly doesn't look anything like the existing Muddy Fox rim. I have therefore decided to have the dynamo removed from the new wheel and installed in my MF rim. The MF rim is in very good condition and will no doubt last as long as I want it too
Given whoof's experience of using the wheel for loaded touring, I would not spend money now on swapping the rims over. Assuming you would have to pay someone else to do this for you, and that you would probably also have to pay for new spokes (unless you were lucky and the ERD [effective rim diameters] of the two rims were within 1mm or 2mm of each other), you will end up spending more money than a wheel off the shelf would have cost from Taylor Wheels. Best to simply fit the wheel as is (apart maybe from stress relieving, which you should be able to do yourself) and get some use out of it. If after a few months or after heavy use it's showing signs of problems, then think about replacing the rim. For now, just get your money's worth from it.
I thought about converting my 1986 Muddy Fox Explorer. While I ummed & ahhed over what I might do with it a "wanted" came up for a frame so I decided to split it & sell the frame (& recycle usable components onto other bikes).
I hear what you are saying whoof and slowster and would agree with you. However, when I tried the rim on the bike it looked really odd ........ it is so very different to the Muddy Fox rim. Also the Shimano wheel has a rim width slightly smaller than the original MF rim.
Please can someone tell me how to remove the plastic/rubber seal from the rear wheel. I seem to remember "as a kid back in the day" long before Muddy Fox, I made something that went through the hub and I tapped out the seal with a hammer!!
