Ledge 3.1 (now 7 speed w/ Megarange)

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whitefiretiger

whitefiretiger

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I have a Mongoose Ledge 3.1 "29er" that I got about 3 months ago and was stolen around a week ago and recovered Monday.

Got it thinking I'd do some off road / trail riding but it became my commuter being my only bike that has more than one speed.

Anyway the tires are already cracking and I'm wanting to go to more of a slick or street tire (I tend to run slicks like Bontrager Hank tires on my cruisers). I'm aware that 29ers are 700c; that being said I'm trying to find some reasonable price 40+ mm wide tires to fit the bill.
Any suggestions would be great.

Next I'm wanting to cut the seat post and have it welded into a bit of a layback post so I can be a bit more comfortable when riding. I've made attempts at this in the past but never quite get it right; is there any good way to do this? I havnt been able to find a premade post in the right size.

umebytum.jpg
 
Thanks Luke The Joker.
I'm going to look into finding the right angle and measurements to get the seat where I want it after I find a softer seat.

Now I just need to figure out tires; that's a bit higher up my list ATM as the cracking knobby tires take way too much effort while trying to get to work.

Sent from my LGLS740 using Tapatalk
 
I can relate to that effort/drag that many knobby tires cause on pavement or any hard pack surface. My old cheapy XR-75 Mongoose has the original wide spaced knobbies on it and it feels like I'm dragging two bowling balls with ten feet of log chain each behind me.
 
Nagant said:
I can relate to that effort/drag that many knobby tires cause on pavement or any hard pack surface. My old cheapy XR-75 Mongoose has the original wide spaced knobbies on it and it feels like I'm dragging two bowling balls with ten feet of log chain each behind me.
Click to expand...
lol
Now I have a pic in my head of a person riding a bike with a old prison ball and chain hooked to the frame dragging behind.
 
lol yes I need to change the tires on it and shed the prison balls in a bad way. I seldom ever ride it now since I have so many other bikes that are much more pleasurable to ride.

I like the riser bars on your 3.1. After a quick Amazon search I found these 700c tires:

http://www.amazon.com/Kenda-Kourier...403794524&sr=8-2&keywords=700c+x+45+bike+tire

http://www.amazon.com/Kenda-K830-Ti...403794524&sr=8-4&keywords=700c+x+45+bike+tire

http://www.amazon.com/Resist-Nomad-...03794524&sr=8-15&keywords=700c+x+45+bike+tire

This is the search I used on Amazon. You can change my search and find different matches. Also the matches I linked above were just the first few I saw. I did not look through many.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...x+45+bike+tire&rh=i:aps,k:700c+x+45+bike+tire

.
 
Nagant said:
lol yes I need to change the tires on it and shed the prison balls in a bad way. I seldom ever ride it now since I have so many other bikes that are much more pleasurable to ride.

I like the riser bars on your 3.1. After a quick Amazon search I found these 700c tires:

.
Click to expand...

I prefer my other bikes too but when going to/from work its nice to have more than a single speed lol.

Thanks I use riser bars on almost everything; in fact I've used so many I'm having issues finding non-bmx bars now lol.
Handlebars should always be higher than the seat.

Thanks idk why I always space off Amazon.
Those x45 ones for under $20 shipped seam reasonable priced.

On a fun side note I an trying to get a cruiser that is a 6-speed with front & rear brakes (probability be about a month then time to fix it up). If I do I'm going to look into making it a 7 speed with a shamino mega-range setup then I might be able to use that some times for going to work.
 
For more than a ride in town I tend to use multi geared bikes. Either one of my bikes with 3 speed gear hubs or my trusty old 1999 chromoly steel Schwinn Searcher. The Searcher came stock with the mega-range. That mega range cog is quite a jump down in gearing. It's low low, I believe mine is the 34T version.

Yes I agree with you on riser bars. It hurts to much for me to ride flat bars or drop bars. I didn't have any riser bars for the XR-75 when I decided to swap so I put some old school department store BMX bars and quill stem combo on it. I guess it looks a bit odd but it works.

I like your 6 to 7 speed cruiser idea. Post some pics of the build when you get going on it.
 
I've only seen megarange with 34t but supposedly there was another. I have a spare one from a bike I flipped (the guy that bought it wanted regular gearing); also my gf bike has it too. Love being able to ride at a walking speed even up a steep hill lol.

You hit the nail on the head... The pain in my back is why I run risers on everything.

Its fun having a 5+ speed cruiser. I had been keeping an eye out for one that was made that way for a couple years now. I converted my old Ocean Pacific cruiser to a 5 speed years ago; used old 15 speed mtn bike wheel set and a old rear derailed from a Schwinn as well as a stem mounted friction shifter... The crazy part was I had mounted a front brake up in the fork (that fit around the fender) and had it as a suicide brake using the left side of the friction shifter. I wasn't a big fan of having the shifter cable ziptied up but it worked.
 
So I changed to a suspension seat post and cushion seat that let's me set about 1/2" further back and gives a softer ride.
I snapped a pic at work today; my coworker rode his Genesis Two Nine so I wanted a pic
ema5a7ed.jpg

Also on my way home today a giant turtle was checking out my bike lol.
buqamady.jpg
 
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Wasn't happy with the seat and post yesterday (the seat was softer but the contour didn't fit me right) so I switched it again...

Back to the solid post and this old Schwinn seat.

umusehyq.jpg

bupa6enu.jpg


Not sure what Schwinn's had these seats but I've been finding a few in very good shape lately and I love the way they look.


This will probably change again lol. It hit me last night I should have a mongoose layback seatpost in a box of parts.:)
 
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Liked riding on the old Schwinn saddle better but just not feeling right for that long of ride.

Think its the position of the seat.
Hope I find my latback seatpost this weekend.
 
That was a common seat for Schwinn and other brands as well for quite a while. I cannot remember riding one of them even though I have a few. The large swooped seat pan types seats are what I like best. Everyone is different when it comes to seats. Position and angle can make a difference with seats being comfortable or not.
 
Went to the bike co op and got a pair of hybrid tires today. They are 700x40 so they look a bit small on this big frame but they make riding easier

Edit: just realized I didn't post a pic of the new free tires.
4emygate.jpg
 
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This bike is truly a love hate relationship since it was recovered from being stolen.

I love having it to go to & from work but...
I'm hating how much fixing it needs now.

I found my layback seat post the other day and luckily the shim I had was the right size so now I set a bit more comfy riding.
But the same day I got about half way to work and the dang rear derailleur snapped in half (note to self carry chain break in future) and had to get a ride home.
The next day I got a much better quality exage 500 LX from the bike co-op and installed it only to realize the cable and shifter got missed up somehow & found the rear hub axle bolt is bent. Long story short there is I can't get the thing adjusted right until I get a different hub axle bolt because this higher quality rd has less play than the cheepo it did have.
Also finally broke down and got a new disc rotor for the front because while the bike was mia it got the snot bent out of the original.
Anyway on to pics
avaje5av.jpg

9yjysery.jpg

y7e9u4ah.jpg

uhegedy2.jpg

e9avaqum.jpg


I know the lower pully on the rd is bigger than its supposed to be buy I havnt had a chance to look for a small one like it should have.
 
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Ouch! Glad you didn't get hurt. Since the bike was stolen and abused the derailleur might have taken a hard hit and have been cracked. I'm sure you will get the other damaged components lined out. The love/hate thing I can understand when it comes to these inexpensive dual suspension bikes. Those tires look fine on that bike and I'm sure the roll resistance has got to be massively deceased with them.
 
Thanks. Luckly I wasn't going too fast when it happened.
I have a bent spoke (or a few didn't care to count) too now but that's an easy fix.

Yea this thing rolls so much better its Scarry.
Side by side of the old & new tires.
aty8ybe3.jpg
 
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Changed my mind on fixing the bent spokes when I remembered I had picked up a spare rear wheel (go figure its axle bolt is bent too lol).
But I decided to spice things up and de laced the spare wheel and re laced it as three leading 3 trailing just need to tru it and get another axle bolt for it.

2emereba.jpg
 

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