Orbea Sherpa?

[RICHARDH]

Hi Guys wondering if anyone can give me a hand my Dad's looking at an Orbea Sherpa 2010 model, just wondering if anyone has any experience with this bike. His getting it at $700 which seems pretty good, any idea on something around that price point that might compare. Any advice would be really appreicated Cheers Guys and Gals.

[trailgumby]

I'd have to say that is outstanding value for money.

Cranks could do with an update if/when the chainrings wear out, but for $700 with Deore transmission and Shimano hydraulic brakes that's a really hard deal hard to go past (so long as the bike fits him).

Ditch the cheapo chain when you get the bike, and put on an XTR chain with SRAM quicklink and he'll get much better working life out of the drive train: biggest single cost-saving measure you can make.

FWIW I actually run 3 chains in rotation on *each* of my bikes. When the one on the bike gets noisy, it comes off and goes in the kero bath and a fresh clean one goes on. Lots of my riding buddies do the same, and I hear it's a common strategy among bike shop mechanics, so that should be a clue.

[Jean]

FWIW I actually run 3 chains in rotation on *each* of my bikes. When the one on the bike gets noisy, it comes off and goes in the kero bath and a fresh clean one goes on. Lots of my riding buddies do the same, and I hear it's a common strategy among bike shop mechanics, so that should be a clue.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I have to ask what is the purported benefit of rotating a number of chains over cleaning and maintaining just one? Do the three chains run across two or so bikes, and this is just a handy way to clean and rotate them, or does each bike have three chains?

I've got just the one MTB, though I'm getting increasingly anal about keeping the (one nice KMC) chain clean.

[trailgumby]

Each bike has 3 chains (ie, six chains in total).

The reason for so doing is that chain wear (lengthening) drives the wear in the rest of the drive train. By running 3 chains in parallel rotation instead of waiting for one to wear out before replacing it with a new one, I (in theory) get three times the life out of the cassette and chainrings before they become Shark Fin City from tooth wear, since the chain lengthens at roughly one third the rate...

Chains are cheap. Cassettes much less so and chainrings are sometimes ridiculous $$$.

Interesting reading here:
http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-004/000.html

[Jean]

Each bike has 3 chains (ie, six chains in total).

The reason for so doing is that chain wear (lengthening) drives the wear in the rest of the drive train. By running 3 chains in parallel rotation instead of waiting for one to wear out before replacing it with a new one, I (in theory) get three times the life out of the cassette and chainrings before they become Shark Fin City from tooth wear, since the chain lengthens at roughly one third the rate...

Chains are cheap. Cassettes much less so and chainrings are sometimes ridiculous $$$.

Interesting reading here:
http://pardo.net/bike/pic/fail-004/000.html

Gee, I don't know that I would say that was interesting reading, though it is probably useful. How often, and by what measure do you rotate them?

[trailgumby]

Gee, I don't know that I would say that was interesting reading, though it is probably useful. How often, and by what measure do you rotate them?

Well, anything where I learn something useful I didn't know before I tend to rate as "interesting". Sorry

In answer to your question, I rotate them whenever they need cleaning and re-lubing. That can be after just one ride if the weather is horrible, or it can be as long as a couple of hundred km if the weather is dry and the trails groomed and free of dust.