Just bought a mysterious bike. Coventry ghost e-stay MTB?

[ljamesb]

Just bought a bike off eBay on a whim. Got a very good bike to pound exchange rate of 1-15. he he. I love the paint scheme - I hope that's a paint scheme rather than some astronomically bad paint cracking. What most interested me was the fact that the chain doesn't run through the chainstay - I might try and convert it into a belt drive single speed. Anyone tried this?

Not too knowledgeable about 90s bikes so maybe they are very common. Was only £15 so even if it's a load of steaming poo, I won't mind as it's got an interesting frame . Wonder how it'll ride.

I couldn't find anything out about this bike after a whole bunch of searching. It's an elevated stay MTB and from the looks of it, it's probably from the early 90's. Looks extremely similar to this Nishiki bike in another forum post.

Here's a link to The auction for some more pics.

So, what do you think? Bargain of the century? I could have bought 75 chomp bars instead.

Sorry link fixed now

 

[greencat]

The groupset, while not exactly brilliant, elevates(!) it above the dross like the Raleigh Lizard, Activator etc.

Definitely early 90s. I'm sure I remember seeing them for sale. Somehow I'm thinking British Eagle. But I'm 80% sure that's wrong.

Good buy for £15.

 

[pete_mcc]

Re:

It's a Coventry Eagle, a subsidiary of British Eagle.

 

[ljamesb]

The groupset, while not exactly brilliant, elevates(!) it above the dross like the Raleigh Lizard, Activator etc.

Definitely early 90s. I'm sure I remember seeing them for sale. Somehow I'm thinking British Eagle. But I'm 80% sure that's wrong.

Good buy for £15.

lol. I see what you did there

Well spotted on the groupset! After some zooming in and comparing with other bikes it seems that the bike has a Biopace SG chainset. Have learnt something new today. Still can't tell what the rear derailleur is though.

For anyone else who doesn't know, Biopace chainrings are non round chainrings developed by Shimano. I always thought that eliptical chainrings were designed so that more teeth eat up more chain during the horizontal phase of your pedal stroke (and less chain during the vertical). The thinking behind this is that during the horizontal part of the pedal stroke, your legs are able to exert more power (due to your position on the bike, and the help of gravity), there is effectively a lower gear and therefore more distance travelled per pedal stroke.

The Shimano biopace chainrings on the other hand, are actually easier to pedal during the horizontal phase and slightly harder during the vertical. Apparently this is so that your legs gain extra momentum during the horizontal phase, which then helps you to push past the vertical phase. According to sheldon this is gentler on the knees and allows more efficient pedalling at lower cadences.

I think this guy could do with a set of these! Check out the large cog on that baby! Ouch!

 

[greencat]

I'm guessing it's a Shimano 200GS groupset. A mixture of plastic and wrought iron - it was heavy but functional (at least for a little while). It was found on entry level "proper" mountain bikes in the early 90s costing around the £300 mark. I had a Saracen Sahara with it - and it slowly self destructed over the space of six months fairly hard and clumsy riding.

Personally, I never got on with the biospace rings - they gave me knee problems which were immediately cured by round rings.

 

[02gf74]

Re:

Front forks look like fitted back to front.

 

[legrandefromage]

Re: Re:

Front forks look like fitted back to front.

And you fix bicycles for a living?

'back to front' rake adds stability at speed and keeps it in a straight line - gyroscopic effect (I seem to remember watch a professor in a suit on an Open university program many decades ago explaining it). 'normal' rake adds a bit of suspension and defers the gyro effect but would add steering as the bike leans. To keep stability at speed reverse rake helps.

But I cant remember my physics no more so I'm going to read up a bit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_a ... e_geometry

 

[mattr]

It'll probably not work well as a belt drive. You need a really stiff chain stay/seat stay with minimal flex, or the belt skips under power. Unless you are an 8 stone weakling, an e-stay frame will likely have too much waggle.

 

[velomaniac]

Re:

errr...isn't British Eagle a subsidiary or successor of Coventry Eagle not the other way around as has been stated as Coventry Eagle are much older :?

Either way, nice bike, and better by a long way than a Townsend Warlord which I embarrasingly rather like

 

[ljamesb]

Re: Re:

Front forks look like fitted back to front.

Just imagine, you go to all the trouble of custom making your own bike including machining that hilariously MASSIVE chainring, but then accidentally put the fork on backwards .

'back to front' rake adds stability at speed and keeps it in a straight line

Kinda tempted to try this out on one of my bikes. Maybe those Asda adverts for bicycle shaped objects from a few years ago were onto something. https://bicycleshapedobject.wordpress.c ... -of-shame/