Thursday, September 25, 2008

Interbike



I'm sure there is no need to inform you interbike is on at the moment. There is plenty of cool looking stuff, from the excellent use of the d.w link by turner and pivot, to the city bikes from trek. All types of riders are represented. The thing i am liking the most are the return of beautiful paint schemes and the more subtle than previous use of anodising. 2 examples in particular stand out for me: the salsa selma, and the ruegamaer bike on the edge stand. These photos are lifted from the ligero wheelworks site, whose wheels i could spend days looking at...

Saturday, September 20, 2008

15 lbs and change.


Got the Epic Designs bags on to the bike for the first time. I've had them for awhile due to the sterling efforts of eric (if you havent read this do so) but i havent been here, or able to spare the time to go for a "bikepacking" trip.

So, i loaded up with everything i need, including belt and braces in some cases, and total weight of everything is great. More importantly it all fits into the packs with room aplenty to spare. The best thing is that due to the 'trunk turtle' design, i have easy access to things i might need quickly. Everything is lashed down and stable and i am confident that technical singletrack will be fine.

The aim for this trip is probably east coast, with a planned stop off to see some friends racing/comissaring at glentress. From there, who knows....

I'll report back.

Friday, September 19, 2008

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR!

Happy talk like a pirate day, land lubbers!

I give you swashbuckle.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Mo' deetee.

440. Soon with a 9mm thru axle rws. Maybe a 20mm, or a 15mm thru axle if crisp can. We'll see. Bontrager duster and dt comps with red alloy nips.

I ain't got the blues...

Oregon custom bikes.




Oregon once again shows it has more than its fair share of excellent bike builders.

This photo is lifted from john's (of goodtimes bicycles) flickr, who makes amazing frames himself.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The bomb.



This wheel (paul disc word, mavic ex 721, dt comps, prolock brass nips, single ply minion DH) went together so quickly its almost frightening. The other wheel i built this morning (deore rear disc with london fixie 6 bolt cog, dt comps and alloy nips, and open pro rim) went together so badly, it was frightening. 4 rounded nips, replaced spokes on drive side (292 for 290's, as the spoke calculator recommended 291.5 and they held nowhere near enough tension) and a supercomp nipple added at a critical moment that almost had me apoplectic). Ah well.


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Dinner is poured...





Sweet riding town bike...

raining outside.



As the cat's facial expression and body language makes it so very apparent, its been raining a lot outside. So there hasnt been so much playing about. Back to k-bells (my legs are done) and bike projects. In addition, i have been listening to some music i have acquired recently, that i havent had a decent amount of time to actually pay attention to. Grinderman, jon spencer blues explosion, black crowes, rjd2, scott h biram, left lane cruiser...blah.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Vice whip.



Photo from velonews. I MUST HAVE ONE!

Sunday, September 07, 2008

New wheels.

Talking of stuff i have noticed at eurobike, thru axles seem to be gaining acceptance in all spheers of bike riding. From the QR 15 developed by fox and shimano, to the 20mm thru axles and the DT rws thru axle quick release. Sram/rockshox has a light maxle and marzocchi has adopted the qr15 as well.

I see no reason for this not to gain more momentum. Thru axles are just better. I have not looked back since i started using the 9 and 10mm rws thru axles on the DT 240 hubs.

However, i see a time coming soon when i want a bike with a suspension fork again. Shenandoah was HARD and the sharp rocks took their toll, especially as i had a relatively narrow bonti mustang rim on the front with high psi following an early puncture.

So in order to future proof a little, i am building some new wheels. Front: DT 440 with qr endcaps initially, moving to the 9mm thru axle end caps and rws skewer when the end caps become available. It is also 20mm compatible and will form the basis of the front wheel for project suspension forked-bike. The rim will be a bonti duster 28mm wide tubeless ready, DT comp spokes (black) and red alloy nipples save a little weight against the 50g gain in the hub over the 240. I will use loctite as a thread lock.

The rear will be DT comp spokes, red nipples and the old DT 240 singlespeed hub with 10mm thru axle as the salsa delgado needs retiring.

Eurobike


Eurobike seems pretty interesting this year. Aesthetics are good, and there is some neat looking parts which seem more refined than previous. Bikedaily has some super good shots, including this one, which has me thinking i might need a road bike at some point..

Deformation


2 days prior to the shenandoah 100, frank took me riding in cooper's gap, near state college. The trails there are rocky, swoopy, rooty and on account of the rain, slippery. A few days before heading to the USA, i had noticed an unusual creak at the front of my bike. Initially i thought it was the disc brake unit, but it started creaking when i wasnt braking. The culprit reared its head in cooper's gap. As i whizzed round a corner chasing the hard charging frank, i skipped over some rocks and roots, and on attaining traction again, i shot off into the undergrowth. No impact or crash, just over steer.

On regaining the trail, i found the front rim had cracked open at the pinned joint, leaving me in need of a new wheel. Fortunately, the guys at mt nittany wheel works sorted me out...you'll see in the picture, the bend, which was confined to about 4" of rim.

Zombie



I hooked up with jeff, sheila and their lovely kids at napa, had a natter, and picked up the fat fork and wheel.

Need to build up a rear paul hub onto an mavic ex721, then the Nzumbi will live again...

Worlds colliding.


Back from the US of A. A long trip, with so many good things it is going to be hard to mention them all. We took stock in san francisco prior to aiming the rental barge to the marin headlands. With nick's cove as a base (in point reyes national park) we wandered, rode and sea kayaked ourselves into a state of relaxation, with the help of xcellent oysters, red wine and lagunitas IPA at the 'cove's rstaurant. The cabin we stayed in was amazing, with several shower heads and a seat in the shower wet room, and a bed which would keep a princess happy.

All too soon, it was time to head to napa for the singlespeed worlds. No doubt there will be acres of words dedicated to a fine event orchestrated by curtis inglis. The course was hard, the sun hot, the dust thick and the beer flowing. We stayed in a motel with the aussies, canadians, and some of the brits. A great and relatively chilled time was had.

At the compo for next years race, max pulled it out the bag for durango, so im off to order a hyperbaric tent...