Rookie move

I put on a longer stem and new bar on the hardtail and was going to do a test ride. However, I'd forgotten to tighten the stem down onto the steerer bar. Doh. Thankfully I didn't crack my head on my own driveway. I imagine several children would comment on why Mr. Amanna wasn't wearing a helmet when he crashed.

death of the 26HT

Interesting article In velo news on the death of the 26er HT


I agree that a short travel XC dually is probably the best. Especially if you can make it really light out of carbon and it has efficient suspension that doesn't require any fiddling with lockouts or knobs. Imagine a carbon short travel DW link. Of course it would probably cost 3000 for the frame alone.

I think the key from this article was that the 26 dually and 29er become weapons of choice when the weight can be brought down enough and the suspension technology is good.

Can't make any statement on the 29er as I've hardly thrown a leg over one. Seeing those pictures of Heather Irminger's small 29er make me think some more abou it. I like a really high bar, so the naturally high bar created by a larger frame might work well.

Regardless, two things I know. I still love my 26er HT. Riding it is still fun, and even just the look of it, the proportions, the lines. And they are affordable for most. A cheap 29er is going to weigh a ton. Hence you'll need to spend a lot more to get the weight down.

wierd aches/pains

Not sure what is going on with my leg but I've got some wierd aches on the inside side of my leg near my knee. I'll be sitting down on a chair working or eating, and then when I get up I'll limp on my right leg. A few times it's been weak enough to almost give out, but then after a few steps it's virtually gone.

I've been getting the hardtail setup and something is wrong with the saddle position, cause after a ride today I really had some pain in my hips and this spot on the inside leg near the knee.

I'm going to spend some time trying to get the dually and HT to match. the dually has a 22.5 Effective Top Tube with a 70mm stem. Both of them have the same seat tube angle so their saddle should be placed in the same place in order to place my knee in the same position above the BB.

The HT has an ETT of 22.3. 22.5-22.3=0.2 inches--> 5mm. So I'm going to go for a 75mm stem on it. Right now I've got a 70mm and it does just feel too short. I always seem to be pushing myself back on the saddle. With the saddles in the same place, and with a slightly longer stem on the HT the reach from the saddle to the bar should be the same.

I've noticed on the dually, that my saddle has been slipping inside my seatpost. When I notice it and put it back to where it belongs I do pedal noticeably better, but then I also get much more tenderness in my hips (piriformis). Today on the HT, my hips were just on fire.

Oh how I love my trigger point massage ball! Man that things works great on deep into the hips.

body workout

I realized after the last race that the only way to train for technical mountain biking is to mountain bike on technical terrain. For fitness the road bike comes in very handy as does the trainer, but there is no subsitute for creating that full body fatigue that accompanies technical riding.

I decided to get the hardtail going again. One reason is it's just fun, but the other is that it will beat me up more especially on the terrain we have out here at Brush mountain. If I had to choose just one off road bike I would go with my short travel dually (Azure). But my thought process is that by riding the hardtail a little bit more off road, I can incorporate just body fatigue training as well as fitness. 1hr off road on the hardtail may be equivilant to 1.5hrs on the dually from a body pounding point of view.

dissed in ebay

Ebay sure seems to be going downhill lately.

Got some XO shifters for the hardtail as well as an XTR front der. The front shifter was shot on the XO and the front derailleur was mis advertised. I wanted a top pull and it was a bottom pull.

The front der. refunded my money but the XO lister was a pain. I'd already left the good feedback upon delivery but hadn't gotten around to installing it till the other day. Oh well learned my lesson.

but I did just score some Stans Olympic rims to build up a new light wheelset from some soon to find I hope hubs.

inside of wtb hub

Ever wander what's inside a hub? Those little arms are called the pawls. This is a 6 pawl system.

There is a plate called a cam plate that sits on the bottom and there is a stiff wire on the back of the cassette body. The tip of this wire dragging across the cam plate is what creates the ticking sound of a spinning freebody.

When it turns the other way, ie when you are pedaling, the stiff wire engages with holes in the cam plate which rotates. When the cam plate rotates it engages the pawls. The pawls rotate in which engages them onto the teeth of the cassette body

When I busted up my hub recently, here is what the cam plate looks like:

Vbrake rubbing on Black SPV fork

I've been messing with the hardtail again, trying to get it trail ready for kicks. I put on my black spv fork and had to go to full V brakes because my disc wheel went to my son.

When i stand up and lean the bike to the left, or take a left corner or track stand (with wheel turned to the left) my front V brake deflects so much that the pad rubs the rim. So much so that it messes up my trackstand because it practically stops the front wheel from moving.

I just can't remember so far back when I actually ran it that way with V brakes on the front to recall if it was this bad. I tried another front wheel and it still did it so I'm thinking it is something with the fork lowers.

Won't mess with it too much because Vbrake on the front is so bad that I must go Disc. Rear I can live with a little bit.