I was hopeful that the weather would cooperate long enough to get a good ride in off road, but alas. I was really excited to get a leg over the Bandersnatch, and to get a feel for those IRD Fire XC Pro tires.

Last week, we had made arrangements to go for a good long ride on Sunday. We didn’t back down. We dodged rain drops for the first Five Hills Ride of the year. The 5HR is a silly local dirt road ride, with lots of climbing. The ride is centered around the store, and takes us up Barnes Hill, Gregg Hill, Loomis Hill, Perry Hill and Blush Hill in order, the five hills of Waterbury (and then some). You don’t ever really get more than 5 or 6 miles away from the store at any given point in the ride, which makes it convenient to peel off in the event you don’t feel like riding all five. Most of the winter and early spring, I’d do at least one or two of the hills to keep the legs and lungs in shape. I’ve been punishing myself on my singlespeed, and decided that yesterday would be a good day for Kermit and I to attempt all five in a row.

It wasn’t even really raining, it was more like a hard mist. The temps were in the low to mid 50s made clothing choice interesting. It didn’t really warrant full rain wear. I chose to wear my Endura Halcyon wool jersey and Endura HumVee knickers. (I also wore wool Argyle sox to complete the whole package)

I chose wisely!

I was not cold, nor was I too hot. Wool is good like that, keeping you warm against the elements while allowing your body to breathe.
I give two very hearty thumbs up to Endura.
Incidentally, Endura is a Scottish company, and as the saying goes, if it isn’t Scottish, it’s crap.

Well, if the weather is crap, then I’m wearing Scottish clothes!

It was a project I was putting off for a while, mostly due to the lack of hours in any given day, but it is almost done. I say almost because there will be upgrades along the way. The Bandersnatch will be my new test piggie for all sorts of cool bits and pieces.

I had to decommission the Karate Monkey to build this beast, but I’m sure that the Monkey will rise again (it always does). I had a terrible time getting it together, most of the parts on the KM had been there all it’s life, and did not come quietly. I had to reduce the travel on my Reba from 100mm to 80, and so it was also a good time to give a little love to the fork. It needed it.

The headtube on the Vassago is considerably longer than any of the bikes I’ve had the Reba on before, but fortunately, there was enough room for a Thomson stem, and nothing else. Amazingly, the cockpit proportions are almost identical to my other bikes, so it should be an easy time learning the ins and outs of the new bike. I’m looking forward to experiencing “Wet Cat” geometry first hand. I will be getting the Bandersnatch dirty on the trail this weekend weather permitting.

This weekend is the opening weekend for Catamount, where I delivered the first two of the demo 29ers that will live there this summer. I’ll have some more details on that in a future post. In a nutshell, anyone who wants to try a 29er in the woods, will have access to a full size run of Gary Fisher 29ers.

I just finished building and shipping one of the new disc only Salsa Dos Niner frames.
I can’t believe how light these things are, 4.2lbs for a large frame.
This build features the ever popular Bike29 Royale Wheelset in green, this time laced to Stan’s ZTR Arch rims. While it isn’t tubeless at the moment, the option is there. The complete bike weights in at 26.5lbs.

The seat and seatpost are mine, as the new owner of the bike already had those parts. I can’t really take a picture of an incomplete bike, especially when they look as good as this, so Moo II gets the cameo. Moo I & II are a pair of custom SDG saddles made for me, way back in the day, they occasionally make an appearance or two on any given bike.

Also heating things up, are these IRD Fire XC Pro 29er tires. It will look familiar to those that have used the 26″ tire manufactured by Panaracer. IRD has an agreement with Panaracer, who is actually making this tire for them in their factory in Japan. It is a fantastic multi-condition tire. I received them yesterday, weighed them up, and wouldn’t you know it, fit right into what my idea of a decent weight trail tire should be. Knowing the capabilities of this tire’s baby brother, it should be one to watch.
I was putting off a “Test Sled” build, but now my hand is forced.

I’ll have that update tomorrow. I know a couple of internet savvy folks are already wondering what it might be, but let’s just say, it will be frumious.

Wow, the last couple of days have been incredibly busy at the shop. All it takes is a couple of nice days in a row to bring all the clunkers out of the woodwork.
Having your internet connection at the shop go south on you doesn’t help any either.
Well, the repair rack is full, internet is fixed, shop is cleaned up again, and now I can post about a few things that we did at the shop this weekend.

Late last week, Ponte received his Waltworks single speed. He had it custom built this winter, around a non suspension corrected fork. Should be a razor quick ride. Build quality is amazing, finish work is beautiful, and the color has to be seen to be believed. Pictures don’t do it justice.

Another RIP found a new home. This one built with our Bike29 Royale Wheelset in blue on Salsa Delgado Race rims, Reba fork, X9 drivetrain w/ XT cranks, and all the usual Thomson and WTB accouterments.

On the ride side of things, the weather was so good this weekend, that I rode Kermit four days in a row. With the trails still snowbound, I was relegated to cruising the back roads. Fortunately, there are a lot of hills here, so each day I managed to get a solid workout in.
I have a couple of interesting component changes on Kermit to talk about in an upcoming post.

The jersey design has been finalized, and the window to order has closed. I’m really excited to see the finished product. Thanks again to all that helped shape it’s design.

The winning jersey is C.
It was an extremely tight race between C and D, but in the end C took it.
My vote was for D, but there was some feedback about blue, and some of the banding that made a lot of sense.
Thanks to everyone who took part.

Some folks brought up an interesting point. The Five Hills logo is upside down. We’ll probably have to fix that!

Now, if you want one of these, you have until 8AM on Tuesday to pre order. Quantities will be limited, so guaruntee yours by ordering one. There will not be many extras!

You can order one right here, at Bike29.com

It’s coming down to the wire here folks.
There has been an overwhelming response to the jersey. I’ve had more than a few phone calls and e-mails today expressing their vote.
I had no idea that Bike29 has such a wide (and global) audience.
I’m accepting votes until 7:30 AM on 4:20:07

Be heard!

I don’t want to hear people talking about what a crummy jersey it is six months from now. No one likes whiners.
The good news is, we’ll do a completely new jersey next year! Those who’s dream didn’t come true will not be hosed for 4 years.

The winning jersey will be announced at HIGH NOON right here.

Check back.

No, no, not the Garden State, nor the horrendous album by Bon Jovi (not coincidentally from the Garden State), but the brand spanky Bike 29 bike jersey.
We have been laboring for what seems like forever on the final color scheme, and now it is time to see what all y’all think.

We have narrowed it down to four designs. We are looking for feedback on the color schemes only. The logos are there to get a basic idea of the finished product.

What do you like best?

Will it be:
A

B

C

or D

I know which one I like….

With Mother Nature up to her cruel tricks again, we got about 8″ of heavy wet snow on Sunday afternoon, as part of a fluke mid April winter storm. Nothing will stand in the way between me and my grill though…

The snow gradually turned into rain, and then the wind picked up. 30 mph breezes with gusts up to 70 mph. It stopped raining in the early afternoon, but the wind was relentless all day. Despite the power outages, and the extra work it created with downed trees and other mayhem, it did help to make the snowbanks disappear. The roads are pretty dry up here, and if it stays like this, we’ll be riding again in no time.

I finished the big silver RIP9. Here are the pictures.

A shot of the green King front hub and headset framed my the DUC.

The matching rear hub. The rims are Stan’s Flows with Panaracer Rampage tires.

The bike came in at 28.59 lbs, without pedals. Not bad for an XL frame.

Also in the shop today, we finished up a new Karate Monkey. This is a big bike. It’s owner is 6’7. The wheels don’t look that big on this bike at all.

I’ll have more stuff to show and tell tomorrow, so come on back!

Ryan from Niner was kind enough to forward me some shots of the new beast at Sea Otter.
The bike as pictured weighs 22.99lbs, pretty impressive, despite the high zoot components.
I have been told that we’ll be seeing these in August, which is much too long to wait for!
I want one now!

I love the machined and anodized hardware. This is the upper rocker assembly…

…and the lower.

I’m interested to see if the bushings will provide the same lateral stiffness that the RIP has. The RIP has bearings, and each of it’s rockers feature stiffening brace. The pivot axles are stepped too, and the RIP has no lateral flex or wind up at all.

I remember that my old bushing generation Ellsworth Truth had no cross member either (the newer bearing one does). I don’t remember there ever being any lateral flex on that bike.

Needless to say, the JET has many compelling attributes. I am most anxious to see how this bike performs on the trail.

While I was enjoying epic mid-April powder in the woods at Stowe VT, others were enjoying the sights and sounds at Sea Otter in Monterey California. This is the event where manufacturers unveil the shapes of things to come.

Niner Bikes debuted the RIP 9 here last year, and sticking with tradition, this year they are showing the JET 9. I’ve had a picture of this bike for a long time, but was sworn to absolute secrecy on the matter.

Photo courtesy of Twentynineinches.com

This is essentially a short travel RIP. It gets 3″ of travel, and instead of using bearings, it uses bushings. This helps the frame loose almost a pound over it’s big brother. I’ve always said that bushings are better than sealed cartridge bearings, they are lighter, and can take more side loads than a bearing. Bearings are great for things that spin, like hubs and cranks, but for a system that moves 15° or so, a bushing is a much smarter choice. The only caveat, is that they need some loving from time to time.

I’m guessing that the bike in my head is going to be about 23.5 lbs, a great race weight for a bike with the manners we have come to expect from Niner. With any luck, this bike will not be plagued with the same production gremlins that the RIP9 had, and I’ll be riding one in June.
So far, the scheduled colors are anodized black, and the ever present Tang.

I would imagine that this will be a hot bike.