Do you ever have one of those days when you are sure that you have nothing but an uphill slog ahead of you, with nothing at the top to greet you except another huge pile of crap you have to get through?

Well, today was not one of those days.

I spent most of yesterday dealing with a recalcitrant fork, a project that I didn’t get finished. I always feel beaten when I have to leave a job incomplete. But this morning, it took just about an hour to finish up that little project. Sometimes, some time away can give a level of clarity that never seems to come when you are frustrated to the point of throwing tools.

With my new freed up schedule, I had time to help Nat build his very first set of wheels. Which incidentally were on his old WTB hubs (from his first set of 29er wheels ever). He laced up a set of Stan’s 355s with DT Comp spokes and alloy nipples. The wheelset ended up at 1650g with yellow tape and valves. The color combo, well, I like to call the “iron cross”. Picture alternating groups of 4 silver and black spokes. They pulse when they spin. Sweet! This is now an option on our Bike 29 Custom 29er Wheelset, but don’t worry, Nat won’t be building them for you.

I will give him credit, he did a great job, even if he did take about 6 hours to build them. 

I also spent a very good portion of the day on the phone talking to folks about their next next bike. Sitting around yammering about various components and set-ups is what I do best. All of the folks that I spoke with were potentially looking at their first 29er ever. And I got to thinking about my first 29er ever, the Surly Karate Monkey. That bike that changed it all for me, and maybe these new bikes will change the way these folks look at riding a bike.

And then, I get a phone call from one of these unusual characters.

I was very surprised to get a phone call from Mr Deejay Birch. I haven’t seen Deejay or Fuzzy since Interbike, and I often think about these guys. Hopefully they will make the trek out east again for the 09 version of the Vermont Mountain Bike Festival.

Deejay also told me about a little shindig he’s having in AZ in January, SSAZ09. Tempting, mighty tempting… 

So in the grand scheme of things, many positive things happened today. I have a nice little 3 day break from the shop. A family day, Thanksgiving, and a trip to Auburn NH to ride the 14th Annual Turkey Burner. This will be my second time, and also Kermit’s second time too. Kermit and I will be headed down there bright and early on Friday. We’ll be easy to spot.

Let the good times roll!

We’re throwing down, hope you can make it.

I guess I’ll start with my first impression of the swanky new Niner carbon fork prototype. When the fork arrived, I happened to be on the phone with Brett from NIner, and we were actually talking about how cool the new fork is. PIcture two big carbon fiber flavored bars of Toblerone and you have your fork blades.

The triangular construction of the fork legs is unique, and a huge departure from the traditional round legs. I imagine that its this shaped this way for a reason. One of the many great things about carbon, is that it you can pretty much do anything you want with it. Metal is not quite as “malleable”. The result, when combined with careful engineering, is a forgiving design with both uber lightness, and herculean strength. Niner tests their products very thoroughly. Looks like I’m helping!

At first, I was a little nervous about trusting my dental work to a 530g piece of plastic. But I figure that the 2 other carbon forks with carbon steerer tubes I have in rotation, that have given me many happy and trauma free miles, it was time for me to get over that small detail. The parking lot test was good, some chatter under a big handful of front brake, but nothing that really jumped out at me that would indicate any sort of trailside problems.

Hey, guess where I went? That’s right, Town Loops in Stowe. There are a coupe of trails that are too close to houses and the main road for hunting, which made this a good place to go, as last weekend was also the first weekend of rifle season. Also, I recently found out that hunting was illegal on Stowe Town land, which means that both upper and lower loops should be relatively safe. Once you head out to Charlie’s and Zogs though, you are on private land, and are on your own…

Dr Jones and I headed out in snow flurries. Rigid singlespeed bikes have always felt the same to me, rigid. The Niner Steel fork that normally lives on the bike has a bit of give to it, but not much. I still feel that it beats me up a tad when I push things too far. This carbon fork was completely different. It felt like there was nothing there. I felt nothing. No bumps, no front wheel, yet I could go wherever I wanted to just by turning the bars. Weird! Actually, I’m exaggerating a bit, I did feel things, but not in the same way I felt them with the steel fork. 

There was a level of compliancy that is only possible with carbon fiber. Steering precision was spot on. Which leads me to a couple of things about this fork that are different than my steel one. The steel fork was built on a platform with a 480mm axle to crown, and an offset of 38mm. The carbon is 470mm A-C, and 46mm offset.

The resulting change in both A-C and offset, results in an increase in steering speed, but not at the expense of being twitchy. I was very impressed. Negotiating some of the tighter turns on the loops became a lot easier. “Right NOW!” low speed turns on rooty switchbacks were a lot less nerve wracking, and there was no sign of impending tip-over.

One of the great things about single speed riding, is that it can be dead quiet. No chain chatter, no rebound noise from shocks, just quiet. My stealth was rewarded with rolling right up to a HUGE buck, which I counted six spikes on before he saw me and bolted. And no hunters in sight. That sucker had to be 160 lbs or more. Wish I was quicker on the draw with my camera…

I’m left with the impression that this fork is the real deal, and that this will certainly change things for those that like to ride carbon forks. My pre production sample weighs a scant 530g before I cut the steerer tube down. White Bros lists their Rock Solid at 700g, and the Bontrager Switchblade is 950g. We’ll see how it holds up as I’m forced to ride in the snowy cold.

It’s when people that don’t know how to work on bikes, but damn it they know how to use the internets!

This is a sad truth, that the internets makes us all dumber. 

Thank you Al Gore.

This is a reply I put up on a post I put up on a forum in reply to a very misguided set of very poor questions. It just sort of rubbed me the wrong way. You don’t smack talk one of my favorite bikes without having your facts in order!

I generally don’t get in on discussions like this, but I feel that there is some information that is missing here. Your bike is bobbing. Front and rear. It is disheartening, I know. However, it is important to know all the variables, such as – What are the settings on your shocks? Is your preload set correctly? Why are you out of the saddle? Suspension frames are designed to absorb bumps, each manufacturer has a different idea on how those bumps are absorbed. The great equalizer, is that all frames are designed to react a certain way without any other force on the bike. We’re talking straight up and down motion here. Now, here’s where it might possibly get interesting…. Let us pretend that you have perfect technique, with a perfect spin, and you can roll right over a bump on flat ground without losing any energy on your full suspension frame.

Congratulations! You’ve set your fork and rear shock correctly! So, part of this experiment requires you to remain absolutely motionless as you pass over this “bump”. You coast over the bump, and the fork and rear shock damp the bump, and you remain motionless as you pass over the bump.

Now, let us pretend that we are actually “mountain biking”. Not only do we lose the constant of flat ground, but we also add incline, decline, and the dreaded “compound bump”. A compound bump may be one or a combination of the following: rocks, roots, mud holes, logs, squirrels, chickens, goats, tourists, equestrians, hikers, the short bus, a car, your girlfriend, wife or your mom.

My point is, that these obsticales require effort to get over. You can’t just expect the bike to do it for you. So… some of these bikes will do their very best at absorbing as many of these factors as they can, but then you want to add pedaling forces too??!! Your whole body rolling around your bottom bracket? Some of the bikes out there will do a good job of dealing with both of these obtrusive forces. 

And here I am assuming you can do it all sitting on your saddle. What if you were out of the saddle, cranking through a section of tough bumpy mom trail?

And out of these few bikes, only some of them will do a really good job of dealing with these forces.

Not one of the many amazing full suspension designs out there in the world will do it all for you. You have to do some of it. And now I’m going to point out that the forks you’ve mentioned, that you think may be the salvation, are actually going to behave exactly the same (despite the fact the the 20mm QR versions are about as real as Tinkerbell or the Pope).  I’ve been riding a RIP9 since 06, and it is still my favorite ride.

I expect that my bike may not necessarily pedal well in certain instances, but it is in the way that I set it up that counts.

1} I never use the lockout feature. I paid for the suspension fork, I expect it to do it’s thing.

2} I am definitely not the smoothest rider in the world. Many external forces dictate my ultimate line, including big, ugly, square pedal strokes.

I set my RIP9 up soft, so it can deal with the horror I throw at it. I weigh 230 with gear, have my front shock at 80 psi, rebound at 8 clicks back from fast. The rear shock is set at 150 psi, normally set at wide open, but will flick the ProPedal on during extended boring climbs. The setting is “3″, rebound is 8 clicks back from fast. To get really detailed, I’m running Stan’s Flow rims, generally I have the tire pressure at 28-32 depending on the tire I’m running at the time. It works for me, I stand, sit, crank, and roll over just about everything that doesn’t pitch me off the bike.

BTW, Best Bike EVER as far as I’m concerned. You need to learn how to set up and use your bike dude. This forum is a great place to get info on how to do it… oh, and reach down and lock out your fork if you need to…

Here’s your video

RIPing it up

Maybe it was a bit too much. I never know…

Salsa’s long awaited new full suspension 29er frame is finally here.

Salsa spent a couple of years working on this design, and it shows. A lot of thought went into the design, and the result is a clean looking frame with elegant lines. The color “Orange Funk” is hard to describe, it is almost like terra cotta, but no matter what you call it, it is really nice. The graphics are subdued, and fit well with the overall presentation. There are no two ways about it, this is one smart looking bike.

Some of the design elements are very cool, like the post style rear brake mount. It finally seems that every brake manufacturer is on board with post mount, all of the forks are now coming this way now, so why not the rear brake? 

Salsa employs 7 forgings, including the ultra neato rocker link, with big welding areas. This makes for some sturdy frame construction, and gives the bike lots of lateral stiffness.

The Big Mama uses a single pivot, with a flexing seatstay to activate the custom valved Fox RP2 shock. Most importantly, the seatstays act not just as a frame member, but as part of the whole suspension design. The specially shaped seatstays provide resistance to pedal-induced bobbing while still remaining sensitive to small bump forces. On larger hits, the flexing seatstays work with the linkage to assist the rear shock in moving through its full travel.

Why? The flexing seatstays eliminate the need for a pivot near the rear hub. This adds stiffness to the rear triangle, and lessens stress on the frame’s remaining pivots and bearings and increases durability. Less moving parts, dig?

I think this will be a hot bike.

So, Project Jabberwocky turned out to be for me! George has been trying to get me on a singlespeed for a couple of years now and I’ve been anti-SS due to a previous attempt that ended in tears (mine) when I just couldn’t make it climb up any of our hills. After that last fateful ride, my poor (mid 90′s vintage Joe Murray made) steel Kona Lava Dome was summarily outfitted as a 1×8 and relegated to pulling the baby buggy.

Fast forward a few years and George is negotiating with me for a new singlespeed. We came to an agreement that perhaps the gearing on that previous ss was just too punishing for the likes of me. He swore to build a bike that i would have fun riding, and i promised that i would ride it if indeed it was fun.

After building my Soma DoubleCross for commuting, I knew I wanted a steel hardtail for riding off road. Wait, more specifically, I wanted a steel hardtail 29er for riding off road (coulda ridden the aforementioned Kona if any old steel hardtail would do.)  The Vassago’s have been flying off the shelves all summer and fall, so I was eager to give one a try and see what the fuss is about. 

First off, it has a deliciously long top tube. Add to that plenty of standover and we’re already starting in a good spot with this bike. I’m 5’6″ish, longer in the torso than the legs and this 16″ frame is a good fit for me.

How is it on the trail? It’s fun. Lot’s of fun. Quick and nimble, this bike sticks to the trail and feels low to the ground. I don’t feel like I’m riding a BIG bike, I don’t feel way high up in the air. I thought it would be a rough transition to fully rigid after riding my RIP9 so much, but honestly it’s fun. All of you out there who already ride a fully rigid singlespeed are probably snickering into your coffee/whiskey/wine coolers – cause you already know all this stuff. The bottom bracket is lower and more forward than I’m accustomed to, so this has led to some hard thwacks into unsuspecting rocks, but I’m sure as I get more rides in I will be better able to gauge these things.

George chose all the components on the bike. He’s good at it, he spends 98% of his life thinking about bike components so I’ve found that it’s just better to leave it up to him. I have no complaints on anything he’s ever chosen. The bike is light, the brakes work, all the red Chris King bling is attractive. The Kenda Karma’s have to be run pretty soft for good traction on mid-November trails and I’m still trying to dial in that number. Is it 22 or 24 psi?

last run in Stowe

I’ve had her out three times already, and no tears yet. However, due to hunting season I haven’t really had the chance to climb that many hills – so perhaps the jury is still out on whether or not singlespeeding is for me in the long run. I do know that I’m feeling pretty dedicated this time around, so watch out!!

So, this came today…

Here is what I know about it. It weighs 530g, has post mounts for the disc brake, A-C is 470mm, forward facing drop outs, offset is 46mm, and it is going on Kermit.

Anyone know what it is?

Look for a very detailed ride report very soon!

I just pulled a 2009 Fisher Rig out of a box today. 

The spec is pretty much unchanged over last year’s model, but the new color is way better in my opinion. The white accents even down to the white cable housing make the bike pop off the floor like David Lee Roth.

The onlychange is the Duster TLR (TubeLess Ready) wheelset, in a snazzy ano brown. The bike does not come with the necessary rim strips to actually make the wheelset tubeless, but the strips and valve stems will be available soon. Like last year’s model, the frame has all the necessary cable stops and derailleur hanger provision to put as many gears as you want, should you find that single speeding is not for you.

This tidy package will run you $1299 without pedals.

I’ve spent the last few weeks procrastinating, but now it’s time for me to suck it up and start doing all the things that I’ve been avoiding. There will be some new updates to the website, new products added, old ones deleted etc etc.

Most recently, I spent some time working on the Bike 29 Custom Wheelset. It was time for a less expensive high quality handbuilt set of wheels to be offered. Now it’s live, and there will be options galore as they become available. Check them out.

There will be a singlespeed version of this wheelset soon.

I also got word that my Salsa Big Mamas are on the way. Salsa’s new 4″ trail bike is bound to be a big hit.

So, enough procrastinating! I have work to do!

Here is the cold reminder that you should get as much mountain biking in as possible before winter really comes. The snow made it to the valley floor today, and the forecast is for more. This was the scene behind the shop today around 2pm.

I actually enjoy winter. I never used to, but now I welcome the colder temperatures, the snow. To live in Vermont, you have to embrace winter or you’ll go cookoo. You have to do something outside or you will most likely go mad from what we call “cabin fever“. And as we all know, outside is good. 

Jay and I braved the North wind on a 35 mile ride on our CX bikes, returning with frozen feet but good attitudes. Soon, there will be snowboarding (or skiing if’n you’re like that). More time outdoors. 

It’s a good thing.