Some may remember that my WFO experiment began way back in October of last year. The experiment began as Weapon X, with the goal to create a baddass trail bike that could take on our tight and twisty New England trails. It was born from my experiences with my previous WFO which was aptly named Honey Badger, due to its cantankerous nature. It just didn’t give a shit.

As I’ve spent most of my time this year on Weapon X, I found that my experiment was excelling at some things, and falling short elsewhere. This is all part of the game, and improvements and refinements were made along the way. Without my incessant tinkering I would not have made all the changes to this bike that have drastically improved the way it performs.

First and foremost, I found that the stock Rock Shox Monarch rear shock, while a very capable unit, was not living up to my expectations. It is quite tuneable, but the spring rate is linear, meaning it feels pretty much the same throughout it’s range of motion.  I’ve been riding full suspension bikes since ’96, and I’ve always used the rear shock to do a lot of the work for me (it’s why its there). My riding style is biased towards the rear of the bike, and I expect the rear shock to load up and provide some pop when coming out of a bump or exiting a turn. The Monarch was just not getting it done. I ‘d have to run so much air pressure that the bike would ride too harshly over rough terrain.

time to start the reactor

Enter the DHX air, which has a nice bottom out resistance setting. That’s the little extra dodad that sticks out of the shock like Quato. I can now run the shock  soft enough where it literally flutters over the bumps without worrying about blowing through all the travel. In other words, it ramps up quite nicely, and it delivers the sort of performance I expect out of a bike like this.

squeeze here...

...stop here

Also new, are the new 4 piston Avid XO Trail brakes. I only have a couple of rides in on them, so they haven’t developed full power yet, but I can say that lever feel is consistent with other Avid brakes I own, and hauling my ass to a stop on anything is a mere 1 finger effort, even when the old XO brakes might take 2. Looking forward to full power.

Plus I got to build up a new set of wheels for the bike that are more along the lines of my style. The old wheels are already on their way to their new home. While cleaning them up, I checked them over to make sure they were still good etc… Still round and straight after a few seasons of abuse, just in case you were wondering why I use the I9 wheels….

electroviolet

engagement, stiffness, a Jedi craves these things

Stan’s had just released their Flow EX rim, which has a 3mm wider inner width than the standard Flow. What does this mean?

wide

I measured the Hans Dampf as a legit 2.3 on the old Flow (measured at the casing).

MOAR WIDE!

I like big tires. I picked up 40g per wheel on this upgrade, which isn’t enough to get me in a fuss, considering I had spent a few weeks on 1100g tires.

The bike has been evolving from experiment to result, and it has taken on a whole new personality. I sort of felt like it might be time to give the bike a real name, as it has certainly earned it’s worth, and a permanent spot in my stable. Much in the same way Logan started as an experimental Weapon X, he became known as the Wolverine, I’ve given my Weapon X a new handle.

sweeten the ride

This, is Black Sunshine.

 

Sorry about the pause.

Lots of things happened. Awesome stuff, the sort of stuff that inspires, but doesn’t necessarily translate into a blog post that isn’t 9 million words long. You just had to be there. Yes, Dejay came to vist. Yes, Dough came to visit. Yes, we rode bikes, drank beer, ate food and goofed off. Oh, it was awesome.

fun times

Fact of the matter is, I needed a bit of a break from blogging. I know Dicky is just jealous that he couldn’t be here this weekend and experience the Podium Legs first hand, he told me so. This is all the more reason why he needs to get his ass to SSUSA…

 

 

I’m cleaning house, or shop, or something. Basically, I’m getting rid of the excess. At this time in my life, one of the things I don’t really need, is the RDO Speedwagon.

buy this bike

So I’m selling it. It is siting idle, collecting dust, and that is a damn shame. Someone needs to be out riding this thing, because it is a hoot to ride. I’m asking $5000 for the whole shooting match (no pedals).

There will be some other stuff getting hawked off soon too, but this is the big one.

This weekend should be interesting, I have a house full of guests, dogs and kids. I hope I can squeeze in some riding.

After fiddling around with the stock Monarch shock on Weapon X for a few months now, I have come to the conclusion that I need a different rear shock. I’ve never been able to find a good setting that works for me, it’s a good shock, but I need a little something different for my riding style. I find myself in need of something that ramps up more, something that tightens up as I drive the back end of the bike over bumps or through turns. Had I not previously owned a WFO equipped with a DHX Air, I wouldn’t know what I was looking for.

As chance would have it, Commander Cody hand delivered a brand new DHX rear shock.

many Bothans died to bring me this shock

Actually, a friend had ordered one, but found out the hard way that it didn’t clear his frame. I hadn’t really been planning on upgrading the rear shock so soon, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like this. The shock was the right size, and a quick (actually not quick, more like 20 minutes on hold) phone call to Fox, assured me that the shock would be appropriately valved for a WFO.

I’m looking forward to trying this bad boy out.

I needed a day off. Actually, I could pretty much use a month, but that isn’t likely. No, instead I took a day to go ride some trails with friends, and get to experience a little bit of summer living.

I love the Kingdom

Don’t tell anyone, but summer here in VT is quite beautiful. In fact it’s the whole reason many of us put up with the rest of the shit we get to deal with to call this place home. Tuesday was a prime example of pay-off.

I had organized a group of similarly capable riders to go out and “crank some miles”, I was hoping for 30+ miles, 4K+ of climbing and lots of trail. I had some aggression I needed to pedal out, and I wanted to leave it all out there.

Well, I certainly left it out on the trail, but for different reasons. The ride ended up being quite a bit shorter mileage wise, but way more fun. We stuck to the Burke side of the trail network, hitting Dead Moose Alley, J-bar, Burnham Down, and then a quick shuttle to the outstanding Jester. It might not sound like we rode that much, but factor in that we rode from town to where we drop in at Moose, it was actually a stiff grind. The trails were dusty dry. The downhills were blisteringly fast. It was hard to not laugh out loud while flying through the dips and berms. It was all about getting happy.

The WFO was the right tool for the job. In fact, since my decision to pretty much ride this bike full time, that evil little demon of bike doubt has shut his little mouth. I no longer care about having the lightest bike anymore. Trickest bike, yes… I mean, come on… it’s me… With all that out of the way, I can concentrate on working towards riding it faster and with more authoritah. I’ve switched the tires back to the Hans Dampfs to I could get a good comparison to the Trail Kings I had been playing with. Big smiles there, but I’m sure you aren’t surprised. I have a long term report on the TKs coming up soon.

 

 

… I’ll be on  my way to riding my face off at the Kingdom Trails.

Yes, that might sting a bit for some, but the planets have aligned for me to do this, and frankly, I think I kind of deserve it. The plan is to meet some friends, ride a bunch of stuff, have fun, and be back in town to pick the kids up from school.

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow.

It all started on Monday. I was moving a bunch of bikes around in the shop, and pulled out my partially disassembled Fisticuff from the hook it has been swinging from for the last few years.I knew what needed to happen.

Townie.

beer getter

I needed a bike that I can go get a coffee on, or lunch, get beer, or to go down to Jonsy’s print shop and hang out. Something low stress. Turns out I had just about everything I needed jut hanging out in random boxes, except for a few items, which I quickly procured. I had to think good and hard about how I wanted the project to finish, and took a little bit of a risk on the handlebars. I think it payed off.

keeping it classy

ESP 9.0 brake levers, remember these plastic things?

Paul WORD disc hubs

XTR cranks w/ Spot chainring

This bike is a hoot to ride. I’ve spent quite a bit of time bombing around town on it, looking for any excuse to hop on it and pedal. I’ve also taken it on some non errand type rides too. I had a nice evening jaunt with the dog down behind the empty State Complex, casually rolling through the parking lots and grassy knolls. I began thinking about the Fisticuff, and how I had never really “gotten it” until just now. It was always a weird bird, I had a hard time finding it’s purpose, but I’m glad I finally did. The result is a very well balanced and dead sexy cruiser.



Sadly, Vassago is no longer, and I found myself thinking of my old friends who have moved on to the next things in life. It’s a crazy world out there with many hurdles to clear, but the company just didn’t wether the storm. They made good bikes that made a lot of people happy, including myself. The stoke lives on.

 

I realize I’m probably going to cross a line here, but I don’t care.

Once upon a time, there was a bike shop, and one day a young gentleman came in with a broken front quick release skewer.

“I need the cheapest one of these you have”.

The owner happened to be working, and quickly found a new Shimano steel skewer, much like the broken skewer that had been presented.

“How much?”
“$10″

Digging through wallet. “Would you take $8?”

“No, it’s $10″
“I have $8 and a Bic lighter”
“Sorry, the price is $10″

Customer leaves to go digging around in his car for $2, comes back with $8, a Bic lighter and $5 CAN in Loonies.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t take Canadian money. There is a bank across the street, and they can change it for you. The skewer is $10 US.”

Customer leaves again, and finally comes back with a $10 bill, plus $3 for the owner’s “trouble”, and promptly begins a line of questioning that could come across as slightly insulting, if not borderline hostile, to the bike shop owner.

“Are you from around here?
“Are you the owner?
“Well, I work in retail and… barter is an important part of the sale, and… hear bad things about the service in this shop, and…”

The owner quietly listened to the concerns of the young man who had to jump through so many hoops to get a cheap wheel skewer and thanked him for his feedback and bid him good day.

Now take a few minutes to think about this. Is someone in the wrong in this situation? Was the customer wronged by an unobliging shop employee? This story is not fictitious in any way, in fact, it played out before two other witnesses. This story was the defining interaction of my Monday. Now I did take the liberty of omitting some of the circumstances that might have changed the tone of this interaction, because, let’s face it, the customer is always right. Right?

Customer walks into said shop talking on his cell phone. Does not stop talking on cell phone after part has been produced and price has been established. Customer leaves in a huff to find “correct change”. Asks strangers in the parking lot for money to complete the transaction.

Now, let’s think about simple economics shall we? We are in retail why? To make money. And we all now there isnt much money to be had on the biking industry. We do this for love.

I present to you, exhibit A:

the skewer

Available from QBP at $9.22 wholesale.

$10-$9.22 = $.78, not much of a margin, but the customer did come in looking for a deal. And I was in a managerial position to oblige. Now think about what it takes to get that item in the store. It had to be shipped there, so there is some sort of shipping charge associated with it. I calculate that for the size and weight of this single item, it may have added another $.55 to the cost of the skewer. So really, it costs $9.77. You can’t really pay rent or really any other bill with a $.23 sale can you?  In fact, that isn’t really worth anyone’s time.

So let’s back up once again.

Customer talking on phone apparently did not hear me say, “these are $15, but I’ll give it to you for $10.”  Seems like a pretty damn fair price right? On both counts really…

But I can completely understand his frustration. It must have been humbling to have to leave the store not once but twice to get the $10 necessary to procure the necessary funds for the part. Every time I go to the Ford dealership and ask for one of these:

Raptor

they ask for $50K. I do not have $50K, and therefor no Raptor. I don’t even have a colorful Bic lighter to sweeten the deal. So I leave in a huff.

We have in this particular instance, reached the epic climax of this transaction. Customer needs the skewer, and is now so pissed at me for being so unyielding in my price, that not only has he had to battle the Hydra to get the missing $2, he also came up with a little extra, to toss me some “fuck you bucks” so he could in good concience buy my time and tell me how I should run my business. Question my fairness. Let me know how I have wronged him. To teach me a lesson on how retail and “barter” works. In front of other customers. Who he had asked for money from in the parking lot.

The last paragraph in the story is exactly what happened.

The owner quietly listened to the concerns of the young man who had to jump through so many hoops to get a cheap wheel skewer and thanked him for his feedback and bid him good day.

$10. I could have just said I didn’t have the damn skewer. Maybe I should have just said it was $15 and saved both of us all a bunch of harrumph. I wanted to tell him something else, and invite him to never show his face in my establishment again, yet I held my breath.

So, what is the moral of this story?

Change is good. I needed a little something different to do, so after work I hopped on my skinny wheeled bike and went for a road ride. I was kind of in a grumpy mood, but I didn’t feel like lugging the monster bike up any hills. I figured I’d do my standard “round the block” loop, but this time getting the climb over Duxbury Gap out of the way first so I could have a lice lazy spin next to the river all the way back to the shop.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, mid 70s, no humidity, and just a hint of a headwind. It totally reminded me of Switzerland. The miles were rolling by pretty quickly, and once I reached the intersection of 100B, I decided I’d ride into Waitsfield instead of heading back. It’s a nice rolling piece of road with good pavement. Then I had the bright notion that maybe I’d attempt the App Gap. But I was only going to do it if I could have a beer at the top. I popped into the grocery store in Waitsfield, and clip clopped around to the beer section which was in the far back corner. Of course, it was prime grocery shopping time in the quaint town of Waitsfield, and I felt like a tool awkwardly staggering around the linoleum isles in my slick soled shoes. But SUCCESS! Heady Topper cans in singles. A 4 pack would have been a really bad idea…

I stuffed the beer into my back pocket, now committed to make my attack on the summit. I’d been threatening to do the App Gap for years and years and years, but this is only the second time I have done it, the first time being last year. It isn’t as bad as I had cranked it up in my head, except for the last 5000m, which are conveniently marked on the side o the road, as this is part of the Green Mountain Stage Race. Also, all the Strava data will reveal that I am a fat sack of shit compared to the “fast guys” that fly up the mountain. Oh well, the downfall of being twice the man of these guys, literally. I was only passed by one person on the last 1000m. He made me look like I was standing still. Bastard. But I bet he didn’t have a nice cold beer in his pocket that was about to get enjoyed with a lovely view.

my own personal beer garden

Well, I had made it. Now I just had to get down without killing myself. Incidentally, I’m pleased to report that the Jet gloves passed the one handed tab pull. Victory!

I really enjoy road riding, but have yet to find a bike I really like, plus most of our roads locally are total crap. I like my Fisher/Trek Cronus, and all of it’s lightness, but the geometry is still too much of a race pedigree for me to feel comfortable, especially descending. The Heady Topper did take the edge off a bit, but I still had to keep the velocity reigned in. Some of the switchbacks come at you fast, and the steering on this bike gets downright twitchy at speed. Unfortunately, this is not a bike I ride enough to make any grand plans of replacement, although I do have my ideas….

I made it down unscathed, and the slight headwind out was now a gentle push from behind. I ended my ride in about 3 hours, twice as long as I had planned on being out, but I was in a much better mood than when I started. It’s good for me to occasionally do something out of the norm, I sometimes surprise myself.


 

 

So yesterday I alluded to some upgrades I was going to be performing on Weapon X.

The first upgrade is already in process. New wheels. Well sorta. New rims is more like it. Stan’s has released the Flow EX.

go with the Flow

This is basically the same treatment/rim profile as the Crest and Arch EX, but in a Flow width. As the newer rims are wider, I’ll be gaining more volume from the tire. How much wider? The inner width of the Flow is 22.6, the EX is 25.5, so 3mm. It doesnt sound like a lot, but trust me it makes a big difference. Awesome.

I have the rims in stock right now, just need to find the time to re-lace the wheels. With good weather on tap for the weekend, I’ll likely not get it done as I’d much rather be riding my bike than working on it. If all goes well, it will be a weekend chock full of rides. And dogs of a different color.

dirty dog