 |
Today while trying out the new (to me) single speed at River Bends I washed out the front wheel and fell. Oops. (Crash area photo above or here. Yes, it’s blurry. It’s kinda dark in those woods.)
I also confirmed that the 34:16 gearing is too much for me and I’m now pursuing acquisition of a 19T cog. This should give me a much easier (within 1% of the ‘standard’ 32:18) gearing, which should be good for getting going again with 29er single speed trail riding. Since I couldn’t make it up a couple of the hills (the sharp turn then up ones) I think this will do. Now I just have to find the cog and tool, which I’d prefer to do before Tuesday so I can take the bike out to the Tree Farm for the group ride.
When out at River Bends I had a rather unplesant surprise. I’ve been working the MMBA and Shelby Township to build new mountain bike (and hiking and running, of course, since they are shared) trails in the park. On Friday I marked another large segment of trail for us to build out, but someone removed almost all of my tape flags over the weekend. I suspect it’s someone trying to keep new work (or bikes or something?) out of “their” part of the park, but it’s hard to say. I also found dirt bike tire tracks (photo) on both the two track and single track, and a couple torn up areas from the dirt bikes riding off the trail and doing doughnuts on the two track. I guess these are just the sort of things that have to be dealt with as part of the process (and inherent problems) involved in building and maintaining trails.
Also while out at River Bends I ran into a couple who were out looking to ride the trail for the first time. I started to take them through it, but after a little bit we ended up parting ways as they opted to ride some two track together and I sent off for another lap of the single track. I’m really glad to see people heading out to the trails to check them out.
How are you enjoying the singlespeed this time around? A quick note on the gearing: you may want to pick up a 32t ring also. That would give you the option of running 32:19 on some of the up north trails, your aforementioned 34:19, and have either 32:16 or even 34:16 for dirt roads and if you decide to race Iceman on the singlespeed.
I didn’t see what rear hub you have, but if it has an aluminum freehub body you need to use a cog with a wide base (Surly or Chris King). If it’s a steel body you can get away with a cheap cog.
That Bonty Switchblade is a nice fork. Paired up with carbon fiber bars it makes for a nice light front end.
Brad: I’ve only done a couple laps around River Bends, but I like it thus far. The 34:16 gearing is just a bit steep for some of the switchback-then-climb sections we have there. I don’t know if I’d be able to comfortably ride Stony Creek on it. The 34:19 is just about the same as the 32:18 that I was wanting to start with, so I think that should be good. I was thinking about getting a new chainring, but I figure that if I can just play with cogs to get an similar ratio I should be fine.
The front hub is a Sun Ringle Dirty Flea, and supposedly the back is the same, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. There’s no obvious branding on the hub, and Sun Ringle doesn’t seem to have something similar listed on their site. That said, it came with a Surly cog so I just picked up a 19T of the same. This will both be a good cog and ensure that I don’t have to fiddle with the chainline at all.
The bars on it are CF as well, and I find it really weird, but that with the CF fork and steel frame makes for a surprisingly nice ride. It’s almost a bit… soft, but still stiff. I’m considering a squishy fork for it, but I’m not sure it’s needed yet. Then again, I’m still not sure I trust a CF fork.
Great new bike, vooodoo makes a good frame, however after riding on a swtichblade for over two months while I was waiting for my 2011 Fox to show up I know that wash out all too well. The axle to crown is a super short 465mm on the switchblade with only 38mm of offset so it ends up putting lots of weight over the front end resulting in a twitchy bike. The steering is fast as all get out and popping the front wheel over obstacles feels like it can’t be real it’s so fast, but it was quite scary downhill and every patch of sand would send the front end plowing in to it. Now with the 480mm axle to crown and larger offset of the Fox, the steering is controllable and it floats over sand rather than plowing down in to it. I’m going to set it up as a 100mm travel fork to see how it feels at 500mm which will slow it down even more.
I’d have no worries on the durability of the carbon, people have been riding the Swtichblade for a long time and they are really just aluminum forks wrapped in carbon. If you ever get a chance to try a longer fork or one with more offset, do it and see how it feels. I almost borrowed one from Nick and Marty until I found a loaner suspension fork to ride Lumberjack on.
BTW, you guys are doing great at River Bends!
Glen: Thanks very much! Did you happen to get a chance to ride it yet? If you two get a chance to make it out here (again?) drop me a note before you arrive and I’ll meet you there, or we can ride up from my place or something. I live about four easy miles away, so it’s my go-to ride when I want something near by.
That makes sense about the fork length. I love how quickly it steers, but I mostly attributed that to the short stem. It also looks right on the bike, but I do feel a bit more forward than I normally would.
My old Specialized and my Titus both have 90mm stems and I love the fast/twitchy feel on them, which I’d generally attribute to the stem, but this definitely is something else. I thought that this was maybe the rigid fork (but a little flexy) fork, but I really should measure the axel to crown versus something else to see. When this fall happened it very much was one of those sudden “time to turn… laa dee daa… what the hell?” falls. Then again, I’m used to being able to weight/squish the front with the fork to make it bite just a little bit more.
Thankfully I’ve got a quite-new 100mm Manitou Drake available to me if I want to try it out. It’s not a great fork, but it’s definitely something usable. Probably somewhere between a Tora and a Reba. I’ll have to get that from the person who has it and take a gander… I do sure like the current super-light front end, though.
Oh, and I got a 19T cog today and it’s all fitted, so I should have no problem riding trails around here now. Climbing some hills will definitely take effort, but I should be able to get up them for once. that 34:16 was just nuts. I’d rather spin out and coast hills than not be able to climb. Now, if only the rain falls in a way that I can ride tomorrow and try it out…
I just looked at the geometry for the Dambala, and it’s built around a 100mm travel fork (the Voodoo rigid fork is 505mm axle-crown), with a HT angle of 72deg. The Switchblade has an axle-crown length of 165mm, and was built to mimic a sagged Reba fork (80mm travel). On the Dambala, you are basically dropping the front end by an inch or so over it’s design with the Switchblade, which effectively steepens the headtube angle by a degree, thereby quickening the steering. Either get a longer rigid fork, or a 100mm travel sus fork.
Brad: Wow. Thanks for looking that up. That definitely explains the super-twitchy steering. I’ve now ridden Stony with it twice and I’ve become quite comfortable on it, but I’m not sure I can do the rigid thing for more than 15 miles or so.
I’ve actually got a like-new Manitou Drake with a 515mm axel-to-crown in the garage right now which I’m thinking of putting on there soon. If only I had a few more days before the Tree Farm Relay to get it fitted and try it out. (Right now my plan is to ride the VooDoo if it’s going to be muddy, the Titus if its not. I don’t want to clean a full susser of mud if it’s going to be anything like the Tree Farm last year.
With 34:19 I’ve had no problem riding Stony and I imagine Bald Mountain and Addison will be similarly accessible, so I think that adding a squishy fork will make the bike all around nice.
I saw the same geometry the other night but got paged for work and got side tracked with my response That Voodoo will be much better off with a fork in the 485mm to 505mm axle to crown range instead of the 465 that’s on it. I wouldn’t hesitate to toss that drake on tonight, the bike will be much more stable and easier to get settled in to the corners even if the steering is a little slower. I put a borrowed Reba on my Niner (in place of the switchblade) the night before Lumberjack this year and it all worked out fine, 10 or 20 miles of tree farm is no big deal. :)
Glen: Nothing in the Lumberjack course is nearly as technical as the log piles in the Tree Farm. ;) I did end up putting the new fork on along with some new brakes, so hopefully things will be okay tomorrow.