Category: acquired things

Tonight I fitted my bike with a 185mm front rotor (Avid G2 Clean Sweep; upgrade from 160mm), so I set out towards River Bends to try both it and a new (to me) CamelBak Podium bike bottle. For some reason both the paved and dirt paths through River Bends were closed off, leaving me no place to go. I continued on past the closed sign on the paved path for a bit, but just as my light was illuminating some heavy machinery I heard a loud CLUNK come from it, similar to a door latch, so I turned and headed back. I’ll try and remember to call tomorrow and see if I can get some information about the construction.

Being only a few miles into my ride I considered heading up to Stony Creek for some night time single track riding, but as it was getting late (just before 9pm) I instead headed over to downtown Utica, over to Clinton River Park, through the park’s paved path to Clinton River Road, out to Schoenherr, 19 Mile to Hayes, then back home.

During this time it seems that the rotor has begun bedding in and starting to work better. Due to its larger diameter I’ve found that I get an occasional rubbing / chirping sound when turning tight corners. So far it seems that this will work out well, and hopefully it won’t fade as fast during extended bits of downhill stuff, which is a problem I was particularly noticing while riding the North Country Trail (NCT) over Labor Day.

The CamelBak Podium bottle also worked out very well. I’ve been having a problem with HEED, my preferred electrolyte / sugary drink while riding, leaking out of bottles and getting on my frame. Even worse, when on the NCT enough spilled that it dried on the shifter cable guide, sticking the cable in place, and making shifting very difficult.

After reading a bit of Fat Cyclist’s blog I’d found that he particularly liked these bottles, so I’d wanted to give one a try. Due to a series of interesting circumstances I ended up with a barely-used one yesterday while cleaning up the trail, and I decided to take it home, wash it out, and use it. While I only took a short ride on relatively smooth surfaces (save for a few curbs and potholes and hopping random things), I had no problems with leakage. Liquid flowed quite rapidly through it when squeezed, and it fit snugly in my bottle holder. The wider-than-my-other-bottles neck also made pouring in a scoop of powdered HEED very easy. I think I might have to get another one of these.

If you’re interested, here’s a few cycling-related photos from the past week or two:

· Fern-lined downhill part of the NCT. Riding up this was terribly hard.
· More fern-liked trail along the NCT, this time in a nice stand of trees.
· Inside of the tent where I slept over Labor Day at my grandparents’ house.
· Bob trying to hit me in the golf cart that we had for setting up the Addison Oaks race last Friday.
· Cones, set up to divide the two-way paved path and bridge connecting the single track with the start/finish line.
· A very dirty Rob with a bent-up hand and scraped arm after a fall on one of the very last turns at Addison Oaks during the race.

While Danielle was off with two of the other people on her Breast Cancer 3-Day team walking ~16 miles, I spent most of Sunday working on my bike. After the very muddy Tree Farm Relay the day before my bike needed to be washed, and I had a new fork to fit.

For the first time I actually disassembled the entire bike, removing everything except for the bottom bracket, front derailleur, and derailleur hanger. Everything was then thoroughly cleaned, greased as needed, and put back together. At the same time as this a Cane Creek S-3 headset and the new-to-me Fox 32 F100 RLC fork were installed.

The undamaged Avid Clean Sweep G2 rotor (from leftover from the replacement of the brakes post-comically bad ride) was also fitted to the front in place of the roundagon that came with the BB7 and I’d fitted in July of last year. I’ve heard that they tend to stop better than the smoother roundagons, and after some brake clogging problems during the race, I figure it’s worth trying.

The steerer tube on the new fork was just a little bit longer than my old one, but I figured it was best to leave it be and just throw a spacer on top of the stem. As seen here it’s really not too bad looking, even with the particularly tall Niner YAWYD stem cap. I’m not sure I care for the carbon fiber look either, but I don’t think it’s terribly noticeable. Still, I can only hope that in a few years the Asian manufactures will do the world a favor and start using opaque epoxies when working with CF.

The shifter cables were replaced, time was spent adjusting the fork to both factory defaults and a reasonable sag for my weight (100psi, for reference), and a few test rides around the neighborhood were taken. Now to get out and do some single track riding and test it out. Hopefully this will happen tomorrow.

Here’s all of the pictures taken of my bike today, in case you want to see how it now looks:

· My bike, a once-was 2008 Specialized Rockhopper Disc, after being cleaned up and fitted with a 2008 Fox RLC fork and Cane Creek S3 headset. (Note the terrible crank / downtube positioning. This is awful composition.)
· Detail of the Cane Creek S3 headset and carbon fiber spacers. Since the steerer tube is a bit long and I didn’t want to cut it, the top cap sticks up a bit.
· 2008 Fox 32 F100 RLC fork and Cane Creek S3 headset installed on my 2008 Rockhopper Disc.
· Clean rear drivetrain after disassembly and chain replacement. The mud from the Tree Farm Relay required that everything receive particular attention.