Category: acquired things

Today while out and about Danielle swung by REI where I used one of those silly VISA gift cards to purchase a CamelBak M.U.L.E. hydration pack. I’ve been contemplating getting one for a while now, but I finally decided just to get one and see if I like it. Because it was purchased at REI, if I really don’t like it I can just take it back.

I had wanted the orange / charcoal colored one, but it wasn’t in stock so I went with coyote / black, which is a nice brownish color. I figure that black would be a bit hot to wear and it’d also show all acquired dirt very easily, whereas this brown should be considerably lighter.

I also picked up a US$1 brass Presta to Schrader adapter to keep in my bag. Last time I was out riding I happened across someone with a flat who needed to borrow a pump, but as my pump doesn’t do Presta very well (getting the fitting on is a huge hassle) I couldn’t help him out. Also, my sister’s bike has Presta valves and if I’m out riding with her I need to be sure that I can adjust her tires as well.

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As mentioned earlier I had purchased some new wheels for my bike. While true, the spoke tension seemed a bit off and after a bunch of riding the spokes were making a bunch of noise. Not having (nor building) a truing stand and without a Spoke Tension Meter I decided the best thing would be to just take the wheels in and have them sorted out. So, I dropped them off Wednesday after work.

Not only was the tension off, but it was very uneven and the rear wheel needed to be re-dished. I guess this goes along with the disclaimer Price Point prints on the packing slips sent along with wheels:

All wheels come pre built and trued. It is common for any new wheelset to become untrue after its initial use, and is the buyer’s responsibility to keep the wheels trued. Spokes or rims damaged due to inappropriate use are not covered by warranty

Sure, I expected some some loosening of the spokes, but I didn’t think it’d be that bad. I also question if the wheels were that well built to begin with. Lesson learned, I guess: Cheaper pre-built wheels from online may need a bit of work. At least it was only $30 to get both wheels sorted out.

I’ve also been considering getting a set of more-knobby tires, as the Fast Trak LK tires my bike came with don’t work too well on sandier stuff and when climbing hills. They are good for two track and random trail / offroad stuff, but I’ve been able to spin them while seated on some steeper climbs. When picking up the wheels yesterday I also ended up getting a pair of The Captain Control tires, also from Specialized. As can be seen above they (on the left) are a bit knobbier than then Fast Trak LKs (right).

Here is an angle photo of the two tires, but unfortunately the Fast Trak LKs are a bit out of focus. At $39.99 each the tires weren’t cheap, but this seems to be a standard price for tires like this. Hopefully today (despite the rain and stuff) I’ll get out and give them a go. A quick run around the trails at River Bends would be good, and it’s probably not too wet even with today’s rain.

Oh, and one other nifty thing about them: it seems that Specialized offers some manner of unconditional guarantee that the purchaser will like the tires. I was specifically told that if I don’t like the tires to bring them back and pick out another style.

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I’m very happy, my bike works again. Today I received a package containing the new wheels and front brake and got everything installed and working. The delivery was supposed to come yesterday, but at 8:30pm UPS changed the status to indicate that it would be delayed and delivered today.

When the box arrived the label on it indicated that it was a Wheel Master 365-MAVXT5 set, consisting of Mavic XC717 Disc rims, 32 hole, in black, with matching Shimano M756 hubs and black DT spokes. I’ve been unable to locate any info on Wheel Master online, but it appears that they assemble wheels in the US for sale through other shops. I’m quite happy with these wheels, as they were almost perfectly true when received, reasonably well packed, and cheap. There was no rim tape, prompting a quick run out to REI to pick up some 17mm Velox rim tape. It also seems that the rims are painted (or powder coated) black, so there is the risk of scratching them and exposing metal beneath. Hopefully this won’t happen.

I had a bit of difficulty making the rim tape stick, but hopefully it’ll get better as it sits under pressure from the tube. Mounting the disc brake rotor was trivial, and it was particularly easy to fit the tires on to the rim. The size of the rim seems just perfect, and my normally-difficult Continental TravelContact tires seated automatically, without the need for glass cleaner as a lubricant.

The Avid BB7 brake received was listed as a 07 version, but it was manufactured in 2008 and doesn’t match my rear brake dated late 2006. They don’t match, but they do both work. Part of me is considering returning the one from REI and getting a new rear BB7 to match, but it’s probably not worth it

Everything else with reassembling the bike went great, and I took it for a ~8.5 mile test ride in the dark (with lights, of course) after everything was done. There is a slight creaking-ish sound coming from the bike, but I can’t tie it to any particular effort or movement, so I think that it may either be a brake cable housing rubbing against a cable tie or possibly the seat post. I’ll try and sort it out tomorrow.

The brakes themselves are working better than they were when I first left on the ride, but they still aren’t properly broken in. I’m not able to lock up the rear brake yet, and squeezing hard on the front brake while pushing the front end along by hand still allows the wheel to turn, albeit with quite a bit of effort. I imagine that with another 10-20 miles and some more good hard stops the brakes will start wearing nicely and they’ll stop like my BB5s did.

Overall I’m quite happy with things. The wheels are lighter and the bike seems to move better than it did before, and having nice, true, non-flat-side wheels makes everything seem like it rolls by better. Hopefully soon I’ll get to go on a nice, much longer ride; maybe this weekend.

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Well, I won’t be riding my bike for a while. In light of the aforementioned bearing problem and the ongoing bent wheel issue I decided to order a new set of wheels, and a front brake to match the Avid BB7 fitted last night.

I ended up ordering this Shimano XT M756 / Mavic XC 717 wheelset which was $239.98, and a 160mm Front version of the 2007 Avid BB7 for $54.98.

So, now I just wait. It’ll probably be a week or so before I get the brake and wheels, and I’ll only have a usable bike after I put all of that together. Unfortunately I’m already antsy to ride more.

Even if I were to put what I have back together the front bearing would require some special wrenches and lots of time to adjust the bearings, and they’d be really questionable.

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As yesterday’s collision left me with a not-safely-rideable bike, I’m stuck at home during reasonably nice weather. Since Danielle and I were heading out to Zingerman’s Deli for lunch, I figured I’d check out some bike shops along the way to Ann Arbor and see if I could find a suitable replacement for the now-damaged BB5.

Calling around to a few bike shops (Tree Fort Bikes, who has an asinine policy regarding online^† vs. in store prices and Trails Edge who was very friendly but out of stock) and stopping by Wheels In Motion (who seemed quite nice) I was unable to locate a rear set of Avid BB7 brakes for my bike. After eating a rather nice BLT, we began heading back towards my house when I thought of stopping off at REI in Northville. Thankfully we did, because sitting in the clearance bin was a brand new 2007 Avid BB7 rear disc brake set for mountain bikes, clearance priced at $49.83, which is even cheaper than Price Point sells it for.

After stopping at ‘s place to borrow his inch-pound torque wrench (to be sure everything is right) and visiting my Mom (Dad was at work) Danielle and I headed back to my house, where I spent a while fitting the brake and getting it nicely adjusted. While I haven’t ridden on it yet, I can say that this brake is so much nicer to adjust that I may very well order the matching front version from PricePoint and install it in place of the current BB5.

While looking over my bike I found that there’s a good bit of water in the frame (some ran out when I removed the rear rack to fit the rear brake), so I think tomorrow I’ll pull the bottom bracket apart and see if any more water runs out. I also found that the front wheel is not turning very well, and investigating that showed that the cone nuts (or they may just be lock nuts if they are cartridge bearing) on the front end are loose, so tomorrow I’ll look into fixing that bit up as well.

At least now I’m on my way to having a nicely rideable bike again. Maybe I will be able to make next weekend’s charity ride.

^† Tree Fort Bikes lists the Avid BB7 brakes as ~$52 each on line, so I called and asked if I could come by and get them for that price. I was told that they are out of stock, but if they were in stock that the price would be higher because one has to pay for the lights and buildings and such. However, the person I talked to informed me that if I ordered online and set things up for in-store pickup, I could get the online price. This doesn’t make sense to me, as I don’t see how in-store pickup for an in-stock item should be any more expensive than in-store pickup for a special order item.

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