Category: acquired things

After a couple rounds of toe numbness and pain on longer rides with my new Specialized Pro MTB shoes (3+ hours, and on 4+ hour hard rides with my older shoes) I stopped by Fraser Bicycle and Fitness intending to pick up a set of higher arch support footbeds. Chris Goddard happened to be there and he checked me over, gave me a bunch of great advise about things to try, and set me up with 2x 1.5mm varus shims for each foot,  blue/moderate support footbeds, and the suggestion that I move my cleats back. While I only had my old shoes with me, these were enough to get a good feel for what I should try.

Upon arriving home I immediately put the footbeds and shims in my new shoes, moved the cleats back a bit (maybe 7mm) and hopped on the trainer to try it out. While I only got in ~10 minutes of spinning, the shoes felt like they fit much better to my feet than they had before. I’m looking forward to a longer ride, but I now feel more like my feet are solidly planted in the shoes when I begin applying force, not that they press into place as I pedal. I hope this translates into even more comfort while riding.

I’m pretty happy on all of my bikes, but these new shoes had me a bit worried. Then with a bit of foot pain during a six-hour endurance race on Saturday using my old shoes, I got a bit more concerned… This seems like a good way forward.

 

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A rainy, quiet Saturday while Danielle is working gave me a nice opportunity to get some bike stuff done. In preparation for what I hope to be a long ride tomorrow and the Fun Promotions Stoney Creek 6 & 12 Hour Mountain Bike Endurance Race I removed the rigid fork from the El Mariachi Ti and put the original Fox and Arch EX-based wheel back on. While I like the high volume tire and rigid fork, it’s still a bit much for long rides. Thankfully the swap between forks and wheels is easy, taking only about 15 minutes. I imagine I’ll be switching this around a few times this year.

I also had to re-remedy a long-standing problem with the cassette on the El Mariachi Ti: it’s noisy. Last year I was dealing with some odd under-load ticking sounds that were worst mid-cassette and in the little chainring up front, especially when really mashing on the pedals. After a lot of experimentation I was eventually able to reproduce it and found it could be alleviated by lightly greasing the plastic spacers between the cogs. This seems to last for a few months, then it needs to be done again. This should go away once the cassette is replaced, unless the next one has a similar problem…

Finally, I got a pair of Specialized Pro MTB shoes set up and ready to use. At the end of last year I was able to pick them up on clearance at Cycletherapy, since they are the discontinued model with a strap closure, as reviewed here. These are very similar to the Comp model that I purchased in early 2011, except with more venting and a carbon fiber sole. Three years the Comp shoes were starting to get near the end of their usefulness, with holes appearing in the sides of the toes, the sole becoming more flexible than normal, and the insole seriously breaking down.

I appear to have the cleats positioned appropriately, although the pedal body on Eggbeaters seems to hit the lugs a bit. I’m not yet sure if this’ll cause a problem or is a good thing, but if it ends up not working I’ll have to shave a millimeter or two of rubber off of the lugs. Clipping in is a little stiffer than I’m accustomed to, but the solid shoe-against-pedal feeling makes for a very rigid interface. It should also move energy transfer to a larger area, cutting down on the pedal wing / shoe sole transfer that eats through Shoe Shields.

Trying the shoes out on the trainer and in the rain around the parking lot, they are definitely stiffer than the non-carbon fiber composite Comp shoes that I normally wear. They improve on the Comp shoes stiffness to the same degree that the Comp shoes (and my previous Sidis) improved on the Shimano SH-MT40 commuter shoes I’d first started out with. Fit is almost identical to the previous shoes, but with a new, stiff, less slipper-like feel. These should be good.

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Velocity was at yesterday’s Detroit Bike City expo selling blemish / second rims, and I was lucky enough to pick up a pair of Dually 29″ rims for $60; an incredibly good price. While I’d previously discounted the idea of making a special / wide front rim for the rigid fork of the El Mariachi Ti, with the acquisition of this rim I think I will.

By fitting one of the new 2.4″ Schwalbe Racing Ralphs (old tread pattern) that I’ve had sitting around home I found what should be a great setup for the rigid fork. Set up tubeless it should feel especially nice. Hub-wise I think I’ll go with the same Shimano HB-M788 that I use with the original wheel build, some Sapiem or DT Swiss (depending on what I can find) spokes, and either silver brass or blue alloy (to match the rear wheel) nipples.

After fitting the tire for the test fit I let it sit for a while and measured it. For the Dually with a Racing Ralph 2.4″ it measured at 61.32mm, whereas the original Arch EX and Racing Ralph 2.25″ measures at 55.77mm. The Salsa Semi and Racing Ralph 2.4″ on the steel El Mariachi measures 58.47mm. Thus, this wider rim doesn’t seem to notably increase the width of the tire, but hopefully the additional volume will offer just the right amount of cushion to go with the rigid fork.

And hopefully I can do it on the cheap.

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This evening I fitted the Salsa Vaya with some eBay-special 172.5mm cranks. These are the same model (Apex) as came on the bike, but 2.5mm longer, which I hope will make me more comfortable on the bike. I also fitted a third bottle cage, which I hope to use this weekend. I’ve been invited to a century ride on Hines Drive, a popular road riding location on the west side of Detroit. If all goes as I hope — which includes weather cooperating — I intend to use this bike to do a wholly self supported road century on Sunday.

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After weighing my options for cable tensioning tools I settled on the Hozan C-356 Inner Wire Pliers. These were recommended to me by a few folks, including Daniel Stewart over at Custer Cyclery, and I’m very happy with them. This is a seemingly simple tool that grabs a cable (or cable tie) and pulls it snug. The fairly simple action, but it makes snugging down cables and ties considerably easier than I’d expected; much better than my previous techniques using pliers.

For cables I’d previously used a set of locking pliers to hold the cable, pulling on that while tightening down the bolt. This works, but is a bit quirky and damages the cable more than I care for. Cable ties were handled with regular adjustable pliers and fingers, a two handed job that worked well but was is prone to breaking small ties.

The only difficulty I’ve run into thus far is when trying to use the C-356 to snug down the cable on a 2012-ish SRAM X9 rear derailleur, as the cable’s termination point isn’t really accessible with the tool. Otherwise, it’s been very handy. Most of my uses with it have involved cable ties, but it’s made tightening them down (especially in tight spaces, like inside of fork legs while a wheel is fitted) a breeze.

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Every since getting the Salsa El Mariachi Ti last April I’ve been interested in trying it out with a rigid fork, but due to the lack of availability of reasonably priced, readily compatible forks I hadn’t been able to. The (very nice looking, but expensive) Whisky Parts Company No. 9 Carbon Thru Axle 29er Fork would have worked, but at $595 (MSRP) it’s too pricy for my part-time rigid fork desires.

As of last week QBP began shipping part FK0851, a 15mm thru axle tapered steerer tube version of their CroMoto Grande 29er fork, the same one which ships on the 2014 Salsa El Mariachi Single Speed. I have the non-tapered 9mm quick release version for my steel El Mariachi Single Speed (photo) and like it there, and with a MSRP of $209 I figured it’d be a good fork for the El Mariachi Ti. Ryan over at Apto Cycling ordered the fork for me the day it was available, I picked it up on Thursday, and this evening I got it installed.

At 2.8 pounds (versus 3.7 for the Fox) it only saves 0.9 pounds, but it should give me everything I wanted in a rigid fork on that bike: a stiff, reasonably-priced, not-squishy front end that’s drop-in compatible with the suspension fork and easy to switch to. The Whisky fork would have saved another 1.3 pounds, but at nearly $400 more, I don’t think it’d have been worth it.

I’m quite happy with how the fork looks, with the gloss black goes great with the titanium frame, and the overall setup was as easy as I could have hoped for. I’m not as keen on the Rock Shox Maxle design as I like Fox’s lever type a bit more, but it does work as advertised. Sitting still bike has a slightly more aggressive posture than with the suspension fork, right about equal to the proper sag setting while riding it.

I’m really looking forward to getting that bike back out and riding it… That’ll still have to wait for a thaw and nicer weather.

More photos of the fork are available here: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

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I’m apparently on a quest to find ideal neodymium magnets for triggering the cadence side of ANT+ speed/cadence sensors such as the Garmin GSC-10 and Wahoo Cycling Speed/Cadence Sensor. I’d previously tried wide/thin (10mm wide, various thickness) magnets such as the one seen here on the Salsa El Mariachi Ti which sit on the end of the pedal spindle. This works well on the El Mariachi Ti where the crank boot supports it from the side, but on bare cranks it’s not difficult to knock the magnet off. My friend Jeremy has lost at least one magnet this way.

A few days ago I received some 8mm x 10mm (diameter x height) neodymium magnet cylinders via eBay and these seem like an even better solution. On Crank Brothers pedals with 8mm hex sockets in the end of the spindle, these magnets slide snugly into the 8mm hole, with a bit over 2mm poking out. This works great for triggering the reed switch inside the cadence sensor, and unlike other magnets which simply stuck to the end of the spindle, roughly 75% of the magnet is inside of the pedal so it won’t be possible to knock this one off.

Removing the magnet as needed is pretty easy, too. Because there is no flat surface at the bottom of the hex socket the magnet is relatively easy to remove. It can easily be pulled out with another magnet, by sticking a flat piece of steel to the top, or grasped firmly (say, with pliers or some strong finger tips) and slid out. While getting to this fastener outside of a shop isn’t usually needed, it’s good to have the option.

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After ~2 years (and maybe four months of need) I finally replaced the pads on my daytime helmet†, a Giro Xar. I’ve been quite happy with this helmet, and it’s done well for me, but the soft pads inside were soundly compacted and some parts were starting to delaminate. This meant that there would be large lumps inside the helmet if I didn’t put it on very carefully.

At $4.99/set for the pads I should have done this a while ago. The replacement is as simple as pulling out the old pads and sticking the new ones to the velcro.

† At night I wear my old helmet, a Giro Phase. This one isn’t quite as comfortable as the Xar, so I keep a light mount on top and use it mostly at night. It’s also a backup in case something happens to the Xar.

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