Selling a bunch of crap

I’ve got a bunch of stuff posted on MTBR for sale.  It’s stuff I really don’t feel I should throw away.  Check it out.

http://classifieds.mtbr.com/showproduct.php?product=23964&cat=

New Bike!!

Or at least a new frame.  Titus has been so good to me.  And they try very hard to do what they can to meet my strange requests.  A year and a half ago, I had them build up a 29er hardtail frame for me.  I had them put a steep head tube angle on it AND a high BB.  Not such a good decision.  I thought running 180 cranks would make the high BB work better, but combined with the steep front end….and steep seat tube angle, it made it extremely twitchy.  In the slow techy stuff it shined, excelled, kicked ass, etc.  I could pedal through any rock garden no problem.  But the handling at high speed and trying to corner on loose flat stuff was sketch.  I also was quite disappointed with the tire clearance.  With a 2.55 Weir Wolf, I had about 1 mm on each side. 

This new frame got broken in today with a 5 hour jaunt through our various riding areas here in the pass.  I climbed it, did the spin coast spin thing on the flats, and sent it down the rock scree slope on the west side of Mundy’s Gap.  Handling was much better.  Tire clearance is still a bit tight, but I ran a ragged out Nanoraptor on the rear today and that baby has plenty of room.  A neighborhood test ride showed that the Weir Wolf 2.55 fits pretty good with just enough room to spare.  It worked suprisingly well. 

I had them build this frame with similar stats as the 23″ Specialized 29er hardtail.  I’m glad I did it because the front end feels just like my Racer-X.  Of course, the rear end is a bit….um…stiffer.  Just because you are a big tall guy, doesn’t mean you should try to tighten up a bike to make it handle quicker.  Stick to the relaxed angles and it will fit better and handle better.  I’m not sure what to do with my other frame.  I think it might work really well with a 650b rear wheel.  I’ve got one on order, so we’ll see what happens.  If it handles really well, I may just keep it.

With the three water bottle cages…all King Ti of course… I’ve decided to nickname this bike Desert Destroyer.

I also had Titus use the Paragon Sliders.  These babies are beautiful.  While they take a bit longer to set up, you can use a cheesy QR rear hub and not worry about it sliding forward.  While I like the Titus interchangeables due to their light weight, I either had to crank the bujeezus out of a crossmax mavic skewer or use a bolt on rear hub.  They did a really nice job welding these puppies on.

I ended up breaking my Mr. T starter kit.  One of the pins was so loose I could almost push it through the links with my fingers.  Luckily the closest shop in town to the trails does the BMX thing and I was able to score a master link. 

It’s totally hammering rain outside now.  We got some good sprinkles on our ride this morning, but now it is really raining.  The trails were in good shape today, we’ll see what they look like tomorrow.  Hopefully this will never happen again.

Bad thing about all the rain, besides all the crazy weeds that grow, is that in a few years these suckers will be MUCH bigger.

   

We saw both of these guys on Thursday.  Luckily they were both mellow.

Whew…that was a long trip

Sorry I’ve been so slack on the updates.  Everytime I got on a computer, I either paid bills or just checked my email then moved on.  Stops in town were for food or laundry.

My friend said I should make a list of all the trails I rode, but I can’t remember them all.

Here are some of my favorites……

A River Runs Through It – sweet Whistler stunt line…slow …and low…no pictures

7 Summits (Rossland, BC) – full loop on the day…pics below

Larmamie, WY – a network of insane trails just off the rest area between Cheyenne and Laramie – home to the Laramie Enduro.

That place has endless riding.

After Laramie we discovered that we had an extra week, so we went to Crested Butte.  The best part about summer in crested butte is the weekly Pinnacle race series on Thursday nights.  $16 gets you a number plate, dinner, and beer.  And if you win your category, you’ll get a ti King cage like Jen and I did!

Reno-Flag-Bear-Deadman’s is definitely the best.  Lots of whoop-dee action thanks to the moto boys and girls.  I’ll be back there again soon.

We finished the summer off with a visit to Sante Fe thanks to the guys at Mellow Velo.  They ponied up a $100 gift certificate for my win in the SS class at Los Alamos.  Pajarito has excellent biking, especially if you like to go the lift served thing.  They have some good DH runs and the lift tickets are only $20.