Mike's "New" Bike

Mike's "New" Bike

Cobia frame... and nothing else.

I picked up a new / unridden '08 Gary Fisher recently. OK, it was already dismantled and didn't include the wheels and front fork. All the better, 'cause I didn't want those parts anyway... nor any of the other parts either. So what I got was a frame to keep and a whole bunch of parts to auction off at eBay.

I wanted a light frame with a short chainstay length (the distance from the center of the cranks to the center of the rear wheel). This aluminum 21" XL frame is said to weigh less than 4 pounds and the chainstay length is 17.3". Hard to find a frame more fitting. It also has a nice long ETT (effective top tube length, basically the horizontal length from the seat post to the head tube) which suits my long torso nicely. Really, ETT is way more important in sizing a bike than the long-used seat tube size. But never mind that.

The other thing I wanted was a rigid front fork, making the whole bike a "rigid". I won an auction for an On One Carbon Fiber fork, but weeks later it was a no-show, so I chickened out and ordered a Salsa Cromoto Grande steel fork. And wouldn't you know it... right after I got the steel fork mounted, the carbon fiber fork shows up. I guess I'll have to try that one of these days too... So you're probably wondering why anyone in their right mind would forego shocks on a mountain bike, especially in this day and age where if one shock is good, two are way better. There's several reasons really. One, they're lighter - like about 2 pounds lighter - than a suspension fork. Two, they're cheaper... like about a fraction of a Fox 29er fork. Three, they're retro... are there any riders under 30 who've ever ridden a bike sans shocks? Geez, our old Stingrays didn't have shocks. What we didn't know didn't hurt us. Much.

Another awesome mod on this bike - a set of Race Face Turbine cranks. Yeah, pretty much the same as Kelly's. These are running on an ISIS bottom bracket, but otherwise they're the same compact cranks that allow you to easily mount up a 20 tooth granny gear, a great thing for old farts on tall tires. The gearing changes afforded by these cranks compensate for the tall 29" wheels versus the common shorter 26" wheels. Sweet stuff.

Race Face compact cranks... too bad they're no longer made. Hey, see how small that 20t granny gear is?!?! George you'd love that.

Other additions... X.9 rear derailleur and X.7 everywhere else. To those of you out there contemplating a front derailleur on your GF Cobia/Mamba/X-Caliber/Paragon/Rig, know this: the short chainstays make any front derailleur a tight squeeze. The stock FD is a simple Shimano Deore - top pull / low clamp. Not knowing any better (yet), I ordered a low clamp X.9... and it didn't fit. The tire was kissing the thing. Not good. So then I tried to order a high clamp X.9 (like the higher end models use) but ended up getting an X.7 instead since it's essentially the last-gen X.9. Except... except it has a different arm to accommodate top and bottom pull cables. And of course the bottom pull part of the arm was kissing the tire. Have hacksaw, will travel... the saw and some sandpaper made for a nice circumcision of the offending appendage. So now the bike sports a one-off derailleur. But it looks clean and it works fine.

Seat is a WTB Pure V Pro... does anyone else make seats? The post is a 350mm Bonty piece - nuthin' fancy. Seat clamp is a stock Bonty. Brake levers are the ubiquitous Avids... oh yeah, these would be stock on a normal Cobia. Headset = FSA ZS3. Grips are ODI Rogue lockers - not light but thick - good for absorbing vibes.

The rims are stockers from my 293... not wide, but fairly light, and they rarely need truing. Dare I say never so far. The bar is a Titec carbon fiber number with a barely detectable inch of rise which puts it about where my 293 bar is when the front fork is sagged (translation - when my fat arss is sitting on it). Stem is a simple Bonty Select from the 293. Brakes are new BB7s pinching 180mm rotors. Rear cassette is a SRAM PG-990; it's purtier than the Shimano XT but not as robust. Oh well.

Salsa Cromoto Grande fork. Tire-flung pebbles make a retro "ting ting" sound on the True Temper OX chrome-moly steel.

OK, that's a lot of wind about the bike. I did have fun building it, but what about the ride? First impressions were "this feels weird". But because your riding position doesn't change - no shocks to sag - it quickly felt like the math said it should - like my other bike, only firmer. And lighter and more flickable too. It's probably 4 pounds lighter... maybe more?

Now, I'm not gonna kid you... rocky descents are hairier without shocks to take the edge off. But if you stay loose and let the bike do its thing, it does pretty well downhill on the rough stuff. The real test will be French Creek's rocks... not that I would prefer to ride it there all the time, but I'm looking forward to trying it at least once!

Now where's that carbon fiber fork...

Blue Marsh & John's First Ride

Saturday was bike assembly day. John is relatively new to mtbing and he bought a Motobecane Fantom 29er. These require some assembly, which went well. While it's no lightweight, the Motobecane makes for a solid entry level bike. One change we made was purely a visual thing - the stock stem is a 10 pound clump of ugly. I had a Bontrager Sport stem laying around, so I swapped that onto the bike just so I didn't have to look at that stock stem. Yeesh. The one functional change we made was to swap in a new SRAM PG-950 11-34 cassette for the stock 11-32. It's the same quality, but obviously the 34t low gear will help offset the larger diameter wheels on climbs. That was Saturday, so Sunday was Ride Day. We went to Blue Marsh and hit the flat-ish stretch from the Visitor Center to State Hill Boat Ramp. You see, not only is the bike new to John, but so are clipless pedals. We all remember our first day on clipless pedals, so surely John didn't need any additional challenges on Day One. Weather was nice - partly sunny, temps in the 40s when we started, pushing 60 at the end. Trail conditions were muddier than hoped for probably thanks to the sub-freezing temps in the early morning and BM's inherent wetness (oh, that doesn't sound right...).

Here comes newbie John on his new 29er. ...and here comes son-e-boy Spence jra.

3 miles and all smiles!

Closer look at John's Moto 9er.

... here's my new ride, also on its maiden voyage. Rigid, Fisher-framed 29er.

This was the most challenging hill on our brief ride... the water bars at Mile Post 3. I'll let John tell you why he's laughing in the picture!

No wind, warm sun... wow was it nice here. Great place for a nap.

Done! No falls, a little mud. Nothing a cheese steak at the Blue Marsh Canteen couldn't cure!

French Creek Family Ride

Today was family day at French Creek. Well, half the family. Son Spence and I rode around for a couple hours in the western side of the park. Temps were in the 40s but there was no wind. Occasional glimpses of the sun made it feel nice and warm. Of course going up and down hills and over FC's rocks works wonders as a body warmer no matter the weather.

Spence's old man getting his bike ready.

Spence assembling his ride - a Trek 4500. He's about due for another bike soon and I think watching his old man's 29" wheels roll over rocks might've convinced him to try them himself next time.

Let's roll!

Spence stares down a log.

Here he comes...

Breathe!

Descending a rocky section.

Spence tackles a few more of FC's finest.

Packing up. Spence says there's a cheese steak with his name on it somewhere. His old man says there's a Victory Donnybrook Stout with his name on it somewhere. Pack faster.

So it was a great ride. There was a fair amount of traffic on the trails but it wasn't too bad... always came right when we needed a break. Talked to one 30-something on a brand new Specialized Enduro - beautiful bike, great for bombing the rocky downhills here. Watched another guy tackle a steep rocky ascent on a rigid SS 29er... beautiful bike, carbon fiber fork and all. Trail conditions were awesome - tacky but not soft. Hmmm... cooperative temps, no wind, some sun, awesome trail... could almost smell summer. No wonder everyone had smiles plastered on their faces.

Kelly's "New" Bike

Sometimes you get lucky... the frame you see above was a lucky find on eBay. Steve, if you're reading this, thanks again! What you see above is Kelly's "new" ride. Two things came together to make this possible. One, my eBay notifies me when Gary Fisher Sugar 29ers come up for sale... I guess I'm curious to watch them come up on the auction block since I have one myself. So one day a clean Sugar 293 frame showed up and I started watching the auction. The second thing was that Kelly would probably prefer a full suspension bike, if only for the cushy ride compared to her hardtail. No, her old bike, silly - the Fisher Cobia she was riding for the last few years. Most of you out there in blogville know that new full suspension 29ers don't come cheap. So somehow I won the auction. The frame showed up packaged beautifully, and to be honest this bike is cleaner than my '06 293 even though it's older. It's an '04, but it must be a late '04 as it has the beefier rear shock mount gusseting. Kelly's Cobia went onto the workstand and off came all the donor parts - darn near everything. Components on Cobias aren't quite as high up the food chain as what would be on a 293 but everything just plain works.

• The RockShox Tora fork is solid, albeit a tad heftier than it's Reba big sister. On it went to the new frame, held in position by a new Cane Creek C1 headset. The C1 is not fancy but it's got the right lineage and at $10.50 was certainly the right price.
• Race X-Lite stem, Bontrager bar, and Ergons went right on.
• The Avid BB5 brakes went from Cobia to 293. They aren't as easily adjusted as the venerable BB7s, but I'm used to fiddling with them and when set up right they work as well as the BB7s.
• Oh yeah, the rear triangle needed a Trek 210648 disc brake adapter. Interestingly, adapters are sold on eBay for $38, but the real McCoys are available from your friendly Trek/Fisher LBS for half that. Go figure. Two bolts and you can remove the v-brake posts!
• A new Titec Pluto setback post went into the seat tube. The 293s employ a bigger tube than the Cobias, and the post I had in inventory didn't have the setback I was looking for. The seat was a carryover.
• The stock Shimano LX front derailleur from my 293 was mounted on this 293, and the stock rear derailleur from the Cobia found its way to the back of this 293.
• New brake and derailleur cables - SRAM Flak Jackets - were fitted.
• Wheels and tires are Cobia carryovers.
• The big change: a RaceFace Turbine compact crankset. The granny ring is a 20 tooth and the middle ring is a 30 tooth... very, very desirable gears for 29ers as it results in the same gear inches as a conventional 26er mountain bike. Another eBay score, of course. The Turbines (and other 58x94 compact cranksets) are no longer in production so when they show up on eBay they inevitably draw a lot of attention. Luckily you can still get chainrings for these things. At this point, the new SRAM 991 chain is not slipping on the rings, so new rings can wait. The only thing I'd change would be to install a 40 tooth or 42 tooth big ring.

So there you have it - Kelly's new ride. Now we've got a medium Cobia frame just waiting for our daughter to grow into it (grammar -5). She's got an X-small Trek right now but really should be on a small. Unfortunately, in no time she'll be ready for a medium...