This past April I moved to the Bernal Heights neighborhood in San Francisco. Quite a culture shock for me to be sure. Fairfax is a very differnt place.

This part of SF is about 15 minutes away from one of the major casual DH/Jump locations in the bay area, Pacifica. An odd thing about Pacifica, my downhill bike was too big to feel challenged. My trail bike is designed for prestine Marin singletrack, too small to charge the big hits at Pacifica. I needed a 6 inch bike but I didn’t feel like building one.

So I bought one…

Santa Cruz Butcher. No nonsense fun bike. 34.36 lbs. Rumble!

 The Cane Creek Double Barrell shock. The sweetest thing. Gold!

PVD Bash/Slide 42. Ballistic!

Upgraded PVD shock reducers. Silly stock unit on the right.

Special thanks to Fairfax Cyclery and Cane Creek Cycling Components

Riding at Northstar this past weekend.

My trusty steed the Intense M6 finally had an issue. 2.5 seasons of riding and the pivot link pertch broke off. I was able to get a good day of riding in on Friday, but at the bottom of the last run of the day the snap cracks and I was walking. A shame really. One of my best runs down Karpial ever.

I had to rent bikes for Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday – Scott Gambler 30

This was a fun experiment. Going from a top shelf 9.5″ DH bike to a little 8″ with a very low end single crown fork. It’s a single pivot bike compared to the VPP that I’ve been running. The bike was virtually new and with a little bit of proper setup in the parking lot it was feeling good. Only two issues occurred on this bike. The fork seals were spewing throughout the day from the first run on and the rear spring was way too soft. It was a 400 and I should have had a 450 or 500. Aside from that, I was able to ride all the lines and at the same speed as I do on the M6. The difference was the margin of error. Where the DH bike will save you when you screw up, the little bike doesn’t. The single pivot felt just fine making me think that in this day and age fancy designs may be a bit over rated.

Sunday – Kona Stab

Another single pivot bike but this time a DH setup. This bike was pretty beat. I got it to work reasonably well although the handlebars were a bit narrow and the shifter barely worked. What was cool about this bike was the floating caliper rear brake. Really thought, I couldn’t feel any advantage for this being on the bike. Granted I was riding some pretty rough trail that would make that kind of sensitivity hard to feel.

What I learned – I learned again the riding well has almost nothing to do with the bike. You can ride pretty much anything on pretty much anything. Simple stuff can work fine.  A well sorted cheap bike can work about as well as a high end bike.

Afterward – I called Intense about the broken link on Monday morning. No problem. No worries. They shipped a new one to me on Tuesday (no charge) so that I would be up and running ASAP and before the holiday weekend. Awesome customer service! The bike is now fixed and ready to go.

You don’t know anything unless you’ve measured it. A very wise tuner passed that statemet down to me. I learned a lot from him. Dan Kyle. Look him up.

People get pretty spooked about suspension. They get lost. They get confused. I used to. Then I bought a spring scale and everything made much more sense after that. If you arn’t measureing your springs you’ll never get it right.

Here’s a graph showing some actual rates for Fox 40 springs. Close to rated. 5% off roughly. Motorsport springs are usually within 1%. Fox rear springs are claimed to be withing 15%. That’s pretty bad. The term for what you are looking out for is suspension coil rate overlap. Hyperco describes that HERE

Lately, I’ve been trying to recruit some folks from the city to go ride mountain bikes. Not fire road burns, but honest singletrack trail mountain biking. It’s an amazingly hard thing to do.

I ask, “Would you like to go ride mountain bikes with me?”
They say, “Maybe, I usually ride over the bridge to the Headlands. Is that what you are talking about?”

(Bad sign already. Riding over the bridge on a mountain bike is just stupid. It’s a suck ride but once you get to the other side, all there is is the Headlands, which is one of the suckiest place to ride dirt in the bay area.

I say, “Actually, I’m talking about riding some singletrack farther north. Have you ridden trail before? Do you own a mountain bike?”

(Things sounded bad with the Headlands comment. I need to get some facts)

“Of course,” they say and then they proudly say, “I actually have a cyclocross bike that I like to ride in Golden Gate park”

“Oh,” I say, then I try to change the subject to something like the weather or beer.

Listen up folks. Cyclocross bikes are not mountain bikes. Riding a cyclocross bike, no matter where you do it is not a mountain bike ride. It is truely insulting to a mountain biker when this rouse is attempted. It’s almost always done by the most clueless of folks.

A cyclocross bike is used to do a road bike ride on the dirt. They can go down a trail, but the rider is forced to ride like a complete moron. Imaging taking a Toyota Corrolla out on the Rubicon. Pretty stupid, eh. Well that’s what cyclocross bikes look like on singletrack.

Mountain biking is pretty darn fun. I don’t think that many people in the city have ever really tried it. It’s a shame. I think that some folks would really do well by selling their ‘fixies’ and cyclocross bikes and invest in a quality road bike and a decent mountain bike.

On Sunday I rode up to West Point Inn for the pancake breakfast. I saw plenty of friends there that had the same idea. Sadly they were on cross bikes while I was on the mountain bike intent on trail riding.

The ride – Tenderfoot: Cypress: 777: Gravity Car: Railroad Grade: West Point Inn: Railroad Grade: Tamalpa: Railroad Grade: Hoo Koo E Koo Singletrack: Matt Davis: Bootjack: Troop 80: Zig Zag.

Totally sick. One of the most ruthless poaches I’ve ever done.

Sorry, I’m out of the office right now. I’m busy elsewhere doing important things…

I ride my mountain bike on single track trails. These trails, I keep assuming, are my friends. I spend time with them. I love them. I fix them when they are hurt. I work hard to keep a quality relationship with them. I forget to think about what the trail thinks about me.

What does the trail think about me?

On Sunday, I was reminded that even though I have fondness for the trail, the trail may be simply tolerating me or be upset with me. I know that the trail needs me, probably more than I need it. Without me, the trail would disappear. The trail can’t exist without me using it. The trail though, can get testy. The trail may be having a bad day or it’s jealous of other trails or places. The trail may not like that I’ve been getting onto it too late in the day showing it that last nights drinking and carousing was more important than rushing to the trail as soon as the sun has come up. Trails have heart and you can break that heart if you don’t give it the attention it needs.

Tamalpa Trail was a little upset with me on Sunday. Starting in late in the day, I was doing well going down from the top. Not too fast, tires placed just right for the route, keeping a deliberate and smooth pace. At the entry of hardest (in my mind) section, where the pointing protruding rocks are reaching out to pull you down and the step downs are large, scary and mind bending, I get snagged. I had not even gotten to the worst of it. No good reason given the conditions, just a pissed trail and a jealous lover.

I’m grateful that the trail truly does love me, beneath the jealousy and anger. She spared me harm. It’s strange to come out of what I would consider a bad crash in a really bad place with no injury or even a scratch. That’s love. Jealousy is different. Lady Tamalpa didn’t want me to forget her anger. She left me a reminder. I see it as a reminder because an exploded shift (rear) housing is about as cheap and simple a fix as you can get. It just forced me to run a three speed for the rest of the afternoon.  A very odd technical. Almost like she was giving me a little slap to straighten me out.

I’ll be a good boy, dear. I’ll see you soon and early.

Anybody that knows me will already know that I am the first to question a person’s equipment choice on a bike ride. I question actively, vocally, and (in my mind) friendly way. One major tenant of mine is that cyclocross bikes are stupid bikes. They excel in only two situations; cyclocross races and mixed terrain gran fondo.

Yesterday I went and started on the Locust. This is possibly the only time you will hear me say, “I need a cyclocross bike!” Yes. I said that. Belive it or not. Day is night, night is day. Hell has frozen over!

Lucky for me I had something better than your average cyclocross bike. Something nobody else has. Something magic. I had the PVD TIE Advanced X1. (http://www.pvdwiki.com/index.php?title=PVD_TIE_Advanced_X1)

A road bike with 35c cyclocross tires, 5″ disc brakes and flat bars. Who has this kind of stuff just lying around? Who? Me, of course.

I start the day with just enough time to get to the ride from SF. I get in the car, turn the key, and the news on the radio immediately is saying that the Golden Gate Bridge is restricted due to the SF Marathon. Nooooooo! Totally screwed. Stress. OMFG! I had no idea. I fought for it. I made it happen. I got there a little late but with just enough time to get registered and prepped before the start.

Well, after doing everything I could to get to the event on time and starting with the folks, I managed to have a major technical right at the start of the first dirt climb. I had tossed the bike down a staircase earlier in the week and I hadn’t realized that the derailleur hanger had got bent. The bike was working OK, but when I was pushing the bike hard in the lowest gear, the derailleur was rubbing the spokes. Anyone that has experience with properly laced disc wheels knows that this is extremely prone to snagging the derailleur and sheering the drive train off the bike. I knew this. I believe in making a repair before the catastrophe. I get off the bike and bend the hanger straight. “Great! I did the right thing!” I jump back on the bike and start back at the hill. Shift down and bam!! The chain is dumped hard into the wheel. I neglected to check the limits and shit went wrong. Rushed trailside repairs are sketchy always. The 27t carrier made getting the chain out of the wheel almost impossible but I managed to figure out a trick. I got it going and was able to move ahead with the ride.

My back was cramping hard early in the ride, but the body starts working properly into the Eldridge climb and I get the tempo. Climb up and over an make a stop at the old Air Force base. Some other folks are their and we hang out a little. Talk some trash and laugh a little with an incredible view out to the Pacific.

I decided then that it was time to be honest. It was time to stop fooling myself that this was the ride for me. I’m a mountain biker. I’m a poacher. It’s Sunday afternoon and it’s a gorgeous day and the last thing I’m going to do from the top of Tam is ride a fire road down to the bottom so that I can ride pavement and more fire road. Bullshit! Singletrack muthafuckas! Singletrack. It’s what I live for. Now was the time…

Old Barracks: Benstein: High Marsh: Kent: Serpintine: Elliot: Six Points

If you know Tam, you know these epic trails. I was on exactly the wrong bike. These are mountain biking trails. Real honest singletrack for real honest mountain biking. 35c tires and a flimsy road fork was absolutely the wrong bike for the job.

It was hard work. I gave my all and managed to ride 99% of what I do with the mountain bike. It hurt. It was hairy. In the end it was fun. It was a bike ride on a beautiful day. A mountain bike would have been better but a road bike could still do the job. Also, the frame and fork were pushed to the absolute limit and performed without failure. A+ framebuilding!

After it all the folks met up at Gestalt and we had a lot of beers. These folks had just suffered 57 miles of shitty fire road and pavement. I decided to keep silent about my fun and just sip my beer in peace.

#1 on my list is, of course, England.

Top reason: BSC (60°) thread, special case, 13/32″ x 26 tpi.

Let’s just call this the Sturmey-Archer thread from hell. It’s doesn’t conform to SAE, ISO, JIS, DIN or any other modern standard. It’s not even Whitworth (55°), which you might imagine. It’s a special case, used only by SA, of the BSC (British Standard Cycle) standard. This system was set up for british bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers in 1938.  (British Standard 811-1938, Updated BS 811:1950)

You may ask yourself, “Pete? Who cares about this kind of stuff? Anyway, It’s ancient history now.”

No. It’s not. Sturmey-Archer has recently made a huge push back into the modern cycling market. Their products do fit many holes in the range offered by some of the other manufacturers. Here’s the rub; most of their product still uses the BSC 13/32″ x 26 tpi thread. They could have retooled and switched to the nearly equivilant M10x1 (Japan) or M10 x 26 tpi (campy). I belive that this is a huge mistake and holds their product back.

Case in point. I want to do a coaster brake wheel with a two-speed kickback. Great! Sturmey is making a nice looking model now. All I have to do is respace it to 135mm. Simple? No. Not simple.

Sturmy-Archer S2C Duomatic

Luckily, Harris Cyclery Stocks nuts and washers from Sturmy if I need them. We will see how this goes.

Here’s a handy chart for some help in the world of fasteners for the wrench bros: http://www.britishfasteners.com/images/nuts_bolts_key.pdf

What is up with Brooks saddles?

1. Heavy as hell – The lightest saddle that they make is the B15 Swallow Ti. 370 grams. Mind you that is the lightest one. Most of their line weighs in at 500 grams or more. Much more if it’s got springs on it.

2. Lame looks – Honestly folks, these saddles only look good on a few bike types and it is really important which is chosen to get it right. Most folks screw that up. I’ve seen it pulled off, but very rarely.

3. Expensive – That B15 Swallow Ti? $370. For a heavy uncomfortable saddle that looks like dung. Low end versions cost about $110, but remember these things can get pretty heavy.

4. Comfort – There is an old joke in cycling. Buy a Brooks saddle and in 10 years it’s almost got you broken in. It’s just silly.

5. Kooks – It used to be that only kooks put these things on their bikes. Now, only kooks put these things on their bikes.

A nice saddle instead? Why not? The WTB Silverado. $150 for a light one or $90 for a still light one. Crazy comfy. Crazy good looks. They feel great on day one and make you feel great.

I do understand that these two saddles appeal to a very different group of people but my point is that folks may do very well if they stop buying into this plug ‘n play fashion game where everyone is being ironic together and look at how they really use their bicycles and set up accordingly.