First thoughts on the 29er phenomenom

Borrowed one of these off our South Island rep for a week:

So here's my take on it so far. Saturday morning towed Emily in the trailer around the lakefront - very capable in that line of work.

I had already geared it down to a 33 x 20 (John rides a 16), a shorter stem (inverted), narrower clapped out old ti rail saddle and wrapped the WTB grips in road handlebar tape for more comfort as well.

Saturday avo I took it out solo and as soon as I was offroad the chain fell off and continued to do around a very much shortened circuit. Yes, you can tension the chain if it becomes loose, no I did not have an 8mm spanner to assist. :-(

At home after much fettling in the garage and neglection of child minding duties.......I'd changed the rear sprocket about three times all to no avail. put a 1/8 track chain on but it rubbed the bash guard, changed the front chain ring - no good, so in the end put an old circa 1985 21 toother on the back, tensioned it up and went riding with the local mtb club on their first club day of the season.

The bike behaved and I even figured out the cheap front chainring was slightly oval, so took the chain off, rotated the cranks 180, remounted the chain and it all worked in a most harmonious fashion. The high spot in the chainring took up the slack in the chain at just the right time. Sweet.

My aversion to riding off road with rigid forks hasn't left me unable to lift a coffee cup, beer or cup of tea so far. Might be some truth to the 29er forum nerds who say you don't need suspension forks......

1st time Heli Biking

It all came together today. A couple of clients ponied up for the helicopter, Al is the guide and I was there on staff training

>>>>>>>>>Here's how we start off>>>>>>>>

Then a five minute buzz up the ridge with the bikes hanging underneath by a rope. First time in a chopper for me, not unlike sailing really - you have no control and no idea how it's all going. No stress, just plonked the bikes down in the snow, drop the rope, park the chopper and hop out, gather up the rope and that's it for the pilot: off to the next job. Sweet.

We headed off down the fenceline and promptly deposited the yanks over the bars - oops you boys have the brakes round the other way huh ? Lets just change that ! No worries mate. It was kinda steep though, so fair enough.

In no time at all we're down in the tussock - kind off windy still (turns out in Dannevirke trucks were getting blown over today) and following Al. down some imaginery track to some faraway gate. I have no idea where all the time went, but the trip took us about 3 hours loading the chopper to loading the ute....not all downhill, but maybe 95%

Oh did I mention how fresh my legs were at the top of the hill ?

I'm talking fresh.

Here's a pic of your erstwhile blogger enjoying the staff training:

Spring Riding in Wanaka

An early afternoon ride today with the usual suspects:Trish & Callum, Jess & Hugh and Steve from Wastebusters as well.
I was nearly running late for the 12.30 lift off so decided against grabbing the first (and some would say most sensible) bike inside the garage - our demo Commencal Meta 666 dual suspension..........Single Speed - nah..........// Cannondale cyclocross bike ? Now you're talking.
And it was great. Sketchy in places for sure but put the challenge back in riding.....
Into the Hikawai Reserve and along to the Sticky Forest. Up and down and all around for an hour or so and then back home for chow.
Nice to do the same trails, but on a completely inappropriate bike they seem brand new.

1991 Merlin upgrades

Unsure if I've previously blathered on about the Merlin, here's a brief history. Geoff Knotman bought it brand new on the early '90s. It was by far the sexiest bike ever. He upgraded the Deore XT to 8 speed XTR when that first came out. It sat in his garage and was sold to Fred
Christensen 2 years back to finance Jeff's move to a Surly 1x1 singlespeed purchased from Jonty Ritchie. (Notice all the old has-beens popping up?) I got talking to Fred at the Oceania mtb champs....and the deal was done. It duly turned up and has been constantly fettled ever since. I can't disclose how much I paid for it - the Reserve Bank doesn't want me to be the cause of another OCR increase....Te Papa are pleased it is in safe hands of course.
It started off like this :

Then this: mmmm suspension.....Thanks Tom.

Try buying a one inch threaded suspension fork to fit a Chris King headset.........

And after moving to Wanaka and breaking a spoke on Keighleys Ringle wheels and riding Hugh's Orange with disc brakes, well that was that - the Merlin had already re-embraced the XTR drivetrain, - she was getting disc brakes.

And that was when the fun started. Welding disc tabs on? I don't think so Tim.

Going back to rigid forks with disc tabs ? Forget it.

I found a vee brake to disc convertor, swapped my forks legs with Keighley (don't tell) borrowed Callums wide open brakes and promptly replaced the calipers with Formula B4 's that I had liberated from the wheelie bin at Worralls one day ! Currently using the wheels off the Foes as they were close at hand and Al. has lent me some 6 inch rotors.

After all the faffing around I'm not surprised to announce that they stop worse than a badly tuned pair of old worn out cantilever brakes. I will try some new brake pads but am not holding my breath.

Plenty of time to get things sorted before the last N-duro race in October though.

Oh, did I mention it is now also sporting a titanium stem? Woof woof.

A typical Sunday in Wanaka

Got up late - well if you got a nipper - 9 is late.

Keighley is entering the culinary phase of her pregnancy - so pancakes, bacon, pears and maple syrup for breakie.

Then up to http://www.thelookout.co.nz/ to swap out their coffee machine. This is a great place for a group get together. We have the Blueshark dealers conference there to showcase all the new and exciting mtb bling every November.

Emily was tuckered out, so we took her for a drive - well she slept and we drove down to the Mt Burke station on the Northern edge of Lake Wanaka.

Mum thought she was so clever when we got home - as if Emily would just go back to sleep after waking up in the driveway.......

I got 1.5 hours break to go riding. So, a quick double espresso and a Mark Inglis energy bar and I was off. Like a robbers dog.

Down the street (2 mins) alongside the Clutha River to the Outlet campground and along "Western Heights" to the main meeting place on the western side of the Sticky Forest - "The Hub"

The forest is basically a bunch of up and down trails leading up to "Easy Street" running along the top which joins the east and west sides together and lets you catch your breath if you've just come up or take a deep one if you're heading down!

So up "Tunnel of Love", down "Koozer" which has ten double jumps in a row which get a little bigger towards the bottom. Thanks to Callum I can now ace the last the lot. Well except the monster in the middle.

Then back up to the top and down "Sick Boy" which has lots of blind uphill turns in the middle of some sweet swooping downhill.

Up "Scooby" to the top, down "Venus" which is a great downhill flowing track with berms to hold you up in the corners. Back up to the top via "Cranking Fine" takes about 7 minutes and has as many uphill switchbacks to keep you honest.

A quick check on the time saw me with about 50 mins left on the meter - so off to my new favourite downhill track - "Ballantis" the Foes just loves it down here. It's the business.

Back to the camp ground, along the sidle track and back along the river to home.

All that and only 3 km on the road.

I was on time ! I know, I surprised even myself.

Keighley had made pita breads from scratch for tea - our own little kebab house.

Yum.

This does not mean there will be a third child.

May the great food long continue. :-)

Disc brakes on a 1990 mtb?

Thanks to Haircut at the local Shimano importer here in NZ, I am now the proud owner of a vee brake to disc adaptor arm thingy.

Funnily enough it won't be straight forward.

1) The threaded hole in the frame drop out is 4mm diameter.

2) The threaded hole in the arm is 5mm diameter.

3) The hole in the Vee brake stub is smaller than the corresponding bolt provided with the arm.

4) I'd misplaced my box of discarded Formula disc brakes-finally found it in the last box I looked in......

On the positive side, the rear wheel fits in the frame with clearance.......

So at least something is going right.

That leads me to the forks; as if no disc tabs would be a problem at this stage.....

Just swap the forks out I hear you say - 1 inch steerer tube hombray. No joy.

I think I'll have a look at Keighleys Klein Attitude with Rock Shox from the same era and maybe reallocate her lower legs. Sssssh, it's a secret.

Stay tuned for more stupidity from the garage in the near future.

No more riding in Auckland for a while

This report coming to you from our new home in Wanaka.


Been here a month: in the first week I went night riding with some locals, then out with the family on Saturday morning, back out with Al. & Multi (my boss and his neighbour) in the Avo and then played mtb tour guide on Sunday; to our new friends Bernard and Fenella who moved to Queenstown the same time as we moved to Wanaka.


So as much riding in four days as I would normally do in a month in Auckland.


The following weekend I unpacked the Merlin (now with XTR 8 speed retro groupo) and rode along the Outlet track and carried on round the lake into Wanaka town. Very nice in the afternoon sun. Oh, a lot of the track was still covered in snow - kind of like riding in sand but with less control. Broke a spoke in the back wheel, so didn't venture into the forest. Haven't fixed it yet, so had to grab another bike:

Not my usual choice, but I can hardly tell the bikeshops how good they are without riding one can I?

Well I'm impressed. Handles great, pedals surprisingly well, looks cool - I call it Dukes of Hazzard orange. And it comes with built in confidence on strange trails too. Callum could only watch me go down "Ballantis" today in the sticky forest - normally I see him at the start and then the finish of a trail.

Rides are generally timed around the warmest part of the day-after lunch but before 3 when it starts to cool off even more.

I think it got up to 3 degrees today!