Summer Solstice 2013

Even a SoHo Tranny Needs Some Protection.

We just finished building up the IBIS Tranny and after a few warranty issues with the rigid fork route enter the Sram XX Sid World Cup.  In a fork market that is dominated by tapered steerer tubes, through axles and the latest " new " industry standard, it was a good find to grab a OEM 2013 take off with a straight carbon steerer, no added race lip, and no through axle.

Back to the bike.  I will be waiting until I get the ride report but I dropped it on the scale and its under 21 lbs built up with the SID.  With the Pro or Ritchey WCS fork it would be 19 lbs give or take a few grams. 

Best AVL Bike Shop Spring 2013

Beer City Cycles.  What's not to like.  No attitude, friendly, beer, in store computrainer work out wall and did I say beer ?  Really liked this shop and the vibe in store and at trailhead.  The icing on the cake is the actual bar in the shop with mirco brews on tap.  Nice......

       Service Bar                                              14 Stool Bar                                                           Computrainer's                                                  

 

 

April 1st was no joke. Killer ride.

Another perfect day, trails dry temps again were warm enough for full summer kit and being a Monday meant empty forests.  Bent Creek again for this ride with more of a find and seek kind of day.  Ribbons of primo singletrack  snake all over the area with long long long climbs ending in nice dh's

How do you get tired looking at this.  It doesn't get better than this in my opinion.  LIFE BEHIND BARS

Copeland Forest

Love this place.  Been riding different loops at different events for years and still manage to get lost and find new trail each outing.  2 Niners and a Silk ti had a good outing on Sunday and this is a short video with a really nice downhill that Thorben sorted out towards the end of the video.

Sunny Sunday September Stoke...

2012 has delivered some amazing weather weekends. Did another Hockley Valley (mini) epic today and the conditions delivered. One of the good things about this area is the abundance of trails and then trying to link all the tracts together while scoping out new routes.  There is also a LOT of hills, the Garmin recorded just over 4000' today.   Rarely do I ever see anyone in some of these remote sections so its kind of nice that way. Albion, Palgrave, Hockley, Mono, The Knoll and so on ..........

Ravenshoe

Headed out for a late afternoon rip around Ravenshoe to clear my head up a bit. Trailbuilders have been busy. Kris and I met up and had a good rip

Ravenshoe from Philip Hudson on Vimeo.

Mono Center

Decided to stop in at Mono for a few laps on the way back from Collingwood. Another stellar day weather wise and a almost empty Provincial Park.

2011 Shimano XTR Trail Disc Brakes

I have had these on now for about 200 km so definitely not a long term review by any stretch but have to say that they really do feel a lot better than the Hope X2's. Not in actual stopping power but in the modulation and the ease that the lever engages. True 2 finger braking. Reminds me of my old Grafton levers.

The brakes themselves have a few bells & whistles like improved lever ergonomics, oversized ceramic pistons and cooling fins etc. The brakes themselves are also very light even with the trail version that I ended up with. ( the race version loses the reach adjustment dial )

I originally picked up the Hope X2's 3 years ago for a summer trip to the Colorado high country and thought they would make a safe bet for the kind of braking / descents I would need. They worked well but what bugged me about them is the constant fiddling you needed to do to either keep them from rubbing or the way the brake felt under long extended braking. Did I mention set up aggro ? I don't understand for this kind of money why you would need to bleed right out of the box to get rolling. They will end up on the Niner when I get them back from the sticking piston issue that had me remove them and replace them.