Since the lamp on my side of the office/bike room died I had to resort to working on The Pie's end and a little improvisation.
Safety glasses were worn most of the day... except for the part where I shot brake fluid in my eye.
Even though I hate bleeding brakes (or doing any non-upgrade type maintenance on my bike) at least I got the tools and the talent to do my Hayes brakes. My first bleed kit involved a toilet plunger (don't ask) and The Pie's reluctant assistance (she doesn't like brake fluid in her eyes either).Eventually I got 'er done.
I also went ahead and put the Thudbuster back on since Stabby didn't need it any longer. This is now my "freeride" bike, as in when The Meatplow is in a box at least I have this bike free to ride.Stabby saw how much fun I was having bleeding my brakes and whatnot, so he went home, grabbed his bike, and brought it over for some hot rodding. We set up in The Pie's end of the world and bled his brakes and installed his Hopey steering damper. It was almost without incident, but with two cooks in the kitchen I managed to get brake fluid in my eye and in my hair. I also blew out a line on my bleed kit. Bonus points to anyone who can tell me why I had such a hard time bleeding the rear brake.
So Stabby and I went to Poplar tent with our freshly worked on machines and rode with Todd, Eric Van Driver, Big Worm, Bubba Cohen,Johnny Meatsnack, and a swarm of yellow jackets for a casual "no jackets required" kinda ride. Much fun was had, many stunts were stunted, and the pace was kept to a minimum. Ahhhhh... the off-season. So nice to take two hours to ride twelve miles in Charlotte on a crisp, pre-autumnal day.
photo cred: Big WormWhen I got home I decided to fix the broken lamp in my half of the office/bike room. I stopped at Home Depot and thought I had found a solution...
The Pie thought it looked a little rednecky. Pfffttttt... women.
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14 comments:
Any news on Tahoe? Does Tahoe 100 have a website? I dislike all these old guys in charge of races for they don't know HTML.
No idea.
I didn't keep up with the event this year as I had no time to go.
The info is here though....
http://www.globalbiorhythmevents.com/2009-tahoe-sierra-50100/
when brakes need to be bled you have two choices.
REPLACE the brakes.
SELL the bike as is.
bleeding is just for dying on the court.
Dicky--Kinda off topic, but wondering if you might be able to provide some insight. I've been reading your blog for quite some time, and figured you know more about 29er rigid setups than anyone else I know.
OK...here's the scenario. Running a 470mm a2c Niner steel fork on my MCR frame. Bonty Rhythm wheels and a Maxxis 2.25 Ardent up front at about 25 PSI, with a tube. I want to make the front as "soft" as possible...it's pretty good now, but I'm wondering if the grass can get any greener, so to speak. In your opinion, would switching from an aluminum bar to a carbon bar make a significant difference? Titanium is not a considertaion for me. I currently use ergon paddle grips, but have heard a lot about the silicone ESL grips. Can you comment? Any suggestions you can offer would be appreciated. Thanks a lot. -Bill
Bill,
The carbon bar will help some, but not a whole lot. Ergon grips work for a lot of people, but trying different grips never hurts (it can get expensive though).
Definitely set those wheels up tubeless. I weigh 135 or so and get away with @18.5 PSI with a 2.35 Rampage. Each single PSI can make a huge difference, so get a digital air gauge. How much do you weigh?
Of course there's always the Niner carbon fork, which I have not tried in a real world situation, but my experience with carbon forks has always been great.
Thanks Dicky--
Yeah, I weigh 180 geared up. Trails in the U.P. of Michigan are rooty and rocky. Short steeps. Rigid is just as capable as squishy in 90% of the terrain I encounter. The wrists and forearms only get numb if I don't ride smart. I may be splitting hairs trying to soften things up any more.
I used to run the White Bros. Rock Solid up front, but became concerned with carbon's durability as opposed to steel. That fork was nice, though.
I think I'll wait on the carbon bar and try a tubeless set up instead. It should be cheaper to try, and I get nervous running plastic parts on the bike.
The Ergon grips are pretty good at deadening trail vibes, so I'm still not sure that silicone grips would be any better...hence maybe not worth the cash.
Thanks for your insight. -Bill
Hayes definitely are not what I would consider a 'gentlemens brake.' Everytime I used to screw around with a pair, yanking and tugging at the knobs and what-not I would always get it in the eye as well.
Instead of saying 'I'm going to bleed my brakes', I'd just say 'Gonna head down into the basement and work on my money shot.' Then I switched to Avid's and life's been pretty uneventful.
Fair enough, but my money shot was totally avoidable. There was an unchecked error in method. Too many cooks...
Dicky, why do you call your wife "The Pie?" I think it's sweet and all, but I'm just curious.
Rich- is the Canzo working for Stabby?
Great looking bike for $, but the long CS's have stopped me from looking closer.
But, if works for Stabby, that's not a bad thing
Mike B.
The Pie is short for Hunny Bunny Puddin' Pie (and slightly less nausea inducing).
Stabby is diggin on the Canzo. Just three weeks on it so far, but he was dropping the biggest drop at Poplar on it (4-5') and all other sorts of shenaniganery.
Mike,
I love the Canzo so far, though I did get a bit of a surprize when I tried a slow wheelie drop for the first time! After the One Nine the stays seem a bit long but I have gotten used to it and they seem to help when climbing. And they are only .4" longer than the RIP Nine. The only other thing is a bit of suspension stiffening while braking, but I have been riding a hardtail for a while so I don't mind that either.
Stabby
Dicky,
Do yo wish you were a little bit taller? Do you wish you were a baller? Who has the option of switching out a carbon bar for a Ti bar on their spare bike??? It must be nice livin' the life...
Shon
Meh....
I paid RETAIL for the carbon bar (a day's pay??) and the ti bar was a lucky eBay snag/backdoor Taiwan Titec style. As soon as I started living this so called "the life" I'll let you know.
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