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Friday, January 11

It's gonna be a close one

The bike should be complete by the end of the day with the arrival of two big circles of mystery.  The build has not been without its challenges.  The brakes were acquired on Wednesday from Bike Source, but sans the post mount to 180mm adapter, so I left with two 160mm rotors in case I couldn't find the P/P 180 by the weekend.  I went home immediately to loose-fit them onto the bike.

Yes, XTR.  Of all the variables I notice when swapping between two to three different bikes, the one I can notice the most is brakes.  XTR is the shit, a change in the Team Dicky braking paradigm since the reckoning of August '12.  Brake feel is (IMHO) paramount to almost everything, so keeping it the same as possible is key...

Which is why this bugs the shit out of me:

Gripe Shite.   I knew deep down there was a reason I was referring to it thusly.  It's super wide with the stock grip, moving my lever placement over @20mm inboard.  That's significant.  So I took the stock grip off and analyzed the problem.
I wanted to saw the end off old-school style, but the shifter end of the grip looked integral to the actual shifter itself.

photo swiped irrelevantly from BIKE RUMOR

The other end has a lock-on, so no bueno with the hacksaw as well.

I scratched my head, tried to figure out a solution, dug out some way old ODI Ruffian Grip Shift length lock-ons, worried about the "integral" part of the system, almost made a litany of bad decisions on my own, looked up SRAM's digits, called...

closed.

Well, shit.  I went to work Thursday and waited for SRAM to open their doors.  I called once more.

"You need to install the blanking ring if you want to run aftermarket grips."

"What?"

"The blanking ring that came in the box?"

"The what that came in the what?"

"The part that can't be ordered or replaced that should have been in your box but apparently wasn't.  You're welcome."

Two more calls to SRAM, a tossing of all boxes, packing material, bags, manuals and whatnot.  None of the SRAM employess could tell me exactly what it looked like so I would know it if I saw it.

Ironically enough, I found an image of a "blanking ring" while writing this post today.

Sheeeee-it.  I did not get one of those.  I am sure of that.  I checked the box of unused parts thirteen times.

So an unplanned stop at Bike Source last night, my third visit there in under a week.  I inquired into the possibility of an inquiry.  That will happen today.

I went with a new solution.  I bought wider bars...

with "Braaaaaaaaaap" inspiring rise

to mount to my negative rise stem

with spacers underneath.

Soooo close.

The Drooper post was wired up without a hitch (that's a lie).  The brakes lines still need shortened and that in and of itself is a risk VS reward job I will contemplate later, as I intend to ride this bike tomorrow.

So either a ride report next week, or just another weekend as usual with a little short track spectertating on Sunday.

10 comments:

Andrea said...

XTR brakes are super easy to bleed after you shorten the line. You do have the yellow funnel, right?

dicky said...

I haz funnel, but have done four line shortening operations without having to bleed. I'm hoping this makes #5 and #6.

Mike said...

Rich- could have told you. I had to drop gripshifts and put some X9 triggers on that I happened to have when I put the worldest greatest brakes on the IF. I blame shimano, not Sram.
Mike B

dicky said...

Continue to blame SRAM, Mike. I found an article complaining about the reach on an Avid brake/Grip Shift combo. I need a pair of those bolt-on brake extensions that were bar end reachable.

Coming to the mountains tomorrow FYI.

Eric Wever said...

When? Where?

Anonymous said...

All of this geared bike bullshit is pissing me off!

On another topic, is Pflug off of Salsa? He isn't listed on their site as one of their racers.

Anonymous said...

Jerry is riding for team CF

dicky said...

Yep, The Pflug pulled the Pflug on Salsa and will be on the big S next year.

Too much geared stuff, indeed.

Unknown said...

You mentioned that the part of your brain in charge of shifting may have atrophied, but aren't you afraid that your suspension riding skills atrophied too? I'm rooting for ya, but I think you'll find that all those years of rigid SS riding would make you more of a bad ass if you rode a long travel hard tail over the same trails that your Spec is intended for? Tun your back to the dark side and get one of these:

http://www.nsmb.com/5588-the-most-badass-of-bikes/

Huge fan base here:

http://forums.mtbr.com/kona/honzo-build-thread-post-your-builds-here-750534-22.html

wrepsher said...

The grip shift issue isn't limited to just SRAM. I have a similar issue with the Shimano NEXUS gripper shifter on my MonoCog. Wider bars is the best compromise IMO.