Ready to race
Sparkling in the morning sun. Freshly washed. Gears tweaked, tyres inflated to just the right pressures and the forks tuned. It’s the attention to detail that’s important when preparing a bike for racing.
First race for a while this weekend, the final of the Gorrick Spring Series. Haven’t raced a mountain bike (or any bike come to mention it) for a while, so it’s a venture into the unknown. How will the legs respond? Will the lungs explode? I’ll only know the answers once the flag has been dropped on Sunday morning and the race begins.
I’ve given my bike a good wash. Important to have your bike sparkling before a race. Yes it’s going to get muddy, but you can’t turn up to the start line with a dirty bike. Bad karma that is. I’ve also fitted some new parts; WTB’s Moto 2.1in treads, new Alligator disc rotors and a new RockShox SID fork.It should be a bit lighter, and it is: 21.14lbs on the scales. Just need to fit some new foam grips I’ve been wanting to try for ages, and it’s ready to go.
Yes, those are 26in wheels. Retro. Smaller wheels are still lighter…
Might need to pedals though
Just put those on! Wanted to weigh it first. Also added a nize Mt Zoom titanium bottle cage
Did you notice what bottle cages I have on my Scott Scale? Uberkuppler
Front QR pointing straight down and on wrong side, other than that looks good :p
Get some bloody bar ends ffs & good luck.
Nice bike Dave, love the new wheels, they look silly light.
Would love to know how they felt, compared to something super stiff like the Reynolds offering. Weight or stiffness, there’s always a compromise somewhere!
Hope you enjoy the race. Good luck and don’t forget to smile through the effort induced gurning
Ah good to see your QR is on the right side…non-disc side is better (so the studies suggest)…personally I’ve always had it that side as it meant I could ensure the lever was tucked under the fork and pointing backwards…the disc-side always seemed to just not sit right with the lever going backwards (if it went at all).
Weighing the bike…why weigh it without pedals? It tells you the weight but doesn’t tell you the weight of the bike that can be ridden?
@Dick Barton, what studies are these? Genuinely interested with no under lying sarcasm!
got handle bar plugs on those bars dave?
other then that i would say the term is
Spanky
I don’t have the link on my machine (typical) but a few years back when a rider came off his bike and was paralysed, it kicked off a huge debate/discussion about disc brakes and QRs…according to the studies and findings…if the QR lever was on the same side as the disc brake, then the braking forces applied to the disc (which were much greater the larger the rotor), meant that it was possible for the QR to unscrew itself. This would be done over a long period of time, not just hit brake hard then the QR is undone.
The findings suggested that having the lever on the opposite side of the wheel from the disc helped reduce this effect.
Just googled and found the link I’d read…I say study as it looks in-depth -
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames/home/disk_and_quick_release/
Saying that, I’ve never experienced this myself (but then my QR has always been on the non-disc side), but hopefully it gives you enough to have a read of and decide yourself.
Well, despite my best efforts, the race didn’t go to plan. My first DNF in a while
The bike was perfect though, so so quick. Made a few changes after that photo, including a shorter stem, new grips (and bar plugs Serge), and of course some pedals
Will do an update on this article.
Impressed with the wheels, nice spin up, good stiffness and fast rolling. The WTB Moto tyres produced good grip in the damp conditions, didn’t need mud tyres at all.
Need to bleed my brakes again, the levers went a bit squishy…
Interesting stuff (well, to this nerd anyway).
I had a succession of skewers loosen on a Spesh Enduro which had a 203mm disc, never tried swapping sides though.
Combine that with smaller discs trying to lift the fork up and off the axle, and I’ll stick to Maxle’s ta!
Mate, next time buy the right size bike… that seatpost looks ridiculous!!