Two Wheel Blogs

I'm finally getting back to that SS strong I had when I rode my Jamis Exile 29r all the time. It was a singlespeed rigid until I changed it during race season. This time its the good ol' Rockhard, and it's definently different. But good all in the same. Well since the last Jamis decided to give out, I'm left to ride this bike until I get my new one in February. I've got my eye on some pretty nice 08 29rs. But for now, it's the 26 inch SS that will suite me.

I changed up a few things the other day. Actually I had the worst day ever in the shop. I went in to do basic maintence. I put on a new back brake cable and housing, and installed a new chain. I then went to change the stem out. The last one was stacked so high that the steer tube barely made it half way up the stem. In spite of my recent incident I decided this probably wasn't a great idea. So I replaced it with a Truvativ Hussefelt. Now let me tell you the worst part... the steer nut inner part thingy came loose. The actual steer nut was tight, but the innerds where spinning and it would not let me get the bolt out. So long story short, I ended up banging out the steer nut all the way through the bottom. But in the end I got it done, but it was 2 hours of BS.

Lastely I was having chain skip issues during the initial test ride. Well I guess the bike shop guys thought it would be better to take my Singulator off, so now I'm running no tensioner on a vertical dropout bike. Something I didn't think I could do. But I've got about 30 miles on it with no issues. We'll see. Tonight I rode 6 laps out at Bothwell, a 3 mile loop just outside of Sedalia. It's a super fast, super fun and rocky little loop. My fastest lap time tonight was just over 13 minutes. Not bad, considering I was spinning my brain out for most of it.

So the stem is super small. Look at the rake of the front end in this picture.

The bar I like. It's got a nice bend, and it was free. My roomate made a wrong buy on a 31.8 size bar when he needed smaller. Just so happens I needed that 31.8.

The back end looks a bit cleaner. I need to take the DR off.

Unit did have me thinking with his latest reply with the Banshee. I think I'm going to replace this frame. It's got more than its worth of riding out of it, and it's probably best I replace it. So on that note, I've got to start looking, and Banshee might be a good first place!