How to take care of your frame!

Jorah asked me about this, and I realized that there's nothing in the FAQ on the main site (which is being massively updated by my good friend Pete Roper, btw, and will look totally different soon) about caring for a steel frame. So here's the scoop. This applies to any steel frame, really, not just one of mine.

-Steel rusts, albeit very slowly. If you live in Colorado, or Utah, or NM, or somewhere dry, you probably don't have to spend much time worrying about this (I have ridden *unpainted* frames for multiple years at a time here in CO and all they got was some surface patina type rust). If, on the other hand, you live in San Diego next to the bay, and you leave your frame out on the porch in the salt mist...

-So that said, I put some rust preventing goop in the frame before I ship it out (note that this isn't always the case with other steel bikes - and it's possible for me to forget, so inspect the frame to make sure it's got rustproofing in it). I don't go totally crazy with it, but I do hit the major spots (seat tube/BB shell/chainstays) that are the most susceptible to rusting. The product I use is "Boeshield T-9", which was used for preventing rust on steel aircraft way back around the second world war. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about:

Note that their "odorless" claim is, er, a bit dubious, IMO.

You can get Boeshield at any decent hardware store. If you want to spend a bit more money, you can also use Weigle "Framesaver" (generally only available at bike shops or online) which is pretty close to the same thing but a bit more expensive. Here's a picture:


-To apply the chosen rustproofing, remove the seatpost and fork (the headset can stay). Spray liberal amounts of the goop into the vent holes from the head tube into the downtube and toptube, as well as into the seat tube. Move the frame all around to slosh the goop everywhere it needs to go. Note that you're going to get the stuff *everywhere* as part of this process, so do it outside or at least away from anything you want to stay clean. Do the same for the seatstays and chainstays, if they have vent holes (mine are generally sealed at the BB end, on most frames they vent into the BB shell). Swish, swirl, repeat. Leave the bike to drain or put it back together and live with small amounts of rustproofing getting everywhere for the next few days.

-Boeshield or Framesaver is good stuff, but it's not a magic bullet. If the frame gets wet and stays wet for too long, nothing will prevent it from rusting. So there are a few more steps you can take - keep bolts in the water bottle bosses, make sure you dry the frame off after washing it, and periodically remove the fork and seatpost (and, if you have the tools, the bottom bracket) to inspect for rust. If the bike gets *really* wet, allow the frame to drain and dry (often this just means pulling out the seatpost and leaving the bike upside down for a while, which will allow the seat tube, downtube, and stays to drain any water that has entered), then spray in some more of your chosen rustproofing.

-It's always a good idea to inspect the frame and fork (as well as other components) for damage every so often as well. Steel generally will give you a lot of both visual, auditory, and even tactile feedback that something is wrong, and it's much better to find out in the garage than on the trail.

Mini-Me

As per my standard policy, I only post framebuilding pictures when I have something unusual or interesting to talk about. This fits the bill - a road/touring/travel frame for my friend Casie. She's VERY small, so it's a 49.5cm toptube - probably the smallest skinny tire bike I've ever built!

Humorously enough, there are no butted tubes *short enough* to use as a toptube on this bike in combination with the couplers, so I had to use a straightgauge 4130 toptube - it's actually heavier than the downtube! Between the couplers (extra 300 grams or so) and the non-butted tube (probably 75g or so) it's quite a bit heavier than most frames this size - it'll end up a tad over 4 pounds with all the rack mounts and fiddly bits. Still, it's meant to be unkillable and capable of carrying a load if needed, so I'm not worried about it.

Building the fork for it today, and then I'll see if I can get ahold of her for a color choice. She's in Borneo right now, so that may or may not pan out.

What will happen to the old 29ers?

I've been thinking about the new geometry configurations for 29er suspension forks for a while (and been designing around them for the last 6 months or so). And I'm a little bummed that more isn't being done to keep the old-style forks in production.

Now don't get too upset - I think both of these companies are great, and their products work quite well. I'm just amazed that reverse compatibility has been thrown out the window. 44, 46, or 51mm rake forks will generally NOT work well with a 29er with, say, a 72 or 72.5 degree head tube angle, which is what the vast majority of the older frames out there have.

Is the new rake a step forward? In general, yes. 45mm or so of rake probably should have been the original standard, but it wasn't, and many people who bought a bike assuming they'd keep it for a long time, and be able to get replacement parts, now find themselves without much in the way of fork options. There are NOS forks from 2007 and earlier floating around, of course, and I think you can still buy 38mm rake lowers from RS if you're desperate, but basically, if you've got an "old" geometry frame, sooner or later you'll be SOL.

In a better world, we'd buy a product like a bike frame and then keep using it for a decade or so - but in reality, I think serious bike riders get a new bike every 18 months (this is a remembered statistic from BRAIN, and could easily be wrong). That means, I guess, that the fork companies really don't care much - all of those 2005 Fisher Paragons, and almost every other older 29er will be in the landfill, or gathering dust, so there's no need to keep making parts for them.

As an aside, I read a hilarious (well, sad) article on Bloomberg today about the poor economy/unemployment driving high sales at Walmart. Yeah, great - I lost my job, so I better go buy a bunch of disposable Chinese crap. I'm sure the economy will turn right around if we all do that...

Long story short, I'm now designing 29ers around the new ~45mm offset standard, which I think will have more staying power. I hope.

Misc for-sale post

No interesting content today, folks. I just want to dump random bike stuff without paying Ebay:

-SRAM Rival shift/brake levers. Used for about a month. I have learned that drop bars and I do not get along - hence I am swapping to flat bars and these gotta go. A smoking deal at $100 for the set, shipping included in the continental US!

-Easton EC70 44cm handlebar. Used about a month (just like the shifters) and in perfect shape - no scratches, dings, dents, crashes, etc. I'm going to the old man setup and running a flat bar. Yeah, I'm lame. $75 takes these, including shipping.

-DT Swiss EX200 rear shock. Brand new, never installed or ridden. 190 grams of propedal bliss! This is a 190mm eye to eye, 50mm stroke (2") shock. 2008 model. $200 or make me an offer!

-Ritchey WCS 4-axis stem. 100mm x 31.8 clamp. I'm going to a longer stem with my flat bar setup, so I don't need this sucker anymore. No scratches, marks, etc - perfect shape. $45 shipped.

-Thomson 100mm Elite stem. 25.4mm clamp, brand new. $50 takes it.

Email me (waltworks at gmail.com) with questions. Thanks!

Go vote!

I voted, like, 2 weeks ago. But y'all slackers who haven't, go get in line!

I am, as always, voting for Captain Morgan.

Just kidding. But I'm not telling you who I really voted for. All I can say is that hopefully this election will end with people *less* angry at each other. I'm not sure I see how that's possible though.

In other news:

Jorah wrote me a love letter this morning. Apparently he likes his new full-squish 29er...
"Hi Walt,

Here is some feedback for you regarding the bike.

First, you nailed the geometry. The bike fits me like a glove. The only thing that could have been a little different is a bit longer seat tube of all things; I have a carbon seatpost that is positioned exactly at its limit. But that is the only thing and it's a tiny one. Other than that, it's perfect.

Second, and perhaps due to the wonderful geometry, the bike rides better than any bike I've ever owned or ridden. I can ride up steep stuff that I would never have made it up in the past and the traction is fantastic. For whatever reason, I feel a ton more confident behind the saddle on decents as well. Handling is great (point and go but not sluggish at all), especially at slow speeds. Even when I am manhandling the bike while I creep over dicey stuff, it never feels unstable and the steering always seems to snap back when I am hauling the front wheel around. I have yet to go super fast on it, but I am not really a super fast rider.

Third, I am surprised how much of a difference the propedal makes. The suspension is super supple with propedal off (it's like riding a comfortable mattress) and feels very plush going down hills. However, there is some noticeable bob, probably due to the natural position of the chain at high rohloff gears as well as the big unsprung mass. However, with propedal, the suspension stiffens up and climbs without bob while
still being confortable. The traction, as I said before, is awesome. I can tell that I am definitely going to switch back and forth depending on conditions, something I NEVER did with my old bike. By the way, the Reba Team is a great fork with a nice lockout adjustment. However, a tiny bit of me misses the 140mm of vanilla travel (but only a tiny bit; I wouldn't want to give up the improvement in handling).

So in closing, I'd just like to say thanks! I don't regret for a second the money or the wait for this bike; it's everything I had hoped for. I think I am going to give up road biking for a while...

Cheers,

Jorah

PS, I still hope to get you a picture once it gets sunny here."

Happy birthday to me

Well, as usual, I forgot the camera for the Fruita trip, so there aren't any pictures of that stuff, but I will say:
-18 road and the bookcliffs have become a total zoo on the weekends. Good lord. Who in their right mind wants to ride *up* Zippety?
-Son of Middle Creek in Vail is a lame ride. Nice views of I-70, though...
-East Eagle/Boneyard in Eagle are some of the funnest trails I've ridden in a LONG time. Thanks to the anonymous Mafia Racing dude who helped up find the best stuff.
-I really suck at riding full suspension bikes. I think my wrist has healed up enough to bust the singlespeed back out, thank god.

In any case, we rode in Ned on Sunday and then partied to celebrate my 32 years on the planet. Everyone showed up on bikes (you can only see some of them in this shot, there must have been 20 in the entryway)


It was quite a fun time, and there's enough beer in the keg still to lubricate the election night party coming up tomorrow. Sweet.

Happy birthday to me, or "out of town"

I'm 32 on Sunday, and will be out of town starting, um, now (Friday) until Monday. Don't expect answers to emails or phone calls until then. Pictures when I return, maybe.

-Walt

Congrats Eszter!

Not too shabby - 3rd XC, 3rd STXC, 6th DH, and 11th in dual slalom - not to mention 2nd for the overall omnium. For those not in the loop, I'm referring to the 2008 USAC Collegiate National Championships. The last vestiges of the butt end of the tail end of the mountain bike season.

Now I think it's time for skis...

DIY geekery

Check out the link:
Homemade carbonation system (warning, extremely nerdy content)

And yes, I am posting this because I just constructed such a device and am quite pleased with myself. Pictures tomorrow, maybe, though mine isn't nearly as trick as the setup shown.

Custom rack?!?

Don't even ask - this was a favor for a friend, and I have no plans to build anything similar anytime soon. Thought I admit it was fun to build.

It's a handlebar bag rack - essentially a shield to keep the bar bag from hitting the front tire on a snow bike from the fine folks at Speedway cycles. Pretty neat. 135mm spacing, 5" of tire clearance (yes, you heard right) and a neato custom rack. It ended up pretty light - 400 grams. And it's probably strong enough to hold 25 pounds or so, though in this case it probably will never hold close to that much. .028"x3/8" 4130 cromoly, with a "spine" made from .125"x1" plate, bolted to a star nut installed in the bottom of the steerer.

Fun stuff, as I said, but I spent WAY more time on this than I wanted to.

Also note the immaculate condition of the shop floor. I don't know when I dropped that screwdriver, and I really should clean up the oil from converting Joel's 120mm Reba (as an aside, those things are freakin' RAD). C'est la shoppe, though.

A visit from Tashi

I'll let the picture speak for itself. How cool is the full period built Ultimate? Pretty damn cool. And not even the coolest bike he owns.

A silly bike swap

Amazing stuff - Redcoat and I are within 1/2" of the same height. Check out the photos of us swapping bikes...

For those who are curious:
Redcoat: 27" toptube, 120mm stem
Walt: 24" toptube, 90mm stem

Yes, I am all legs, with a stumpy little torso and no arms. And Redcoat is like the AntiWalt - stubby little legs on an enormous torso and long arms.

Goes to show, I guess, that picking a bike based purely on your height is always pretty dumb.

What a weekend...

First off, a couple of pictures of Margo's completed FS 29er. Very girly, I must say!

My sprained wrist/broken hand situation has healed enough for me to ride my 4" travel full suspension bike, on relatively easy terrain, so I've been trying to make up for lost time before the snow flies (apologies to everyone whose emails I've been so slow in answering!)

Long story short, my week went something like this:
Monday: 3 hour/40 mile cross bike ride. 2k climbing.
Tuesday: 2 hour/30 mile road ride. 1.5k climbing. Boring, but tiring. Decide to try riding the mountain bike next time.
Wednesday: 30 mile ride on the plains - Marshall Mesa to Cowdry to Coalton to High Plains. 3 hours, 1.5k climbing.
Thursday: Betasso with Chris - 2 hour sufferfest. Chris (and I) clean the connector for the first time ever! 22 miles, 2k climbing.
Friday: 4 hours of riding from Boulder to Lyons on 80% singletrack. Pretty cool that you can now do this with the Picture rock trail complete! 33 miles, 3.5k climbing.
Saturday: 4 hours at Buffalo Creek. Feldy, Sarah, and I ride pretty fast and don't stop much, but we pick all the steepest stuff and only end up going 32 miles. 4k feet of climbing.
Sunday: 3 hours in Ned with the Goonies. Sarah, Chris, and I bonk badly and retire to the brewery while Eszter, Mason, and Redcoat ride for an extra 2 hours. Good god. 25 miles, 4k climbing.

At this rate, I'll actually be in shape, just in time for, um... wait. Nothing. If the snow doesn't fly soon, I'll burn out by freakin' January!

A few more shots of David's bike

First, let me say that I love Paragon machine works. Nobody else does anything close to as cool as they do when it comes to bicycle frame parts. Period.

But man, do their steel hooded dropouts look silly. They're clearly a duplicate (in steel) of the ti dropouts, which of course need to be pretty huge, since ti seatstays and chainstays tend to be really big. But for steel... well... you be the judge:


In this case, David *really* wanted a removeable derailleur hanger (puntera desmontable!) so my usual Breezers weren't an option. And after some work with the mill:

Things looked much better (and they were a few grams lighter, to boot):

Dude, I actually *like* that plan...

I saw one of those now-ubiquitous political ads today - this is a shirt you can buy which is ostensibly making fun of Barack Obama, but which I think a lot of bike geeks might view as a bit of a compliment, regardless of their political leanings. I think it would have made more sense to put a pair or worn-out sneakers on there, or a person on a treadmill. Bikes are, um, actually a good part of a smart energy policy, dudes.

Sunday recipe!

It's been too long since I've done a recipe on the blog. And this is a pretty easy, and freakin' awesome one. Sarah's mom made this cake (it's apparently a family tradition) for our wedding. Now we make it anytime we can find an excuse.

Sarah's Awesome Carrot Cake

3c flour
2c sugar
1c shredded coconut
2c shredded carrot
2ts vanilla
2.5ts cinnamon
2ts baking soda
1ts salt
1.25c oil
3 eggs
1 small can mandarin oranges (fruit & juice)

Mix everything and pour into 13” x 9”, bake at 350° for ~50min until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. No need to pre-grease the pan.

Frosting

8oz Cream cheese (softened)
3c powdered sugar
1ts vanilla
2tbl melted butter

Mix 'em all together. Smear all over cake. Consume with gusto.

Friday afternoon bloggage/what I'm doing right now

I *think* I'm sick again, though I'm attempting to drown the bugs in sugar and alcohol. It's Avery's big "all the idiotic/crazy/awesome brews we made a few gallons of because we're weird" week, so Sarah and I have been sampling like mad, but I think all the late nights and fun have taken their toll.

In any case, I'm sure everyone wants to hear me whine. On the plus side, I've *finally* got Margo's FS 29er back from the powdercoater. Here's a picture for her and Jay - of course, the distributor somehow managed to leave the front derailleur and stem out of the parts box, so she's not going to be able to ride until next week - ie, after our nasty winter storm wrecks the high country trails for the rest of the year. Doh!

Next up, I'm about 50% done with David's frame. David is from Spain, and speaks English about as well as I speak Spanish (ie, not really fluently), so figuring out the geometry was a pretty drawn-out and humorous process. The best part was trying to describe to him what "endo" meant - I think my description (in Spanish, of course) read something like "Endo is for to make encounter obstacle, and then from bicycle fly until you encounter the ground again." I probably sounded like a Spanish version of Borat, but it was fun to practice (I haven't spoken Spanish in years). David was very patient with my nigh-incoherent emails, and I learned a lot of bike-specific words. A Waltworks, se habla Espanol! Sort of.

In any case, I'm doing internal brake routing for him, and as always, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it looks wicked cool, but on the other hand, it offends my functional sensibilities, since it's way heavy (the tube plus the beefy toptube that I feel ok drilling big holes in probably add 80-100 grams) and it means that if you want to change or install a brake line (especially on a hydraulic setup) you've gotta pull everything apart. Bleh. But darn does it look spiffy...

I'm off to drink more tea. Enjoy your weekend, everyone.

Team jerseys for sale!

Another chapter in the "crap we found" saga - I've got three brand new Waltworks team jerseys in blue/white, size men's large (fits very similarly to the Twinsix stuff) to sell off to benefit a good cause - namely the team potluck beer fund.

These are super, super nice. They are made by Champ-Sys, who have been doing the team clothing for years. Very stretchy, breathable fabric, nice and cool, and even fairly resistant to picking up odors over the course of the season (trust me, I should know). I'm asking $50 each, shipping included. First come, first served.

For those who are curious, we are planning to do more TwinSix/WW jerseys. Hopefully soon, if Brent ever gets caught up.

Climbing and bikes

It always amazes me to see climbers driving into Eldorado Canyon, or to Flagstaff - it's easy and fun to ride a bike to both of those places (well, ok, not *that* easy, but hey, it's good cross training, right?)

In any case, I thought that This episode of the dirtbag diaries was pretty cool. Check it out.

Thanks to Ruben for the pic from the Sierras.

More belt drive thoughts

A fun weekend is almost behind us - I am finally not sick, and (kinda) not broken, so I was actually able to bandage up my bum wrist and go for a road ride both Saturday and Sunday. Sweet! It's not improving as quickly as I'd hoped, so I think mountain biking is done for the year, but if I can get out on the road at least, I can keep my sanity.

Spent some time this morning playing with belt drive parts and plotting. After looking at the info from Spot, and mounting up the drive cog/chainring on an LX crankset (ie, 50mm chainline) to do some real-world visualization, it appears to me that I can, with some tubing manipulation and trickery, manage to build a singlespeed 29er with 445mm (or about 17.5") chainstays, clearance (just barely) for a 2.1" tire, and clearance (again, by the skin of my teeth) for the chainring thing. It's not anything like what's doable with a chain, of course (you could probably get the stays down into the 425mm range pretty easily) but I'm a big guy and really prefer the stays in the 440-450mm range as it is.

This is a good sign, because last I looked at it (without actually mounting anything up) it really appeared to me that there was no practical way to get any kind of mountain bike tire onto a belt driven bike without making the chainstays super duper long (this is the solution that Spot seems to be using - 18.5"+ chainstays) or doing something really weird with elevated chainstays (barf).

I'm cautiously optimistic that it's doable - but it'll require several tweaks:
-2mm spacers between the crank spider and the chainring/cog to offset the beltline outboard and make extra room. Yes, this is a little bit sketchy as it puts all the force on the bolts instead directly onto the spider, but I think it'll be fine.
-Fairly significantly crimp some S-bend stays for tire clearance (this will get me another 2mm or so on each side of the tire). I do this anyway on a lot of bikes, but never bothered with my current singlespeed, because I don't personally want super short stays or huge rear tires.
-Narrow the tire clearance (at the widest point on the knobs) to somewhere around 60mm. This of course leaves very limited room for anything bigger than a ~2.1" tire (no Weirwolves on the rear of this bad boy) but since I hate using big tires on the rear anyway, it shouldn't be much of an issue. I just better hope there's no mud...

In any case, it's looking like I might actually start this project in the next few days, so stay tuned if you're interested in this sort of thing. I'm also attempting to do a seat tube that will take a 30.9 (Speedball!) seatpost, as well as a few other fancy bits. My loss (wrist injury) is your gain (more framebuilding posts), loyal blog readers!

And yes, I'm aware that this is several consecutive posts with no pictures. Sorry. I'll try to do better.

Fork for sale

So Jason messed up and gave me the wrong numbers for the fork he ordered, and as such, he wants to try to sell it:
450mm axle to crown
45mm offset
1 1/8" steerer
disk brake tab

It's a tapering blade fork built for a 155 pound rider. Appropriate for a 100mm suspension corrected 26" bike, an 80mm 650b setup, or a non-suspension corrected 29er. He's asking $150 plus shipping. The fork is currently not painted, but can be powdercoated for a few extra bucks if you so choose.

If you're interested, email me and I'll put you in touch with him.

Buried treasure!

Whilst digging through the box of clothing that is sitting in my office today, I found a *brand new* still bagged XL size TwinSix/Waltworks jersey. $50 (shipping included) takes it - first to email me gets it. I only have one.

There's one size small left as well, but nothing else. Hopefully Brent will get around to ordering another run sometime soon!

In other news, I think I broke my hand at Sol Vista yesterday. It hurts a lot. Crap.

9/29 Edit: The XL jersey is spoken for. Small is still available (for $30!) to anyone that wants it.

2 posts in one day! $84 tires?!?

Some of you have heard about this new tire from Schwalbe. I find their bombast to be quite entertaining, and furthermore I have a prediction about that tire: nobody who starts a race on it will finish said race. Unless it's a course consisting entirely of grass, or (smooth) pavement, or everything has been covered with a 6" layer of felt and astroturf.

Heck, my fat 150# self can flat a 600g Ignitor at the Boulder short track (very smooth) by punching holes in the casing - I can't even imagine the kind of damage you'd do to this thing. It's almost 200g lighter than tires that I consider hilariously unreliable (Stan's Crow, Kenda Karma, etc).

They probably should call it the "Hillclimb Harry" or "Puncturing Phil".

Every Schwalbe tire I've ever used has sucked unbelieveably. I imagine this will be no exception. They'll sell a ton ($83.55 for ONE TIRE?!?) to the sport-class weightweenies, though.

Also probably to Nick, who is an honorary sport class weightweenie and also has to have at least one pair of every knobby tire ever made.

Picture Rock Trail photos

I only took a couple - this was just before I got really sick (as I still am). Had that start-of-a-sore-throat feeling during the ride and figured I was in trouble...

In any case, the trail is very fun and a good connector to Lyons. Kudos to BMA and everyone else involved.

650b snapshot and musings on trail design

First off, just to grab everyone's attention, here's Martin's 650b full-squish bike. 4" travel front and rear (don't tell Fox, but the tire *just barely* clears that crown!), super fun. He loves it, especially now that the tires are running tubeless.

Now, excuse the clumsy segue, please:

Millertime, Wu-J, and I rode a new trail out towards the Magnolia universe yesterday. The ride itself wasn't bad - lots of shit-talking (er, I mean "comraderie") directed at Wu by myself and Miller, lots of getting lost, some sweet singletrack, and finally a brand new trail that allows a HUGE descent to a destination we really wanted to arrive at.

I should note here that I'm being deliberately vague, as the trail is of course hugely illegal. And no, for the few folks who know what I'm talking about, I have no idea who built it.

So the trail is a typical illegal DH rider trail, basically - starts at the top of an easy spot to shuttle to, takes the fall line, has some super-ghetto homemade jumps and illogical lines allowing you to fall off 10 foot drops, etc. Sort of a fun trail, even on the rigid bikes. But there were a few problems - I'll do my usual bullet-point whining:

1. No effort has been made to hide the trail. Without giving anything away, it would be VERY easy to find it by accident. Finding it with even the slightest bit of information as to its location is a breeze. Nice work, guys - I'm sure nobody will throw a fit about *that* anytime soon. Is it so hard to carry your bikes 50 feet?

2. The trail doesn't have much in the way of turns. Turns are fun. Even for DH guys. Make 'em sweepers if you want to go fast, make 'em tighter if you want to wrestle the bike through some corners, but make the trail *turn*, damnit! Sliding straight downhill through loose dirt isn't much fun for anyone. If you don't know how to build a good trail, either learn how (go ride at Sol Vista and see what Wentz has done for starters) or DON'T BUILD IT.

3. The end of the trail is a half mile hike-a-bike (yes, even if you have a downhill bike) that ends in someone's back yard. Literally. I'm assuming this was chosen as a route because it allows the easy crossing of a body of water, but it's also a virtual guarantee that the trail will piss off the neighbors and get shut down. Wading won't kill you, guys.

4. The first rainstorm will turn this into a giant rut. Some of you may remember another pirate trail named for a javascript:void(0)desert plant that took the fall line without much deviation. Seems pretty fun for a month or two, but once the rains come...

Bottom line, the folks that built this trail did a crap job. And it's a bummer, because the topography and location are *perfect*. Maybe at some point some nice person will reroute some of it this fall, who knows.

Fox fork for sale and a rant about racing

First off, I ordered the wrong fork for my neighbor Martin and I'm selling the one that I ordered by mistake:
Fox F120 RLC (26" wheel!) fork. Brand new, steerer uncut. There are a couple of marks at the top of the crown where my tool slipped (doh) when removing a crown race (the fork was installed on a bike but never ridden). ISO disc tab and (removable) v-brake mounts. $450 takes it, shipping included. Picture above. Feel free to ask questions.

Second, some of you may have heard about this. In essence, USAC is moving from a "beginner/sport/expert/semipro/pro" setup to "Cat3, Cat2, Cat1, Pro". They've changed the names of the amateur categories and eliminated semipro. All in all, not that big of a deal. But the *reasons* they cite are hilarious. Let's go point by point:

"The new categories, which closely resemble those used in other disciplines of competitive cycling, have been created to offer USA Cycling mountain bike members a more competitive racing environment."
Translation: "Nobody races mountain bikes anymore, so we're combining some categories to keep the field sizes up."

"The terms ‘Beginner’, ‘Sport’ and ‘Expert’ carry little relevance outside of the mountain bike community, which makes it difficult for sponsors and the public to relate."
Translation:"For some reason nobody wants to watch a group of really skinny people dressed in brightly colored garments ride uphill (as well as, approximately 10% of the time, downhill, albeit not much faster) for 2 hours at 4.5 mph. We're confident that these new category names will get us an invite to the X games!"

“Our pro fields are tiny compared to our European counterparts. We have the numbers in terms of ridership, but we’ve been referring to them as Semi-Pros.”
Translation:"US mountain bikers suck. Really, we need better dope, but in lieu of that, we're hoping throwing a bunch of fresh-faced semipros to the sharks will somehow make our molasses-slow top pros go faster. They'll, like, spend more energy lapping people, and stuff like that. Or something. Pass that bourbon over here."

"Semi-Pro members will be offered an automatic upgrade to Pro throughout the 2009 licensing period"
Translation:"Dude, we can charge all those sucker semipros $160 for a UCI license. Erm, I mean, help develop them as professional riders within a proper competitive environment."


Now, in all seriousness, what the heck are they thinking down in Colorado Springs? Is anyone out there under the impression that the existing pros and semipros are going to become magically faster by combining the categories? I mean, most of the pro and semipro riders I know (with, um, yours truly as a bit of an exception) train pretty hard already. You've gotta develop new talent from the ground up, and *participation* is what can make racing popular (and maybe even lucrative).

So here are my suggestions for USAC.
-Keep the existing category names. Mountain bikers don't *want* to feel like roadies, mostly.
-Throw out semipro if you want, but offer a cheaper NON-UCI pro license for domestic pros who aren't serious enough to go to a World Cup or need to be drug tested (ie, the folks who will show up for local races, but never a UCI-level event).
-Make junior and collegiate licenses free. Encourage promoters to make entry fees free for juniors as well.
-Offer beginner licenses free for the first year to encourage people to try mountain biking.

Here's the bottom line: Cycling needs to learn a lesson from triathalon (you have no idea how hard it was for me to type that): ours is a participation sport, not a spectator sport. Nobody in their right mind will stand around at the start/finish of some godforsaken trail loop to wait to see their favorite racers once every 45 minutes, no matter how much the category naming system has changed. On the other hand, cycling is great exercise, very social, and (relatively) inexpensive to do. If you want to offer big prize money and see Americans on top of World Cup podiums, make sure a *lot* of kids and their parents get psyched about bike racing.

Congratulations Yuki!!!

No race report yet, but Yuki just WON the solo men's division of the 12 hours of Snowmass! Check out the photo (there's an article too, but all it talks about is Lance).

In other race news, Eszter and Sarah had a great collegiate race at Sol Vista, finishing 1st/1st/4th, and 5th/5th/7th, respectively, in the competitive women's A category for XC, STXC, and DH. Nice work, ladies! I should have a pic or two to add later in the day.

-Walt

Breakin' the law!

That's right. A first for the Waltworks blog. A video. My computer is smoking and making a terrible moaning noise, but I think I've successfully uploaded it.

And no, none of this has anything to do with bicycles. Sorry. But it does involve sneaking blackberries through the fence of the golf course. Which is pretty sweet.

Epic weekend...

This'll be brief, because I really need to get out to the shop and get some work done, but the weekend wrapup was:
Friday: Ride over Rollins Pass to Winter Park. 50 miles, 8k feet of climbing. Follow with copious amounts of Sierra Nevada anniversary ale.

Saturday: Ride 5 hours with the Goonie crew on some of the finest singletrack in the valley. Follow with copious amounts of 90shilling. Chris (see picture) impales self on tree but gamely continues.

Sunday: Ride 3 or 4 four hours, sometimes really slowly and painfully, and discover even more excellent unmapped singletrack. Consume pizza and more beer. Beg a ride back to Boulder.

Random bicycle stuff for sale

Come one, come all! No reasonable offer refused! First come, first served! Shipping is free in the continental US, all others pay me actual cost.

-Avid Shorty 6 brakes (one wheel worth). Brand new, in the box. $20.
-XTR M970 front disc brake. Brand new, includes lever and hose (prebled) but no rotor. $130.
-Shimano 105 front derailleur (braze-on) with 31.8mm clamp adapter. $30.

Email me if you have questions. Thanks dudes.

I'm famous again

Check it out, My name is in Velonews again... Too bad I didn't have a better race - those U23 kids are fast!

The last race report of 2008...probably

I'm sure everyone has been just, well, riveted by my race reports ("So, I was riding 5 mph up the hill for 45 minutes, but this guy in front of me was riding 5.02mph - it was really exciting...") Fear not, this will almost certainly be the last race report of 2008, because the Winter Park series concluded on Saturday with the always-fun Tipperary Creek race.

Tipperary is a great course, but there are a few bits I don't like - specifically, the long flat dirt road sections at the start and finish, and the Flume trail, which is flat or slightly downhill, 8 feet wide, and covered with rocks and roots. Just about the worst possible place to be trying to spin the 34x20, in other words.

The start of the race, as always, was pretty mellow. I think the pro field loses a minute or so to a lot of the expert (and maybe even sport) categories because everyone knows they're not going to win the race on the initial 3.5 miles of flat dirt road, so we all just sit in and chat until we hit the Tipperary climb. In any case, I ran my trusty 2x2 drivetrain (38/34 in front, 16/20 in the rear) which allowed me to stay with the pack for the flat section, then I got off and swapped to the 34x20 for the remainder of the race. Some folks once tried to give me a hard time about this setup, claiming I wasn't being a "true" singlespeeder (since I don't have any facial hair or tattoos, and I don't like cheap beer, I probably don't qualify anyway). But I'm not racing the singlespeed race, nor do I care - it's a setup I enjoy riding, and it lets me hang on for those first 3.5 miles and still race with my friends the rest of the way.

So, as usual, I was dead last onto the climb, and I spent the whole climb chasing and passing people - I think I was up to about 5th at the top, but hadn't managed to catch Paco, who is usually my rabbit for the starts of races. That was a bad sign - the legs didn't really have any snap, and I was having a lot of trouble just keeping my head up to look ahead on the trail. I rode terribly on the descent and Mike West (who I had dropped by about 30 seconds on the climb) caught me and passed me easily towards the bottom. Then Flume started, and I started going backwards - Nick caught me and blew by me with about a 5mph closing speed on his 3" travel 29er, and I think about 7 or 8 others passed me too.

That set the tone for the rest of the race. I would catch and pass Nick and several other people on every smoothish climb, then get absolutely crushed on the flat bits and descents as I desperately tried to keep my head (and motivation) up. I finally caught Nick for the final time about 2 miles from the finish, and he gamely put me on his wheel and pulled my sorry ass past one last rider before the finish line (thanks Nick!) as I was aiming for the series podium and every point was important. Alas, it wasn't enough - I finished 11th (of 42 finishers) and was 4th overall for the series, just 4 points off the podium. C'est la vie. Next year, next year. I was happy to take 2.5 minutes off my time from last year, at least.

The ladies had a better race and did quite well - Sarah raged the first half in front of some of the pros before blowing up (she raced on only a couple hours of sleep and forgot her camelback) but still took 7 minutes off her time from last year to finish 3rd in expert and win the overall for the series. Eszter also rode well and finished 2nd in the pro race, and snuck onto the podium in 3rd for the series.

In any case, a great season, even if I did miss my goal of making the final podium. I think if I'd managed to race the 2nd race (I was ill) I would have done it. Not getting hammered the night before the SuperD would have helped as well, of course. But I have no regrets - I went for it, and I had some great races as well as some very poor ones.

Fat, fat tubes

No, not frame tubes. Eddie from J&B found me some sweet 700 gram 29er tubes!

Yes, I said "sweet". I want them for the DH sleds for Sarah and I. 3 times the rubber of a normal 29er tube would make a lot of people want to vomit - it makes me want to sing with joy.

Enjoy your labor day, everyone. I plan to test out these new tubes, myself...

Bachelor party!

Erm, or maybe make and can applesauce all night. Yeah...

Sarah's out of town, and I'm going wild!

Another picture from RC

Very nice. Apparently this is after 3.5 hours of pushing to 13.1k feet. Ouch.

Race report: WP #6

No pictures today, kids. But I think the previous post made up for that, no? MC is going to submit some of those to Bike, DirtRag, and anywhere else he can think of. I think they're plenty good enough to get published.

Anyway, on to the race:

The team: Decimated (as an aside, check out the etymology of "decimate" - pretty crazy!) Fuentes was racing Eldora, Rusty has a slipped disc in his back, Miguel is gone to who knows where consulting on a water project, Jung's hand is still broken, and Eszter wants to "ride for fun" or some such pansy nonsense. So it was just me, Sarah, and Taryn representing.

The course: Technical. And by technical, I mean similar to operating a jackhammer for 90 minutes. We did three laps at the top of the mountain (accessed by the chairlift) which were some of the rootiest, rockiest singletrack I've ever seen. Then we descended a trail called Icarus, which featured a whole lot more rocks, as well as a couple of terrifying 40+ mph fire road sections. Throw in one last "f-you" climb just before the finish (which I think everyone walked at least some portion of) and you've got a really nice race course. I guess my description doesn't really make it sound that great, but in actuality it was fun - the mental focus required to hold the right line and hang on (no resting on these descents!) was crazy, though.

The start: As usual, I started at the very back. The opening climb was only about 3 minutes long, and it wasn't very steep, so I spun out and drifted backwards until things kicked up a bit. Managed to hit the singletrack in about 10th, though, and passed a couple riders on the first descent, then a few more on the climb.

The rest of the race: My good friend Paco (actually, Matt) and I rode together for most of the first and second laps, with him dropping me like a bad habit on the most technical bits, and me making the time back up on the smoother stuff and climbs. I finally managed to drop him halfway through lap 2 and I spent the rest of the race looking at the fabulous ass of my arch-nemesis Mike Mathers. And, as usual, while I was able to keep him in sight virtually the whole way to the finish, he prevailed again, by 10 seconds or something. I ended up 5th, not too shabby, but given the depleted field (Brian Head epic and Eldora MSC were on this weekend as well) I wasn't all that impressed with myself.

Final thoughts: Whereas at Crankworks I was able to really make myself go for it at the end of the race, today I felt distinctly unaggressive and really felt like I could have gone faster. Bummer. Maybe it was the roughness of the opening laps, maybe I've just given up on ever beating Mike, maybe I'm getting burned out and ready to spend the fall doing fun epic rides. Who knows. In any case, I'm in reasonably good shape for the series (I could conceivably be 2nd, and I have a good shot at 3rd), so hopefully King of the Rockies will go well for me next weekend.

Sarah was suffering today but riding well on the descents and finished mid-pack in the expert women's race. I don't yet know how Taryn did, and the WP website has yet to post any results, so hopefully she did well.

A few more

These pictures are too good not to post. I'm hoping Chris and Mike will do a report on this ride (I don't know where it is) that I can pass along (edit, see below). In the meantime, enjoy the pictures. The bike Chris is riding is the second 29" long-travel (it's 5" front/6.5" rear) bike ever built - I made it for Sarah in 2005. The design evolved quite a bit since then - mainly in tube selection and a redesigned main pivot for better lateral stiffness. Still a great bike, though.

From Redcoat:
If there's one thing I've learnt in three years of playing in the mountains of Colorado, it's that getting above treeline rewards you with the greatest views, the sweetest (looking) trails, easily the best ski experiences and the worst weather. And if there's one thing I've learnt about capturing good shots on the camera in the mountains, it's that you need to be up there when the sun comes up. Since the powers-that-be decreed we have to reside in Mountain Time, it is with much annoyance that this occurs at 6 in the morning before anyone is awake, leaving the day to end all too early to get in long rides after work. But that's another story.

For once, I dragged my sorry, tired, self out of bed at silly-o-clock to join Chris for a photo shoot in the mountains of the Front Range. We'd managed to beg Walt and Sarah for their DH machines for our 5-day 'weekend' up in Winter Park, and Chris had the unenviable task of pushing what is apparently a light downhill ride up a 1000ft climb. I tagged along with two stills and one vid camera, a tripod and a lot of warm clothes. Chris was more than a willing subject... I only had to suggest he go and try something again and he booked it back up the mountain. It is substantially easier to get $$ photos when you have several chances, so cheers to Millatime for the efforts. We messed around with several different angles, lenses and so on, all the while Chris was learning the trail so he could make it look good for the video cam.

So if there's one thing I learnt from doing all this, it's that the likes of Sterling Lorence (google him) have the best friggin' job on the planet. I hope you enjoy the photos.

A great shot of Chris

He's riding Sarah's DH bike - sadly, our DH sleds have been getting more use by our friends this year than by us. Too much racing and travel to places like Crested Butte, where long travel is a waste of time. Maybe we'll get a couple of days in this fall, though. Thanks to RC for the photos!

It still mystifies me that nobody ever wants to buy a 29" long travel setup - everyone that rides them loves them. But I guess the lack of good tires (we've been running Nevegals with tubes glued inside them to armor them) and forks (Chris is using a WB F135 in this shot, which doesn't really qualify as a full-on DH fork) is making people hesitant. And I'm guessing most people think steel DH bikes are just weird, too. Not a problem for me, I've got plenty of hardtails to build.

Travel bike

Ruben forwarded me a couple of pictures of his completed travel S&S singlespeed. Pretty sweet (especially since it used to be mine!) Looks like old man winter is coming early this year - Ruben was up in the snow, and last weekend's Winter Park race had to be postponed due to snow as well. Crazy!

Famous people

I used to have posters of Bobbi Bensman (among other climbers) all over my walls in high school. And yesterday, I actually met her - pretty cool. She's an enduro mountain bike racer now and even knew who I was. Pretty exciting, at least to a former climbing geek like me.

Forecast for tomorrow's WP race is 45 degrees and rain. And that's at the base - the race is up over 10k feet the entire time. Can you say "epic"? Alternately, can you say "Walt is so screwed, because he can't ride mud to save his life"?

Support the Valmont Bike Park!!

I bought a brick, you can too! The important thing right now isn't the amount that you donate - the grant that BMA is hoping to get depends on widespread community support - so $5 will help just as much as $5k for the grant proposal. Donate a few bucks, Boulderites!

Here's more info:

The future park is a partnership between the Boulder Mountainbike
Alliance and the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department.
Just recently the City Council unanimously approved the concept plan
and we hope to break ground second quarter 2009.

The city has budgeted to build the park, but we are raising more
money to make the park even better and to build bigger community buy-in.

We're applying for a $200,000 grant from Great Outdoors Colorado,
and applications that have strong community support score higher. So
we need as many individual donations as possible, before AUGUST 15th when
the grant application is due. Your donation helps us win that grant!
Individual bricks start at $100 and corproate bricks cost $1,000.
There are other donation options online.

The park will include a 3-4 mile system of interconnected trails,
terrain parks, skills practice areas, a race venue, clubhouse, jumps,
technical features, kid's zone, etc. It will be designed to host
cyclocross (yeah baby!) and mountain bike races, as well as clinics, group rides,
school events, and all-around great riding.

You can learn more about the park and donate online at:

http://bma-mtb.org/valmontbikepark/
there's also a blog to keep folks updated: http://bikevalmont.blogspot.com/
Attached is a graphic with a bit more contextual info.

Please spread the word.....we're trying to reach as many people and businesses as we can.

Belt drive project - initial thoughts

I'll upload a few (not that exciting) pictures later tonight, but I'm icing my knee (my seatpost managed to slip during the race yesterday and I'm pretty sore on the left side) and have time to type this up right now before I get going packing my stuff for Vermont

Frank at Spot has graciously (albeit after quite a few delays, though I doubt that's his fault) gotten me some belt drive components, specifically:
-118t belt (I think, it might be 122, I didn't look closely yet)
-46t drive cog
-28t rear cog
-Spacer kit (which, to be honest, I didn't really need, but whatever)

Here are some initial impressions and thoughts, in no particular order:

-The packaging for the belt is VERY specific about how it must be handled - any kind of kinking, bending backwards, or twisting force will damage it. It seems that the belt, while very strong when used as intended, is also extremely sensitive to any kind of rough handling. Be forewarned!

-Cost is about 3-4 times that of a typical roller chain/chainring/cog setup. Assuming the longevity claims are true, though, this will pay for itself in a season or two. I usually kill a drivetrain every 18 months or so, I think. Some folks who ride in bad/wet conditions more may find the belt more economical than me.

-The drive cog/chainring is going to be a bit tricky to fit alongside the driveside chainstay - this is going to require some serious manipulation of tubes (ie, yoke) or else very long chainstays to fit big 2.3"+ tires, which is not necessarily a good thing for the 29er crowd. I'm not sure how a conventional chainstay setup (ie, no yoke, no elevated stays) could work out very well unless the chainstays were quite long - probably in the 460mm (ie 18") range. This is probably not going to make the singlespeeder crowd too happy. Using wide chainline Shimano XT M770 cranks, I can't put the drive cog on my current singlespeed at all, despite fairly long stay length (445mm) and smallish tire clearance (decent 2.1", no bigger). The Spot "Longboard" 29er frames that I've inspected that are set up for belts appear to use ~18.5" chainstays to solve this problem, as well as some aggressive dimpling of the driveside chainstay. Great for big folks, maybe not so hot for smaller humans.

-Gates' weight claims are a little dubious. The entire system (belt, both cogs, no spacers) weighs about 260 grams - nice and light. But I believe the site is currently claiming "Typical chain weights vary around 300 grams, and singlespeed systems are commonly upwards of 400g. The Gates Carbon Drive™ belt weighs just 70 grams and the entire system weighs a mere 220 grams." This is stretching the truth quite a bit - my scale reveals that my chain (long enough for a 34x20 29er drivetrain) weighs about 240 grams (it's a generic PC951) and my 34t downhill chainring weighs about 50g. Throw in 30g worth of steel rear cog and you've got a total system weight of 320 grams - using parts that are far from trick. A lightweight (ie, aluminum) 18t cog and lighter (ie, not downhill) chainring would probably take 25 or 30 grams off of that, if weight is your big concern. So the weight savings (not counting dropouts and chain tugs and such, which will almost certainly add quite a bit to the belt setup) is going to be about 60g, or two ounces. Picking lightweight parts for a chaindrive could easily cut that in half, so this really isn't as much of a weightweenies dream setup as it's been presented. Of course, if you're running a ginormous BMX chain, you'll save some weight.

It's a little annoying to read this kind of statement, too (again, from the CDS website) : "The entire system weighs in at over 226 grams lighter than an equivalent chain drive." Note the lack of the crucial comma between "grams" and "lighter". 226 grams, while not a completely accurate weight, is at least close, but the sentence as written seems intentionally ambiguous, so that the reader will assume the entire system is lighter than an equivalent chain drive by 226 grams (or half a pound). Is it lighter? Yes. Is it enough lighter to matter at all? No. In fact, I'm guessing the need for really beefy chain tugs to keep the tension high eliminate the weight advantage entirely.

-My plan, as of now, is to build a bike with these parts (I've got an idea for a dropout design that should be much better than what Gates is selling and that will allow easy wheel removal, no caliper realignments, etc) and test ride it over the fall/winter. I've got access to a powertap hub, so I'll also test the efficiency claims (though those seem to have disappeared from the CDS site) head to head with a roller chain setup.

-I'm bummed that I can't run my favorite setup - the 2x2 (34/38 rings in the front, 20/16 cogs in the rear), which is great for Boulder riding where there can be 8--10 miles of flat pavement between you and the trailhead - I just put the bike into the tall gear (swapping the chain by hand) and then swap back at the trailhead. There's no way to do that with the CDS setup - the beltline is crucial, so there's no way to even put 2 cogs on the rear and swap between them.

-There will be no retrofitting of existing frames. No freakin' way. The spacing requirements for the chainring make it totally impossible to fit onto any existing frame save perhaps an old Alpinestars or something else with elevated chainstays. So don't even ask me.

More info as things progress, but not until I get back from VT.

-Walt