Steel is Real

In recent years, steel has made a comeback of sorts as a material for building bikes. It went something like this.

• Steel is heavy, aluminum is lighter!
• Titanium is lighter than aluminum (sometimes) with a better feel!
• Carbon fiber is lighter than metal and can be built into al kinds of weird shapes!
• I don't need a 15-pound bike, steel is durable and "classic" and, sometimes at least, oh so pretty.

Okay, well, for me, I still like the feel of aluminum and especially carbon. Aluminum is very stiff and I love the power-transfer you can get from a good aluminum frame. Carbon is, well, everything I want in a frame. It's light, it's pretty, it's stiff, but forgiving.

However, I don't hate steel. No, I just like it in a different spot. I love steel-spoked wheels.

In my arsenal, I have aluminum, carbon-aramid, Vectran and steel-spoked wheels. I like them all, but I keep coming back to steel. I love the ride of steel-spoked wheels. They're plenty stiff, but don't shake your fillings loose. They're easy to work on (usually) and durable. They're "classic." They're understated and elegant. These days, they're often bladed, and very thin--making them very aerodynamic, too.

Keep up the good work, steel.

Different Post than Planned

I have a nice long-ish post mostly written up about transitioning from Winter riding--on the cross bike--to sping/summer riding--on the mountain bike.  It's not a bad post, but while prepping my mountain bike for a ride tonight, I changed my mind about posting that post as today's post.  All due to a flat tire.

I've been running small knob tires on my mountain bike ever since last year's C2Sea ride--Hutchinson Pythons--and wanted to swap them out for something more aggressive for the trails

 planned tonight.  Dipping into the big rack-o-tires, I grabbed some Continental Gravity's--a good all around tire that will work well for the trails planned tonight and for the forseeable future.  In the back of my mind, I seemed to recall flatting on these tires on their last trip out of the garage, but I couldn't reme

mber which.

So, also digging in the garage, I rounded up Stan's magic sealant.  This is the reason for my post.  I love this stuff.  I rarely use, though.  Most of the time, I don't flat while running tubeless.  That's because most of my tube-tire flats are due to one of two things: either pinching the tube, or ripping valve stems off.  Both of these are caused by running the pressure too low.  Since I don't seem to puncture tires often, and I swap tires regularly, I don't use Stan's sealant as a rule.  However, once I've flatted, in goes the liquid to repair the hole.  

Back to the tires I'm mounting up...

One of them as a hole (maybe) but I don't know which one.  Additionally, I am planning on using these tires for a while.  So, I add a little Stan's to both tires.  

The front tire inflatted without a problem, so I began thinking that that I just used the sealant as a precaution.  The rear tire, however, began spraying the white liquid as soon as the tire reached full pressure!  I found the hole, evidently.  

All I had to do, was rotate the tire until the hole was on the bottom--all the sealant will congregate there--and before too long, the spraying stopped, then the hissing stopped, then the leak was plugged.  Just like that.  

Frankly, I find this much easier than patching a tube.  Chalk this up to another benefit of tubeless.  If you run tubeless tires, get a quart of Stan's sealant, it works better than anything else I've used and even if you don't run it in your tires all the time, it is handy in a pinch to fix a flat tire after you've made it back home.

Which reminds me... that was my last bit of sealant, it's time to restock before my next flat.

A Ride in Oregon

It's been a long week. I'm on vacation, but we're in an out of hotels and on the road every day. Actually, I love it. I love it every time we walk into a hotel room and, for some reason, my children think it's Disneyland. They love hotels. They love the swimming pools. They get super excited about the cheap continental breakfasts we get--and even eat much more than usual.

I love that we're in Oregon.

In my mind, I remember the beauty of western Oregon, but it just doesn't match with reality. In reality, it's much, much more breath-taking than anything my mind can conjure up. There's something about the forests here. They're dark. They're quiet. The tall pines looming above.

... miles and miles of tight, twisty singletrack ...

While there are places in Utah where mtn. biking is epic. Almost everywhere I ride in western Oregon is gorgeous, fast, singletrack in and out of these beautiful forests.

While out here visiting James, he showed me some trails that were highlighted in bike magazine (not sure if that was IMBA-chosen or not) as being "epic" rides that you should make time to ride (no matter how close you live to them). I cut my mtn. biking teeth on one of them--the North Umpqua Trail. It's still one of my favorite places to ride.

But yesterday, we didn't have time for any epic rides. At the same time, the pain of leaving Oregon without tasting of the sweet, smooth goodness of a western Oregon forest singletrack was too great. Already, my heart ached at the thought of leaving it behind. While the children were feasting at their continental breakfast, I was slipping into my cycling gear and James was threading my pedals onto his Jekyll. We saddled up in the cold of the morning and crossed the highway to the forest beyond.

The ride was short--necessitated by the need to get my children some pool-time before checking out of the hotel--but it was sweet honey to my mtn. bike-deprived soul.

Thank you, James, for the ride. Thank you, Oregon, for having the sweetest singletrack around.

The Single Speed

Last night I dug through my garage to the very back--behind the strollers, past some PVC, around the piled up extension cords and retrieved the oldest bike in my possession: a 1992 Cannondale.  

There isn't really a model number for it, since Jon purchased it as a frame and built it up himself. He put on Suntour MicroDrive (the first of the smaller diameter chainrings and cogs), a sweet 3 lb titanium handbar--ok, it's not 3lbs, but close, darn it--and other assundry parts that were the stuff to buy way back then.  The wheels are Nashbar--then called Bike Nashbar, their biking side of the biz; the other side was Spike Nashbar, a volleyball mail order catalog--and had some of the smoothest rolling bearings at the time. They are still pretty darn smooth, too, 17 years later.

A number of years ago, Jon and I made a swap.  He got my Fisher Sphinx--which I eventually, um, needed back, but I somehow managed to retain the 'dale--and I got his old Cannondale.  My reason for wanting the old bike was this I wanted to try this single speeding thing, and had no money.  There were a few hitchs, though.  The fork is Cannondale's Pepperoni fork.  

The fork was recalled sometime in 1993, I think.  It's all aluminum, with an aluminum threaded 1 1/4" headset.  If my memory serves, it was the threaded steerers that were breaking.  Oh well.  The other quirk is the Suntour Microdrive cogset.  No other cogs fit that freehub, so if it dies, or the cogs break, I'm stuck.  The stem is a tiny bit too long, but I can't find a replacement, so I deal with it.  I'm standing much of the time anyway.  Back then, mountain bikes had steeper head angles, so the bike has lightning quick steering.  Since removing most of the drivetrain, the bike weighs 22.20lbs.  I set the bike up with 32x17 gearing, so it's slightly easier than a 2 to 1 ratio.  

About 5 years ago, I spent most of my summer on this bike.  Because it is so light and stiff, it climbs like a mountain goat.  Because the heat tube is on the steep side, it's a tad nervous going downhill.  

Lately, though, I've been neglecting it.  It doesn't have discs, so I tend to use my 'cross bike more in the winter, when rim brakes aren't so useful.  In the summer, I prefer my full suspension--and geared--bike.  So the poor single speed sits, waiting for me to take it out.  

And so I did, last night.  We were going to do a gravel road ride with a moderate, sustained climb.  I know the climb well, and about 3 years ago, used the single speed to post my best time ever up this particular hill.  Becuase of other time demands, I knew that I wasn't in that kind of shape, but I wanted to see if I was as out of shape as I thought.  Would I have to walk any of it?

Nope.  The bike was as fun to ride as ever, and I felt great grinding up the hill.  The bike's willingness to climb was an eye-opener... again.  No matter how steep the hill was, all I had to do was push down on the pedals and the bike launched forward.  When we transitioned to a brief section of singletrack--and the slope got steeper--I stood and pulled back HARD on the bar ends while hammering the pedals.  Again, I was rewarded with the surge forward with no energy wasted.  

Sure, the downhill wasn't as fast since I spun out at 15mph, but I still managed a respecable 36mph.  Not too shabby for just coasting.  

I'm going to have to dig out the old beast more often.  What a fun bike, what a good ride.

New 2010 Shimano

Shimano has just announced their changes to the 2010 Ultegra and Deore line ups.  First off, the new Ultegra is following in the Dura-Ace footsteps, adding hidden cable routing for the shifters and a road tubeless-compatible wheelset.  Other changes that have trickled down from Dura Ace include the hollow outer chainring and stiffer rear derailleur pivots.  Overall, the new Ultegra will be 150g lighter than the current stuff.  See an exerpt below.

Ultegra 6700 Highlights: 

• The ST-6700 Dual Control Shift Levers are redesigned to incorporate hidden shift cables and a revised shift mechanism that moves the mass closer to the handlebar, improving handling. Additional improvements are reach adjustment, revised braking pivot point for better braking from the hoods, and carbon fiber brake lever blades. The new shifters maintain “B” level compatibility with Ultegra 6600 series components. 
• Using technology borrowed from Dura-Ace 7900, the FC-6700 Ultegra crank has a new hollow outer chainring for maximum stiffness and positive shifting under power. The new design also reduces incidence of the chain catching on the outer ring when in the smallest front ring and smallest rear cog. The change saves nearly 15 grams over the already light Ultegra SL crank. 
  

• Front and rear derailleurs (FD-6700 / RD-6700) use wider links to improve performance and shifting under load, while the rear derailleur saves 10 grams over Ultegra SL through the use of an all aluminum pulley cage. 
• A new Ultegra wheelset (WH-6700), weighing in at 1650 grams and Road Tubeless compatible, will round out the new Ultegra group. 
  

The new Deore group will get the radial master cylinders first seen on the XT and XTR brake levers and will have the two-way release trigger that the XT group has.  See the exerpt for more details:

New Shimano Deore 590 series creates a group with two facets: one tailored to off-road use, 

while the other focuses features and styling on trekking. The mountain version boasts an 

aggressive dynamic form in galaxy black – a glossy black with a hint of metallic. Major updates 

include features familiar from much more expensive component groups: 

Deore Highlights: 

• Shadow low-profile RD-M592 rear derailleur design: technology pioneered on XT and XTR 
• ST-M590 RapidFire Plus shifter pods have 2-way release trigger and an easily removable Optical gear Display 
• 2 piston hydraulic BR-M595 disc brakes are controlled with new radial master levers (BL-M595) featuring tool-free reach adjust and over 100% more system stopping power. The new calipers now use the same brake pad shape as SLX, XT, and XTR 
• The FC-M590 crank uses 2 piece construction for a super rigid interface and an aluminum outer ring to help reduce weight. The Hyperdrive chainrings offer crisp and precise shifting, even under load 

 

E-Thru 15mm Quick Release Front Axle System 

Introduced for 2008, the E-Thru 15mm quick release front hubs continue the pursuit of lower 

weight with maximum durability and control with the addition of an SLX version (HB-M668). The hubs are designed on a 100mm over locknut dimension and feature a 15mm axle that has a quick release operation similar to that of a standard skewer. Operation, however, is the only similarity as the stiffness is nearly equal to a 20mm through axle QR system, however the hub and axle are lighter by nearly 100g in some cases. 

I haven't seen pricing or availability, though Shimano has said that while these are 2010 model year components, they should be available before the end of 2009.