Bonus Thursday Post

You waited in line. You waded through the activation process. You fired up iTunes and got your new iPhone 3G loaded up with all sorts of applications.* You even tried out that built in GPS. Now you're thinking,

"Man, it would be awesome if I could use that GPS to track my rides. I mean, I carry the darn phone with me anyway!"**

Well, today--er, or rather soon--is your lucky day! There is a new bit of software that will be making its way to the iTunes app store that does just that. It's called RunKeeper. I know what you are saying, "it's for running." It is, and it isn't. The same information is relevant for cycling, as well. Things like average speed, elevation, duration, etc. All of this gets logged and then can be uploaded

Here are a couple of videos that explain things. First just the app itself on the phone:


This video shows the portal, as well:


From what I gather, it shouldn't be expensive software--somewhere around $10, or so-- but it could be just the thing to keep track of all your rides.

I mean, you are carrying the phone anyway, right?



*For the record, I did not do any of those things.
**Like some of us have been doing for quite some time on other, less hyped smartphones.

New Zoic and a New Review

Last week I received a package from Zoic. You know, the guys who make the stuff with Bamboo fiber in it, like the awesome LiberTee--which we've been using and using and using without any signs of wear. No snags, nothing. The fabric is fantastic. Really.

This latest package contained the Ether Short:

and an updated version of the Libertee--very similar to the other one we are abusing, but with graphics and without the little pocket on the sleeve. To be honest, I've never used the little pocket. I'm not sure what is supposed to go there.

Moving on...

Our review of the Garmin Edge 705 is up and running. We really liked the GPS and were quite sad to send it back. If they didn't know my address, I'd have been tempted to say it got "lost" but, alas, it is back in their hands now. Go read the review HERE, while I shed a tear quietly in the corner.

More Seca

I just received some more information regarding Light and Motion's upcoming Seca line of lights. Nothing new in the way of spec's, but--and this is important--images! The info we've received up to now can be found HERE and HERE. Now these images are of preproduction units, so the finish isn't quite up to what you are used to seeing from L&M, but it's close. Also, the colors are close, but slightly off, too.

First up, the Seca 400:

Front--frankly, this is the most interesting image of them all, I think:

So, there are six emitters and two--maybe three?--different beams patterns. Interesting.

Front, right corner:

There will be an elastic strap on the mount used to affix the light to the bars.

Top:

Here you can see the switch and the heat sinks. I suspect that the 6 emitters--and the associated circuitry--generate some heat!

The Seca 700 looks much the same, but has different colors.

Front, right corner:

Top:


I, for one, can't wait to see how well they perform. Since Light and Motion seems to be betting the farm on these--no more Arc, remember?--I suspect that they are making sure that it will be trouble free and, above all, BRIGHT right out of the gate.

More 400L

We previewed the new 400L on Monday, and our local postal carrier dropped off not one, but two--one front light and the new tail light--400L's at the Lactic Acid Threshold headquarters on Thursday. Now that's service.

First off, I was a little surprised by the switch location. It's on the front. This will make it easy to use on the tail light and it will make it easy to find when helmet mounted. The new mount gets in the way of putting the button on the back like they've done up till now.

Second, it's not a very big light. If you take a 200L and turn it sideways, you've got--roughly--the same size as the 400L. I've got a really crappy picture showing what I'm talking about:


The helmet mount affixes to the helmet like the current ones do, but offers a greater range of tilt adjustment.

It might be an illusion, but the lenses seem to be larger in diameter as well.

I've not had the chance to use the lights yet, but I will over the weekend and I'll report back my initial thoughts, naturally.

Ellsworth-y

It's Thursday all ready, isn't it. I tell you, this week is flying by. I meant to have this up yesterday, but, alas, it was not to be.

Anyway, backing up a few days, Tuesday I ventured North to Vancouver, WA, to visit the Ellsworth factory, meet the folks there, talk to Tony and--most importantly--ride. It was a busy day.

Now, this wasn't the first time that I had visited a factory before. I met the nice folks at Fox Racing Shox a couple of years ago, and I've met with the good people behind Rolf Prima Wheels. But, this was a frame building operation, so I was interested to see what Ellsworth did and what they farmed out. Turns out, they do pretty much everything but the anodizing in house.


The photo above doesn't show all of the factory, but quite a bit of it. Here they bend the tubes (the tubes arrive externally and internally tapered) to the desired shapes; make the gussets; machine the head tubes; machine the linkages; make the swing arms; acid dip, anneal and heat treat the welded frames prior to anodizing them; and weld the frames.


Here, Troy is showing a before and after tube. This tube is shaped from round to oval. After they've made it oval, it'll be bent into a more interesting shape. This is a two step process.

For each shape and size of tube, they have a two-piece steel form that attaches to the press behind Troy. Once the tube is in place, they squeeze it with around 2300psi. This is done before heat treating the tube, naturally.

All of the frames--once welded up--get placed in this holder for acid dipping and heat treating.

This holder helps keep the frames aligned during the heat treating. After this is done, all of the frames are checked for alignment using a single swing arm. The swing arms are checked out on their own using the jig shown below.

This is a very good thing for two reasons: 1) every swing arm will work on every frame. If they aligned the frame with the swing arm, one or both of them could be off and if you needed a replacement swing arm, it might not be aligned with the frame. 2) If you notice during the final build that something isn't quite right, it's easier to track down the culprit. Seeing this made the engineer in me very happy.

Overall, in talking to Troy and David--thanks for showing me around, guys--I got an overall feeling of craftsmanship. These guys are passionate about making the best frame that they can. If something goes wrong with a frame, they want to know why so it doesn't happen again.

Ellsworth builds about 2000 frames each year. That puts them in no man's land--bigger than a custom frame shop, but much smaller than the big bike houses. They are a boutique brand. You'll end up paying more for your frame, but you'll know that your frame was checked our prior to shipping out. They don't check a random number of frames, they check them all. If they were bigger, they couldn't do that.

Tony, Troy and David, thanks for showing me around. It was a pleasure to meet you and see how the bikes are made.

Oh, and the ride was a blast as well.

Rejected Topics (and Questions) For the Look 986 Review

• Which Seatpost is right for the 986?
  
• How to prevent your seatpost from slipping down into the frame.
  
• Avoiding rust buildup on your new Look 986.
  
• What if all I have to cut the frame down is a chainsaw?
  
• What size of 29" tire works with this frame?
  
• Are you sure this isn't a road bike? It's made by Look, right (and it is so pretty)?
  

To read what we did write, click here for the full Look 986 review (freshly posted).

News, More News, and Light News

Here at Lactic Acid Threshold--and at GearReview.com, for that matter--we love tubeless tires. We've got them on both road and mountain bikes and would run them on our 'cross bikes if the tire and wheel companies would get their act together. On the road side, though, things aren't progressing terribly fast, what with one wheel and one tire offering, but that's all about to change. Campagnolo and Specialized are jumping on board in a big way.

Paris, France July 8, 2008 - - Cycling industry icons Campagnolo and
Specialized have embraced Hutchinson Road Tubeless technology, with
both brands creating RT wheelsets, and Specialized producing their
"Turbo Tubeless" tires at Hutchinson's factory outside of Paris,
France beginning with the 2009 model year.

I, for one, welcome this news and can't wait to try out the new wheels and tires. This is a very good development.

Moving on...

Ritchey has long made components and tires that are good, quality items. One of my favorite tires from yesteryear is their Z-max. I remember Jon running the red rubber compound model. Boy, that tire wore out fast! But they gripped well.

As good as their stuff is, it's not that easy to find. I can't think of a single bike shop in my town that carries anything beyond the tires. And I'm not positive about the tires either.

Now, you can order direct from Ritchey, with a twist. I'll let them explain.

"More and more consumers are using the Internet to find the products they need," said Steve Parke, general manager and vice president of marketing for Ritchey Design. "Ritchey's authorized retailers provide knowledgeable service and are key to helping cyclists get the most from their bikes. There is no other substitute for the service of a good independent retailer. The new Ritchey site will help consumers find the products they want, along with the service and support of a shop." When consumers place an order through www.RitcheyLogic.com, orders are posted in a special queue. Within one business, authorized Ritchey retailers, with product in stock, will ship those orders within 24 hours. Open orders not selected by retailers revert to Ritchey Design for fulfillment. The new site features detailed information about Ritchey Design products, sponsored teams, news, cycling tips and a blog. Online purchases are only available to consumers in North America, and sales of Ritchey's line of Break-Away travel bikes will not be available when the new site launches.

So, they will be keeping their dealers happy while enabling the end consumer to get the parts they want. It's a neat idea.

Finally, I've got some light news. Light and Motion is going 100% LED for the 2008/2009 season. And they are revamping the Vega. Finally. I've always liked the look and design of the Vega, but the performance has been lackluster of late. Now, it'll be available in two versions, one with 120 lumens and one with 200 lumens. I'll let the following tables fill you in on the rest of the line up. As usual, click on the image for a biggie size.

I don't yet have word on availability, nor do I have product shots of the Seca. As soon as I have that info, I'll post it, don't worry.

So, L&M is removing the Arc from the line up, as NR adds a HID back into the mix. Do light manufacturers have a "silly season"? If so, we are in it.

Knock-down, Drag-out Fight!

After the dust settled, we were left with a winner. However, the competition was close. Both groups were good--very, very good, in fact. Time and time again I get to thinking how nice bicycles work these days. The components are so smooth. Braking is fabulous. Suspension is supple when you want it and firm when you don't. Bikes are vertically compliant, yet laterally stiff. 

Back to the matter at hand, though. Yes, we finished our comparative review of Shimano XT (2008) and SRAM X.9 (also 2008). Those of you holding your breath... well, you might be dead by now. (Although, at least we didn't take as long as this review which, even now, isn't done. C'mon Cyclingnews, what's up?)

Anyway, head on over to GearReview.com and read it. Otherwise, you'll never know which we picked as the winner.

Evolve'd

Let me get this off my chest... I don't buy into the hype of the 29er wheels. For one thing, I'm not all that tall--I'm 5'8" on a good day. If I stretch.

For another, they move the largest chunk of rotational mass further away from the axis of rotation. Look at this equation for the rotational inertia of a hoop:

'I' is the rotational inertia, 'M' is the mass of the hoop--I'm simplifying here, you understand--and 'R' is the radius or distance that M sits from the axis of rotation. Now, if we are comparing a 29" wheel to a 26" wheel, we can ignore the contribution of the hub--it's the same for both wheels--and mostly ignore the spokes--they do contribute, but very little. Let's also assume that the tires and tubes and rims weigh the same. They don't, the 29er Rim/Tube/Tire combo weighs more, but it helps simplify things here a little.

Now, we've reduced the equation to just looking at the contribution of 'R'. If a 26" wheel has an Effective Radius of 13.25" and a 29er wheel has an Effective Radius of 14.25", the smaller wheel will only have approximately 85% of the rotational inertia of the larger wheel.

"That's great" you say, but what does it all mean? I means that you will expend less energy--roughly 15% less--to spin up the smaller wheel. A different equation shows that turning the smaller wheel requires less energy, as well.

This was a very long way of saying that with my short legs, and the slower feeling wheels, I've never been interested in riding a 29er for any length of time. On shorter rides I've always felt like I was perched way up high on top of the bike, rather sitting in the bike, if you catch my meaning.

Then I got a call from Tony Ellsworth. He's roughly my size and rides an Evolve--their version of a 29er. He gave me my choice of reviewing an Epiphany--5.25" of travel, 26" wheels--or an Evolve--4" of travel, 29" wheels. I chose the Evolve.

I figured that he can ride any bike he wants--it's his company after all--and he rides a 29er. And, if I was going to bash 29" wheels, then I better use them on my trails, the same ones that I ride my own mountain bike.

I received the bike yesterday and, after putting it together, took it out last night on a ride that had quite a bit of up and down. In short, I had a blast. Now, riding a new bike is always fun, so after I log more miles I'll share some more thoughts about it. But, needless to say, I might, might, be... not wrong so much, but... well, missing something that doesn't fit into the math.

We'll see. And, hey, if I'm wrong, I'll admit to it publicly. Total transparency here, folks.

My Locker Room

I am not a very organized person. It would be nice if I had a spot to keep all my cycling things, but they tend to be strewn around the house a bit. There's a spot in my closet where I keep some of my clothes. There's a drawer in my dresser where I keep others. Another drawer with some odds and ends for cycling (like my Road ID).

In the garage, I have a couple shelves with a smattering of things. Plus, there are some boxes with other odds and ends piled in them. I usually know where things are, but it's usually a precarious situation extracting one thing while leaving everything else in the pile. Lots of times I have no idea just what I have. Today, much to my delight, I discovered that I did, in fact, own another brand new spare tube for my road bike.

Often, however, I'm either going mountain biking or I'm riding over lunch. If I'm going mountain biking, I'm throwing the bike on my roof rack and driving to the mountains. If I ride from work, I'm, once again, leaving from my car. As a result, the items I use most often usually end up in my car.

In my car, I have my mountain shoes as well as my winter shoes. I have arm-warmers. I have a two jackets--one of which converts to a vest. I have a hydration pack. I have pumps--floor and mini. I have about three sets of multi-tools as well as two or three seat packs. I also have a spare handlebar (?) and various tubes that are either blown, or ready to use--not sure which is which. I also have multiple pair of sunglasses and some energy gel. Oh, and I almost forgot: valve stem caps, two patch kits and some tire levers.

Though I find it immensely handy (except when someone borrows my car), not only does my car function like a locker room...

It tends to smell like one, too.

Ergon-nomic

Sometimes it seems like I do things backwards. For example, Ergon made a name for itself making ergonomic grips--available in multiple sizes--and then they came out with the backpack. We, naturally, reviewed the backpack first.

Now, however, we're taking a look at the product that put Ergon on the map, so to speak. Last week I received the GX2 grip with the magnesium bar end--it's also available with a carbon bar end, or no bar end.

The bar end can be rotated independent of the grip. The bolt that tightens the bar end also prevents the grip from moving, sort of like a one sided lock-on. Until the bolt is tightened, the grips are easily slid into place. Because of this, installing the grips is a piece of cake.

The grips are firm and are on the thin-ish side--except for the wing bit, naturally. My first impression of the bar end is that it is just big enough to be useful. Since I'm coming off of LP Composites Grips bar ends--big huge potato looking things that fit so well in my mitts--the smaller Ergon ends will take some getting used to. I'll let you know how it goes as I get more miles on the GX2.

Light News

We're heading into prime 24hr racing and NiteRider has introduced two new lights. The first is an interesting evolution of the MiNewt line: the MiNewt Mini-USB. It looks like this will replace the Sol/SolMate line of lights, effectively eliminating NiMH batteries from their LED offerings. Below is a scanned brochure image. While not as good as an actual photo, it's all I've got right now.


The MiNewt Mini-USB will come with a wall charger, but it can also be charged from a USB port on your computer. This--I think, anyway--could be mighty handy for commuters. The output is down slightly from the MiNewt.X2 but the price is very nice: $99.

The second bit of news is that NR is introducing a new HID. I'll wait while that sinks in.

It turns out that Welch Allyn--maker of all small HID bulbs--has been working on the durability. This new bulb is very robust. NR has been throwing them onto the ground while running and hasn't had one break, yet. Not only are they stronger; they are brighter, too. The new light--called the SlickRock 900--will have a whopping 920 lumens. It's battery will not be Li-Ion, though. The SlickRock 900 will use a NiMH battery in order to maintain some backwards compatibility with the older HIDs, enabling an existing owner to just buy the light head alone.

The new lights will be available July 1st.

A Word from Our Sponsor

Ok, it's not really a word from our sponsor... it's just me again.

BUT, one of our advertisers, Backcountry.com, launched a new site. As you may have noticed from their ad over there in the right hand column, they now carry bike stuff in a much more obvious manner than they have in the past. Backcountry are also the folks behind SteepAndCheap.com, a one deal at a time site. Now, they've added Chainlove.com to their family of sites.

Now, before you go clicking that link, a word of caution, put your credit card far away. You've been warned.

The idea is this, there is one deeply discounted item to buy at any one time. The item stays there until it's gone. Once it's gone, you, my fence sitting friend, are out of luck. Here's an example from today:

Chainlove is just bike stuff, whereas Steepandcheap is more for general outdoor equipment, but might still have the occasional bike-related gear for sale.

I know where I am, and it doesn't help

Last week some friends and I decided to try and find a new--to us--mountain bike route to the top of one of our favorite trails. The trail in question is a very, very fun route down but there doesn't seem to be an enjoyable route up. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like climbing, so that's not the issue here. I still need to gain the elevation. Rather, I'd like a route that was more interesting. The currently available routes are either short and steep, or slightly longer and made out of HUGE gravel. They're OK once in a while, but we've riding this particular trail quite a bit--it's very, very fun, you know--so the climbing routes are getting a tad... old.

But, I've got that nifty Edge 705 from Garmin, and it's got maps! What can go wrong, right?

The idea was simple. We start the ride by climbing some trail--actually a disused road that is overgrown down to a single trail--cross a creek then hit the gravel road. The climb will be longer, but that's not all bad. The longer the climb, the less steep it is. So far all is going well. The roads we are on are shown on the gps's screen and we are on our way.

At the first planned turn, we move out of the known area--according to the gps--but we still know where we are heading and shortly we'd be hitting a "known" road again. Sure enough we hit the road as shown on the small screen and make the turn we were expecting. Now we were back on the maps and climbing a nice road.

So far, things have been going well. But as we look around, it dawns on us that we aren't where we think we are. Sure, we're climbing at night, but we do enough night riding that this isn't anything new, and besides, we'd know the road we were looking for day or night. And this wasn't it.

After riding for a little longer, C. asks if any of us knows where we are. My reply is that I knew exactly where we were, to within 3ft, but that this wasn't any help. You see, I knew where I was in the absolute sense. C. wanted to know where we were in a relative sense. E.g., we want to be at the top of that great trail--it's really, really fun, by the way--how close are we? While all I knew is that we were on an unnamed road and at position 44.xxxx lattitude and some longitude on planet Earth. Which was nice, I suppose, since we were in fact looking for a trail on planet Earth and not on, say, Mars. But it didn't really help us get to the top of the really, really fun trail.

So, I zoomed out. I found the road we needed--which was not the road we were on--and found a way to get there. Once again, we started climbing. It was a nice climb, really.

Fairly soon, we started seeing intersections we knew. The lay of the land was looking mighty familiar. We were not where we wanted to be. We were near a tough climb that is not near the really, really fun trail. OK, no problem, we do this climb, get to the really, really fun trail and never come this way again. Piece of cake.

As we neared the top of the climb, we were on the lookout for a particular turn, a road--or trail--off to the right, followed by a second turn to the right. We wanted the first one. It didn't exist. As near as I can tell it has never existed. The second right hander did exist... as a single track trail. And we definitely did not want to take it.

We were done. Stumped.

Down the road we went, retracing our route until we reached the point that our off map route of earlier hooked back up with the mapped roads. We continued down the mapped road and in less than 1/4 mile we hit the road we were looking for... below the hill we were trying to avoid.

Ah well.

Sometimes, it pays to have more up to date maps.

Or a guide.

Ritchey Break-Away: Now on DVD!

As I practice unpacking and packing the Ritchey Break-Away I have on test, I am often stumped by small things throughout the process. For instance, how much torque should I use when tightening the foam padding around the tubes before travel? Sure, they included a torque wrench specific to the stem bolts, but that's not the only thing I'm tightening in this process.


Luckily for me, they included a video wherein a woman, in a hotel room, demonstrates the finer points of packing and unpacking the Break-Away. There's also a brief part where she demonstrates riding in the drops, but I won't dwell on that part in this post.

This video, while enjoyable to watch on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and an arm around your significant other, left me with a few questions.

• Where are the extras? I've never had a DVD that didn't come with extras. I mean, at least a blooper reel or something. Like the scene you had to cut where she put the seat on backwards and didn't notice it until getting on the road?
• Where was Tom? Not only was Tom not in it, but there wasn't a single person with a mustache in it, either. Even the woman demonstrating the process.
• How are they keeping the chain so clean that, though they warn you about greasy pedal threads, they just flop the chain right down on the floor? (I suppose it is a hotel and all, but still, she had no grease on her hands! None! I want to re-film this thing--this time with a little more accuracy!)
• When are they going to come out with an HD version? Blu-Ray?

Remember, you, too can have this video simply by purchasing a new Ritchey Break-Away frame or bicycle. Of course, you could also follow this link and watch them for yourself.

It's Sunny

Well, OK, right now it's overcast. But, lately the sun has been out. And just in time, too, we've wrapped up our sunglasses review. Sure, we've previewed them here before, but now you can read our official thoughts on them.

I continue to be impressed with Rudy Project glasses. Sure, they are costly--though none of the glasses reviewed were cheap by any stretch of the imagination--but they work well. I've got a pair of Rudy's that are 5 years old and are still problem free.

The Adidas were a nice surprise. I had no real expectations going in to the review and was impressed by their clarity and durability. I was less impressed by the price. They are a bit more costly that I expected, particularly the Evil Eye Pro's.

Still, all of the glasses reviewed did what they claimed to do--that is, be comfortable and keep harmful rays out of your eyes. So, check out the review and then go get yourself some new eyewear.

Compact Double: Legend or Myth?

The compact double crankset is empowering. It seems to make the rider feel far superior to someone who would wimp out and use a triple. Somehow, the rider using a compact double looks down on these people with disdain. At the same time, they feel like they can be grouped with the pros. I'm not sure what the rationale is--perhaps it stems from the few accounts of pros using them on strictly uphill time trials--but I think these riders somehow feel that it's their little secret that they're using a 34/50 combination instead of the more traditional 39/53.

I'm one of those riders.

For me, the compact double is empowering. The first time I tackled some really hairy climbs on a road bike was with a compact double. After that, I sneered at anyone making those climbs on a triple.

Until I rode next to a guy riding a 39/53... and he dropped me. (I never checked, but I still hope that at least he was riding a 12-25 cassette.)

As you've no doubt read, I just got a Ritchey Break-Away to review and this morning, I took it out for the first road ride. I should take the time to note at this point that it came with a traditional 39/53 set-up. So, on a strange feeling-great-in-a-warm-late-spring-morning-whim, I decided to tackle Squaw Peak. Now, Squaw Peak isn't a monster climb by any means, but it always seems to hurt.

Right away, I started to wonder at the folly of this decision. However, being the pretend tough-guy that I am, I pressed on.

Now, whether or not I'm in better shape this spring than normal, I really have no way of knowing. All I know is that it was no harder than the last time I rode it on my compact double (and a lighter bike).

So now I have to wonder if the only thing the compact double gives me is slowness... I think I'll have to tackle a harder hill.

Manna From Heaven

As if getting the Look 986 earlier in the week wasn't enough, yesterday another bike arrived for testing. This one came in a suitcase.


Here, let me zoom in on that logo there.


This is the case for a Titanium Ritchey Break-Away road bike.

Luckily for me, it had a bike in it, as well.

Of course the first thing to do when you receive a new Break-Away is to extract it from the case--itself a puzzle--and then piece it together. Being like a kid, I didn't take any pictures of the way it was in the case, so hopefully I'll be able to get it back together. I managed most of it on my own, but in the end I had to concede and go to the included DVD for help with a few items.

When I finally got it assembled, I was left with a beautiful Ti/Carbon (seat-stays and chain-stays) road bike. Parts are, of course, for the most part Ritchey components with the rest Shimano DuraAce.

I'll report back later about the ride as well as how hard (and how long it took me) it was to pack it up again.

Look 986 Received

I received at my house an extremely nice mountain bike the other day. I mean, so nice! It isn't the bike for everyone--it fills a pretty specific niche--but it sure is beautiful.

Behold, the Look 986.



Yeah, super nice bike. Okay, right away you'll notice the most striking feature: the integrated seat-mast. Although carbon frames are becoming more common for high-end mountain bikes, not many make this bold statement. What's the statement? "Adjustability? I don't need no stinkin' adjustability"

Other highlights? SRAM X.0 Components. Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes. A super-light FSA OS-99 stem and some even-lighter foam grips. Wheels are Mavic CrossMax SL-Rs. Tires are continental supersonics.

Basically, the niche the 986 fills is the freakishly-light-racing-machine niche. Or, maybe the ideal buyer is the roadie who loves his Look road bike and wants to drop $4-5K on a similar ride for the dirt.

Soon I'll be doing some hacking at the integrated mast--arguably the most nerve-wracking adjustment a person could make to a bike--to get the bike to fit my somewhat average size. After that, I'll hit the trail and let you know how it rides.

Trusty Steed

I used to refer to my bike as my "Trusty Steed". Of course, there were a couple of problems with this.

1) I always did the work. Now, I'm not a horse rider, but I get the impression that between a horse and his rider, the horse is doing most of the work.

2) It wasn't actually trusty. In fact, most of my memories growing up in Oregon and riding in the nearby hills/mountains are also full of the memory of me coaxing the chain from gear to gear. I can't remember it ever actually working the way it was supposed to.

But, with all that--being my only bike at the time--it was the most trusty of my "steeds".

As many of you with multiple bikes will understand, now that I have a few bikes, there are some that are in disrepair more often than others. My road bike almost always needs a little air in one of the tires, but that's the only maintenance I really am forced to do on it. Very trusty. (Of course, for the most part, all road bikes fit into this category if you stay out of bad weather and stick to paved roads.) My full-suspension mountain bike, on the other hand, is in constant disrepair.

This is probably one of the largest factors in my move to riding on the road more and more. I mean, my time is limited and precious to me. If I ride on the road bike, I get more time to actually ride. On my full-squish mountain bike, I'll spend some time both getting angry and getting my hands greasy (somehow I always get my hands greasy--whether I change a tire, or mount a water-bottle cage--always).

Currently, I think I need a little more air in my rear shock. Also, my front brake needs bleeding.

With the fairly recent acquisition of my dad's old Cannondale F4000, I now have a trusty steed for mountain biking again. First off, it has no rear shock. Then there's the fact that it uses rim brakes (nothing to bleed--ever). Also, the front fork is an enclosed HeadShock system--about as maintenance free as any front suspension. It rides well and always shifts when I push or pull on the appropriate levers.

Now, whenever I'm in the mood for a ride--and I don't have time to work on my bikes--I can grab the Trusty Steed and head out. It's always good to have one in your stable.