MojoK from Bikerag was nice enough to loan my his Pugsley for a ride or two, my thoughts below:
The ride was really fun, was it as much fun as my FS? probably not, but it was way more fun than my HT. I can't wait for mine to get here. The bike is really heavy, pulling it out of the car was a little frightening, I was thinking this was going to ride like a pigsley, not a pugsley. Surprisingly that was not the case, once you get those tires spinning, it really doesn't ride like a heavy bike. I guess since most of the weight is in the wheels, once you get those spun up you have momentum on your side.
The good thing about riding at Crandalls is I know every turn and rock, so its a good place for me to try out a new bike. Rock crawling is very cool, maximum traction and enough cushion to keep it from being painful. Corners were very fun, its really surprising how responsive the bike is, you would think with that rotating mass it wouldn't respond well to input, not the case, it leaned into corners very nicely. I didn't quite trust the tires enough, but that will come with time. When you got the thing really moving the gyro effect of all that mass spinning was very noticeable. I can't really describe it, but when you are upright and cranking along at speed you can feel the gyro, kind of a weird feeling. On technical stuff it was a lot of fun, though its slow fun. If you charge into a rock garden you are quickly reminded that you're on a rigid bike (its easy to forget that).
All in all, a really excellent ride that confirmed my decision to buy the bike.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Fat bikes, more than you want to know.
My back up bike is a Kona Big Unit, much as I like going around saying "I have a Big Unit", I rarely ride the bike, and by rarely I mean never. I was reminded of just how far I'll got to avoid riding it when I had to make a decision to replace my rear derailleur on the RIP (I ripped the XT off it last week). I could either ride the HT this weekend and wait for a mail order derailleur or pay LBS prices for a lower quality derailleur. The logical thing to do would be to order the part, but instead I bought the SLX at the LBS (acronym overload for non-bikers).
In a completely different stream of thought (though highly related, just wait for it) two of my riding friends have fat bikes that they ride as their "regular" mountain bikes, or at least ride them occasionally in the dirt. Every time I see them riding these things they have big smiles on their faces. I always say I ride for one reason - fun, and those fat bikes look like fun.
So I put those two things together and thought, why don't I sell the Big Unit and buy a fat bike to use as my spare bike. The added bonus of having a fat bike is that on those three or four days when there's too much snow to ride a regular bike, I can go out with the fat bike. How is that for justification for a new bike? I've almost got it to the "I'm stupid for not having done this already!" stage.
As with anything bike related, the options and prices for fat bikes are practically unlimited, which is the complete opposite of what is stocked at the LBS. I've spent limited time on a fat bike, so this is a decision that will need to be made virtually rather than through test rides. I spent some time looking at what's out there and came up with this list of bikes (sorted by price):
Bike Price Tires Brakes Comments
Motobecane $1000 4” Shimano M445L Ship date unknown
On One $1449 4” Avid Elixir 1 Single ring in front
Surly pugsley $1650 4” Avid BB7 Narrower rim than ops
Surly Pugsley Ops $1650 4” Avid BB7 Ops has wider rim
Salsa Mukluk 3 $1750 4” Avid BB7 Stock? can't find any on line
Specialized Fatboy $2000 5” Tektro Draco 2 December ship date (lightest?)
Surly Moonlander $2350 5” Avid BB7 More upright, long chainstays
There are obviously a lot of other differences between these bikes besides tires and brakes, but I feel like most of the rest of the tech choices are fairly benign. Derailleurs, cranksets and wheels are not going to make or break the bike for me. There is this concept of being able to run 29er wheels on a fat bike frame, some fat bikes have the correct rear wheel spacing to allow for that, it's interesting, but not part of my criteria
Also there are a lot more fat bikes out there, these are the reasonably priced ones. There's a brand called Fatback that puts together a sub-30lb fat bike, but the pricing, whew - $3250! There's also a Salsa Beargrease - carbon fiber frame, another Yikes! inducing price.
I particularly hate a bad set of brakes, so that gives me pause with almost any of the bikes above that don't have BB7's. I prefer hydraulic brakes over mechanicals, but I'll take BB7s over crappy hydros any day, to my eyes all those hydros above are of the crap variety. I do have a set of BB7s in the parts bin, so I guess I can always slap those on if I don't like the ones that come with the bike.
Tire width comes into the picture perhaps as one of those bigger is always better kind of things. 4" tires were kind of the standard for a few years, but now a few bikes have started showing up with the ability to handle 5" tires. I've read mixed things about the wider tires - most have to do with handling, I'm on the fence there.
Weight is certainly a consideration, but I think we're talking pretty close to 35lbs for any of these machines, so I'm not really worried about a few pounds here or there.
I guess right now the On One is looking pretty good, with the Fatboy in a close second. The pricing on the On One seems reasonable - yeah the Motobecane is cheaper, but that's not in stock and no delivery dates are being floated, so I don't even know if that's a realistic choice. The Fatboy is supposed to be shipping in December, which would give me some time to raise the funds, assuming my LBS can actually get one. The single ring in front on the On One gives me pause though, with the terrain around here I think having a granny would be a be plus.
So there you have it, I say brakes are important and then pick two bikes with crap hydros.
I'll spend a few days ruminating and reading some more, maybe I'll call the LBS about that Fatboy. I hate to feel like I'm jumping on a bandwagon and this feels more than a little bit like that, oh well.
In a completely different stream of thought (though highly related, just wait for it) two of my riding friends have fat bikes that they ride as their "regular" mountain bikes, or at least ride them occasionally in the dirt. Every time I see them riding these things they have big smiles on their faces. I always say I ride for one reason - fun, and those fat bikes look like fun.
So I put those two things together and thought, why don't I sell the Big Unit and buy a fat bike to use as my spare bike. The added bonus of having a fat bike is that on those three or four days when there's too much snow to ride a regular bike, I can go out with the fat bike. How is that for justification for a new bike? I've almost got it to the "I'm stupid for not having done this already!" stage.
As with anything bike related, the options and prices for fat bikes are practically unlimited, which is the complete opposite of what is stocked at the LBS. I've spent limited time on a fat bike, so this is a decision that will need to be made virtually rather than through test rides. I spent some time looking at what's out there and came up with this list of bikes (sorted by price):
Bike Price Tires Brakes Comments
Motobecane $1000 4” Shimano M445L Ship date unknown
On One $1449 4” Avid Elixir 1 Single ring in front
Surly pugsley $1650 4” Avid BB7 Narrower rim than ops
Surly Pugsley Ops $1650 4” Avid BB7 Ops has wider rim
Salsa Mukluk 3 $1750 4” Avid BB7 Stock? can't find any on line
Specialized Fatboy $2000 5” Tektro Draco 2 December ship date (lightest?)
Surly Moonlander $2350 5” Avid BB7 More upright, long chainstays
There are obviously a lot of other differences between these bikes besides tires and brakes, but I feel like most of the rest of the tech choices are fairly benign. Derailleurs, cranksets and wheels are not going to make or break the bike for me. There is this concept of being able to run 29er wheels on a fat bike frame, some fat bikes have the correct rear wheel spacing to allow for that, it's interesting, but not part of my criteria
Also there are a lot more fat bikes out there, these are the reasonably priced ones. There's a brand called Fatback that puts together a sub-30lb fat bike, but the pricing, whew - $3250! There's also a Salsa Beargrease - carbon fiber frame, another Yikes! inducing price.
I particularly hate a bad set of brakes, so that gives me pause with almost any of the bikes above that don't have BB7's. I prefer hydraulic brakes over mechanicals, but I'll take BB7s over crappy hydros any day, to my eyes all those hydros above are of the crap variety. I do have a set of BB7s in the parts bin, so I guess I can always slap those on if I don't like the ones that come with the bike.
Tire width comes into the picture perhaps as one of those bigger is always better kind of things. 4" tires were kind of the standard for a few years, but now a few bikes have started showing up with the ability to handle 5" tires. I've read mixed things about the wider tires - most have to do with handling, I'm on the fence there.
Weight is certainly a consideration, but I think we're talking pretty close to 35lbs for any of these machines, so I'm not really worried about a few pounds here or there.
I guess right now the On One is looking pretty good, with the Fatboy in a close second. The pricing on the On One seems reasonable - yeah the Motobecane is cheaper, but that's not in stock and no delivery dates are being floated, so I don't even know if that's a realistic choice. The Fatboy is supposed to be shipping in December, which would give me some time to raise the funds, assuming my LBS can actually get one. The single ring in front on the On One gives me pause though, with the terrain around here I think having a granny would be a be plus.
So there you have it, I say brakes are important and then pick two bikes with crap hydros.
I'll spend a few days ruminating and reading some more, maybe I'll call the LBS about that Fatboy. I hate to feel like I'm jumping on a bandwagon and this feels more than a little bit like that, oh well.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Expensive ride
I didn't plan well yesterday so I headed out for a solo crank at Crandalls. I've been concentrating a bit on that place, just to make sure the trails get enough usage to keep them in play over the winter. Some of those trails see a LOT of use, others not so much.
I had a good ride and was just about done when I came across the Thursday night Hale group doing their own crank. I rode with them for a bit until I sucked in a stick and broke my derailleur off. I thought I broke my hanger, but upon looking at it today I see that the $90 derailleur saved the day and protected that $18 hanger. Whew.
I am now faced with a weekend (or more) of riding my HT or forking over $90 for an SLX derailleur locally. I can get an XT on line for the same price. I guess I'll take the SLX and stick with the FS bike.
I have been seriously thinking about selling the HT and picking up a fat bike. I'll see how things go, I guess. I never ride the HT, I think I would get more use out of a fat bike, even if its just on the occasional winter ride, I don't even get that on my HT.
I had a good ride and was just about done when I came across the Thursday night Hale group doing their own crank. I rode with them for a bit until I sucked in a stick and broke my derailleur off. I thought I broke my hanger, but upon looking at it today I see that the $90 derailleur saved the day and protected that $18 hanger. Whew.
I am now faced with a weekend (or more) of riding my HT or forking over $90 for an SLX derailleur locally. I can get an XT on line for the same price. I guess I'll take the SLX and stick with the FS bike.
I have been seriously thinking about selling the HT and picking up a fat bike. I'll see how things go, I guess. I never ride the HT, I think I would get more use out of a fat bike, even if its just on the occasional winter ride, I don't even get that on my HT.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Slacking on the blog
Wow, I have been slacking on the blog posts! All six of you who read this must be disappointed!
I'll blame work, I had two trips in the last two weeks, these trips not only made my weeks hectic, they also made me cram in weekend activities, leaving little time for blogging apparently.
I have to really work to get rides in when I travel, but I've been keeping up pretty well.
A quick summary of events:
I'll blame work, I had two trips in the last two weeks, these trips not only made my weeks hectic, they also made me cram in weekend activities, leaving little time for blogging apparently.
I have to really work to get rides in when I travel, but I've been keeping up pretty well.
A quick summary of events:
- Did a great ride with the NEMBA advanced group on Sunday. I would say by the end of the 17 mile ride everyone was pretty well whipped.
- Spent a week in Germany for work, sounds exciting, but it was pretty much a standard work trip, I saw a lot of the inside of hotels and conference rooms, not much else
- Visited my uncle on a trip to Atlanta few weeks ago, haven't seen him in probably a dozen years, great to catch up with him and his family.
- Finished stacking my firewood for the year, always a great day when that's done. The weather has been warm and dry, hopefully it will dry out some of that wet stuff the guy dropped off.
- Broke the axle in my Hope hub, I'm no engineer, but its a pretty poor design and I don't expect the replacement axle to last much longer than the one that broke.
- Found a spare wheel at Cutting Edge in Berlin, what a great bike shop, it felt like old times going in there and talking bikes at a bike shop, what a concept
- Anger Buddy started a new recording project with two songs, we have all the base tracks done for one of the songs, we're using Reaper to mix this time around - tons of fun.
Monday, September 9, 2013
A little night ride
Brandon texted me this afternoon and said he was riding at Mansfield Hollow tonight. In the last four days I've done 4 rides and two trail building sessions, so I was pretty beat. I figured it was a night ride so it would be pretty mellow, though I haven't ridden with Brandon in a while, we've always been pretty well matched.
I didn't realize he was planning on a longish ride at a pretty good pace. We ended up doing 16 miles in just under 2 hours, that's a long ride and that pace is pretty high (although Mansfield is fairly flat). I'll admit by about mile 12 my legs were DEAD. Climbing that doubletrack was painful.
Brandon has that SS riding nailed. He was cranking the whole ride. It's always great to ride with someone who's on their game.
I didn't realize he was planning on a longish ride at a pretty good pace. We ended up doing 16 miles in just under 2 hours, that's a long ride and that pace is pretty high (although Mansfield is fairly flat). I'll admit by about mile 12 my legs were DEAD. Climbing that doubletrack was painful.
Brandon has that SS riding nailed. He was cranking the whole ride. It's always great to ride with someone who's on their game.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Full on weekend
We had beautiful weather this weekend. I rode with the Sunday group on Friday night at Hale. Great time, Hale is a mountain bike paradise - lots of hills and technical bits, A good crew and we kept a good pace throughout.
As we have cleaned up the garage I've been thinking about building a workbench. I was looking around and realized I had saved all the wood from the kids old playset. I looked through the wood and pulled out what I thought would work and I just started cutting stuff and within a few hours I had it pretty much done. I had one piece in the garage that didn't have any patina on it that I used for front two legs (kind of wish I didn't do that), but the rest of it has a nice weathered look. Its sturdy and fits perfectly in the space I had. Pretty happy with how it came out.
I have a lot more work to do around the house (there's always something) but it was such a stellar day I went out for a ride at Crandalls. I really tried to take it easy, which is not easy for me apparently, I had to keep telling myself to cut it back. I had the tunes running, so my phone ran out of battery before I was done (that's the straight line back
Sunday I went on the regular Sunday morning ride at the Snip, it was good, but there was a lot of stopping due to various issues, I had to be back, so one of the faster riders was nice enough to lead me out without any waiting while the other guys took their time. Some really great trails out there with serious technical sections and no shortage of climbing. We came across three ground bees nests, luckily only two of us got stung, unfortunately I was one of the two. No big deal, I'm not allergic or anything.
Sunday afternoon we did a little trail work to add some trails at a riding spot nearby. I can't wait for it to be done, should be just a few more sessions.
Quite a full weekend, its Sunday night and I'm beat!
As we have cleaned up the garage I've been thinking about building a workbench. I was looking around and realized I had saved all the wood from the kids old playset. I looked through the wood and pulled out what I thought would work and I just started cutting stuff and within a few hours I had it pretty much done. I had one piece in the garage that didn't have any patina on it that I used for front two legs (kind of wish I didn't do that), but the rest of it has a nice weathered look. Its sturdy and fits perfectly in the space I had. Pretty happy with how it came out.
I have a lot more work to do around the house (there's always something) but it was such a stellar day I went out for a ride at Crandalls. I really tried to take it easy, which is not easy for me apparently, I had to keep telling myself to cut it back. I had the tunes running, so my phone ran out of battery before I was done (that's the straight line back
Sunday I went on the regular Sunday morning ride at the Snip, it was good, but there was a lot of stopping due to various issues, I had to be back, so one of the faster riders was nice enough to lead me out without any waiting while the other guys took their time. Some really great trails out there with serious technical sections and no shortage of climbing. We came across three ground bees nests, luckily only two of us got stung, unfortunately I was one of the two. No big deal, I'm not allergic or anything.
Sunday afternoon we did a little trail work to add some trails at a riding spot nearby. I can't wait for it to be done, should be just a few more sessions.
Quite a full weekend, its Sunday night and I'm beat!
Monday, September 2, 2013
Sunday road ride
It absolutely poured on Saturday night for a long time. I decided on a road ride rather than deal with the slippery, possibly muddy trails. With the right trail selection I'm sure the woods would have been fine, but I went for the road anyway. My shoulder is feeling slightly better, and I figured a road ride would be easier on it than the mountain bike.
Its been a while since I've done a serious road ride. I put together a ride that looped from Coventry back through Tolland and over to Ellington. It was a good 40 mile route with a fair amount of climbing. I'll admit that as I was riding I considered taking the easy way a few times, but I just kept turning for the hills.
There are roads in both Tolland and Ellington called "Crystal Ridge" a friend told me that the one in Ellington is a good descent and, despite the fact that they are not connected on the map, you can walk from one road to the other. I got to the end of the Tolland road and the Ellington one is right there, but to get to it you have to walk on two people's lawns. I hated doing that but as I was standing there contemplating what to do a loud clap of thunder came from the clouds overhead. Since going across gap was a quicker way home, I just did it. When I got to the second lawn there was a clear path across that lawn, so I guess this is something people do.
Just as I got to the second cul-de-sac the clouds opened up and it started pouring. The descent was not a lot of fun as the faster I went, the worse the rain hurt. I just endured the pain and got to the bottom, the rain only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was raining hard and I got soaked to the bone. It was the nice warm rain, so no big deal (except for that one high speed descent).
All in all, a good time on the road bike.
Its been a while since I've done a serious road ride. I put together a ride that looped from Coventry back through Tolland and over to Ellington. It was a good 40 mile route with a fair amount of climbing. I'll admit that as I was riding I considered taking the easy way a few times, but I just kept turning for the hills.
There are roads in both Tolland and Ellington called "Crystal Ridge" a friend told me that the one in Ellington is a good descent and, despite the fact that they are not connected on the map, you can walk from one road to the other. I got to the end of the Tolland road and the Ellington one is right there, but to get to it you have to walk on two people's lawns. I hated doing that but as I was standing there contemplating what to do a loud clap of thunder came from the clouds overhead. Since going across gap was a quicker way home, I just did it. When I got to the second lawn there was a clear path across that lawn, so I guess this is something people do.
Just as I got to the second cul-de-sac the clouds opened up and it started pouring. The descent was not a lot of fun as the faster I went, the worse the rain hurt. I just endured the pain and got to the bottom, the rain only lasted about 20 minutes, but it was raining hard and I got soaked to the bone. It was the nice warm rain, so no big deal (except for that one high speed descent).
All in all, a good time on the road bike.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)