Rob's blog

Well... no-one likes a smart @rse, but... told you it would be a good weekend

Just keeping a note of my bike maintenance.

The Bianchi has had some love of late. Last week it got a new front shifter cable and today it got some new front brake pads and cable. First change of these items since new in Sep '07 and many thousands of kays. Last well these crosser things!

Around 100 kays of bliss - sure feels good!

I've been having some real trouble with a compressed nerve in my neck and haven't been doing much (any!) MTB for quite some time now. Five days straight seems to have brought back some form but also taken it's toll - the back is feeling decidedly ropey today, but maybe as a sign there is drizzle in the air and this is forecast to stick around until tomorrow arvo - so time for a rest and loads of stretching.

Here are some silly stats:

Aka... bike fuel. Goes great on top of curry and a couple of beers the night before

Followed with a banana of course. Oh well... off to ride more sweet single track. Laters!

Earlier today something prompted me to think about a marketing mantra that many companies use: "Get 'em while they're young"

It's like that line about, "Give me a child for the first seven years..." thing: Basically - young children are easy to mould and indoctrinate - they learn fast and most of what is learnt at this age tends to stick - both the good and the bad.

Ah... more work on the bikes. Brake bleed front & rear for Rush & Pratiwi's Trek. Wow - what a difference, especially to hers. Should have see the cr@p that came out of the front line on the Rush! I suspect it needs a new one (brake line that is), or maybe some seals. Anyhow - let's see how it holds up.

New rear pads for the Rush too. It's been in need of a new BB for a while, this will happen later today or tomorrow, depending on how much in need of a snooze I am after lunch

What with not being able to ride this weekend thought it was good chance to catch up on some bike maintenance.

The Yeti got it's first good clean in a long time yesterday. Just now it received new shifter cables - both inner and outer. Pretty nice Goodridge outers (in 'carbon') with plain old XT inners. I have to say... what a pain in the @ss it is to get the cable into an X0 shifter (rear only - luckily the front is easy peasy).

Another thing to note is that Yeti recommend routing the rear shifter over the BB non-drive side and then behind and across to below to the rear stay on the drive side. I didn't do that when building the bike and reckon it would be pretty much impossible with this Goodridge stuff given how stiff it is!

Anyhow, easy enough to route under the BB and this cable change was well overdue - looks like it's the first time since Yeti was born!

While packing up thought to check chain wear and... lucky... it's time for a new one. So a new CN-7701 is soaking in degreaser and will go on later. Yes, yes... that sticky stuff chains come in is very good grease, but I like to use wax lube on the MTB so it has to come off before fitting. Looks like the last time Yeti got a chain was in Jan '09. A long time, but according to my Garmin Connect stats only just over 700km ago. The Yeti is my 'fun' bike... looks like I haven't been having enough fun in the last 18 months[1]!

[1] Something to do with a cracked rib at Appin in January followed by too much riding on the road

P.S. Note to self. Yeti needs 168cm outer for the rear and around 50cm for the front.

Last Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to a bit of a shindig at the LBS (you know - Local Bike Shop).

Up until now my LBS was probably Cranks in North Sydney (Alfred St) which was a short trundle away. Now however, I'm lucky enough to have a branch of King of the Mountain Cyclery all of a few hundred metres from the front door. Excellent!

As this is their second store (the first being in Cremorne), it's known as KOM2. Very nice place it is too. Honest... the free beer and food has not clouded my judgement!

Anyhow - despite being frequented by a few too many <cough>road riders</cough> it was a nice little gathering to have a nosy at the place and talk... erm... shop?

Cunningly it turns out that the top two riders on the Manly Dam Hot Laps board both work for KOM now. I'll bet that makes for some interesting in-shop banter!

I wish you guys well, now to get some trails built on the oval the other block over and life will be complete

P.S. Some pictures of said store and stuff attached. The workshop was built in part by Gary Harwood - Carpenter Deluxe, very nice!

Nice stuff today. After a dull looking start the sun came out and things were looking great. We could have gone under 2 hours despite the tiredness of yesterday if it weren't for...

1. Logan crying about his legs

2. Buck and Tien both choosing the same line on the same fire trail. I mean, who crashes on a firetrail... at Terrey Hills!?

As I said on Trev's thread...

Depending on the way you view them (love or hate?) it's always sad for a 'cult' of any kind of once trendy fashion - the day your average punter takes what was once an icon of cool and makes of mockery of it.

The cult of SS (single speed) that has been growing in popularity really crossed that line for me today.