365 Songs: №. 22

365 Songs lives!

Barely.

It's more undead than actually alive. I'm changing the tagline from "Day X" to "№ X" because obviously I've failed miserably at providing a daily entry.

Anyhow, I do have enough time for song 22. After a less-then-stellar day at work I was wallowing in a bit of self-pity. I came upstairs in a foul mood. Then I remembered what time of year it is and broke out Capitol Record's 2004 compilation "Christmas Classics". I went right for track 2, Dean Martin's perfect 1959 version of Frank Loesser's "Baby It's Cold Outside":



Now that improved my mood considerably! Time to listen to the rest of it.

Thanks

The KRA auction was a great success last night. There are a lot of people to thank, but this note is to our friends who are not part of the organization:

First a very special thanks to two who went above and beyond: Bruce Cobb, our auctioneer and Paul Vaillancourt, our DJ and MC for the raffle. Without these pros at the microphone this event doesn't get pulled off, plain and simple.

Josée Dupont, who not only donated to the auction but bid up a storm. She showed how it's done at a charity auction -- it's not about finding a deal, it's about supporting a cause, and it's about making bids, not sitting on your hands.

Who are you going to call when you want a reliable and enthusiastic attendee to your event? Kelly Giard, that's who. She's the kind of person a bystander on the street sees going into an event and thinks, "Hey, where is she going? It looks like it might be fun".

What do you call a person who secured passage from Spain this week, without a passport or any money, after getting robbed, while on vacation, just so she could attend this event? You call that person a friend of the highest quality or Francesca LaSala Cobb.

Kevin and Stephanie Hirnak, where to start with these two? Whether paying the optional $50 donor ticket price or throwing around some of the biggest bids of the night, they just plain got it done.

Pat Terry for securing a Crotched Mountain season pass for the live auction. That's the kind of item that generates bids.

Matt Waitkins and Tracey Bowman, whose schedule didn't permit them to attend, but made sure the check really was in the mail.

To paraphrase Harry Bailey, we feel like the richest folks in town.

Moving Pictures

While I've owned a high definition camcorder for a long time I've never used it much. Too fragile for first person use while skiing or mountain biking. I recently acquired a GoPro HD Hero helmet camera. Now this is more like it. Tiny and robust. Cheap enough that in the unlikely event I completely destroy it, I'll only cry for 20 minutes.

Still getting my feet wet with the camera's features and taking the tiniest of baby steps with editing, but I'm having fun.

FOMBA Hemlock Loop Trail from pburba on Vimeo.

This was my first video, it's too long and consists of only one scene. Only singletrack junkies are likely to find it enjoyable. Critical lessons learned:

• The seatpost is the place to mount the camera for smooth video, especially if you stay seated.

• The strap-on helmet mount produced nothing by jiggly footage that will have you reaching for the Dramamine.

Bear Brook from pburba on Vimeo.

This is my second video. Actually have several different scenes and it is slightly less boring. Switched from Adobe Premier Elements to TrakAxPC Pro, which is half the cost and twice as good.

Project 29er: Latest Tweaks

Latest refinements before taking a Friday afternoon ride at FOMBA.

As with any new bike, it's not long before the upgrades start. Now I know what you are thinking, "Uh, but wasn't your latest bike a no expense spared money pit?" Well, yes and no. It was a money pit, but "no expense spared?" To borrow a phrase from Han Solo, I can imagine quite a bit*, but I didn't spend that much.

First on the agenda were new pedals. I cursed myself a few months back when I said my old Shimano 959s would last forever. On my second ride the left one started spinning like it was full of rocks (a rebuild not helping) and the other wouldn't release in anything approaching a predictable manner. I decided to take a chance on a set of XPedo's Ti-spindled M-Force pedals. They work with standard Shimano cleats, are feathery light at 230g, and even at my heaviest I easily clear the 185 lb. rider weight limit.

I'm still getting familiar with the slightly different entry, though this probably has as much to do with a recent cleat position change. As far as release goes they are great. I am using them with Shimano's SM-SH56 mutli-release cleat and when I want out I'm out. Can't ask for much more.


The second tweak was a a straight seatpost. The old Thomson layback model I had shimmed in and the old RaceFace XY that replaced it both had too much setback. I went with a Thomson Masterpiece, which rivals carbon posts for weight and is unmatched for beauty. I've slowly been moving the seat forward 1mm every couple of rides, trying to find the optimal position; I'm still coming to grips with the fact that this bike actually fits me and I don't need to have the seat slammed back to have enough room.


The last changes were wrought by a branch at Massabesic last Monday which snapped by rear XTR derailleur in half. The stout Niner replaceable hanger didn't budge...Not sure if this is a good thing or not.

I've also had some problems with the chain getting bounced off the middle ring, getting hooked by the big ring and then getting pulled between the gap between the big ring and the chain stay. This is a one-way trip, there is no pulling the chain back by hand, you need to break the chain. Possibly during suspension compression the gap opens enough to let the chain slip by?

At any rate this is my biggest complaint about the RIP9. At first I thought I was engaging in ill-advised shifts, but then it happened while I was JRA in the rough.

The solution for now is a 2x9 setup. I replaced the 44 tooth big ring with a Truvativ Noir carbon rock ring, which fit/looked perfect with the RaceFace cranks. With less chain wrap I went with a medium cage XTR Shadow derailleur. These shadow variants have a much lower profile to trail debris than Shimano's traditional derailleurs. The shorter cage obviously helps too. The obvious problem with all this is the loss of the high gears. Right now I have a 22/32 x 12-24. This is fine for riding Massabesic and anything else technical, but for fireroads, rail trails, and the inevitable tarmac, it is woefully undergeared. Still, single speeders get by without it, so maybe I can too.

If not, then I'm hoping somebody will eventually make a 11-36 9-speed cassette that is friendly to aluminum drive shells (so no thanks SLX HG61). Then I can switch to a 24/36 in front and probably be ok.

Inside Joke

GENERAL MADINE: "We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship, and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and reimplement merge tracking from scratch."

The assembly begins to mumble among themselves.

THREEPIO: "Sounds dangerous."

LEIA (to Han): "I wonder who they found to pull that off."

GENERAL MADINE: "General Solo, is your merge team assembled?"

Leia, startled, looks up at Han, surprise changing to admiration.

HAN: "Uh, my team's ready. I don't have a command crew for the shuttle."

Chewbacca raises his hairy paw and volunteers. Han looks up at him.

HAN: "Well, it's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you."

Chewie waves that off with a huge GROWL.

365 Songs: Day 21

Disclaimer: I'm lame and not posting every day, so this is going to take more than a year. You get what you pay for.

The Lovely Hope Sandoval.
I don't think she had much trouble getting dates.

I've never been sure what to call Mazzy Star. Wikipedia lists no fewer than 9 genres for them. My favorite is "shoegaze". Why don't we just call them "good"?

Artist: Mazzy Star
Song: Five String Serenade
Album: So Tonight That I Might See (1993)

I could have picked almost any song off this album, I love the whole thing and always listen to it in its entirety. I did resist picking the much better known Fade Into You, which is what passes for a hit for this band, but really you can't go wrong with any of it. It's all just so damn trippy, dreamy, peaceful, etc..

365 Songs: Day 20

Artist: The J. Geils Band
Song: Musta Got Lost
Album: Blow Your Face Out [Live] (1975)

This song is among my earliest memories of my "own" music, rather than whatever my parents had playing in the house or on the car radio.

The studio version was found on 1974's Nightmares...and Other Tales from the Jungle, but for me this recording, from a November 15, 1975 concert in the old Boston Garden, is the definitive version of this song.

365 Songs: Day 17-19

I've been a bit lax with the blog the last few days, so I owe three songs. Fortunately inspiration hit after attending last night's horrific Celtic's game. To say the C's didn't get it done would be an insult to epic underachievers the world over.

After the Green stunk the joint up, I got thinking back to those Boston teams from the 80's who, more often than not, did get it done, or at least gave nothing away easily. This line of thought (logically?) led to thinking about 80's Boston bands who got it done. And any short list of the Hub's best 80's bands would have to include the Cars.

Like many non-hip boys of the era, I both marveled and bemoaned the fact that lead singer Ric Ocasek (35) somehow managed to land supermodel Paulina Porzikova (19) in 1984 and actually marry her in 1989. Marveled, because it gave hope for us all, I mean look at this guy, if he could do it then we all had a chance. Bemoaned because, by the perverse logic of a 16 year old, we felt that, "Hey, here is a supermodel that likes odd looking guys, she's probably the only one on the planet, and this bozo has taken her off the market! It's unfair! He's rich and famous, he could find another one!" It's as if we somehow thought that we were part of Paulina's backup plan if things didn't work out with Ric. And apparently things did work out, since according to Wikipedia they are still married.

Well to get back at "lead singer" Ric, two of the songs I've chosen are actually sung by the band's late bassist Benjamin Orr.

Artist: The Cars
Song: Drive
Album: Heartbeaty City Album (1984)
Performance: Official Video






Artist: The Cars
Song: Just What I Needed
Album: The Cars (1978)
Performance: Live Aid (1985)

Artist: The Cars
Song: Since You're Gone
Album: Shake It Up (1981)
Performance: Appearance on Friday's (1981)

365 Songs: Day 17

Artist: A Flock of Seagulls
Song: I Ran (So Far Away)
Album: A Flock of Seagulls (1982)
Performance: Official Video

The hair.

The bad videos.

The synthesizers.

It must be time for an 80's New Wave classic.

365 Songs: Day 16

Artist: Jackson Browne
Song: The Load Out / Stay
Album: Running on Empty (1977)
Performance: BBC In Concert, Live At Shepherd's Bush Theatre, London 1978

Simply put, the greatest song(s) ever about performing and being on the road. Disagree? You are of course entitled to your opinion, but this blog is moderated, so good luck sharing it here ;-)

365 Songs: Day 15

Artist: Cold War Kids
Song: Hang Me Up To Dry
Album: Robbers & Cowards (2006)
Performance: Official Video

Love or hate the video, at least they tried. Kinda like the song.

I need to go back and listen to this album, outside of this song I never really connected with any of it. I might not have given it a fair chance though, as I was listening to Silversun Pickups' Carnavas at the same time, and the latter was handily winning the fight for my attention.

365 Songs: Day 14

Artist: White Stripes
Song: Girl, you have no faith in medicine
Album: Elephant
Performance: Random Fan Video

Garage Rock. Lo-Fi. Punk Blues. I don't care what you call it, it's rock.

Meg's drumming to simple for you? I don't care, it works.

Not much more to say other than I listened to this song back-to-back four times today in my truck. I guess that means I like it. A lot.

365 Songs: Day 13

Artist: Feist
Song: 1234
Album: The Reminder
Performance: Official Video

Yes, it's the Apple iPod Nano song. It's still very good. Fun video too, one that actually adds something to the song and is entertaining in its own right. As someone who thinks fast cuts are a tool of weak directors, I also like that it was done in one take (or appears to be at any rate, it's hard to be sure these days).

365 Songs: Day 12

Artist: New Order
Song: Crystal
Album: Get Ready (2001)
Performance: Official Video

Another band I'll hit up again before this list is over. I passed on anything from Substance 1987, because I already used up this month's allotment of epic songs :-D

A curious bit about this video, notice the name of the fake band? Indeed it was this video that inspired the name of that little group from Vegas.

365 Songs: Day 11

Artist: Fiona Apple
Song: Shadowboxer
Album: Tidal (1996)
Performance: Official Video

Ok, for those of you that are still following along and waiting to hear a good song, today is your last chance. Every song so far I obviously think is pretty good, that's why I've bothered to post them (duh).

This song though, this song is sublime. If I was pressed to put together a list of my 10 favorite songs of all time, this would, without a doubt, make the cut.

I wanted to find a live version that did it justice, but alas, the performances were either not-so-hot, or the recordings were suspect. So the official video it is, in all its poorly lip-synced beauty.

365 Songs: Day 10

Artist: PJ Harvey
Song: C'mon Billy
Album: To Bring You My Love (1995)
Performance: French TV, 1995

Polly Jean Harvey's masterpiece album 'To Bring You My Love' entered my musical life in the late 90's like a bomb, blowing apart my ideas of what I liked in a female vocalist. And like a bomb it probably did my hearing no favors as I listened to it loudly and frequently at the Bride's apartment; we had just started dating and so these songs are forever bonded to that time for me.

Even with the feel-good association, I'd rate this album in my top 50 all-time even if I discovered it during bad times. It just doesn't quit. In a recent interview she said, "I certainly don't want to make music that can be put on in the background and be spoken over". Mission accomplished with this album.

I chose this low-key performance because it is mercifully lacking in the dark stage persona she is often projects, she is just playing it straight here.

365 Songs: Day 9

Today sucks, so I'll keep this brief.

The Band: Editors

The Song: An End Has A Start

The Album: An End Has a Start (2007)

The Sound: The British Interpol

The Video: Worst use of models in a video, to see proper usage refer to Palmer, Robert, Addicted to Love.

That is all.

365 Songs: Day 8

I can't claim this band is some kind of hidden gem, it's only album, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" did go platinum in the U.S. But other than the hit 'You Get What You Give', the album itself kinda flew under the radar. If came out today it would probably sell a million downloads of the single and 100k albums...

...which would be a shame, because the album is a very solid piece of work start to finish. The "band" was really Gregg Alexander, who wrote, sang, produced, and played many of the instruments, and then filled in the blanks with session musicians. He called it quits after this one album (though he had two previous solo efforts) to produce and write for other artists. Too bad.

The song is 'Someday We'll Know'.

365 Songs: Day 6 & 7

This is the first appearance of what is sure to be several by one of my favorite bands. Many people love them, though it seems lately that more hate them. Partly I think this is due to Bono's activism and somewhat holy-than-thou personality. They have also been around a long time and have produced a fairly large and varied body of work, engaging in a lot of "reinvention" along the way. So if you want to find something they have done that you don't like, well then, you can probably find it.

Whatever.

War. The Unforgettable Fire. The Joshua Tree.

If they did nothing but those three they would still be among my favorites.

I liked that they tried different things; they didn't find the recipe for success and then repeat it. Bands should grow and evolve. It may not always work, you may not always like it, but it sure beats the same old thing every time.

I owe two songs since I didn't post yesterday, so we get a shortened version of October (from the album of the same name) and the iconic New Year's Day from War. The performance was recorded at the Red Rocks amphitheater in Colorado. I love the Edge's minimalist piano playing in both songs.

365 Songs: Day 5

Who knew?

They were Dutch!

They have 24 studio albums!

They have had the same lineup for 47 years!

They are still touring!

Honestly, I didn't know the first thing about them before a trip to wikipedia, but I've always loved 'Twilight Zone' and 'Radar Love'. Found this great acoustic version of the former which features some very nice guitar playing (at least to my uneducated ear). Enjoy.

365 Songs: Day 4

When I first heard Lazy Eye by the Silversun Pickups in late 2006, like many others, I wondered if it was a man or woman singing. The 25 second explosion at the 2:45 mark answered that; Brian Aubert was indeed male.

I looked for a good live recording of this song, but it seems that bit at 2:45 is hard to replicate, so I'm sticking with the studio version.

While I enjoyed the rest of Carnavas, which was their debut album, nothing else on it, or their sophomore effort Swoon, ever reached the perfection of this song. For me, it will go down as one of the finest efforts of the 00's.

365 Songs: Day 3

I've met people who viewed this band as some kind of "Lesser Nirvana*" that felt that somehow, they weren't really part of the "true" Seattle grunge era. They are of course entitled to their opinions, but I'll never trust their views on anything music-related.

Anyway, here they are in their salad days, performing a cover of Neil Young's Rockin in the Free World at the 1992 Pinkpop Festival in Landgraaf, Holland (or the Netherlands if you prefer...that always confused me).

* Count my lovely Bride among that first group. I've since shown her the error of her ways.

365 Songs: Day 2

Today we dip into the alt-country files and pull out an National treasure (no, not the Nicolas Cage cinematic abomination).

John Hiatt is one of the finest songwriters I know of; he knows how to tell a story. And he isn't a half bad guitar player :-)

Now this recording doesn't feature his finest vocal performance (and the sync is a bit off), but it's still more than adequate. I chose it because I love this song and you get a bonus! Not one, but two National treasures, because his band for this performance is the Goners, and that means slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, who pretty much steals the show here.

Now I must warn you to look past the weird "drunk dad at wedding" thing Hiatt does in the first few seconds. Actually, when I think about it, his whole vibe is a bit like that, but get over it!

So here it is, John Hiatt and the Goners at the 2003 AVO Session Basil festival in Switzerland, performing Tennessee Plates, from 1998's Slow Turning (an album I recommend without hesitation to those with functioning ears):

365 Songs: Day 1

I don't blog enough.

Oh, I realize barely anybody reads this blog, and fewer people actually care about what they read here, what with the endless blather about bikes, running, etc.. But maybe what the people want are my opinions on music!

No? Really? The Interwebs don't care about my opinions?

Oh well, I do this for myself then...

“All art constantly aspires to the condition of music.”
- Walter Pater, The Renaissance: studies in art and poetry

Does it? I don't know and am ill equipped to debate this question. I do know that music moves me easily and frequently in a way that other forms of art rarely do. Books do effect me the same way on occasion, but it requires are lot more time and effort on my part. With music, it just happens (It probably happens too much; the Bride is, no doubt, oh so tired of hearing my insightful commentary like, "Wait! Listen to this next part, it's so freaktastically awesome!").

Please note that I can't sing worth a damn or play an instrument, I can't even read music. I can barely play Guitar Hero. That said, I still love listening to music. I can enjoy music from a reasonable variety of genres: bluegrass, disco, funk, "classic" rock, R&B, rap, soul, art music, electronic, folk, alt-country, American roots music, blues, and more. But what really does if for me is anything that falls under the alternative rock umbrella.

So without further ado, here is today's song:



Starting in the dark ages of the late 90's, i.e. the rap rock era, I began turning away from popular music. Nothing was working for me. Then, in the early part of the new millennium, like a light at the end of a dark tunnel infested with Kid Rock zombies (and me down to my last three 12-gauge shells), I heard this band. It wasn't quite time for me to enter the, "they don't make music like they used to" phase.

They have become on of my all time favorites. I don't care if they sound like Joy Division (I love Joy Division!).

"Blast from the Past" (or "I've been at this a while")

My First MTB: A Steel framed Kona Lava Dome, circa 1993-1994
That rear wheel is one of the few I built myself.
Still true after all these years.

When recently asked, my non-biking friends seemed agreeable to some gravel rail trail riding. Problem is, the Bride and one of our friends don't have bikes. No problem, I just needed to get some of my old bikes in order.

The Bride was easy, she got my old Turner. The only changes I made were to put the old Specialized house brand disk wheels back on (the King hubs on the new RIP 9), get a shorter stem, switch the seatpost for a non-layback to shorten up the cockpit, and put on a woman's saddle.

A loaner bike was a bit trickier. I thought about resurrecting my Specialized FSR Pro, that was a great bike. But it would have required new disk wheels or going back to rim brakes, which I just couldn't muster much enthusiasm for. Plus, I wasn't even sure I could find the old canti posts for the rear wheel.

In the end I decided to fix up my old Kona, which was my first mountain bike. It was actually almost rideable when I dragged it out. Only problem was the fork, a RS SID that had barfed up oil all over itself. I always hated that fork so I swapped it out for an old Manitou SXR, which is worlds more reliable and lower maintenance. Compared to modern (i.e. made in the last 10 years) forks, the SXR is pretty low rent, but compared to the the SID it actually seems to do something besides leak air and oil. Looking back, the SID was just a heavy, expensive rigid fork.

Now all the bikes are ready, we just need it to stop raining so we can all get out.

Retro: Rainbow Ti spokes, Ringle hub.
Matching rear wheel broke a long time ago.
Not a big loss as it had an XT hub, I couldn't afford the Ringer rear hub.

Remember these? It's called a Travel Agent IIRC.
It allows you to use linear pull brakes with non-linear pull levers.

A few new parts:
The Thomson stem is from the Turner (yeah it's too long, I know). The bar is a new Sunline (super-cheap and it weighs a ton). The OURY grips I found in the bottom of a box of bike crap, completely unused. No idea when or where I bought them, but score!

I went through a phase of color coordinating everything I could on this bike. Sadly these anodized chainring bolts lost their color when degreaser got on them.

An old FSA Conix Star-Fangled Nut replacement. I was surprised to learn they still make these. If weight isn't a concern, then these are a lot easier to deal with than a SFN.

"T.H. Industries" is these guys.
Not sure if they still make the Conix.

"See, this screws in there!"
Working on bikes is easy!

Old-School 29er

My shop has had a guest the past several days: Kelly's old Trek Multi-Track 720 has been in for some sorely needed TLC.

New tires (Bontrager 700x38 H2s) were definitely in order after the sidewalls of what appeared to be the original tires (Trek 700x35 Multi-Tracks made by Cheng-Shin Tire) started to flake apart when I went to change the tubes. I also cleaned the drivetrain, probably for the first time ever.

This bike really brought back some memories: 7 speed cassettes, Alivio derailleurs, overpadded saddles, cantilever brakes. I must say, a 7 speed chain is one burly component. Aside from a little rust, after cleaning it up it looks good for another 10 years. Of course this might have something to do with Kelly not getting out of the saddle and giving it the spurs much over the years :-P

Amazingly the brake pads, while a bit noisy, still worked great. I was able to lock up the front wheel while taking a test blast down the driveway. Did I mention they were noisy? I'll have to remedy that at some point...




I'm now curious as to how old this bike is. Vintage-trek only lists one black 720 multitrack, made in 1991, but the decal color isn't right. It looks like this particular model was made between 1990 and 1999. The colors got progressively fancier over the years, with pearlescent paint jobs and fades. So this bike, in basic black is almost certainly on the earlier end of the scale, and may be a 91. Bikepedia only has data as far back as 1993 for this model, so no luck there either.

The Kalloy seatpost has '93.10' stamped on it, and seatposts often have the date stamped, but the 93 bike was a black to purple fade...

...Hopefully Kelly can shed some light on this mystery (assuming she bought it new).

Anyway, enough history. What actually prompted me to write this is that given my recent plunge into 29ers, it became obvious that sometime back in the day, somebody threw some CX tires on this thing or something similar and presto, the first mass produced 29er was born without any fanfare or Gary Fisher being involved in any way!

Project 29er: Built

Outdoor glamor shot before I made the final steerer cut and changed the seatpost. I like to think the black-white-red color scheme came together nicely. Weight as pictured was 28.68 lbs.

Finished building up the RIP 9 tonight. It went pretty smoothly, only problems were pretty minor: Some slight drag on the rear rotor, some trouble getting the front derailleur aligned right, and dealing with the wonky cable routing.

This caliper will never be the clean again. Ever.

The things that have really caused my headaches when building previous bikes where not issues with this frame: The bottom bracket threaded in all the way by hand (Bravo Niner!) And the internal headset just drops in, easy as pie, no need to bust out my homemade headset press.

One of my few gripes about this frame so far: The cable routing. The front derailleur cable in particular is a bit gruesome. Though now that it is set up, I'll probably never think about it again.

Converting the Schwalbe Racing Ralphs to tubeless was quite easy too. The rims came from George with the rim tape and valve already installed, so I didn't have to deal with that. I just followed the directions on the bottle of Stan's sealant and everything went smoothly. I've never done this before, so I can't be sure how much using Stan's tubeless-ready Arch rims helped. I'm thinking of converting an old pair of Specialized branded rims for my Turner and tend to doubt it will be as easy.

Cages and seat bag added. I'm going to try and go sans-Camelbak on shorter rides this year. Obviously need some bottles with a flip-top dome to keep the crud out on that bottom mount.

I also used Stan's sealant injector, which is probably overkill, but avoids some mess. I used 90ml of sealant for each 29"x2.4" tire. Both tires lost a bit of air the first few days, but after last night seemed to have sealed up tight. My only concern now is whether the fairly lightweight Ralphs will hold up.

I could stand to trim the brake lines...but who am I kidding.

I set the rebound front and back at the middle of the range. That can be dialed in easy on the trail. Set the pressure in the fork at 85psi per the manual's recommendation. Shock is at 150 psi which gives the recommended 25% sag. I'll mess around with the ProPedal setting when I get on the trail.

I've only tooled around the driveway, but I think I'm going to like these Ergon grips. If nothing else I can annoy my riding partners while I pontificate about how, "grip technology has really come a long way the last few years".

Niner's trademark "Top Tube Coach".


185mm rotor front, 160mm rear.


Niner supports beefier options for the rear axle, but I'm sticking with a standard QR for now. It's probably quite sufficient for my riding style (sit and spin), weight (average), and power output (uh, modest?).

To say I am looking forward to getting this bike on the trail would put me in early contention for the "Understatement of the Year Award -- 2010". But the woods are still in full-on bog mode right now. Going to do the next best thing: Spend tomorrow doing trail maintenance work at the FOMBA trails.

Project 29er: Out of the Box

The RIP 9, wheels, and OEM fork arrived today. I haven't done much beyond take it out of the box and weigh it. Nothing was even remotely close to it's claimed weight, the frame was a whopping 7.62 lbs (3456g), the wheels 4.33 lbs (1963g), and the fork 4.05 lbs. (1837g). This pushes my earlier estimate of the total weight to 28.51 lbs. Still lighter than my present bike, but a bit porkier than I had hoped. I can live it with though.

Holy Hydroforming Batman!
Contrast with the strictly straight tubed Burner.
On the right, hiding its shame in the shadows
is LeKG's hybrid, visiting the shop for some TLC.

Bottom bracket junctions aren't what they once were.

The Turner's old Chris King hubs get a new lease on life.
I would have loved some new red CK's, but even I couldn't justify the expense.

Front wheel built up by George at Bike29.
Hub was originally a 9mm axle, but fortunately for my wallet
a 15mm through-axle conversion was available.

The OEM Fox F29 RL.
Claimed weight 3.5 lbs.
Actual weight 4.05 lbs.
...and my bike gets fatter...

More tech changes since my last new bike:
A monster 1.125" to 1.5" tapered head tube.

Project 29er: What Will It Weigh?

I was bored this weekend. So I weighed every component of my RIP 9. I'm not a weight weenie, as can be seen by my choice of frame, but I like charts. Charts with colors are even better!

It will surprise no one to hear that many manufacturer's claimed weights are less than the actual weights. What is surprising is that some brands actually overstated their products weights. Ritchey's SuperLogic bar for example, was 3 grams less than published. That's probably with the normal +/- for a part like this, but it's nice to see some honesty.

Regardless, my goal of a "lightweight" RIP 9 seems promising. If the remaining items are anywhere near their published weights the whole thing may come in under 27 lbs (though I'll believe that when I weigh the finished product). Even if the weight goes as high as 27.5 lbs, for an aluminum framed, 4.5" travel full-suspension 29er this strikes me as quite reasonable, especially considering many of the parts are not exactly "lightest in class" (i.e. brakes, pedals, seatpost, tires).

We'll see...

Project 29er: Nearing the end of Fed Ex fun

The end of the frequent visits from Brown Santa and the FedEx man are coming to an end. A few final items arrived today. Now we are waiting on the big stuff, the wheels and the frame. Wheels should ship out today and the frame sometime this month.

Originally I had planned on using my old black Salsa seatpost clamp and rear skewer, but color accessorizing madness got the better of me.

I am reusing these 959s, I love these pedals, and they last forever. In the 15 or so years I've been using clipless pedals I've really only used two sets, these and some 747s, which are now on my road bike. Not sure what it takes to kill them, but it would probably kill me too.

Same as my old bike. If it ain't broke...

I see a pattern here...I was going to reuse my Avid Juicy 7s, but a good deal on Avid Elixir CRs (185mm front/160mm rear) at Speedgoat caught my eye and the bonus white-black-red color scheme sealed the deal. Plus I want to have enough parts left over from my old bike for next winter's diversion: Project Singlespeed

Project 29er: Finally, a frame.

The Winner: Large Black Anodized RIP 9

After a lot of research I had narrowed my bike choices down to two: The Santa Cruz Tallboy and the Niner RIP 9. My local LBS is a Santa Cruz dealer, which is a big plus, but in the end the Tallboy's $644 premium over the RIP 9 and the inability to actually see one in person doomed it. Admittedly the Santa Cruz is a good deal lighter than the RIP 9, but that extra $644 goes some ways to making the Niner a bit lighter via component choice than it might otherwise be.

I ordered my RIP this weekend from Five Hills bike shop in Waterbury VT. The owner George Wisell talked me out of my original plan to build up my old Chris King hubs with some Stan's ZTR 355s, instead we opted for the slightly heavier, but more robust, ZTR Arch rims laced up with some 14/15g spokes. I'll wait till I have a picture of the wheels to reveal the colors, but it's going to be a change from basic black of my last several wheelsets.

In other news, a few more parts trickled in:

Jumping on the Ergon bandwagon and see if it is all that.

Some ho-hum stuff.

The weekly bling: Ritchey carbon fiber alloy matrix WCS 4-Axis stem. Claims to be be strong enough for mountain biking...I certainly hope so.

Project 29er: New Arrivals

Today we'll be shooting in black and white because that is how I feel. Why? 15" of snow followed immediately by torrential rain (which is still going on as I write this).

The one bright spot was the arrival of some new parts today (plus some "recycled" parts from old bikes).

A holdover from my old Specialized FSR, Salsa's timeless QR seatpost clamp.

I like wide tires: Schwalbe 2.4" Racing Ralphs. At a claimed 640g they seem worth taking a chance on.

Most blingtacular item in today's shipment: Race Face NEXT Carbon Cranks.

I passed on the moderately lighter and more pricey NEXT SL cranks as they are astoundingly fugly. The NEXTs look like a part from a Terminator, the SLs look like something C-3PO would use to wash his back, what with the yellow swoosh graphics and the gold granny ring. I'm down on the whole colored ring thing. If I am ever spotted riding a bike with color-coordinated TruVativ Noir cranks, please, shoot me, because clearly I will have been taken over by aliens.

Another holdover, but this time from the Turner: A Thomson setback seatpost. It's a 27.2 and most of the frames I am looking at are 30.9s...Problem Solver shims to the resuce.

Also from the Turner, a WTB Rocket V SLT, this one is barely used.

XTR 12,14,16,18,20,23,26,30,34

The only shifters for me. SRAM's may be better for all I know, but the way these are hardwired in my brain, I just don't think about it.

Project 29er: Snow Delay

Sigh. Today's crazy storm delayed a scheduled shipment of bike bling. FedEx calls it a "delivery exception" caused by a "local weather delay". I call it being a Sally.

Project 29er: And so it begins

Bling-a-ding-a-ding-dong.

There are many simple pleasures in life. Time with family and friends. A good meal. A day in the mountains. Helping the less fortunate.

For me there is also this: Getting new bike bling in the mail. This is even better if said bling is not simply an upgrade for an existing bike, but is rather the precious building block of an entirely new bike.

I am currently in the joyful state that is the latter. I've decided to take the plunge into wagon wheels and get a 29" wheeled mountain bike (a.k.a. a 29er).

I've yet to decided on that particular bike I want, but I've narrowed it down to either a Santa Cruz Tallboy or a Niner RIP 9. "Narrowed it down" might be an exaggeration, since on any given day I also hear the siren call of the Niner Jet 9, the Titus Rockstar 29, the Gary Fisher Superfly 100, the Specialized Epic Marathon 29, etc., but I think it will probably be the Tallboy or the RIP 9.

Anyway, there are a few things I know I want for the new bike, regardless of what the frame ends up being. One of those is a wide flat bar with a lot of sweep. I currently run an old (non-rise) Titec Hellbent on my Turner Burner and I love it (barring the occasional tight squeeze between trees).

Titec currently sells the similar bar, the Flat Tracker, but at 375g it's a bit of a boat anchor and not nearly bling-tastic enough.

Scouring the interwebs I found the solution, Ritchey's SuperLogic Mountain Flat bar. With a 10 degree backsweep and at 620 mm wide it is quite similar to my old HellBent. It also sweeps forward and then back, a fairly unusual design that helps keep stem length under control (a concern for me because with my super-freak long arms I always seem to be running an absurd stem length).

Best of all is the weight, a feathery 130g (claimed).

It's not a complete bike yet, but it's a start :-)

Sweep the bar.
Do you have a problem with that?
No, Sensei.