Greeny’s Sliding Dropouts

7:46 pm, March 3rd, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

It’s official. I’m in love with Greeny’s Sliding Dropouts.

From when I bought the Kona Unit in November until just before the WSMTB 4 hour race a few weeks ago, I was running a 32:18 gear ratio on the Greeny. Just before the race though, I changed it to 32:20 and I’m pleased to say that it couldn’t have been easier.

Wrap a chain whip, use a lock ring tool and the old cog is off. Chuck the new cog on, lockring tool it tight and reinstall the rear wheel. Loosen the slider bolts, adjust the tensioning screws, tighten the slider bolts. Aaaaand you’re done!

Today I changed from the 20 tooth cog down to a 17 tooth, and I’m pleased to say the whole process took about 5 minutes from start to finish. When compared to a cog change on Whitey (when he was still a single speed), it’s about 5 or 6 times quicker. Who’d have ever thought having the right hardware for the job would make that much of a difference.

So essentially, Greeny’s Sliding Dropouts are awesome. But I suppose that can be expanded to say that all sliding dropouts are awesome.

Kona Unit Update

10:23 am, February 23rd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

Time for a few more photos of Greeny. The main change since my last update on Greeny is that he’s now sporting some 120mm Fox F29’s. They’ve transformed the bike again, making it far easier to ride for longer distances.

When riding Greeny with rigid forks, after about 30-40kms my upper body would be absolutely smashed. The biggest positive with the Fox Forks is that they even out the little bumps. This reduces fatigue and over a longer distance ride, makes my body less ouchied. The other significant factor is that it helps me maintain speed through rocky technical sections.

One small downside is that the 120mm forks have a larger axle to crown measurement compared to the Kona P2’s. This makes the headset higher, which in turn slackens the headtube angle (by about 1.5 to 2 degrees if my calculations are correct). No matter. When I get them serviced for the first time they’ll be reduced down to 80mm or 100mm, then it’s back to nice twitchy handling. Hurrah!

Thus far I’ve only done about 50kms on the forks so time will tell exactly how good they become. But if initial impressions are anything to go by, they’re going to be great!

The Man Cave

7:20 pm, December 14th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

The Salsa, Whitey, Greeny and even Liz’s bike. They’re all there. Click it and it’ll get bigger.

It’s Christmas Time for Greeny

5:28 am, December 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

So after a few rides on Greeny, I worked out the few upgrades that needed to happen. These are them:

Thomson Elite 410mm Layback Seatpost. While setting the bike up, I worked out that to have the right pedal stroke I’d need about 350mm or so above the seat collar. The standard Kona one was only 350mm, so a longer seat post was a must. The layback is just to get my ass over the back wheel a bit more.

Thomson X4 120mm Stem. I needed to push the bars forward a bit, so what better way to do it than with a cheap Thomson X4 stem? I also grabbed a Thomson Top Cap for the top of the stem. That was an upgrade which serves no purpose other than bling. I’ll happily admit that.

WTB Exiwolf for the front wheel. As fast as Kenda SB8’s roll, I found the front tended to wash out when corning. Haven’t hit the dirt with it on yet, but I’m hoping for a bunch more grip.

Avid Elixir CRs. These were a big one for me. As great as Avid BB7’s are, they require a fair amount of finger strength to get good braking out of them. Add to that a long rocky downhill and rigid forks and you’ve got a recipe for very sore foreams and fingers. By the way that Whitey’s CRs have performed in the last 6 months, I only hesitated slightly before getting a second set for Greeny. 185mm up front, 160mm at the rear.

EA70 Handlebars. They were properly cheap and slightly lighter than the stock Kona ones.

2010 Kona Unit Single Speed

6:17 am, November 26th, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

So I picked up my new bike from TBSM on Tuesday night. It’s a 2010 Kona Unit. Single speed. 29er. Sexy.

After leaving it stock and riding it for a 20km spin around Loftus last night, I have much to talk about. There are a few upgrades that I want to do, with just about all of them making the bike more rideable/comfortable. So while I collect my thoughts on the initial impressions of the bike, enjoy some 29er bike porn…