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!

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…

What’s all this about then?

8:20 pm, November 17th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

A brand spanking new Shimano Deore XT Crankset weaselled it’s way onto Whitey a few weeks back. Nothing especially new with that.

But I got home from work find three chainrings on it. Blasphemy!

The Tale of the Giant Iguana Single Speed and the Salsa Casseroll Single Speed Commuter

7:57 am, November 4th, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

Okay. Not so much a tale as a photo of each bike in it’s respective state.

That’s pretty much how Whitey will stay for the Highland Fling this weekend. Kinda not really especially looking forward to it. Which is to say that I’m nervous and wish it was over with already.

As for the Casseroll, damn I’m loving that bike. Knocked over a few kms on Sunday on it and you get out of it exactly what you put into it. Fun++

Whitey’s New Boots

6:05 pm, October 26th, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

I recently treated whitey to a new set of boots… and in the process saved almost a kilo of weight. Crazy!

These were replaced:

With these:

Hubs are these:

Rims are these:

And they’re laced together with super light DT Swiss Revolution spokes and held in with super sexy red DT Swiss Alloy Nipples.

On the quick ride I took it for to bed them in, the wheels were nothing short of spectacular. The whole bike just felt so nimble.

Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for the cranks. They were extremely grindy and horrible sounding, so I’ll have to do something about that before the Fling. Which incidentally is in a week and a halfs time. Shit.

Manly Dam again

8:08 am, August 30th, 2009 | No Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, local by Jarod

Yesterday I rode Manly Dam for the first time since January. Man it’s easy to forget how technical that trail is!

The first lap we did was the normal one. That is to say, it has heartbreak hill in it. Despite having easier gearing than last time (32:18) I didn’t ride the whole way up in one hit. Instead when my rear wheel lost traction and spun out halfway up I decided that was a great excuse to have a break. A minute or two of breathing deeply, and I was back on the bike, successfully pedalling to the top.

On the second lap we did the outer Bantry Bay loop. Lead by the brilliant tour guide Ben, all the significant features (large drop off, creek gap jumps) were pointed out well before time so I could take the B or C line :D Tis very good out there on the outer lap. No heartbreak hill, plus more technical drop offs, tight single track, and all the other goodies you go to Manly Dam for.

All in all it was an excellent, but testing 25kms. My fitness is still not quite there, but hey, that’ll come.

The Salsa ate my jeans!

8:03 pm, July 11th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

Turns out chain guards aren’t 100% effective 100% of the time. Was going about 30kph down a hill, them wham, my right leg gets sucked down into a black hole, only to be spat back out minus my jeans cuff.

The Salsa Casseroll at the moment

9:47 pm, July 8th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

Took my Salsa Casseroll out for a bit of a photoshoot. These were the results…

The Salsa Casseroll is now fixed!

10:39 am, June 28th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Posted in bikes, boythings, photography by Jarod

And my golly it’s a handful. It’s a scary feeling when you forget you’re riding a fixed gear and the bike gently reminds you by trying to throw you off it. It’s also a scary feeling blasting down a hill at 40kph+ and knowing all too well you’re on a fixed gear.

Still though, it’s very fun and a very different way to ride.