The Ride
You sit up tall compared to a 26″ mountain bike and the front wheel seems to stick out impossibly far past the handlebars. Riding a 29′er is like driving a tonka truck when you’ve been used to matchbox cars, the big wheels just bounce and skip over small bumps which a 26″ wheeled bike would get held up on. Some people say that a 29′er compared to 26″ is like having 1″ of rear suspension and while I don’t 100% agree with that, I definitely believe the bigger wheels smooth the trail more.

Occasionally on rougher trails I do wish I’d spent the extra money and gotten a 29′er with short travel rear suspension, but for the most part a hard tail is fine. On the flip side, I’m positively ecstatic I got a hard tail when standing and stomping pedals to get up small pinch climbs. The combination of big wheels and supple steel frame does well to take the edges off the small bumps, so it’s the larger ones you’ve got to watch out for.

Wheels and Tyres
A month or two back I got Tom from Hell on Wheels to build me up what would hopefully be a fairly light but rugged 29er wheelset. I’m happy to say that after a few rides they’re performing brilliantly. DT Swiss 240s hubs laced to Velocity Blunts with DT Swiss Super Comp spokes. The total weight was around the 1800gram mark, which puts them in the ‘reliable but moderately light weight‘ category.

The new wheels also saw me with a cassette based rear hub with buttery soft splines. Unfortunately this means whenever I convert Greeny back to single speed I’ll be stuck using the original rear wheel. No dramas though, it’s a tough as nails rear wheel… even if the bearings do play up a little.

I was less than impressed with the Kenda SB8s which came standard. For the rear the’re fine, but up front they struggled for grip in the sandy conditions prevalent in Sydney. A small amount of internet research later and I was running a WTB Exiwolf. 2.3″ wide, waaaay deeper and chunkier tread pattern yet still fairly fast rolling. Once again I was happy going round corners at speed.

Brakes
The Avid BB7’s which came with Greeny were okay, but nothing special. On long descents they’d lose power and I’d get sore forearms, so very early on I upgraded them to Avid Elixir CR’s which had worked so well on Whitey. Last week I cut and bled the lines which was surprisingly easy and tidied up the front end immensely. With the upgraded G3 rotors bolted to the wheels, I’m very happy with my braking setup. Good modulation, long pad life and always plenty of stopping power.

Forks
When I bought Greeny I honestly thought I would give the rigid Kona P2 Forks a go. Sure, I’d be slower across rocky terrain, but I’d have a new appreciation of mountain biking and feel at one with the trail. Sadly it only took one lap around Manly Dam to change my mind. A few weeks later, Torpedo7 had a sale on Fox F29 RLC’s and I never looked back from the rigid forks. Initially they had 120mm of travel which I tried to make work for a few weeks, but it was clear that the bike’s geometry messed up, so they were slammed to 80mm.

The forks have continued to be good, at 80mm they suit the bike’s geometry brilliantly. I’d say there’s an extra half a kilo or so of weight over the rigid P2 forks, but that’s well worth it on my aging bones.

Drive Train
It’s true, I’ve wimped out and now have a 1×9 setup on Greeny. It was inevitable really. Smashing myself up hills in 32×18 gearing was great when I was fit, but it hurt so so much when I wasn’t. A 1×9 drive train setup is far more practical and negates the endless need to set up the bike for different tracks.

The parts were taken from Whitey’s old geared setup. SRAM x.9 rear derailleur, SRAM x.0 shifter, SRAM PG980 11-34 cassette, SRAM PC991 chain, Shimano XT cranks and the original 32T noname chain ring. You’ll notice a lot of SRAM components in there. I like SRAM stuff. It’s got that oomph in the shifting.

The chainguide is an MRP 1.x which I was initially sceptical about, but the chain has never dropped so it’s certainly proving itself.

Cockpit
Again, it’s the standard cockpit from Whitey which has made the transfer to Greeny. For my ass it’s a Thomson 27.2mm x 400mm layback post and SDG Bel Air saddle. Up the front it includes a set of Raceface Deus XC 25.4mm low rise bars, Raceface 80mm Evolve XC stem and ODI Rogue Grips. The spacers on top of the flipped stem and a high seat position maximises pedal stroke and makes for an aggressive position. But that’s okay cause it reminds me of the Salsa Casseroll’s geometry.

The Future
As I said at the start of this post, I’m extremely happy with the way Greeny is currently setup. That said, I guess the n+1 bikes formula also applies to parts cause I do have an idea of what I’d buy for Greeny if I won the lottery.

First step would be tubeless tyres/wheels. I can accept that tubeless setups might be better due to lower rotational weights and the ability to run lower pressures. I’m just not sure it’s worth all the messing about. Time shall tell if tubeless setups become mainstream and reliable enough for me to try them out on Greeny.

The other thing I’ve considered is getting myself a set of road bike bars and brifters to make myself one hell of a tough cyclocross bike. I’d also switch back to the P2 Fork and BB7 Brakes to make it happen. Maybe it’ll happen. Maybe it won’t. Time shall tell.

Other Posts
Wow, you made it to the end of the post! Well, I’ve blogged a fair bit about Greeny, so feel free to check out the following threads if you want more details on my Greeny build.
November 2009 – 2010 Kona Unit Single Speed.
February 2010 – Kona Unit Update.
March 2010 – Greeny’s Sliding Dropouts.
June 2010 – Greeny’s Got Updates.

Firstly the quick stats. During the weekend I…

• drove about 300kms (the way down)
• rode about 90kms
• consumed well over 15L of fluids (including water, beer, sports drinks, coke and mcdonalds thickshake)
• got around 30 minutes of sleep
• had massive amounts of fun.

It started with Liz and I arriving at about 10:30am on Saturday morning.  Andrew showed Liz and I to the Red Butt Racing camp site (the only hitch being me driving over a sizable tree stump with 20 metres to our parking spot) and I was officially home for the next 24 hours.

Being our dedicated marathon runner, Chris started us off and ended up finishing the first leg about mid pack.  Andrew went MIA at transition, but after a 5 or 10 minute delay he found Chris and set off for the team’s second lap.  I was next in line and headed out at about 3:15pm for my first lap.  Now let me preface my description of lap 1 by saying that I’ve never ridden at Sparrow Hill before.  I’d been told it was very sandy, with lots of switchbacks.  On the advice of others I’d chosen 32:18 as a gear ratio.

Lap 1 was a blur of craziness!  The field still hadn’t thinned right the way out yet, so transition was still fairly hectic.  Andrew found me with no incident and before I knew it I was stomping up the few hundred metres of inclined fire trail.  A quick left hander into the single track at the top and within 50 metres I’d realised that it wasn’t going to be the equivalent of Loftus’ rolling fire trail.  Accelerate, brake, turn, accelerate, overtake someone, brake, turn, accelerate, let someone overtake, brake, turn.  That’s pretty much what my first lap consisted of.  It was an awesome feeling constantly weaving between pine trees and never knowing where north was.  Switchbacks down a hill, cross a bridge, then mash it back up a fire trail on the other side.  I ended up putting in a 1:03:00 according to my speedo.

Back at camp I did some half assed stretching, ate some food, drunk some water and generally relaxed.

Lap 2 was my first night lap.  As with all tracks, Sparrow’s Hill is a totally different beast at night.  My first priority was always making sure I wasn’t hitting one of the hundreds of pine trees that line the course.  Second priority was making sure the ground under my wheels wasn’t overly sandy or rocky.  Third priority was feebly attempting to see through the current corner to work out the best line to take into the next one.  The highlight of lap 2 was riding the hill that had forced me to walk during Lap 1.  Admittedly it was mostly cause I didn’t know it was the same climb ’til I’d already passed it.  Once again, according to my speedo I was on the bike for 1:07:08.  4 minutes slower for a night lap?  I’ll take that any day of the week.

Back at camp I skipped the half assed stretching.  Instead deciding a monster bacon & egg sandwich and a beer was far more important to my finely tuned athletic body.  That was eaten, then I proceeded to chill out some more.  I got in a half hour of sleep somewhere around 4am, but that was rudely interrupted by rowdy Steve coming back from a lap and announcing to anyone who’d listen about his crash.

Lap 3 was initially tough.  We’d estimated that Andrew would finish his lap at 6:10am, so I dutifully arrived at transition at 6am.  Despite my attire (jersey, jacket with arms on, knicks, full length gloves, leg warmers, helmet) I was absolutely freezing!  It makes sense when you’re riding at 6am to only be in knicks and a jersey, but while in transition it’s an express train to hypothermia.  Blah blah blah, stop whining Jarod.  Out on the track I was warm, then quite warm, then hot.  The reason for all this?  I’d left the jacket’s removable arms on.  There were parts of this lap that I felt okay and other parts I felt horrible & nauseous.  Yet somehow my mental capacity didn’t extend stopping and taking the arms off. My sleep deprived brain thought that’d be a waste of time. On the bike I felt as though the lap was going to blow out to 1:20 or 1:30, so I was quite pleased when I rolled through transition in 1:11:53.

Between Lap 3 & 4, well, I didn’t know if there was going to be a Lap 4.  I went back to Liz’s motel room, had a piping hot shower and generally got cleaned up.  When I arrived back at Red Butt Racing HQ, Chris & Andrew had crunched the numbers and told me that if Steve (who was currently on a lap) and them all put in good times I’d be out for my last lap with a few minutes before the midday cut off.  I had mixed feelings about going out for another lap.  I mean, it’d be another lap of a great track and I’m sure I’d enjoy it, but I was clean dammit!!  One by one Steve and Chris came back to camp and updated the white board with the time they’d sent the next rider out.  We were all lapping between 1:02 & 1:10, so when Chris arrived at transition at 10:51am it was looking like I was doing one more lap.  I got ready and all the team went up to transition to see if Andrew would make it.  It was already touch and go, but one crash or puncture and it’d be all over… and at this stage the only thing worse than getting dirty by riding again, would be Andrew not making by mere seconds. In the end he stormed home with two minutes or so still on the clock, so I was out for another lap.

Lap 4 hurt.  A lot.  I’d decided that if three guys on my team could set three personal best times to get me out for another lap, then I was sure as hell going to do that lap justice.  Adrenaline got me up up the fire trail and about a quarter of the way around the track, then I hit a metaphorical wall.  I downed an expired Endura gel and thankfully that combined with constantly eating small bites of a power bar kept me going for the rest of the lap.  Cramps in my thighs came and went, but the pain was equally offset by the thrill of pushing my bike and body to the limit.  There were less riders on the track, and those that were there were similarly determined to give the last lap 110%.  The result was that my final lap was easily the most enjoyable of the weekend.  I rolled over the line with a speedo time of 1:03:53.  That’s 53 seconds slower than my first lap, despite my legs already having done 60km and sleeping for a mere half and hour.  I was shattered.

So that was the Mont for 2010.  At this stage I’d love to go back next year, once again on a single speed.  Time shall tell whether that happens or not though.

So it was off to TBSM with them yesterday to have them reduced to either 100mm or 80mm. After much fretting I went with the 80mm as it got the the axle to crown measurement bang on what the frame is designed around (if not a bit shorter for XC racey goodness). And besides, 100mm of travel would still be overkill when you consider how those monster truck 29′er wheels roll over things!

I’ve only gone for a few laps around the block, but already the bike is feeling more snappy & has the handling it used to have when I was running the Kona P2 fork. So I’ve got high hopes of being able to dial the fork in for the style of XC riding I do.

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.

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 style of the photo was well stolen from Laura’s latest 365 photo.

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.

I’ve owned my 2010 Kona Unit for almost a year now. You can read my massive review of ‘Greeny’ here.

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…