Is this really a 29er?

People selling bikes on Craigslist continue to amaze me. For example, check out this ad:

This is not really a 29er, rather a mountain styled frame touted as an an urban bike with 700c wheels, which is the metric equivalent of the 29 inch wheel. I doubt there there is enough clearance on the Fatty Fork to accomodate a real 29er tire. The ballon tires rise off the rim a good two inches compared to the cross tires that this bike has on it that probably are only an inch.

While this is not a true 29er, it is a nice looking bike. Somebody at work contacted me the other day about what kind of bike he should get for dual sport riding, riding Trails and Street. The only bike that I knew of that fits this category before today is the Gary Fisher Montare, but I would classify the BadBoy as definitely a Dual Sport bike as well. This would be a really cool bike if it were a singlespeed or even a fixie!

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/561581611.html

Sheldon Brown: 1944 - 2008

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/index.html

From the Harris Cyclery website:

It is with heavy hearts that we convey to you the news that Sheldon Brown has passed away. Our thoughts go out to his family at this time. The cycling community has lost one of it's most passionate members.

A 29er on the Hartford Craigslist?

You don't see many 29ers, if any at all on any of the CT Craigslist Bike sites, so I thought this add would be fun to look at. Looks like the seller tried the koolaid and didn't like the after taste:

Hartford Craigslist: GT Peace 9er - $500
for posterity, I have captured an image of the add:

Check out the write up on TwentynineInches.com: GT Peace 9er and true to CList pricing standards the $500 price tag is 9% under MSRP, with tax, you are saving 15%. The seller doesn't say OBO so it sounds like he might not be willing to part with it for less than $500 but you never know. Haven't seen this bike for sale on Bikerag, Crankfire or Bustedspoke so clearly he isn't trying to sell this hard enough. Some missing information, which is the most important is the frame sizing.

The review of the bike points out some weaknesses but the main weakness is lack of disc brake mounts. However, to give you some perspective, I found an add for a 2008 GT Peace 9er on Busted spoke and check out what you get for $575 or 12% of the retail value of this year's model:
2008 29er Single speed w/ disk brakes

Was gonna keep this bad boy but not a viable option right now. This is my new 29R single speed. Never seen dirt. Never seen any action actually.
$575 B/O

2008 GT Peace 9r (Medium) MSRP: $649.99

Fork
GT design cromoly rigid XC fork

Drivetrain
Single-speed drivetrain

Crankset
TruVativ Blaze crankset

Brakes
Tektro Aquila mechanical disc brakes

Wheels/Tires
WTB SpeedDisc 29” double wall rims, alloy QR disc hubs, WTB ExiWolf 29” tires

Handlebar
Easton EA-30 Taperwall Monkey mid-rise handlebar

Seatpost/Saddle
Micro-adjust seatpost with WTB Laser V Race saddle

Pedals
Bolt-on alloy cage with alloy body

Cassette
18T. cog

Chain
KMC Z610 HX 1/8"

Spokes
Stainless 14 guage

Nipples
CP Brass

Stem
Easton EA-30, cold forged, 6 degree rise, 75/90/105

Grips
WTB Street Smart design with 3m end plugs

Headset
Standard press-in 1-1/8" alloy cups, cage bearings

Seat Clamp
GT cold forged, GT QR lever

BB set
Truvativ, Howitzer M-15 cr-mo axle, sealed bearings, alloy cups

Frame
GT triple triangle SS design, 29” wheel compatible

The disc brakes are not Avid BB7s, if you are going to get mechanicals, then Avids are the best and the rest of the components are OK I suppose but the important example is the price differential. This bike hasn't seen dirt, looks like it in the pictures, where the other one has. If you could get a 2007 between $400 and $450 then I would think you are getting a good deal.

The funny thing about pricing on Craigslist is figuring out the true worth of the bike. I like to go to eBay to see if I can find what the market value of a used bike or nearly used bike would be before trying to sell my own or buy something from CL.

For example check these auctions out:

$375 and a buy it now. Looks like a new bike and with shipping you are looking at $445. And there are two others where the reserve hasn't been met but the first one I think is probably the best judge of what the market is willing to pay for this bike.

Rode the 'Horse hard, put away wet!

I was going to hit the trail right at 2pm today but waited for a friend to join me. It was actually good, because it gave me time to get ready rather than rush out the door. The Acids came in Friday so I switched pedals and they felt great. Tren showed up at 2:30 and we started off. Decided to put the Edge in media pouch of my Camel to see how it performed and as you can see by the track above, it performed extremely well.

Hit the Jeep Road off of Sanford and started to climb. Sure is different climbing on a fully than it is on a hardtail, not to mention all the choice of gears. Hitting the new was nice. It really drains well although once the leaves come off it's going to be an awesome trail. The leaves still make it pretty slippery. We by passed for the first roller and had another nice climb to the stonewall, in which I cleaned but it was Tren's first time and he didn't.

We cleared up a section on the new routing portion, about 50 yards before the blue trail and then sessioned at the blue trail intersection (middle red dot in the detail map below). I wish I brought the video camera or my digital because that roller is nice! Some nice little drops in that section, too. Went up through the tunnel of love, which I stalled out on but Tren cleaned and then up the ROW to the new section. Wow, really different when the snow is gone. May have to rethink the crossing point because it's much wetter than it seemed when I first laid the track. The surrounding area has some narrower crossing sites, so I just have to go back and spend a little time figuring it out.


Tren made a great suggestion on the section of the trail that goes near the big vernal pool, that could have been a pond but over the years has undergone eutrophication. The enhancement creates an overlook of the vast vernal pool, so that in the spring time you can hear the musical chorus of the peeper frogs. We also widened out the switch back some that the turns are not a s drastic.

I think the crossing of the two streams before the Switchback needs to be readdressed because riding through there is not easy and rather than crossing two streams it might be easier to just make one crossing after they meet (shown roughly in Orange below). After the Switchback, the route picks up the ROW again. Looking at it closer it seems the ROW branches in hear. The part I pick up is like a secondary road and main road heads further down slope. The trail veers off the ROW and heads uphill, crosses over the ROW and heads down to the last stream crossing. I did a little more marking but then stopped so we could finish the ride. We stayed pretty true to the trail route, only by passed one section in the interest of the ride.

When we got to the last section of the trail that is blocked by an enormous downed pine tree, I heard what sounded like an ATV very close by, so I tore off down the trail to the fire road only to have missed the bastard by a minute or two. Man, do I want to meet up with him and let him know that I don't appreciate him riding in the forest. Frank, whom I have ridden with in Upper Pauggussett emailed me this morning about this same kid and he thinks the kid lives at the top of the hill on Bramble Trail. In the mean time, I am going to see if Tom has any friends at the highway dept to see if someone can drop off some boulders to make it harder for the kid to get into Forest.

Tren and I set off down the Brody Road. It was sloppy to say the least. Once at the Echo Valley parking lot we climbed back over the hump to the ROW, cleaned the Tunnel of Love and then hammered back to Sanford Road. 6.58 miles in 2 hours and 14 minutes. I was pretty muddy but unfortunately the photo quality of my Fuji stinks at night. Should have had the Cannon.

The 'Horse got a work out! However, something is not quite right on the shifting. In the lower and upper gears, it holds the gear fine, but in the middle cogs it shifts itself. I think the shift cable must be loose. I need to get a fourth hand tool and tighten it up.

How did the Acids work out? Awesome, however, as you can sort of make out below, the plastic covering on the surface broke off somewhere along trail. I am sure I will find it next time I am out but now I am wondering if I should have gotten the platforms afterall. Sent a note with a picture to Crank Brothers to see if they will send me a replacement part. Otherwise, I might just fill it in with some sort of epoxy or the glue stick from my glue gun.

New parts coming soon!

For the longest time I have been jonesin for a pair of CB Mallets but then I read about this new line of pedal from Crank Brothers called the Acid. A little more platform than the Candies (which I have on the Qball and 'Horse) but not as much as what you will find on the Mallets. So, I pulled the trigger on a pair from Blue Sky Cycling, which by the way has the best deal that I could find on them. Of course I solicited some user opinions from the folks over at Bikerag.com and they were all raves.

After getting the Cannondale, which I affectionately now call Barney the Purple Cannondale, and thinking about making this bike into a fixie got me reading all sorts of different websites dedicated to the fixed gear subculture, and what a culture it is. Initially I found this blog that was linked to mine, called IBike, ran by a guy who lives in Wilton named Pete. Ironically, he was selling a Kona Unit on CList that I was interested in but was unsure about the frame size. He decided to keep it and is now working on a fixed project with it. In fact, at my suggestion, he is now contemplating a 69er! Kool-aid drinkers unite! Thought I would extend the favor and link to him. Now we pass comments back and fourth and going to try to ride together at some point in the near warmer/non-snowy future.

Among the popular websites that I have been reading are BikeSnobNYC. This guy's blog seems to be trying to define the fixie culture and put it in the perspective of a non-messenger, fixie bike riding New Yorker. I think by saying New Yorker, that says it all. Nothing more opinionated than a New Yorker (from NYC - other parts of the state don't count), in my opinion. And it now seems that the fixie culture is close to damnation because now that the hiphop set is getting into it. Ironically, he even said that Mountain Bikers are not safe. Then there is the Fixed Gear Gallery, which is more bike porn than anything else, but they have great articles too! Hmmmm, wasn't that the excuse most guys used to tell their Girlfriends/wives why they liked reading Playboy or Penthouse?

This infatuation has led me to figure out how I can get into the game. For me, it's either buy a whole new wheel with a flip flop hub, still looking for that bargain, or see if there is something else and I found just the thing! This article on Fixed Gear Gallery got me going, Riding Fixed Off-Road. by Jesse Ratzkin - How he did it. Started looking for a Boone Ti Cog that would mount where my disc rotor goes and come to find out that you cannot get a Boone Ti Cog anymore. The guy that was making them no longer works for Boone (at least that is what Bruce Boone told me in a note) and he has a year's backlog of orders. Found one on eBay but obviously I am just a Johnny-come-lately to the Boone demand and they are now selling at a 60% premium over their original sales price. They go for $2.50 a tooth. I guess if you want lightweight and still be durable, then titanium is the material to have. Just look at the Moots!

Next on the list is a 20t TomiCog. TomiCogs are laser cut, Type 304 stainless steel 1/2" pitch chain drive bicycle cogs. They are cut to match a standard 6-bolt mtn bike disc rotor mount. Laser etched tooth count and logo, ground tooth bevel. Not intended for use with 9-speed chains, spend 15 bucks and get yourself a SRAM PC-58. Available in 16t, 17t, 18t, 19t & 20tooth. They go for $30 a cog. Same price for Endless Bikes Kick-Ass-Cogs, of which I have two. Got to thank my friend MMcG for finding me TomiCog. This guy has a line on everything! He has supplied me in the past with some great stuff at great prices both of his own stock and through his connections. If you need something, contact Mark and tell him Mark sent you!

So you might be asking yourself what am I going to do with a cog that will bolt into my disc rotor mount on the wheel hub and the answer is, I am building a fixie! Well, sort of at least. Now that my All Mountain needs are full filled with the 'Horse and I have my Qball for more simple riding pleasures, there is no point having another single speed in the stable unless it's doing something different. Barney is different in that he doesn't go off road. I do say that I really loved have that 130mm Splice upfront and I might got back to that eventually, but my goal now, especially since I finally have a Surly 1x1 fork with a long enough steering tube, that I am going back to the 69er concept. Rigid and single speed, and now a flip flop wheel so I can sample even more masochistic single speeding pleasures riding fixed gear off road!

Here is the Surly fork. I am really digging the black and white concept. You will see more of that soon.

To soften the harshness of the aluminum frame, I am going to get a suspension seatpost. Something svelte and low key. Going to go back to the mullet concept, canti brake in the back and disc up front and I am going to play around with different tire combinations. Here the fixation as a 69er and mullet.

As for bars, I am going to give the FUBars another shot with FUGly stem but I think drop bars/riser bars are the best for off road riding.

Hope to have the non-fixed gear single speed version of this up and running this weekend though I won't be riding it until I get my pedals for the 'Horse so that I can put those on the Fetish.