The 29er Debate

Found this on YouTube for any of you debating whether or not to take a sip of the Koolaid and get a 29er: The 29er Debate.

Here are some 29er ride vids for your viewing pleasure. This guy is riding a single speed with a squishy fork. While it's common to ride with a rigid fork, I did it for a year, when you put some squish up front it makes a world of difference.



Here is a vid of a guy riding rigid. More care is taken because the bike absorbs less shock, which means you can't go as fast you might like down a hill.

Trail Building Workshop, Saturday March 29, Newtown, CT.

Work on the The Upper Gussy Trail. Topics covered include designing, building, and maintaining a sustainable multi-use trail. Other topics covered will be working with the land manager, other volunteers, also tools, and safety issues. This course qualifies you as a Trail Boss. Learn what you will need to know to help build a great trail.

The workshop will have a morning classroom session at Edmon Town Hall and afternoon fieldwork on the trail . 8:45am registration, start at 9am sharp, finish at 3pm. Space is limited. Bring work gloves, lots of liquids, and dress for the outdoors. A continental breakfast and catered lunch will be served.

Pre-registration is required, contact me via email eatsleepfish [at] gmail dot com. Edmon Town Hall is located on Route 25 in Newtown, CT, 100 yards north of the flagpole.

More CList Fixed Gear/Single Speed and other shananigans

As some of you probably know, while I started riding with gears, I got into single speeds about a year later and absolutely love riding that way, more so at times than with gears. Not sure what it is, whether it's the challenge, or am I trying to catch up for lost time - I should have stared mountain biking years ago. I still love my geared, full squish bike, though.

Found this little tidbit while perusing Craigslist ads in search of the ridiculous and outrageous. Found this add for someone selling single speed parts in Boston: Mavic Open Sport Fixed Gear/SS Wheels - $57

Single speed/fixed gear is taking over the world. The era of Shimano's crappy, incompatible, over-priced shifters and derailleurs is ending fast. Only the yuppy swine - with unlimited $$, but no brains - will be riding with gears.

Single speed/fixed gear is for us regular folks. As for the fairies riding high-end carbon road bikes with Dura Ace gruppo ....... Die, Yuppy, Die !!

Which starkly contrasts BikeSnobNYC's prediction that the hip culture of fixie riding is now doomed because the hiphop set has found it fashionable to create a rap tune about riding fixie.

Now, would a statement like this convince you buy his products? Does this mean he is really hip and you should buy his crap - I don't know. It's seems, though, that the hipster, fixie riding culture is more secure up in Beantown than it might be in NYC. Then again, it's NYC.

There was an ad in the Fairfield Section of the CList that I had intended on asking for details on because the seller was asking for an outrageous price on a 2003 Giant AC 1, $1,500! At first, I thought this guy must be smoking crack if he thinks he could get that kind of money for a 5 year old bike.

Is this another case of Craigslist Seller Greed (I wish there was a better term for this - but this is all I can come up with for now - if you have a better one, please leave me a comment), a scam, or Seller Stupidity, or is it really fair market value for this bike? Looking on MTBR Reviews page on the Giant AC 1, it seems like average price for the bike was $2700 back when it was brand new in 2003. The average price for it on MTBR for a used bike (2004 to 2006) seems to be right around $1,500. However, with everything out on the market today, don't you think $1,500 is a bit too steep for a five year old bike probably with stock parts or even the same parts!

If the seller replaced or upgraded the parts and thought it would add value to the bike, a common practice when selling a bike on any online ad is to list out all the parts. This ad did not list anything and unfortunately it's no longer available and I forgot to download it. So, I would put this down as seller greed. Maybe that is why the add was pulled so quickly or maybe someone flagged it as an inappropriate ad. God forbid someone actually bought this bike and hopefully not at that price!

No more new 29er adds in CT, that one was a fluke. There are two on the Boston CList for rigid bikes, one is a 1x8 and looks like a Monocog Flight and the other is a 2007 Monocog for $475. I think the better value is the first one for $350, assuming it is indeed a Monocog. Looks like there is some inventory and it's being sold through a shop. Get a used 29er fork for $150 to $200 and you got yourself a rocking rig for around $500. That's a great deal when you think about it.

Neapolean's Death March

I thought the weather report for today was flurries but by the time we hit the trail, there was half an inch on the ground! Tren and his buddy Rick came over and I was planning on taking them down the Upper Gussy, then back on the Polly Brody to the Mullikin Trail and back to my house for some delicious, no preservative Berkshire Brewing Company Lost Sailor India Pale Ale, that I can now get in Newtown!


Sorry if this sounds like a BBC commercial but I can't get enough of this stuff and now that I can get it where I live, it's great! Once again, got thank my buddy Mark aka MMCG for hooking me up with this brew last year at Trumbull.

We set off down Hanover and picked up the Polly Brody and started to climb! This was the first time riding this fire road on the 'Horse and it behaved superbly, even with the shifting problems, that EMS Fairfield never resolved! I cleaned every stage and never hit the grannies. In fact, I have never had to use the grannies for any kind climbing.

At the top of the last big climb we picked up the Upper Gussy and headed into the forest. I put a few markers on some trees but the trail is so well defined at this point I didn't think it was necessary. The death march began after the first revers roller/climb. Coming back the other way, it's a nice roller and off to the left there is a nice spot for wheelie drop. Then you go down and back up again onto another little ridge and then back down again. Some of the trail is sort clear through here and some of it is not. I tied a few more markers still we hit the ROW trail and then a few more in the area that Tren and I bypassed last week and then I was done!

It was 4 O'Clock by the time we hit the ROW, cleaned the tunnel of love and hammered to roller at the intersection with the Blue Trail. We sessioned on it for a while, despite the slipperiness of having some snow on it. It was quite rideable, actually. The roller is about a 5 or 6 footer that you can come up from the south and then roll down, across the blue trail and back up the other side. Next week I will try to get some video of it. I also cleaned out a way to climb it as a trail challenge. Then we hammered home.

I stopped the Edge at 2 hours, for four measly miles! Below is the trail track. Green is today's ride and red is last week. I have some analysis on some of the issues on The Upper Gussy Blog page that talks about the stream crossing and ROW trail that you might find interesting.

The Iron Horse functioned really well in the snow! The only problem I had was when snow would build up between the rear tire and the seat tube, did I have to stop and clean it out, but that only happened while walking. When riding, snow built up but it didn't impede my ability to pedal. The 'Horse hit a 100 miles today! The Crank Brothers out performed Shimano SPDs hands down. Both Tren and Rick had Shimanos and they were constantly having problems. Whereas I never had a problems clipping in!

I did not test ride the Fetish Fixed-ation 69er today. Might try it tomorrow morning and just ride the Polly Brody. It's still a very useful bike to have ready to open a beer bottle without any complaints!

A Fixed Fixation!

I found a new use for the Fixation, it is now a fixed gear, rigid 69er! Yes, it is my first fixie and it is for off road riding! I thought I would give it a try after taking a few spin classes at the gym.

I got the TomiCog this week and spent Thursday night hooking up the rear wheel, adding a new break line to the rear brake. Repairing the rear brake and putting on pedals. As you can see the TomiCog mounts where the disc brake rotor would go.

It will be interesting to see how it works and how I handle it in the woods! You might notice another cog back there, that is the normal freewheel cog, so if it gets too tough, I can always flip flop to the free wheel. Gear ratio is 32:20.