Mattlikesbikes

Well I almost thought it would never happen. The wheels literally took two hours to get tubeless. Every trick in the book. Finally used CO2 cartridges. Boy was only sort of interested in helping, perhaps the cold garage was to blame. It all turned out awesome. He loves it. Figured out the trigger shifter right away and is getting used to brakes that work and a real fork. Some fitting to be done, but not till it warms up.

My neighborhood thawed a fair bit and our trees look great. But then I went up the hill to NW Hills (Far West area) and those trees are all still frozen over, lots of big branches leaning a loooooong way. Should get above freezing again tomorrow, but if that doesn't happen this will be sticking around for a week!

Yep, I doubt the CFLs in our well house are doing much to keep temps up in there. I'll probably go put a tiny space heater on Low in there tomorrow and leave it for the week.

Alright, wheels are all built. I bought a set of cheap stems off Amazon and of course one sheered off during inflation. So got to track down a set of nice heavy Stan's stems (vs cheap ass aluminum). Rebuilt the first brake lever, which was easy, just took time. Gotta say @AustinBike you are hard as shit on your stuff and have some toxic aluminum melting sweat. (Bob gave me the Hope's off your old Niner). Will rebuild the other lever today and shorten hoses for the small frame, then bleed. After that I'll bring it all inside and make the Boy help with the rest of assembly. So maybe by Sunday we will be ready to ride, though no place to go.

If it actually gets above 32 today, as they are predicting (36-40), most of the weight will come off these trees pretty quick. After that it will be cold, but snow/sleet will not stick as bad as wet rain freezing onto branches like yesterday. Lots of firewood to be had, it just might be green. I'm in need of a set of Stans valves to finish my son's bike build. Hopefully some shop is open today.

Wheels built. Damn the garage was cold last night. Tonight the hand me down Hope's get a full rebuild, hose shorten, and bleed. After that everything is ready for the Boy to help with assembly/build. For those running the SR Zeron cranks, are you running boots, if so, what size fits? Google has failed me.

I need to get out there, looks like lots of fun. I'll say, your GoPro footage is SO much clearer than the Garmin. That Garmin looks like my first gen GoPro from 14 years ago, but I do love the map and speedo.

Weight and Height correct, but did get things "better" by changing my height to 8' tall.

I've never been able to get my Zwift to work right. I have a tire on smart trainer, plus a power meter rear wheel. So in theory it should know my speed, power, etc. And yet whenever I ride, it puts my speed WAY lower than it really is. It just kills the whole feeling when you know you are going a real speed and real power, and yet Zwift is clocking you at 12mph and you are getting passed by everyone. Multiple conversations with tech support and no improvement. May need to try Trainerroad.

SO, this is a rabbit hole. But I'll tell you what I know. As I understand it (BROAD GENERALIZATION COMING): there are two main Lefty types - Booted and no boot. Booted are the old ones and no boot (Hybrid, 1.0, 2.0 or something) are the newer ones. At some point Cannondale tightened their grip on the aftermarket repair business and parts and tools for the newer stuff (bootless) got harder and harder to get for the non-dealers. Booted are pretty simple, parts are somewhat interchangable, and as long as you don't bend them, they can be repaired many many many times. The bootless ones are harder to repair and now must be taken to a Cannondale dealer, who likely will have to send it off anyway. I had a newer bootless and at the suggestion of Mendon and the MTBR forum, I tracked down an older booted version. The logic being user serviceable, travel adjustment and tuning by spacers and washers not replacement of whole guy inserts, etc. I am really impressed with how well the fork works. I am running it as an XC fork, and for that it really excels. The Hybrid 1.0 bootless (90mm with lockout) on my race SS is fantastic. In theory the old booted lefty (110mm, with lockout) should be nearly as good.

Sent him a note on FB.

About a 18mo ago I made a mistake. I wanted a 100mm Lefty, and I talked to Tim Carr about rebuilding my existing Lefty PBR 1.0. Ultimately I decided against rebuilding my existing Lefty 1.0 and I picked up a second lefty. A booted Max 26. I ran it for a couple weeks to make sure it worked, all was good. But then my mistake, I sent it to Mendon Cyclesmith, the primo Lefty shop. He replaced all the bearings, did a service, and made the internal changes so it worked as a 110mm 29'r fork. I sent it to Mendon as he was the mechanic on my original Lefty and the builder on my lefty SS, so I figured it was in good hands. Fork came back and on the first ride I found that after 10-15 min of trail riding it started to get shorter, ultimately blowing all its travel and getting stuck at the bottom of travel. Lift the wheel and pull ever so slightly and it extended right back and was good for about 5 -10 min. But it never got all good. Sent it to Mendon again, on his dime, and he could not find a problem. cleaned it, reserviced it, some new seals, etc, and sent it back. Still doing the exact same thing. I quit following up and the fork just hangs in the garage now. Well, I want to get it working. All the lefty forums have different ideas, but it sounds to me most like a negative air spring issue. I know I could call Tim and bring it to him to look at, but I am reluctant to spend another $200 on this paperweight. First I want to poke at it myself. Anyone here do their own lefty work, or have the tools to open one up property? I know Mendon cleaned it, but there is lots of thought that a tiny dab of grease in the wrong spot of a valve would certainly cause negative air issues. I just want to open it up and look.

The Helmet list is scary. QA/QC and testing seem unknown when you deal with some of these no-name brands.

I'm sure some of you are on Facebook and saw the recent long post about a bad accident on a section of the Slaughter Creek trail. Long story short, guy was riding north, hit that paved embankment with speed and sent it into the stormwater basin and got himself really badly hurt. This is a Circle C HOA owned parcel. Lots of back and forth about how and what should be done about the spot. So heads up for anyone more in the know on that section of trail and the Circle C HOA contacts.

Damn this stuff looks good. I just attempted to spray some silver Velocity 24" rims black and they look like crap. Gotta strip them and try again. Fortunately his frame looks good as is, but that early 2000's Fox fork is going to need a good paint job at some point soon...

Well, they showed up and look fine. But dang they are heavy. Particularly for plastic. We shall see on longevity.

Joy of Bike is great. Lots of good, get over your demons and bad habits stuff in there. I want to get better at on the trail, roll-able (says you) drops. Something like Jock Strap or a few of the taller things on 1/4 Notch. I've had enough of that type roller catch my wheel at the bottom and send me ass over tea-kettle enough that my mind just isn't in it. 18-24" I can handle. It's the bigger stuff, or stuff that is steep enough and in line with more and more steep that gets me off the bike.

No idea. Amazon says the V6 has a 4.3 rating and the Stolen has a 3.8, so who knows. I do know the reviews on the Stolen say rebuild/repack them before use. I'll pump them full of white lithium before we mount them. Last order, spokes, placed today. my bank card can take a holiday. Silly, but he is getting tubeless as valve stems were cheaper than 24x2.3 presta tubes.

Stolen thermalite. The platform size only looked to be 5mm larger than kids branded pedals. From what I've read I expect to pull them apart and regrease them before use.

No disc brakes made in the US. I suppose you could go German and get some Maguras.

If you love America, you'll ride Singlespeed. You'll need some asian parts (spokes, chains, etc), but you can build a pretty legit SS with US and UK (Hope) bits.

Dang this build is getting pricey. I had forgotten how all the little things add up. Thankfully lots of free parts and a handful of stuff from my parts bin. Pics next week when it all arrives. GT Scamp 24" disc frame Fox Float R 80mm XT 10spd (11-40) SR Suntour Zeron 152mm 30t Hope Tech EVO brakes 160/140 Carbon post/bars, generic stem, grips SDG Jr Saddle Wheels: Velocity Dyad rims, Sapim Race spokes, Novatec hubs (6 pawl), Probably Maxxis Minion DHF/DHR 2.4/2.3 KMC gold chain King headset (parts bin) Kid sure as hell better like it. Had to start ordering parts from my side account so the wife wouldn't get on me about the cost. Better sell some plasma.

I started bolting stuff to the frame, but I like this approach more. I'll build the wheels and cut and bleed brakes before hand, but then make the Boy come hang out with me while we build it all up.

I had to come down South today for work. But can come up to Pf. tomorrow. I'll PM you.

If somebody needs the pair, take it. If not, I'd love to take the cassette.