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Could be some rain this coming weekend, temps in the mid 50’s to lower 60’s lately.
Free flight bikes in Marietta has rentals, they are a trek dealer as well as Santa Cruise. Don’t know which bikes they rent but they are good folks to deal with.
Blankets Creek in Woodstock is a great trail system 20 minutes north of Atlanta, depending on which side of the metro area you will be based on their are great rides within a few minutes of you.
Enjoy
Ok so the rear brake was not the headache I imagined. The headache turned out to be keeping the rear axle from sliding in the horizontal dropouts. Couldn’t make the axle tight enough to avoid movement and the resulting dechaining which would inevitably occur every mile or so. Tried a Surly Tugnut and it did not fit the Transition dropouts. ( heads up to all you Transition owners who are considering a Surly Tugnut ) I’m sure there is a way to keep the axle from moving ( bolt on axle and a chain tug ? ) but I’m back to vertical dropouts and a tensioner. Not how I envisioned my single speed build going but this should be a very satisfactory solution.
Hopefully ride tomorrow morning if it doesn’t rain..I found converting to 1×10 from 2×10 ( sram x7 crankset) to be a frustration fest.
Unless yo have a type II rear derailuer you will have chain retention issues.
You will need to address the issues with a non-ramped or other single ring specific chainring (sram xx1 is ridiculously over priced but other options are out there).
You may need a chain guide, the bash ring may do the trick, but maybe not.I scrapped the project in frustration, stripped the frame, drank some beer, and went single speed which still needs some tweaking.
The xx1 drivetrain is expensive but the narrow/wide chain ring technology is being "borrowed" by other companies and can be bought cheaper.
Good luck.
The Chinese carbon is constructed of Toray 700 carbon…. Don’t really know what that is.
Where are Trek or Specialized frames made?
I can’t seem to find much info about that.
I’m slightly suspicious of the big brands, not because of quality issues but because we pay so much for badging.Ok update time: did some in depth investigation ( sat in front of the computer reading articles) and found mucho info on American made carbon frames (trek) and how they are aerospace rated interplanetary carbon materials hand made by uber-geniuses right here in the good old US of A.
Still we pay too much for badging.
Renthal non-ramped ring, surly cog, Paul tensioner, single speed chain.
Chain line adjusted and looks good.
Bled my XT’s.First ride today.
Film at eleven.
I run 20 psi max in my tubeless 29er setup. 28 – 30 psi max if I’m running tubes.
That puts as much tire on the ground as possible for traction plus it softens the ride some for my old ass.
Doesn’t help much for rolling resistance but the tractional ( how about that for a made up word ) benefits are worth it. I run pretty beefy tires, Mountain king rear and Bontrager 4 up front. Big lugs, good traction.
We get a real mix of terrain and conditions here in the north GA mountains and this tire combo has suited me very well.Riding position and technique are 3/4 of the game but ideal tire set up for you and the local terrain is the other 3/4 of the equation. ( dig that made up math! )
Ride on!
Thanks for the advice gents.
Schwim, I like watermelons and balloons so I guess I can’t miss.
Think I will try the front derailleur option since I have one or two in my parts box. If it doesn’t work then I will look further at chain guides.
The Spearfish suspension does tend to keep the rear wheel on the ground, especially when descending. Now that I am starting to put some miles on this bike I am learning the physics of the full suspension frame. Spearfish is a great Xcountry bike.
Neglecting my HT. not enough hours in the day.
"dgaddis" wroteHeard nothing but good things about the Spearfish. What’s she weigh in at?
I don’t have a scale but she is surprisingly light. I figured a full squish aluminum bike would be heavy but she is a little lighter than my steel 29er hard tail (Transition TransAm) which is light. A couple short rides at Blankets Creek and The Spearfish seems agile and fast.
She isn’t super plush and the ride is similar to the steel hard tail with a little more give on the rough stuff. Spearfish seems to climb well, not to much bob in the frame even when standing and mashing down hard.So far so good!
Reba RL
Monarch R
XO brakes
XO rear derailleur
X7 front derailleur
X9 shifters and cranks
Easton Monkey Lite bar
Mountain king 2.2 rear, Bontrager 29-4, 2.4 front on Stans Arch tubelessMy first build. With some help from friends I built a rideable bike!
Ended up at my favorite LBS so the professionals could square away the loose ends.Now off to the trails!
Thanks for the info, happy trails!
For 5 grand I want a frame made from Unobtainium, available in Navi blue!!
The perfect bike, hmmm not sure that the perfect bike actually exists in nature.
I have to say I absolutely love my Transition Trans-Am 29er.
Steel HT frame is plush and responsive, the geometry dialed in, components are rock solid…Perfect, no.
But she is the BEST BIKE EVER!!!
Interesting discussion here ranging from meeting asswipes on the trails to riding with headphones.
Just to weigh in on the headphone thing: I don’t ride or run with headphones (I do run with scissors however) because nature is awesome to listen to and that is one reason I’m on the trails. Plus my opinion is that not being able to hear approaching riders is dangerous. My opinion, perhaps not yours. People hiking with headphones can be an issue for riders but if we all slow down and give each other some space things usually work out.
Now for the issue of asswipes on the trails. I have met a great number of interesting and friendly riders and they are still far in the majority. I have had people stop and make sure I’m ok when they find me wrapped around a tree. I have had trail side repair help from riders. Most folks will at least slow down and make sure everything is ok when passing a stopped rider. I always ask a stopped rider if they are ok. Stopping to offer assistance seems like paying it forward so to speak. Someone has stopped to help me in the past so I will stop and help you.
I have only met two people who pissed me off. One guy literally ran me off the trail in a straight flat area by ramming my rear tire when I was still a newbie. Guess I was really f’ing-up his ride. If I had found him at the trailhead someone would have toted an ass whipping home that day. Probably me, he was a big dude. This other A-hole was yelling at his wife/girlfriend for several miles one day because she wasn’t going fast enough or in the wrong gear. He was a real dick. That seemed like a great way to ensure someone would hate MTBing.
Sometimes when I speak to other riders if they don’t respond I just figure that they are way in the zone so no big deal.
In closing I would say just ride on! Oh and if I hurt your feelings or you think I was talking about you, I probably was.Riding for me began when I had turned the corner into my 40’s and began having aches and pains while trail running. A visit to the Dr. confirmed that yes the aches and pains were due to years and mileage on the knees and feet. He suggested biking (I think he actually meant on the road) so I bought an entry level aluminum frame 26er and hit the trails. I had often watched the bikers go by on the trails and thought they were crazy but it sure looked like fun.
I was hooked from the first few yards.
It is hard to say what I like most about mtb-ing. I think it would have to be that when I ride I lose myself in the ride. I am so inside the bike and the motion and the physical experience of riding the trail and the motion of the wheels and the challenges of the trails that I shut out the outside world. My brain goes on auto pilot as far as the world is concerned. Its just me and the bike.
When I was a kid we would ride in the woods on these crazy single speed – garage sale frame bikes with coaster brakes and banana seats with sissy bars. Playing cards taped to the spokes we would build ramps and jumps and brake the welds on the frames and brake wrists and get crazy bruises and who cared about helmets back then?
I kinda feel like that now when I ride, free and easy but I do wear a helmet.
I ride a dragon set up as a single speed and my other bike is also a steel frame 29er hard tail.
My advice, go with steel. You can shed weight with some upgrades especially wheels. For me steel rides better than other frame choices (aluminum and carbon, haven’t ridden titanium so I can’t say) and the advantages of the ride outweigh any weight problems.
The dragon frame geometry is outstanding. I’m 5’8" and ride the medium (17") frame.
A bike is all about what works for the rider.
My bike is not $8,000 but if I had that money and that’s what I wanted then hell yes I would get one.
Who are we to question what others spend their money on?
Ride your bike, enjoy the ride, work to be the best rider you can be, work to improve and learn the sport, and did I mention enjoy the ride?Recently I spent a week riding a borrowed ancient cromoly mongoose 26er with rim brakes and spring fork. I had a blast because I was enjoying the riding with friends.
Just ride.
Tires are a crap shoot when it comes to choosing which to buy. Check the reviews, talk to people on the trails, choose, spend your money (tires are not cheap) and hope that you made the right choice.
Find what works and stick with it! Unfortunately experimenting with tires is beyond my budget.
The Captain is not a tire I would recomend to aggressive riders but each to his own.
Just replaced the captain with my old standby, a fat-ass Mountain King in the 2.4 width, tubeless on the rear of my steel HT 29er. What a difference. Conti is not as fast as the captain but man does she hook up and hold tight even in a crazy lean-over-high-speed-descending-corner-OMG-I’m-really-gonna-die-this-time type turn.
Ahh tire love.
Keep on working with the clippless pedals, being clipped in will benefit your riding in many ways. It is worth the occasional slow-tip-over-I-can’t-get-clipped-out!! This happens to everyone at times.
But, clipped in provides more stability and power when you need it and staying on the pedals over rough technical stuff is important.
The SPD clip one side and cage on the other is a good compromise, I rode them for awhile. The down side is that the pedal wants to flip over to the cage side if you clip out suddenly, and this makes it tricky to clip back in while the bike is still moving.
As with all things find what works for you and stick with it.My favorite crash happened recently on some ATV/Hiking trails near my house.
I picked a different line down a descent that bottomed out into a small, peaceful looking leaf covered hollow. I had not ridden this particular line before and thought I would try it, looked like fun. Problem was that the leaves covered the roughly three feet of stinking mud in the peaceful looking hollow.
Front tire dug in DEEP and the bike stopped dead while I flew head first into the stinky, soupy mud.
The bike stood for a moment, stern suspended in the air like the Titanic.
Needless to say both bike and rider got a complete cleaning upon returning home.
Wish there was video, it would be hilarious!
