Riding in Canberra on 29er

I was in Canberra for three days last week and managed to scam the loan of a
bike from a guy I know there. He lent me a Surly 29er SS and I went out
with him to Majura Pines to race the CORC dirt crits on the Thursday night.
There was a bit of rain just prior to the race so it was pretty wet but it
was a good laugh!!! Did the race in B Grade and then went for a ride with
my mate around some of the tracks in the area until it got dark. Towards
the end it was really good as the water had pretty well soaked in and the
tracks were nice and grippy......I had also gotten used to the feel of the
29er. To me it seemed a bit slow to turn in but once I got used to that I
thought it was pretty good.....definately seemed to roll over bumps a bit
easier and the 34/17 gearing was pretty well on the money for me. Ended up
covered in mud but that was OK because I had a nice white towel from the
Motel to rub it off with!!!!!

Anyone who watched Cycling Central last week would have seen my mate......he
was the guy with the beard in the mythbusters segment on 29er vs 26er. On
Thursday he was on his newly built up Karate Monkey.....It's pink, with pink
Chris King Headset and Hubs and pretty well everything else that could have
been anodised pink has been!!!! It's a really nice looking bike and my mate
is really happy with it. He actually won the frame at the Aust national SS
champs in the best dressed comp.....he came equal first with two other guys
and then he won the rock,scissors,paper decider.....good score!!!

If I make it up to Canberra for the 24hr this year I think I will have to
set aside half a day or so to have a better look out at Majura......I
couldn't get over how densely packed the tracks were out there and I would
love a chance to explore a few more.

Gags

Gags wrote:

If I make it up to Canberra for the 24hr this year I think I will have to
set aside half a day or so to have a better look out at Majura......I
couldn't get over how densely packed the tracks were out there and I would
love a chance to explore a few more.

Gags

Yep... CBR is made for cycling... on and off the road!

--
Bean

"I've got a bike
You can ride it if you like
It's got a basket
A bell that rings
And things to make it look good
I'd give it to you if I could
But I borrowed it" Pink Floyd

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

Gags Wrote:

Anyone who watched Cycling Central last week would have seen my
mate......he was the guy with the beard in the mythbusters segment on
29er vs 26er. On Thursday he was on his newly built up Karate
Monkey.....It's pink, with pink Chris King Headset and Hubs and pretty
well everything else that could have been anodised pink has been!!!!
It's a really nice looking bike and my mate is really happy with it.
He actually won the frame at the Aust national SS champs in the best
dressed comp.....he came equal first with two other guys and then he
won the rock,scissors,paper decider.....good score!!!

What this guy? AKA The Jug Monkey
http://singlespeed.smugmug.com/photos/106528627-M.jpg

Most people dont admit to knowing him let alone being his mate

Parbs


--
kanangara

"kanangara" wrote in
message ...

Gags Wrote:

Anyone who watched Cycling Central last week would have seen my
mate......he was the guy with the beard in the mythbusters segment on
29er vs 26er. On Thursday he was on his newly built up Karate
Monkey.....It's pink, with pink Chris King Headset and Hubs and pretty
well everything else that could have been anodised pink has been!!!!
It's a really nice looking bike and my mate is really happy with it.
He actually won the frame at the Aust national SS champs in the best
dressed comp.....he came equal first with two other guys and then he
won the rock,scissors,paper decider.....good score!!!

What this guy? AKA The Jug Monkey
http://singlespeed.smugmug.com/photos/106528627-M.jpg

Most people dont admit to knowing him let alone being his mate


That would be him and that would be the bike that I borrowed......it is only
an 18 inch frame and so I had to bring my own 400mm seatpost so that I could
get the seat high enough. Setting the bike up the night before was a task
within itself......thought it was going to just be a simple matter of
putting the wheels on it but it ended up being a bit more than that.
Changed the front wheel only to find that the disc rotor was too fat for the
brakes so I had to swap the Juicy 7 front brake for a Dice brake. Had to
swap the handlebars as he had a set of sushi bars on (swept back)......put
risers on first to get some extra height for me but then had to change to a
flat bar as the hose on the dice brake wasn't long enough to reach up to the
risers. Changed the rear wheel for one that hadn't been used in a while and
nothing would line up......ended up discovering that there was a spacer
missing off of the axle (Mavic Hubs) and it took a while for my mate to find
it in amongst all the spares that he has. Decided to swap out the 16T on
the rear to a 17T......this resulted in the 45 link chain being too short
and the 46 link one being too long for the tensioner.......so in the absence
of a half link we swapped the tensioner over for another one that had more
adjustment and finally got the whole show up and running.

My mate has more disc brakes and disc brake parts than he can poke a stick
at......there were Juicy 7s, dice, and XTR sets around the place either on
various bikes, frames, or parts boxes......can never have too many brakes!!!

Gags

Gags wrote:

That would be him and that would be the bike that I borrowed......it is only
an 18 inch frame and so I had to bring my own 400mm seatpost so that I could
get the seat high enough. Setting the bike up the night before was a task
within itself......

Not suprising, I was this close to buying that frame for a
frankencrosser, & at about 5'7" I'm about 3' shorter than you.

Parbs