Friday, October 09, 2015

Friday News And Views

A few tidbits on T.I.v12. First up, we have some news on registration for Veterans and Finishers coming on-line tomorrow right here on this blog, so stay tuned for that. Interested past Trans Iowa participants will get the low-down on what needs to be done and when to get into the big dance on April 24th, 2016.

Rookie registration is in process right now. Cards are being received now until the close of the day on October 24th. Then on October 31st there will be a lottery drawing to determine who gets in as a Rookie to ride Trans Iowa v12. So far we've received about ten cards. You can see the list of folks who are in the lottery by clicking here.

Thirdly, there has already been a couple ideas to change, or maybe a better word would be "tweak", the proposed T.I.v12 course. Until we're done messing around with that, I won't have exact mileages. The checkpoints are pretty much locked in, but there is some messing around in the back half of the course we're doing, so stay tuned.

Surly My Other Brother Darryl rims
Fat Bike Upgrades:

Okay, so when Fall comes I start to poke around for upgrades for my fat bikes. I do this about every year and some things I actually get around to, but a lot of them I don't. Oh well..... Chalk this bit up to dreaming, or wishful thinking then. Here goes....

I've been checking out about every Chinese carbon fat bike rim there is out there that is available and I have to say that saving about 50-80 grams and spending about twice or more per rim than these new Surly MOBD rims cost seems, well..........stupid. Yeah, yeah......aluminum versus carbon, and cut outs require tape, yadda,yadda,yadda..... Okay, fine. How about I spend 50 bucks more per rim and get HED's new aluminum rims that don't require rim tape and do not have cut outs? That's still waaaay cheaper than these cut-rate carbon rims from the Far East, and who knows if I'd have any recourse if something went pear-shaped on those carbon rims.

The point is, all this carbon fat bike rim stuff doesn't look real attractive when you compare benefits and dollars to get it. At least not for how I want to roll. My plan is to go tubeless, have a reasonably light wheel, and not break the bank in doing so. Plus if I get this going I will have a new tubeless wheel set for the titanium fat bike, move that old wheel set on the Ti bike currently back on to the Snow Dog, and then that bike gets back up and running.

Then I'd need tires and some other minor bits, but that's a big piece of the puzzle I need figured out to get moving forward on the fat bike front. That and 1X set ups, (mostly for tire clearance), which is another whole ball of wax. Like I said......wish list stuff! 

Getting bits together to get wheels on this.
 Speaking Of Wheels....

The Standard Rando needs wheels. I have one part of the puzzle solved. It is the rims, and I am going to go with WTB i25 KOM rims for this bike. I had the chance to build up one of these recently and I was impressed, plus the TCS system for tubeless is really a good one. I have a set of Nano 40TCS tires that will go right on this and therefore the KOM made perfect sense on this wheel build. The Nano 40's will have super support from the inner rim dimension of this particular KOM version and I suspect a superior ride quality since I'll be able to go lower on pressures with that wide, supportive rim. I've already used the similar Team i25 rims and they worked great with the Nano 40 TCS ttires. The KOM's will just be lighter. It'll be interesting to check it out, plus, I should end up with a reasonably light weight wheel set.

I just need some decent 11 speed hubs now that support disc brakes. I've been toying with Chris king R-45's or White Industries new hubs. Both of those choices come in anodized colors, which might be cool to fool around with, although the Standard Rando probably would look best with boring old black hubs. Anyway, I am going to have to save my pennies for hubs if I go either route there!

Okay, that's a wrap for this week. Stay tuned for the Trans Iowa v12 registration announcement tomorrow and have a great weekend!

5 comments:

Tyler Loewens said...

I wish the Surl OBD rims were available any time soon....seems like mid next year right? Are the HED aluminium rins available sooner? I'm trying to do the same upgrades to my Mukluk.

eBikeADV said...

Just imagine it...purple hubs! I think ano purple and the green frame would be pretty neat.

Unknown said...

About how often is the rookie list updated? I sent in 10/4. It would not shock me if I was DQ for misunderstanding the rules. At some point I will resubmit and try again if I do not see me name. Thanks.

Guitar Ted said...

@Mark McCulloch: List is updated nightly and cards that pass muster will show up there.

Unknown said...

I took the bait went Chinese carbon (light bicycle) i9 hubs with Sapim spokes...... Will let you know how they turn out. I heard good things about the hoops so I thought what the heck. I originally wanted the HED carbon but could not justify the price for wheels that I could not confidently ride all year round.....on a side note...VERY happy with my HED Belgium plus wheels on the carbon warbird!!!!