Well, That Didn't Work!

I went to work tweaking on the Origin 8 set up recently. I took off the 120mm fork and installed a proper 100mm fork. The wide rim/wide tire combo which wasn't working so well were traded in for a narrower rim/tire combo that went into the frame just fine.

I then tried to figure out the brake set up in the rear, which was a bit tedious, then I contemplated the handle bar. Was it too high? Well, I thought, a lot of folks seem to be running bars higher, why not give it a try? 

Out on the south side of The Camp, (because the Horse People have invaded Cedar Bend, leaving their "steaming piles" all about), I went out and found the ground to be really, really dry and hard. Like concrete hard. The rains that had come before, which were very hard, worked up a bunch of fine sand to the surface, which was spread out over the rock hard dirt in many places. Classic loose over hard pack. Well, it got me.

It was an off camber left hand turn, slightly down hill too. Front tire went away and BOOM! I hit the deck hard on my left shoulder and hip. The shoulder was already messed up from something earlier this summer, and this didn't do me any favors, I am sure of that. Oh well.....

Then I noticed a problem in the rear wheel/brake area. The wheel locked up and I could tell from the sound it was a classic rotor/caliper interference issue. Hmmm...........was the brake caliper moving in the slotted mounting holes? I didn't have time to mess around, I just put the rear brake on and jammed the bike rearwards to undo the effects, and it worked. No more rear brake use on the rest of the ride though. Turns out the adjusters had rattled loose allowing the rear axle to slip forward. Hmm......guess I need some jamb nuts now. Oh yeah...........and a lower front handle bar! Gotta weight that front wheel a bit better!

I'll be back......