Blackbuck Report

So back on October 1st I wrote about the upgraded Blackbuck. I mentioned that I wanted to get out and ride it after that, and well........I did. 

Once.

But knowing that bike like I do, I knew right off how good- or how bad- it was. There really are no surprises anymore with that bike. But there are things you might forget, and then be reminded of, after such a long time off the bike.

Things like how stiff that chassis is, or how a Thomson post is pretty unforgiving. I'd kind of forgotten how a steeper head angle worked with a long- for today's standards- stem. But those things came back to me and then were immediately familiar. I was just out for a cruise. I wasn't trying to rip-roar as fast as I could go. Besides, it was wet and the mud made things loose and sketchy. Wet leaves made for treacherous corners. No need to go and remind myself of what happens when you tempt fate in such conditions. Been there- done that.

I don't know what I expected. The wheels were......fine. No big deal. The White Industries bits worked. Just like they would, ya know. So, nothing Earth-shattering here, just a ramble on an old friend of a bike I've had for years. In fact, I found I missed this old thing. I was envisioning more single track rides and where I could go to test my legs on this bike. That's a good sign and I am glad that this bike is up and running again.

This was right about the time when Winter arrested Fall and held it hostage.

One thing I had forgotten about this bike. That is that it has the original style Avid BB-7's. You can tell when you get these by the calipers and the adjuster knobs. The adjusters are different. They do not have the Torx fitting in the center. The calipers are one piece. Not split and bolted together like all the ones you've probably seen all your life. These Avid BB-7's are fundamentally different than subsequent issues of this model. My calipers are vintage 2003, so you have to go pretty far back to find these. And.....you should. They are fantastic. They make newer BB-7's feel like junk.

In fact, I've heard rumors that trailsin guys seek these early BB-7's out for the one piece caliper design because of their superior clamping power. All I know is that paired with my Avid long pull levers from the mid-90's, these brakes have hydraulic power and feel. These are better than 90% of the hydraulic brakes I've ever used on flat bar MTB's. It doesn't hurt that these were the OG brakes on my 2003 Karate Monkey, which I moved to my first Inbred, and ultimately over to this bike. So, we have history.

One of these days I want to transition the off-color bits to silver or red anodized parts so I will eventually have a bike that looks like it makes sense visually. That said, this bike makes a ton of sense on trails, so I won't be making any radical component changes at all.