Wide Gliders Part 2

The OS Bikes Blackbuck with the "new" wheels.

Well, this has been a crazy beginning to the week. I had plumbing issues (resolved) and a car to get serviced, plus I had to commute by bike after the car was dropped off and to go get it. Then.....well, you get the picture. It was one of those busy days which left very little time for bicycle stuff.

This did leave me time to finish the wheels and get rotors, tires, and a freewheel mounted to the rear wheel. So, the Blackbuck is up and functional again. The Blackbuck may not be familiar to you, so let me give you the background on it, if you are not familiar with this model.

The Blackbuck is an OS Bikes model. The "OS" stands for "Of Spirit", for whatever that is worth to you. I think it is significant. Anyway.... The brand only had one model, the Blackbuck, and the brand only made two production runs of the Blackbuck. Mine is from the first run produced in late 2006, which came out in 2007, and that is when I got mine. OS Bikes was the brand belonging to one of Wilderness Trail Bike's founders, (WTB) Mark Slate, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member, designer of many famous tires and saddles, and is still working as a designer of tires and saddles to this day for WTB.

The first run of Blackbucks, as I was told, was 500 pieces. These were CroMoly steel, and were sold as either a frame set with a special, very short, very long offset fork, or as a complete with the OG Reba, which was a bit unfortunate, since by 2007 everyone was all buzzing about longer offset forks, and the original Reba still had the old 38mm offset. So, the original Blackbucks were hard to sell.

Slate made another run of these under the OS Bikes moniker around about 2010, in a different factory, with a different paint scheme from the originals. These were slightly different, had a tiny bit less tire clearance, and for whatever reason weren't quite as well liked, which I suppose had something to do with OS Bikes still running "Gen I" 29"er geometry.

The freewheel is a White Industries one as well as the hub.

So, take a look at that head angle! This looks impossibly steep these days, but let me tell you, this bike slices up twisty single track like nothing out there on today's market. The head angle is nominally 72° with a fork suspension corrected for 80mm of travel. The rigid Blackbuck fork was even more radical! With an axle to crown measurement of something like 430-ish millimeters, and an offset of 51mm, this made the head angle of the Blackbuck a super-steep 74°!

Amazingly, this was how Mark Slate liked to ride his personal Blackbuck on the super steep trails around his home in Marin County. I tried it around here- the super steep set up- and while it was blazing quick in terms of handling, it required such attention to riding that it was no fun. You had to be on your game or you were crashing. So, I ended up letting my co-worker, Joe, have the fork for his Xtra-Cycle conversion.

The Blackbuck was the bike I did my "Fork Tests" on where I ran forks from 420mm AC to 510mm AC both rigid and full suspension. My favorite fork on the bike was the one I have on it now- a Bontrager Switchblade fork with 470mm AC and 38mm offset. Another odd thing about this bike is the crank set. It is square taper, (of course), and vintage Sugino from the late 90's. I had it anodized by some local guy that was doing this back over a decade ago around here and it turned out really nice. Perfect antifreeze green! I had these little chi-chi caps made from alloy that screwed over the crank bolts from back in the 90's and I used those on there as well. Now for the weird part- they are 170mm long. Something about short cranks, 29"ers, and single speed.

So, this bike has been in and out of rotation in the stable for years. I haven't been riding it a lot over the last several years, since I have been focusing on gravel, but I love this bike. I have always just really liked how it handles single track around here. Of course, another thing I really like about it is that it is a dedicated single speed. No derailleur hangar here! Although, you could get a pinned hangar from OS Bikes and make the bike into a geared bike. I never did any of that malarkey!

One other thing this bike has, and which was a foreshadowing of the "three pack boss" idea, is the triple bosses on the down tube which were meant for a Blackburn Bomber Cage. I happen to have a Bomber Cage too. The thing is, it's tough to find a water bottle that'll fit the dang thing these days! But that is a neat feature of this bike too.

So, anyway, there are the wheels. The rear Kenda Honey Badger 2.4" tires barely clears, so I may look for a 2.25"er to put on these wider rims. If I keep this for drier rides, it'd be alright, but we'll see. I'd probably be best to switch out the rear tire. Oh! I taped these for tubeless but I stuck tubes in there for now. I need tires that are easy to get up and running after long periods of no usage. So, tubes it is.

That's a wrap on this project for now. Hopefully I can get into the woods soon and ride it.

Wide Gliders Part 2

The OS Bikes Blackbuck with the "new" wheels.

Well, this has been a crazy beginning to the week. I had plumbing issues (resolved) and a car to get serviced, plus I had to commute by bike after the car was dropped off and to go get it. Then.....well, you get the picture. It was one of those busy days which left very little time for bicycle stuff.

This did leave me time to finish the wheels and get rotors, tires, and a freewheel mounted to the rear wheel. So, the Blackbuck is up and functional again. The Blackbuck may not be familiar to you, so let me give you the background on it, if you are not familiar with this model.

The Blackbuck is an OS Bikes model. The "OS" stands for "Of Spirit", for whatever that is worth to you. I think it is significant. Anyway.... The brand only had one model, the Blackbuck, and the brand only made two production runs of the Blackbuck. Mine is from the first run produced in late 2006, which came out in 2007, and that is when I got mine. OS Bikes was the brand belonging to one of Wilderness Trail Bike's founders, (WTB) Mark Slate, a Mountain Bike Hall of Fame member, designer of many famous tires and saddles, and is still working as a designer of tires and saddles to this day for WTB.

The first run of Blackbucks, as I was told, was 500 pieces. These were CroMoly steel, and were sold as either a frame set with a special, very short, very long offset fork, or as a complete with the OG Reba, which was a bit unfortunate, since by 2007 everyone was all buzzing about longer offset forks, and the original Reba still had the old 38mm offset. So, the original Blackbucks were hard to sell.

Slate made another run of these under the OS Bikes moniker around about 2010, in a different factory, with a different paint scheme from the originals. These were slightly different, had a tiny bit less tire clearance, and for whatever reason weren't quite as well liked, which I suppose had something to do with OS Bikes still running "Gen I" 29"er geometry.

The freewheel is a White Industries one as well as the hub.

So, take a look at that head angle! This looks impossibly steep these days, but let me tell you, this bike slices up twisty single track like nothing out there on today's market. The head angle is nominally 72° with a fork suspension corrected for 80mm of travel. The rigid Blackbuck fork was even more radical! With an axle to crown measurement of something like 430-ish millimeters, and an offset of 51mm, this made the head angle of the Blackbuck a super-steep 74°!

Amazingly, this was how Mark Slate liked to ride his personal Blackbuck on the super steep trails around his home in Marin County. I tried it around here- the super steep set up- and while it was blazing quick in terms of handling, it required such attention to riding that it was no fun. You had to be on your game or you were crashing. So, I ended up letting my co-worker, Joe, have the fork for his Xtra-Cycle conversion.

The Blackbuck was the bike I did my "Fork Tests" on where I ran forks from 420mm AC to 510mm AC both rigid and full suspension. My favorite fork on the bike was the one I have on it now- a Bontrager Switchblade fork with 470mm AC and 38mm offset. Another odd thing about this bike is the crank set. It is square taper, (of course), and vintage Sugino from the late 90's. I had it anodized by some local guy that was doing this back over a decade ago around here and it turned out really nice. Perfect antifreeze green! I had these little chi-chi caps made from alloy that screwed over the crank bolts from back in the 90's and I used those on there as well. Now for the weird part- they are 170mm long. Something about short cranks, 29"ers, and single speed.

So, this bike has been in and out of rotation in the stable for years. I haven't been riding it a lot over the last several years, since I have been focusing on gravel, but I love this bike. I have always just really liked how it handles single track around here. Of course, another thing I really like about it is that it is a dedicated single speed. No derailleur hangar here! Although, you could get a pinned hangar from OS Bikes and make the bike into a geared bike. I never did any of that malarkey!

One other thing this bike has, and which was a foreshadowing of the "three pack boss" idea, is the triple bosses on the down tube which were meant for a Blackburn Bomber Cage. I happen to have a Bomber Cage too. The thing is, it's tough to find a water bottle that'll fit the dang thing these days! But that is a neat feature of this bike too.

So, anyway, there are the wheels. The rear Kenda Honey Badger 2.4" tires barely clears, so I may look for a 2.25"er to put on these wider rims. If I keep this for drier rides, it'd be alright, but we'll see. I'd probably be best to switch out the rear tire. Oh! I taped these for tubeless but I stuck tubes in there for now. I need tires that are easy to get up and running after long periods of no usage. So, tubes it is.

That's a wrap on this project for now. Hopefully I can get into the woods soon and ride it.

Wide Gliders

Apparently it is time I vacuumed the floor again.....

Lacing wheels is one of my favorite pastimes. I know....weird, huh? But I find the process to be immensely satisfying and oddly calming. There is also something really cool about taking some stainless steel wires, some aluminum nuts, and an extruded piece of aluminum and assembling those components into a nice wheel set suitable for cycling.

I know several people that have told me that they have always wanted to learn how to lace up a wheel. Well.......get to it! It isn't as intimidating a process as you might think at first glance. But I get it. I was once on the other side and had similar thoughts until my first bike shop boss walked me through the process. Once I got the hang of it, I never stopped.

There are a lot of great resources available these days to get your feet wet and try out wheel building. I highly recommend giving it a go.

Now, back to these wheels. These are the ones I've been posting about lately, and now they are all laced up and ready to be tensioned and trued up. I don't expect them to be perfect, they are made up of all used parts, for the most part. I wouldn't recommend anyone use used parts, by the way. Always use new stuff, but in this case, I wanted what I wanted and you cannot get this stuff anymore. Plus, it was all paid for. All I had to do was recycle it into something usable.

You may recall that I said I had something special up my sleeve for this wheel set. Well, this hearkens back to my White Industries XMR wheel set I built up a few years back. There I decided to lace one side of a wheel in black spokes and silver nipples, and the other side with silver spokes and black nipples, then reverse on the rear wheel. This idea turned out pretty cool, and I haven't seen anyone else doing this. There probably is something out there like it, so I don't claim to be an innovator, but I liked it so much I decided that it is my "signature build".

Well, for this particular build I did the disc side of the rear silver and the disc side of the front in black, with the non-disc side front in silver and the drive side rear in black. Black spokes got silver nipples. Since the OS Bikes Blackbuck has a hint of red in its paint scheme, I used red nipples on the silver spokes. It's hard to see in the image here, but that turned out pretty well, I think.

Next up will be finishing up the build, taping the rims for tubeless, and installing rotors, a White Industries free wheel, and a set of tires. Then I'll get the Blackbuck down and get it set up with these wheels and it'll be all good to go. Stay tuned......

Wide Gliders

Apparently it is time I vacuumed the floor again.....

Lacing wheels is one of my favorite pastimes. I know....weird, huh? But I find the process to be immensely satisfying and oddly calming. There is also something really cool about taking some stainless steel wires, some aluminum nuts, and an extruded piece of aluminum and assembling those components into a nice wheel set suitable for cycling.

I know several people that have told me that they have always wanted to learn how to lace up a wheel. Well.......get to it! It isn't as intimidating a process as you might think at first glance. But I get it. I was once on the other side and had similar thoughts until my first bike shop boss walked me through the process. Once I got the hang of it, I never stopped.

There are a lot of great resources available these days to get your feet wet and try out wheel building. I highly recommend giving it a go.

Now, back to these wheels. These are the ones I've been posting about lately, and now they are all laced up and ready to be tensioned and trued up. I don't expect them to be perfect, they are made up of all used parts, for the most part. I wouldn't recommend anyone use used parts, by the way. Always use new stuff, but in this case, I wanted what I wanted and you cannot get this stuff anymore. Plus, it was all paid for. All I had to do was recycle it into something usable.

You may recall that I said I had something special up my sleeve for this wheel set. Well, this hearkens back to my White Industries XMR wheel set I built up a few years back. There I decided to lace one side of a wheel in black spokes and silver nipples, and the other side with silver spokes and black nipples, then reverse on the rear wheel. This idea turned out pretty cool, and I haven't seen anyone else doing this. There probably is something out there like it, so I don't claim to be an innovator, but I liked it so much I decided that it is my "signature build".

Well, for this particular build I did the disc side of the rear silver and the disc side of the front in black, with the non-disc side front in silver and the drive side rear in black. Black spokes got silver nipples. Since the OS Bikes Blackbuck has a hint of red in its paint scheme, I used red nipples on the silver spokes. It's hard to see in the image here, but that turned out pretty well, I think.

Next up will be finishing up the build, taping the rims for tubeless, and installing rotors, a White Industries free wheel, and a set of tires. Then I'll get the Blackbuck down and get it set up with these wheels and it'll be all good to go. Stay tuned......

Friday News And Views

Spotted Horse This Weekend:

The big event on gravel for Iowa in Fall is now the Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra. It is slated to go off this weekend. The event is put on by Sarah Cooper with help from some fine Iowa gravel folks like Steve Fuller and others. Basically the same bunch that do Iowa Wind & Rock in April.

The events are pretty much take-offs on the Trans Iowa model with self-navigation, self-support, and long distances the main features. Sarah is based in Madison County so most of what they do is West and South of there. (Read: very hilly and remote for Iowa)

This weekend may prove to be pretty challenging with rain in the forecast for Saturday and what with the several days of soaking rains we've had previously to this weekend. Sarah likes her dirt roads down there, so I am thinking it is going to prove to be a big bite to chew on for all involved.

It's been fun to follow along on Facebook as far as folks getting wigged out about the weather and seeing the things Sarah has been juggling in regard to directing things. Ah!......the memories! On one hand I can certainly sympathize, on the other, I am blessed not to have to go through that anymore. Hopefully the weather folk are all wrong about the rain and things go off unhindered by weather. But if not, I hope everyone stays safe and good times are had. Those times when things aren't according to plan are usually the best memories later, but also may be the most stressful when they are being made too!

Geezer Ride: Cresco-

And.......yeah! It's supposed to rain up in the Cresco area as well. I don't know what will happen for certain, but the plan is for me to make my way up there regardless, and if it looks bad, I suppose there will be a call made.

This one isn't being organized by me, so my best advice would be to pay attention to the Facebook Page for the event and monitor that for any announcements that may or may not be made there. Cresco Bikes is this Geezer Ride's official host, so they get to make the call, not I. So, being that I am the instigator of these Geezer Rides, I gotta go there, but you should keep an eye out on the weather.

As I wrote yesterday, it seems that this Fall is quickly becoming one that will be dominated by rains, wet grounds, and some flooding. Great..... The best season to ride and it looks to be getting squashed for the second year in a row now. I sure hope this pattern breaks down soon and that we can get into another dry stretch, because I am sick and tired of all the wet weather now. If you are from the Southeast, you probably are hoping for a change as well, only it isn't due to rain. No......they are getting roasted down that way. 

Old single speed stuff about to be reborn.

Two Old Hubs, Two Old Rims, 64 New Spokes = New Wheels:

Earlier this year, (I think it was), I posted here that my friend Grannygear had bequeathed to me a bunch of single speed stuff he had no use for anymore. Part of that treasure was a set of White Industries ENO hubs. They used to be on Granny's old Karate Monkey back in the day.  

These hubs had seen a lot of grinding in SoCal dust over the years, so when I got them they were dingy, dull, and the rear bearings were ......ah....less than smooth, shall we say? Yeah. They needed replacement.  With gravel season coming on I sat these aside and gave it some time to simmer on the brain. Then I came across my old set of Hope Pro 3/Salsa Gordo wheels. The free hub pawls shelled out on that hub and I had zero luck here in the US getting a replacement free hub body. So, those went on the back burner long ago. Well, when I found them languishing in the corner of the Lab, I had a thought. Let's unlace those Hope hubs, clean up and freshen up the White Industries hubs, and lace up a killer set of QR single speed wheels.

I looked up how to service the White Industries ENO rear hub, and it looked easy enough. The bearings would have to be ordered, and then I could pop those back in. But then I discovered something under a pile of crap in the bottom of my work tool cabinet. It was a tandem specific rear White Industries hub which had a defect. Seems the hub shell was polished just a wee bit too much and there was a crack in the middle of the hub shell which when the hub was torqued, it distorted the hub shell, revealing the crack. The wheel was warranted, I cut the old hub out, since no one wanted it, and saved it for.......

Well, I had no idea why I saved it, but guess what? It had the exact bearings I needed. Boom! Swap-a-roonie, and I had a freshened ENO rear hub ready to roll. Now I have one rim freed from its grip to the Hope hub it was laced to and one more to free up. Then it's build wheels time. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.

This new wheel set will go on my OS Bikes Blackbuck, a bike I have to get up and running again. The Gordo rims are the forerunners of the "wider-is-better" trend in the MTB world and are 35mm outer rim width. I had these on the Blackbuck once before and it made for a stellar combination of rigid bike and cushy wheels. I have something special in mind when I lace these hubs up, so stay tuned.....

That's a wrap for this week. As always- Thank You For Reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Friday News And Views

Spotted Horse This Weekend:

The big event on gravel for Iowa in Fall is now the Spotted Horse Gravel Ultra. It is slated to go off this weekend. The event is put on by Sarah Cooper with help from some fine Iowa gravel folks like Steve Fuller and others. Basically the same bunch that do Iowa Wind & Rock in April.

The events are pretty much take-offs on the Trans Iowa model with self-navigation, self-support, and long distances the main features. Sarah is based in Madison County so most of what they do is West and South of there. (Read: very hilly and remote for Iowa)

This weekend may prove to be pretty challenging with rain in the forecast for Saturday and what with the several days of soaking rains we've had previously to this weekend. Sarah likes her dirt roads down there, so I am thinking it is going to prove to be a big bite to chew on for all involved.

It's been fun to follow along on Facebook as far as folks getting wigged out about the weather and seeing the things Sarah has been juggling in regard to directing things. Ah!......the memories! On one hand I can certainly sympathize, on the other, I am blessed not to have to go through that anymore. Hopefully the weather folk are all wrong about the rain and things go off unhindered by weather. But if not, I hope everyone stays safe and good times are had. Those times when things aren't according to plan are usually the best memories later, but also may be the most stressful when they are being made too!

Geezer Ride: Cresco-

And.......yeah! It's supposed to rain up in the Cresco area as well. I don't know what will happen for certain, but the plan is for me to make my way up there regardless, and if it looks bad, I suppose there will be a call made.

This one isn't being organized by me, so my best advice would be to pay attention to the Facebook Page for the event and monitor that for any announcements that may or may not be made there. Cresco Bikes is this Geezer Ride's official host, so they get to make the call, not I. So, being that I am the instigator of these Geezer Rides, I gotta go there, but you should keep an eye out on the weather.

As I wrote yesterday, it seems that this Fall is quickly becoming one that will be dominated by rains, wet grounds, and some flooding. Great..... The best season to ride and it looks to be getting squashed for the second year in a row now. I sure hope this pattern breaks down soon and that we can get into another dry stretch, because I am sick and tired of all the wet weather now. If you are from the Southeast, you probably are hoping for a change as well, only it isn't due to rain. No......they are getting roasted down that way. 

Old single speed stuff about to be reborn.

Two Old Hubs, Two Old Rims, 64 New Spokes = New Wheels:

Earlier this year, (I think it was), I posted here that my friend Grannygear had bequeathed to me a bunch of single speed stuff he had no use for anymore. Part of that treasure was a set of White Industries ENO hubs. They used to be on Granny's old Karate Monkey back in the day.  

These hubs had seen a lot of grinding in SoCal dust over the years, so when I got them they were dingy, dull, and the rear bearings were ......ah....less than smooth, shall we say? Yeah. They needed replacement.  With gravel season coming on I sat these aside and gave it some time to simmer on the brain. Then I came across my old set of Hope Pro 3/Salsa Gordo wheels. The free hub pawls shelled out on that hub and I had zero luck here in the US getting a replacement free hub body. So, those went on the back burner long ago. Well, when I found them languishing in the corner of the Lab, I had a thought. Let's unlace those Hope hubs, clean up and freshen up the White Industries hubs, and lace up a killer set of QR single speed wheels.

I looked up how to service the White Industries ENO rear hub, and it looked easy enough. The bearings would have to be ordered, and then I could pop those back in. But then I discovered something under a pile of crap in the bottom of my work tool cabinet. It was a tandem specific rear White Industries hub which had a defect. Seems the hub shell was polished just a wee bit too much and there was a crack in the middle of the hub shell which when the hub was torqued, it distorted the hub shell, revealing the crack. The wheel was warranted, I cut the old hub out, since no one wanted it, and saved it for.......

Well, I had no idea why I saved it, but guess what? It had the exact bearings I needed. Boom! Swap-a-roonie, and I had a freshened ENO rear hub ready to roll. Now I have one rim freed from its grip to the Hope hub it was laced to and one more to free up. Then it's build wheels time. Hopefully that will happen this weekend.

This new wheel set will go on my OS Bikes Blackbuck, a bike I have to get up and running again. The Gordo rims are the forerunners of the "wider-is-better" trend in the MTB world and are 35mm outer rim width. I had these on the Blackbuck once before and it made for a stellar combination of rigid bike and cushy wheels. I have something special in mind when I lace these hubs up, so stay tuned.....

That's a wrap for this week. As always- Thank You For Reading Guitar Ted Productions!

Wheels & Tires: Part 2

Last week I wrote about my wheels and tires that were going back on the OS Bikes Blackbuck. (Seen here) Now I've had the wheels and tires out on a few brief rides and it's like "old home week" again. The transformation back to the "old days" of this bike is nearly complete.

The Blackbuck as it sits today

There was a time that I had the ol' Blackbuck darn near refined to perfection, and then I went and sullied the set up with swaps to new parts and wheels. What a mistake. The bike was never close to the fun, always ready to shred state it was back around 2008-2009.

But now I've begun to take the bike "backwards" in time to when I thought it worked really well. Back to before the days when 29"er geometry went to where it has gone now. You could say "old school" 29"er geometry, but these bikes haven't been around all that long, so I think that term overstates the case a bit. Anyway, here is a breakdown of the bike and why it is a throwback of sorts.

• Bontrager Switchblade fork: Originally I stuck an On One Carbon Superlight fork on here, which has a similar axle to crown length, but more offset than the Switchblade has. (47mm vs 38mm) When I did my old fork test in the Summer of 2008, I found out I liked the Switchblade a lot on there. A bit more trail and therefore more stable. 
• Handle bars/Stem: I used to have a home brewed anodized stem on the Blackbuck with a Titec H-Bar. It was a great set up, but the H-Bar went into a well earned retirement. So, the old ano stem was too long for any other handle bar. I ended up using a Bontrager stem and a Bontrager "Crivitz" bar, which mimics the H-Bar's sweep a bit, but doesn't necessitate the really long stem. 
• Other Things: The Hope/Gordo/Kenda Honey Badger wheels and tires are key to the handling. Big, heavy tires and wheels that roll over crap and keep on rolling. To my mind, an imperative factor for a rigid single speed trail bike. Light wheels and skinny tires make this bike ping, get hung up, and generally are not nearly as fun as these hoops and tires. Notable- I used a Joy Tech hubbed, WTB rimmed wheel set at the outset with this bike and they were heavy and rolled over crap just as well. They were not as wide though, and that width is better for the tires. Finally, my personal favorite "old parts" on this bike are the ancient Avid SD-1 levers, the 1996 vintage WTB SST saddle, and the mid-90's Sugino 98/54 BCD crank which was anodized "Antifreeze Green" locally and converted to a single speed crank. Hope hubs are still clackety-clacking along. I like them. 

Fat rims

 Unfortunately, Salsa quit making these Gordo rims. Salsa Cycles was adamant that these were never to be run tubeless, but they work really, really well tubeless. At least these "first run" Gordos do. (I've heard later ones weren't as nice, for some reason or another.) Anyway, these are set up tubeless and have been run that way for quite awhile with other tires. 35mm wide, (outer dimension), is really great for these tires I am using now. It really "poofs" them out, and the ol' Blackbuck couldn't take anything larger without creating issues.

The Kenda Honey Badgers are great Mid-Western trail tires. Fast, but grippy, and on the big rims, they get a lot of the tread down on the trail. Great for traction! But they still roll really free too. The combination is holding air like a champ, and these get me right back where I had the best feelings in 2008 with this bike. I could experiment with other tires, but why? As of now, I see no reasons to take these off, and I am afraid that I'll just go backward on the set up if I do.

The fork is the other thing that does the trick with the Blackbuck's approximately 72° head angle with this axle to crown length, (468mm). The trail figure goes back up with the Switchblade's 38mm offset. This is where a lot of early 29"ers were with geometry up front back in 2005-2008. The idea was to get the 29"ers to handle more like 26"ers, but since this time, everything has gone slacker in the head angle and uses longer offsets. While trail figures may be similar, the wheelbases have grown, and that affects how bikes track through corners.

To my mind, there isn't one "better" than the other, but I happen to like the "older" set up this particular bike has on it now. It zips right around a corner and with the shorter wheelbase, I can maneuver it in an easier fashion. This includes wheelies, hopping, and whatnot. You may note that the saddle is just about over the rear axle. This is because the Blackbuck has an unconventional seat tube angle that is the same as the head tube angle. This has the effect of making the bike feel and act like it has super-short chain stays, when it really doesn't.

So, in the end, little weight shifts make a big difference on this bike. Rearward or forward, and the Blackbuck responds more quickly and with less effort than other bikes I have. That's a good thing for around here, where we are twisting, turning, going up, going down, and hopping logs or other trail obstacles constantly. The Blackbuck is really a great bike for trails here. Well, at least if you set it up properly, it is!

That's a little more "in depth" than wheels and tires, but it all adds up to a package that makes me smile and I can go fast with relative ease. I'll probably dress up this bike with a few choice parts, but you can bet I won't be changing out the fork, wheels, or tires anytime soon!

Wheels & Tires: Part 2

Last week I wrote about my wheels and tires that were going back on the OS Bikes Blackbuck. (Seen here) Now I've had the wheels and tires out on a few brief rides and it's like "old home week" again. The transformation back to the "old days" of this bike is nearly complete.

The Blackbuck as it sits today

There was a time that I had the ol' Blackbuck darn near refined to perfection, and then I went and sullied the set up with swaps to new parts and wheels. What a mistake. The bike was never close to the fun, always ready to shred state it was back around 2008-2009.

But now I've begun to take the bike "backwards" in time to when I thought it worked really well. Back to before the days when 29"er geometry went to where it has gone now. You could say "old school" 29"er geometry, but these bikes haven't been around all that long, so I think that term overstates the case a bit. Anyway, here is a breakdown of the bike and why it is a throwback of sorts.

• Bontrager Switchblade fork: Originally I stuck an On One Carbon Superlight fork on here, which has a similar axle to crown length, but more offset than the Switchblade has. (47mm vs 38mm) When I did my old fork test in the Summer of 2008, I found out I liked the Switchblade a lot on there. A bit more trail and therefore more stable. 
• Handle bars/Stem: I used to have a home brewed anodized stem on the Blackbuck with a Titec H-Bar. It was a great set up, but the H-Bar went into a well earned retirement. So, the old ano stem was too long for any other handle bar. I ended up using a Bontrager stem and a Bontrager "Crivitz" bar, which mimics the H-Bar's sweep a bit, but doesn't necessitate the really long stem. 
• Other Things: The Hope/Gordo/Kenda Honey Badger wheels and tires are key to the handling. Big, heavy tires and wheels that roll over crap and keep on rolling. To my mind, an imperative factor for a rigid single speed trail bike. Light wheels and skinny tires make this bike ping, get hung up, and generally are not nearly as fun as these hoops and tires. Notable- I used a Joy Tech hubbed, WTB rimmed wheel set at the outset with this bike and they were heavy and rolled over crap just as well. They were not as wide though, and that width is better for the tires. Finally, my personal favorite "old parts" on this bike are the ancient Avid SD-1 levers, the 1996 vintage WTB SST saddle, and the mid-90's Sugino 98/54 BCD crank which was anodized "Antifreeze Green" locally and converted to a single speed crank. Hope hubs are still clackety-clacking along. I like them. 

Fat rims

 Unfortunately, Salsa quit making these Gordo rims. Salsa Cycles was adamant that these were never to be run tubeless, but they work really, really well tubeless. At least these "first run" Gordos do. (I've heard later ones weren't as nice, for some reason or another.) Anyway, these are set up tubeless and have been run that way for quite awhile with other tires. 35mm wide, (outer dimension), is really great for these tires I am using now. It really "poofs" them out, and the ol' Blackbuck couldn't take anything larger without creating issues.

The Kenda Honey Badgers are great Mid-Western trail tires. Fast, but grippy, and on the big rims, they get a lot of the tread down on the trail. Great for traction! But they still roll really free too. The combination is holding air like a champ, and these get me right back where I had the best feelings in 2008 with this bike. I could experiment with other tires, but why? As of now, I see no reasons to take these off, and I am afraid that I'll just go backward on the set up if I do.

The fork is the other thing that does the trick with the Blackbuck's approximately 72° head angle with this axle to crown length, (468mm). The trail figure goes back up with the Switchblade's 38mm offset. This is where a lot of early 29"ers were with geometry up front back in 2005-2008. The idea was to get the 29"ers to handle more like 26"ers, but since this time, everything has gone slacker in the head angle and uses longer offsets. While trail figures may be similar, the wheelbases have grown, and that affects how bikes track through corners.

To my mind, there isn't one "better" than the other, but I happen to like the "older" set up this particular bike has on it now. It zips right around a corner and with the shorter wheelbase, I can maneuver it in an easier fashion. This includes wheelies, hopping, and whatnot. You may note that the saddle is just about over the rear axle. This is because the Blackbuck has an unconventional seat tube angle that is the same as the head tube angle. This has the effect of making the bike feel and act like it has super-short chain stays, when it really doesn't.

So, in the end, little weight shifts make a big difference on this bike. Rearward or forward, and the Blackbuck responds more quickly and with less effort than other bikes I have. That's a good thing for around here, where we are twisting, turning, going up, going down, and hopping logs or other trail obstacles constantly. The Blackbuck is really a great bike for trails here. Well, at least if you set it up properly, it is!

That's a little more "in depth" than wheels and tires, but it all adds up to a package that makes me smile and I can go fast with relative ease. I'll probably dress up this bike with a few choice parts, but you can bet I won't be changing out the fork, wheels, or tires anytime soon!

Wheels & Tires

Honey Badger 2.2"ers

It's kind of funny now how certain things have really changed in the span of four to five years. Back then a really wide rim and a really wide fat, 29"er tire was the hot set up. Now we have 29+ and fat bikes and Dirt Wizards coming. A big, voluminous 29"er tire on a fat rim is not news worthy anymore, or so it would seem.

Maybe that makes my excitement over the Kenda Honey Badger and my old Salsa Cycles Gordo rims a bit odd for most of you out there. I had been running the Kendas on a Velocity Blunt SL wheel set. Well.....why not? They were listed as 2.2"ers, which in tire parlance means 2.15"ers, maybe.  But lo and behold! The Honey Badger lived up to its billing, but what was even more impressive was the Kenda's "poof factor"- These are voluminous tires!

So, the Gordos, long left on a hook, were called back into "active duty" yesterday. The Blunts were just too narrow for these meats. I swapped end caps from the 20mm through axles I was using before on the Hope hubs that are laced to the Gordos. (Wait! Does anyone still roll with a 20mm thru anymore? ) I only have 9mm QR end caps to swap over to, since at the time I bought the hubs, 15QR was but a pipe dream! Oh well, that only meant that these wheels and tires would be going back on my beloved OS Bikes Blackbuck. It's almost like old home week!

OS Bikes Blackbuck, circa 2010

Back around 2008-2010 I ran these wheels pretty much exclusively on the ol' Blackbuck with big, voluminous tires. Most of that time I had an old WTB WeirWolf LT on the back and a Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4"er up front. I loved the way the bike ran with those big meats. It was awesome.

Now the Kenda Honey Badger mounted up on that old Gordo reminds me a ton of the old Schwalbe Racing Ralph and I can't wait to get out there on these wheels and tires to see if I can bring back a bit of the "good old days" and have that fast, cushy, fully rigid feel again.

Wheels and tires: They can really make or break any bike. It makes a lot of sense too, because that's what makes a bicycle roll, and we all want to roll fast, right? Fast, with grip and comfort, and that equals fun. That's what I remember best about the old Blackbuck set up. It was a hoot to ride.

I've got a little tweaking to do before I can get the rig out, but I haven't been excited about tires like this in a while. Well, there is the Rock & Roads on the BMC. Those babies are great too. Can't tell I like wheels and tires, can ya? Ha!

Wheels & Tires

Honey Badger 2.2"ers

It's kind of funny now how certain things have really changed in the span of four to five years. Back then a really wide rim and a really wide fat, 29"er tire was the hot set up. Now we have 29+ and fat bikes and Dirt Wizards coming. A big, voluminous 29"er tire on a fat rim is not news worthy anymore, or so it would seem.

Maybe that makes my excitement over the Kenda Honey Badger and my old Salsa Cycles Gordo rims a bit odd for most of you out there. I had been running the Kendas on a Velocity Blunt SL wheel set. Well.....why not? They were listed as 2.2"ers, which in tire parlance means 2.15"ers, maybe.  But lo and behold! The Honey Badger lived up to its billing, but what was even more impressive was the Kenda's "poof factor"- These are voluminous tires!

So, the Gordos, long left on a hook, were called back into "active duty" yesterday. The Blunts were just too narrow for these meats. I swapped end caps from the 20mm through axles I was using before on the Hope hubs that are laced to the Gordos. (Wait! Does anyone still roll with a 20mm thru anymore? ) I only have 9mm QR end caps to swap over to, since at the time I bought the hubs, 15QR was but a pipe dream! Oh well, that only meant that these wheels and tires would be going back on my beloved OS Bikes Blackbuck. It's almost like old home week!

OS Bikes Blackbuck, circa 2010

Back around 2008-2010 I ran these wheels pretty much exclusively on the ol' Blackbuck with big, voluminous tires. Most of that time I had an old WTB WeirWolf LT on the back and a Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4"er up front. I loved the way the bike ran with those big meats. It was awesome.

Now the Kenda Honey Badger mounted up on that old Gordo reminds me a ton of the old Schwalbe Racing Ralph and I can't wait to get out there on these wheels and tires to see if I can bring back a bit of the "good old days" and have that fast, cushy, fully rigid feel again.

Wheels and tires: They can really make or break any bike. It makes a lot of sense too, because that's what makes a bicycle roll, and we all want to roll fast, right? Fast, with grip and comfort, and that equals fun. That's what I remember best about the old Blackbuck set up. It was a hoot to ride.

I've got a little tweaking to do before I can get the rig out, but I haven't been excited about tires like this in a while. Well, there is the Rock & Roads on the BMC. Those babies are great too. Can't tell I like wheels and tires, can ya? Ha!

Wide Rims and Funky Bars

<===Another Wednesday Outing!

I took the Blackbuck out for a whirl on the new Salsa Gordo/Hope Pro II wheels yesterday. I tell you what, those Gordos will make me a believer in wide rims, that's for certain! The wheels allowed me to run pressures with tubes down to 17psi front and 20psi rear. The tires rolled really well at those pressures and out at the Camp I felt faster because of the increased grip. The rear wheel bottomed out against a few roots and I slammed one tree branch that I didn't see coming due to the sun in my eyes, but no pinch flats at all. I probably will bump up the rear pressure just a tad, maybe something like 22-24 psi for protection against pinching and see how that does. The front, well that was fine, but I may experiment with 20psi to see if that gets faster without losing grip.

The soil at the Camp was pretty damp and again, the tires were packing up just a bit. No matter though, as the Gordos spread out that casing and the low pressures gave me great traction. I did two laps of everything and I was going faster than I had in a long time, so that says a lot to me.

Of course, you have to mention the comfort factor too, since those tires are really suspension at this point. I would love to have had a rigid fork on the Blackbuck yesterday to see how it would have ridden with those tires as spread out as they were and at those low pressures. I bet it would have been a lot less punishing a ride.

<===The Schwalbe Racing Ralph looks ginormous on these rims!

<===That's me on the left, a truck tire track on the right.

So, I think the Gordos are winners so far. They are certainly a stiff rim! I never felt a waggle or any vagueness out of these wheels. Solid!

Finally, I have been using Titec H-Bars on the Blackbuck all summer. While they certainly are one of the most ugly bars I have seen, they are super functional, especially on a single speed bike. I love the way I can climb with them and the hand position works really well. Mind you, these bars are nearly 100 bucks retail now, so they are not cheap. However; I have to laugh at what the "real" Jones H-Bars bring at retail these days. Over $400.00! And now Jeff Jones as some new handlebar designs that are over 5 bills to buy. I don't argue the benefits of his designs, but I tell ya, the price of titanium must be ridiculous, because I just don't see $550.00 worth of work there. I could buy another Blackbuck frame for that kind of scratch, and I know there is a lot more work in my frame than there is in that handlebar. Still, I would love to have one for more "epic" long rides. The way the "Loop" bar is shown with a handlebar bag and lights? Makes total sense.

The H-Bar in aluminum is doing just fine, and for my more "epic" long rides, I think that the Gary Bar, or a Midge Bar will suffice. Actually, they are better in some respects, as the drop bar designs have three "levels" if you will. Lower level, that is in the drops. Upper level, that is on the hoods. Top floor, that is on the bar top, next to the stem. Lots of hand positions, and a handle bar bag works just dandy with those too. I am actually going back to a drop bar set up on my Karate Monkey again soon. I miss that bike with drop bars.

Wide Rims and Funky Bars

<===Another Wednesday Outing!

I took the Blackbuck out for a whirl on the new Salsa Gordo/Hope Pro II wheels yesterday. I tell you what, those Gordos will make me a believer in wide rims, that's for certain! The wheels allowed me to run pressures with tubes down to 17psi front and 20psi rear. The tires rolled really well at those pressures and out at the Camp I felt faster because of the increased grip. The rear wheel bottomed out against a few roots and I slammed one tree branch that I didn't see coming due to the sun in my eyes, but no pinch flats at all. I probably will bump up the rear pressure just a tad, maybe something like 22-24 psi for protection against pinching and see how that does. The front, well that was fine, but I may experiment with 20psi to see if that gets faster without losing grip.

The soil at the Camp was pretty damp and again, the tires were packing up just a bit. No matter though, as the Gordos spread out that casing and the low pressures gave me great traction. I did two laps of everything and I was going faster than I had in a long time, so that says a lot to me.

Of course, you have to mention the comfort factor too, since those tires are really suspension at this point. I would love to have had a rigid fork on the Blackbuck yesterday to see how it would have ridden with those tires as spread out as they were and at those low pressures. I bet it would have been a lot less punishing a ride.

<===The Schwalbe Racing Ralph looks ginormous on these rims!

<===That's me on the left, a truck tire track on the right.

So, I think the Gordos are winners so far. They are certainly a stiff rim! I never felt a waggle or any vagueness out of these wheels. Solid!

Finally, I have been using Titec H-Bars on the Blackbuck all summer. While they certainly are one of the most ugly bars I have seen, they are super functional, especially on a single speed bike. I love the way I can climb with them and the hand position works really well. Mind you, these bars are nearly 100 bucks retail now, so they are not cheap. However; I have to laugh at what the "real" Jones H-Bars bring at retail these days. Over $400.00! And now Jeff Jones as some new handlebar designs that are over 5 bills to buy. I don't argue the benefits of his designs, but I tell ya, the price of titanium must be ridiculous, because I just don't see $550.00 worth of work there. I could buy another Blackbuck frame for that kind of scratch, and I know there is a lot more work in my frame than there is in that handlebar. Still, I would love to have one for more "epic" long rides. The way the "Loop" bar is shown with a handlebar bag and lights? Makes total sense.

The H-Bar in aluminum is doing just fine, and for my more "epic" long rides, I think that the Gary Bar, or a Midge Bar will suffice. Actually, they are better in some respects, as the drop bar designs have three "levels" if you will. Lower level, that is in the drops. Upper level, that is on the hoods. Top floor, that is on the bar top, next to the stem. Lots of hand positions, and a handle bar bag works just dandy with those too. I am actually going back to a drop bar set up on my Karate Monkey again soon. I miss that bike with drop bars.

Salsa Cycles Gordo: El Grande Fun!

<====The Salsa Cycles Gordo rims laced up.

I spent the weekend "blog free" but it didn't help with cycling outside much since all the trails were muddy. I did do some wheel building though! I got the Salsa Cycles Gordo rims laced to a set of Hope Pro II's with some Wheelsmith 14/15 double butted spokes and alloy nipples. I used the "Mike Curiak" method of throwing a bunch of different colored nipples in a bowl ( In this case, the colors were green, red, and gold) and blindly fishing them out at random. Whatever color I grabbed I used. It turned out pretty well, I must say! (You can click on the picture to enlarge it. That way you can see the colored nipples easier, if you care to.)



<===The red anodized Hope Pro II's are LOUD!!

The build went really smoothly. The Gordos were straight and I hardly had to make any corrections at all. The tension came up very evenly, especially on the rear wheel. All in all, they were as good if not better than say, a DT Swiss rim, which I have used before. This Gordo and those DT Swiss rims are the best I've ever built with.

The Gordo is decidedly a "trail" rim with its huge width, (35mm) and sturdy weight, (780 grams a rim). That's okay for its intended use. It isn't a cross country, weight weenie rim. I did find that it built up a set that was 100 grams lighter than a WTB rimmed stock wheel set off my Raleigh XXIX+G though! The kicker here is that the inner rim dimension of the Gordo is wider than the outer width of the WTB rim!

You may ask, "Why is the overall rim width such a big deal?". Fair enough. Consider that the wider the rim, the more it supports the tire laterally. It also spreads out the tread surface on the terrain better, offering better grip. These are both good things when traversing demanding off road terrain. Not only that, but wider rims also allow you to run low, low pressures without rolling off the tires, and getting you even more traction.

The tires I mounted onto the Gordos were the tires off those previously mentioned WTB rims. They are a WTB Weir Wolf LT 2.55" tire and a Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4" tire. Each tire measured about 56. 4mm in width on the WTB's. On the Gordos, they each measured 59.7mm in width. Big difference! You can actually see that the tread is "flatter" to the ground as well. This should garner me gobs of traction.

Now, here's the deal on the tubeless situation. Salsa says "no!" They have a sticker right around the valve hole that says, "Do not use with tubeless systems." I used tubes to start with. Let me start out with tire fit here.

The tires I used have been on and in use for almost a year with the Schwalbe, and over a year on the WTB. These tires are stretched out! The fit of them on the Gordos was about what I experience on other tubeless systems with tubeless ready tires. The last four inches of bead that needs mounting is not hard to get over the rims edge, but you have to put a little effort into it. So, nothing unusual, but with a new tire it definitely would have been harder to mount on the Gordo. I'd give the Gordo an above average grade here. Airing up the tire was no problem as the beads sat right up into the "channel" extruded into each side of the inner rim well. Again, if the tires were new, they would have "snapped" in place with an audible sound. The tires I used did do this to a very small extent. Tire mounting: Above average grade here, as well.

In my estimation, judging from how the tires mounted and by the design of the Gordo, I'm going to say that they will probably be an easy and very successful tubeless conversion. In fact, I'm betting you won't even have to do anything but put a Stan's yellow strip in, or maybe go "ghetto" and use some strapping tape. That's it. A tubeless valve stem should seal on this rim with no problems at all. In this regard, I give the Gordo another above average grade. Remember though kiddies: Salsa Cycles says you shouldn't use the Gordo tubeless. So don't go and complain to them if your tire blows off the rim while riding, okay? Okay! That's on you, my friends.

So, I threw these on the OS Bikes Blackbuck for now. Wheel weights were rear: 1160 grams, and front: 1070 grams. That may sound like a lot, but for burly, strong, and wide, you are not going to get lightweight too, unless you go to a carbon fiber rim. (Read: Rob a bank to afford!) The MSRP on the Gordo is $125.00, which again, may open a few eyes up wide, but these rims are top notch quality, technologically designed for 29"ers, (Find another rim that is), are without peer in width, (Unless you count a unicycle rim that's out there) , and are reasonably light. Really, I don't see this as outlandish for the best trail rim made for 29"ers available today.

Stay tuned for further updates on Twenty Nine Inches

Salsa Cycles Gordo: El Grande Fun!

<====The Salsa Cycles Gordo rims laced up.

I spent the weekend "blog free" but it didn't help with cycling outside much since all the trails were muddy. I did do some wheel building though! I got the Salsa Cycles Gordo rims laced to a set of Hope Pro II's with some Wheelsmith 14/15 double butted spokes and alloy nipples. I used the "Mike Curiak" method of throwing a bunch of different colored nipples in a bowl ( In this case, the colors were green, red, and gold) and blindly fishing them out at random. Whatever color I grabbed I used. It turned out pretty well, I must say! (You can click on the picture to enlarge it. That way you can see the colored nipples easier, if you care to.)



<===The red anodized Hope Pro II's are LOUD!!

The build went really smoothly. The Gordos were straight and I hardly had to make any corrections at all. The tension came up very evenly, especially on the rear wheel. All in all, they were as good if not better than say, a DT Swiss rim, which I have used before. This Gordo and those DT Swiss rims are the best I've ever built with.

The Gordo is decidedly a "trail" rim with its huge width, (35mm) and sturdy weight, (780 grams a rim). That's okay for its intended use. It isn't a cross country, weight weenie rim. I did find that it built up a set that was 100 grams lighter than a WTB rimmed stock wheel set off my Raleigh XXIX+G though! The kicker here is that the inner rim dimension of the Gordo is wider than the outer width of the WTB rim!

You may ask, "Why is the overall rim width such a big deal?". Fair enough. Consider that the wider the rim, the more it supports the tire laterally. It also spreads out the tread surface on the terrain better, offering better grip. These are both good things when traversing demanding off road terrain. Not only that, but wider rims also allow you to run low, low pressures without rolling off the tires, and getting you even more traction.

The tires I mounted onto the Gordos were the tires off those previously mentioned WTB rims. They are a WTB Weir Wolf LT 2.55" tire and a Schwalbe Racing Ralph 2.4" tire. Each tire measured about 56. 4mm in width on the WTB's. On the Gordos, they each measured 59.7mm in width. Big difference! You can actually see that the tread is "flatter" to the ground as well. This should garner me gobs of traction.

Now, here's the deal on the tubeless situation. Salsa says "no!" They have a sticker right around the valve hole that says, "Do not use with tubeless systems." I used tubes to start with. Let me start out with tire fit here.

The tires I used have been on and in use for almost a year with the Schwalbe, and over a year on the WTB. These tires are stretched out! The fit of them on the Gordos was about what I experience on other tubeless systems with tubeless ready tires. The last four inches of bead that needs mounting is not hard to get over the rims edge, but you have to put a little effort into it. So, nothing unusual, but with a new tire it definitely would have been harder to mount on the Gordo. I'd give the Gordo an above average grade here. Airing up the tire was no problem as the beads sat right up into the "channel" extruded into each side of the inner rim well. Again, if the tires were new, they would have "snapped" in place with an audible sound. The tires I used did do this to a very small extent. Tire mounting: Above average grade here, as well.

In my estimation, judging from how the tires mounted and by the design of the Gordo, I'm going to say that they will probably be an easy and very successful tubeless conversion. In fact, I'm betting you won't even have to do anything but put a Stan's yellow strip in, or maybe go "ghetto" and use some strapping tape. That's it. A tubeless valve stem should seal on this rim with no problems at all. In this regard, I give the Gordo another above average grade. Remember though kiddies: Salsa Cycles says you shouldn't use the Gordo tubeless. So don't go and complain to them if your tire blows off the rim while riding, okay? Okay! That's on you, my friends.

So, I threw these on the OS Bikes Blackbuck for now. Wheel weights were rear: 1160 grams, and front: 1070 grams. That may sound like a lot, but for burly, strong, and wide, you are not going to get lightweight too, unless you go to a carbon fiber rim. (Read: Rob a bank to afford!) The MSRP on the Gordo is $125.00, which again, may open a few eyes up wide, but these rims are top notch quality, technologically designed for 29"ers, (Find another rim that is), are without peer in width, (Unless you count a unicycle rim that's out there) , and are reasonably light. Really, I don't see this as outlandish for the best trail rim made for 29"ers available today.

Stay tuned for further updates on Twenty Nine Inches