Pink MCD Update: Wolf Tooth Head Set

The purple Wolf Tooth head set is in my grasp now waiting for the Pink MCD

The parts are coming in now and soon the frame and fork will also be arriving. It's gonna be a scene when it gets here! The latest bit to hit my grimy paws is a Wolf Tooth 1 1/8th purple head set.

My image here of it makes it look more magenta-ish, but indoors it looks more grape-ish. It has a very deep, rich color to it which should play well off the pink of the frame. I'm pleased with it. The Wolf Tooth head set I tested for RidingGravel.com is a fine example of what I can expect here as it has been flawless so far.

Purple against the pink is the color splash I have chosen and I thought there should be another bit of purple somewhere on the bike. I had considered Paul Components Klamper brakes in the "special limited edition" purple, but there are two reasons those are out. One- they are not going to be shipping the purple stuff they get orders for now until August sometime, which is too late for my plans. Second, and more importantly, they are just too expensive for me. Wait........there is a third reason. I have perfectly good TRP Spyre brakes calipers just sitting down in the Lab. Case closed!

But I still wanted something else purple, and I finally figured it out. A CroMag purple seat collar to replace the stock BMC one that is black. That's on its way now. I think those two splashes of color will do it. I was looking for a purple outboard bearing bottom bracket that wasn't "Chris King" expensive and there wasn't anything out there better than the $75.00 MSRP Wheels Manufacturing angular contact bearing bottom bracket, which is made in the USA. The cups are anodized gray. Meh! Whatever. They will be covered in dust soon enough anyway and I wanted to test their bottom brackets for my own satisfaction. So, that is also on the way.

So, beyond cable housings, cables, crimp ons, and maybe some other small details, I will have everything here to build the Pink MCD. I need to get a cassette, probably. But that won't be hard to find. I can probably pick up something that will work from the shop. So, barring any weird delays in getting the frame and fork, I should be good to go and a new rig should be under me for Gravel Worlds, if not before.

Stay tuned.......

Pink MCD Update: Wolf Tooth Head Set

The purple Wolf Tooth head set is in my grasp now waiting for the Pink MCD

The parts are coming in now and soon the frame and fork will also be arriving. It's gonna be a scene when it gets here! The latest bit to hit my grimy paws is a Wolf Tooth 1 1/8th purple head set.

My image here of it makes it look more magenta-ish, but indoors it looks more grape-ish. It has a very deep, rich color to it which should play well off the pink of the frame. I'm pleased with it. The Wolf Tooth head set I tested for RidingGravel.com is a fine example of what I can expect here as it has been flawless so far.

Purple against the pink is the color splash I have chosen and I thought there should be another bit of purple somewhere on the bike. I had considered Paul Components Klamper brakes in the "special limited edition" purple, but there are two reasons those are out. One- they are not going to be shipping the purple stuff they get orders for now until August sometime, which is too late for my plans. Second, and more importantly, they are just too expensive for me. Wait........there is a third reason. I have perfectly good TRP Spyre brakes calipers just sitting down in the Lab. Case closed!

But I still wanted something else purple, and I finally figured it out. A CroMag purple seat collar to replace the stock BMC one that is black. That's on its way now. I think those two splashes of color will do it. I was looking for a purple outboard bearing bottom bracket that wasn't "Chris King" expensive and there wasn't anything out there better than the $75.00 MSRP Wheels Manufacturing angular contact bearing bottom bracket, which is made in the USA. The cups are anodized gray. Meh! Whatever. They will be covered in dust soon enough anyway and I wanted to test their bottom brackets for my own satisfaction. So, that is also on the way.

So, beyond cable housings, cables, crimp ons, and maybe some other small details, I will have everything here to build the Pink MCD. I need to get a cassette, probably. But that won't be hard to find. I can probably pick up something that will work from the shop. So, barring any weird delays in getting the frame and fork, I should be good to go and a new rig should be under me for Gravel Worlds, if not before.

Stay tuned.......

Okay- Trying To Move On Now

This Wolf Tooth Head Set is in a bike for review on Riding Gravel

Okay.......first of all, thank you. Thanks for indulging me in over a week's worth of Trans Iowa nonsense. I think that has been hashed out quite enough now. In the meantime, here's what's been going on around here since the event over a week ago.

I've got to say that I have had the worst case of "TIF" (Trans Iowa Fatigue) I've ever had. What is TIF? It's when you seem fine, then all of a sudden you are so tired that you cannot keep your eyes open. It's when you have sat for a bit, get up, and your legs feel so tired and like they weigh a couple 100 pounds a piece. I've commuted a few times, ridden around on test rides, but that's all the cycling I can muster right now. That last TI knocked me for a loop. Hopefully I am out of the woods in that regard now.

I have slowly gotten back to some RidingGravel.com stuff. I got in this nice anodized blue Wolf Tooth Head Set recently and have that installed on my Raleigh Tamland Two. Anodized bits on bicycles got to be a thing in the 90's and while "Make Everything Black" was a thing for a while I am glad to see that color has come back to cycling again. Still, I am baffled as to why it is that every middle-aged male cyclist that wants a road bike around here gets all black instead of something colorful. It's a weird reality here where I live. And......it's boring. Anyway- anodized color is cool. Plus, this head set is U.S. made as well. Another nice alternative to White Industries, Phil Wood, and Chris King head sets. More on the Wolf Tooth head set after I've ridden it some.

The shop has gone nuts with the warm weather.It's been a slammed schedule there and that certainly has made it harder for me to rest up and get over the "TIF" deal. It is what it is. Time to wrench and make money, 'cause this Fall and Winter it won't be so good.

Next up is Almanzo 100 support at Cherry Grove with my RidingGravel.com partner, Ben Welnak. Then I am scheduled to go to the DK200 in the first week of June. The next ride scheduled is the Solstice 100 in mid-June. I have a LOT of work to do before that comes rolling around. Time to get a move on.

Okay- Trying To Move On Now

This Wolf Tooth Head Set is in a bike for review on Riding Gravel

Okay.......first of all, thank you. Thanks for indulging me in over a week's worth of Trans Iowa nonsense. I think that has been hashed out quite enough now. In the meantime, here's what's been going on around here since the event over a week ago.

I've got to say that I have had the worst case of "TIF" (Trans Iowa Fatigue) I've ever had. What is TIF? It's when you seem fine, then all of a sudden you are so tired that you cannot keep your eyes open. It's when you have sat for a bit, get up, and your legs feel so tired and like they weigh a couple 100 pounds a piece. I've commuted a few times, ridden around on test rides, but that's all the cycling I can muster right now. That last TI knocked me for a loop. Hopefully I am out of the woods in that regard now.

I have slowly gotten back to some RidingGravel.com stuff. I got in this nice anodized blue Wolf Tooth Head Set recently and have that installed on my Raleigh Tamland Two. Anodized bits on bicycles got to be a thing in the 90's and while "Make Everything Black" was a thing for a while I am glad to see that color has come back to cycling again. Still, I am baffled as to why it is that every middle-aged male cyclist that wants a road bike around here gets all black instead of something colorful. It's a weird reality here where I live. And......it's boring. Anyway- anodized color is cool. Plus, this head set is U.S. made as well. Another nice alternative to White Industries, Phil Wood, and Chris King head sets. More on the Wolf Tooth head set after I've ridden it some.

The shop has gone nuts with the warm weather.It's been a slammed schedule there and that certainly has made it harder for me to rest up and get over the "TIF" deal. It is what it is. Time to wrench and make money, 'cause this Fall and Winter it won't be so good.

Next up is Almanzo 100 support at Cherry Grove with my RidingGravel.com partner, Ben Welnak. Then I am scheduled to go to the DK200 in the first week of June. The next ride scheduled is the Solstice 100 in mid-June. I have a LOT of work to do before that comes rolling around. Time to get a move on.

Friday News And Views

Jamis Renegade Elite here on test

Carbon Or Aluminum:
 
The gravel scene has really come into its own in a very short period of time. When you consider that only seven years ago there weren't any dedicated gravel rigs out there. The Warbird was really the first one, then Raleigh made the Tamland, but now you can hardly turn around without hitting someone's gravel bike. And in most cases, it is carbon fiber or aluminum, not steel or titanium, like it started out.

I am skeptical for several reasons when it comes to carbon fiber gravel/rough road rigs. Why? Well, with these bikes you can find yourself in situations that no "proper" road bike would ever be ridden in. Mud, slurry, and sand, not for a half an hour race, not for an hour,  but for many hours straight, can put the hurt on frames. I've seen carbon frames, and titanium ones, for that matter, worn straight through due to abrasive conditions. Yes......"seen" as with my own two eyes. Not hearsay folks. This happens to gravel bikes.

Now, admittedly, carbon can be built and "armored" to withstand this, but then there is the "other" thing about carbon- stiffness. A lot of effort goes into the rear triangles of these bikes to bring some modicum of comfort but the forks......not so much. To my way of thinking, that is backwards. But maybe this Jamis Renegade Elite will be an outlier and actually ride well on rough gravel. I'm about to find out, as it hit the RidingGravel.com headquarters Wednesday. Post Trans Iowa I will be pressing this into service.Stay tuned......

Another American made headset choice by Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth Does Head Sets Now:

For the longest time Chris King was the only game in town if you wanted nice, anodized, colorful head sets for bicycles. Those are really good, and no one was willing to jump in against them until recently. First it was Phil Wood, then White Industries, and now, Wolf Tooth has decided to offer a head set choice.

Made in Minnesota, the headsets will be available in standard configurations for straight and tapered steer tubes and in several luscious colors.......like PURPLE! Yaaaaasssss!

That said, my Raleigh is due for a new 1 1/8th head set and, well, purple wouldn't really fit the color scheme of that bike. So, a blue anodized one is on its way to me and will be installed on the Tamland soon.

Mike Varley's MCD prototype

Black Mountain Cycles MCD News:

I've gone on and on about Black Mountain Cycles and the Monster Cross bike I have from that place here for years. I've also teased this new "MCD" version here and said I would be getting one at some point. Well, I am making good on that and I have a PINK (!!) frame and fork reserved from the first shipment due at the end of June or early July.

You can get one pre-ordered now as well by checking out this blog post here.

I'm really excited about this bike. Yes......steel. You can see the above entry on the carbon fiber rigs to get the "why" for that enthusiasm. I have two or three bikes here that have been severely abused, and since they are steel, I don't bat an eyelash in worry about any of them. Carbon I would have killed long ago had I treated it like I have these other bikes, but well......speculation. I'll leave it at that for now.

But this Monster Cross, with the tweaks Mike Varley has made, should ride even better than mine and it will have the brake standard all my other bikes have making wheel swappage a piece of cake. That's a big deal to me. Maybe others wouldn't care, but for what I do, a test mule must be very versatile, and this one will be just that.

This means one bike in the herd will be going away and the "OG" BMC "Orange Crush" bike will get back to being a single speed again. I am loving that idea, and this will become a fun bike as a single speed. I know, because that's how I had it set up for a while when I first got it.

Trans Iowa v14:

Of course, today is the start of the "big dance", the fourteenth Trans Iowa gravel road cycling event which will get underway at 4:00am Saturday, but the Pre-Race Meat-Up is tonight at the Grinnell Steakhouse.

I'm gone traveling today. First off, I need to scout the roads for the first leg of the event so we don't have any surprises. Then I need to get to the Steakhouse to set up for the meeting which will officially get underway at 4:00pm.

Just a quick reminder that Trans Iowa Radio can be used to follow the event. Click Here. There is already a preliminary post from myself with my partner, Ben Welnak in which I give some last minute insight as to how things are setting up for this go-round. Don't look for any further updates about Trans Iowa here. The next post will be about post-TI stuff, the race report, etc. That will begin here after the weekend is over.

I will also be posting live updates via Twitter on my account- 2guitarted1961 using the hashtag #TIv14 for reference. Just type that hashtag into Twitter's search box to bring up all TIv14 related Tweets and Periscope live broadcasts.

Have a great weekend and pray that I come back from this one alive, if you would.........

See ya on the other side!

Friday News And Views

Jamis Renegade Elite here on test

Carbon Or Aluminum:
 
The gravel scene has really come into its own in a very short period of time. When you consider that only seven years ago there weren't any dedicated gravel rigs out there. The Warbird was really the first one, then Raleigh made the Tamland, but now you can hardly turn around without hitting someone's gravel bike. And in most cases, it is carbon fiber or aluminum, not steel or titanium, like it started out.

I am skeptical for several reasons when it comes to carbon fiber gravel/rough road rigs. Why? Well, with these bikes you can find yourself in situations that no "proper" road bike would ever be ridden in. Mud, slurry, and sand, not for a half an hour race, not for an hour,  but for many hours straight, can put the hurt on frames. I've seen carbon frames, and titanium ones, for that matter, worn straight through due to abrasive conditions. Yes......"seen" as with my own two eyes. Not hearsay folks. This happens to gravel bikes.

Now, admittedly, carbon can be built and "armored" to withstand this, but then there is the "other" thing about carbon- stiffness. A lot of effort goes into the rear triangles of these bikes to bring some modicum of comfort but the forks......not so much. To my way of thinking, that is backwards. But maybe this Jamis Renegade Elite will be an outlier and actually ride well on rough gravel. I'm about to find out, as it hit the RidingGravel.com headquarters Wednesday. Post Trans Iowa I will be pressing this into service.Stay tuned......

Another American made headset choice by Wolf Tooth Components

Wolf Tooth Does Head Sets Now:

For the longest time Chris King was the only game in town if you wanted nice, anodized, colorful head sets for bicycles. Those are really good, and no one was willing to jump in against them until recently. First it was Phil Wood, then White Industries, and now, Wolf Tooth has decided to offer a head set choice.

Made in Minnesota, the headsets will be available in standard configurations for straight and tapered steer tubes and in several luscious colors.......like PURPLE! Yaaaaasssss!

That said, my Raleigh is due for a new 1 1/8th head set and, well, purple wouldn't really fit the color scheme of that bike. So, a blue anodized one is on its way to me and will be installed on the Tamland soon.

Mike Varley's MCD prototype

Black Mountain Cycles MCD News:

I've gone on and on about Black Mountain Cycles and the Monster Cross bike I have from that place here for years. I've also teased this new "MCD" version here and said I would be getting one at some point. Well, I am making good on that and I have a PINK (!!) frame and fork reserved from the first shipment due at the end of June or early July.

You can get one pre-ordered now as well by checking out this blog post here.

I'm really excited about this bike. Yes......steel. You can see the above entry on the carbon fiber rigs to get the "why" for that enthusiasm. I have two or three bikes here that have been severely abused, and since they are steel, I don't bat an eyelash in worry about any of them. Carbon I would have killed long ago had I treated it like I have these other bikes, but well......speculation. I'll leave it at that for now.

But this Monster Cross, with the tweaks Mike Varley has made, should ride even better than mine and it will have the brake standard all my other bikes have making wheel swappage a piece of cake. That's a big deal to me. Maybe others wouldn't care, but for what I do, a test mule must be very versatile, and this one will be just that.

This means one bike in the herd will be going away and the "OG" BMC "Orange Crush" bike will get back to being a single speed again. I am loving that idea, and this will become a fun bike as a single speed. I know, because that's how I had it set up for a while when I first got it.

Trans Iowa v14:

Of course, today is the start of the "big dance", the fourteenth Trans Iowa gravel road cycling event which will get underway at 4:00am Saturday, but the Pre-Race Meat-Up is tonight at the Grinnell Steakhouse.

I'm gone traveling today. First off, I need to scout the roads for the first leg of the event so we don't have any surprises. Then I need to get to the Steakhouse to set up for the meeting which will officially get underway at 4:00pm.

Just a quick reminder that Trans Iowa Radio can be used to follow the event. Click Here. There is already a preliminary post from myself with my partner, Ben Welnak in which I give some last minute insight as to how things are setting up for this go-round. Don't look for any further updates about Trans Iowa here. The next post will be about post-TI stuff, the race report, etc. That will begin here after the weekend is over.

I will also be posting live updates via Twitter on my account- 2guitarted1961 using the hashtag #TIv14 for reference. Just type that hashtag into Twitter's search box to bring up all TIv14 related Tweets and Periscope live broadcasts.

Have a great weekend and pray that I come back from this one alive, if you would.........

See ya on the other side!

Minus Ten Review - 42

A head set race to clearance the fork crown for early 29"ers from Chris King.

Ten years ago this week I was talking about 1 1/8th head set stuff. That's funny now because, well, hardly anything uses an 1 1/8th headset. Things have really changed in ten years time with bikes.

Now, don't get me wrong, 1 1/8th headsets are not gone. Many bikes still use them. However; any serious mountain bike has eschewed the former standard for something that has a tapered steer tube and some form of mixed bearing size set up. The straight steer tube thing in mountain bikes was the standard for years. Ever since Gary Fisher pushed the "Evolution" sized steer tube and the industry followed up with a move from 1" steer tubes to 1 1/8th, and not the 1 1/4" Gary wanted back then. But still, things were all pretty much a standard cup pressed into a tube with bearings usually spinning on angular contact surfaces. Well......okay. Maybe "spinning" is taking things a bit too far. You know how much a head set bearing rotates.

So we had all these cool anodized cups we could press into frames and add a bit of color to our rigs. One of the companies that was all in to that was Chris King. Ten years ago they announced that you could mix and match colors on their headset components. I actually got a blue/orange/silver mixed Chris King 1 1/8th head set that I had in my Pofahl, if I recall correctly. But that got moved when I was trying to track down a creak in my bike and the King multi-colored headset ended up in my Mukluk dubbed the Snow Dog where it has been ever since.

I know tapered steer tube, integrated head set frames are stronger and it is a better deal for longer travel suspension bikes, fat bikes, and maybe your road racer rig, but those old cup and cone/sealed bearing 1 1/8th head sets are so simple and added a nice touch to the overall look of a bike.

Minus Ten Review - 42

A head set race to clearance the fork crown for early 29"ers from Chris King.

Ten years ago this week I was talking about 1 1/8th head set stuff. That's funny now because, well, hardly anything uses an 1 1/8th headset. Things have really changed in ten years time with bikes.

Now, don't get me wrong, 1 1/8th headsets are not gone. Many bikes still use them. However; any serious mountain bike has eschewed the former standard for something that has a tapered steer tube and some form of mixed bearing size set up. The straight steer tube thing in mountain bikes was the standard for years. Ever since Gary Fisher pushed the "Evolution" sized steer tube and the industry followed up with a move from 1" steer tubes to 1 1/8th, and not the 1 1/4" Gary wanted back then. But still, things were all pretty much a standard cup pressed into a tube with bearings usually spinning on angular contact surfaces. Well......okay. Maybe "spinning" is taking things a bit too far. You know how much a head set bearing rotates.

So we had all these cool anodized cups we could press into frames and add a bit of color to our rigs. One of the companies that was all in to that was Chris King. Ten years ago they announced that you could mix and match colors on their headset components. I actually got a blue/orange/silver mixed Chris King 1 1/8th head set that I had in my Pofahl, if I recall correctly. But that got moved when I was trying to track down a creak in my bike and the King multi-colored headset ended up in my Mukluk dubbed the Snow Dog where it has been ever since.

I know tapered steer tube, integrated head set frames are stronger and it is a better deal for longer travel suspension bikes, fat bikes, and maybe your road racer rig, but those old cup and cone/sealed bearing 1 1/8th head sets are so simple and added a nice touch to the overall look of a bike.

The Heart Of The Bicycle

For me, it's all about the head set.

Whenever I build up a bicycle from the frame and fork, I find that there is one thing that is vital to the process going forward. There is one singular component, that in my opinion, if you don't have this, you don't have a bicycle.

Sure, you have to have the obvious. Two wheels, because, well......that's how the dang thing got its name. But beyond the obvious, there is one component, that if I don't have this in hand, I almost cannot do anything else on the build until I obtain it.

That would be the head set.

Think about it- if you you do not have the head set, you cannot have two wheels, and what you are working on is two bad unicycles until you get that part installed and mount the fork. I have to have a head set or, in my mind, there is just no use to doing anything else. You cannot string up your cables, (or in a Di2 scenario, your wires), you cannot mount your brakes with their levers, unless you don't care that they dangle without purpose. You pretty much cannot effectively do anything but mount your crank set and derailleurs.

But what's the point of that without a head set?

So, in my case it was my old Badger that I wanted to rebuild, but I had no head set. Guess what? I didn't do anything with that idea until yesterday when I got a hold of a used Velo Orange Grand Cru head set. By the way, what the heck is with that name? "Grand Cru? seems like there should be an umlaut over the "u" in Cru and a back catalog of hair metal music to go with that name. Hmm...... Didn't I see those guys in '88?

Ah...... Sorry! 

More on the Badger soon.......

The Heart Of The Bicycle

For me, it's all about the head set.

Whenever I build up a bicycle from the frame and fork, I find that there is one thing that is vital to the process going forward. There is one singular component, that in my opinion, if you don't have this, you don't have a bicycle.

Sure, you have to have the obvious. Two wheels, because, well......that's how the dang thing got its name. But beyond the obvious, there is one component, that if I don't have this in hand, I almost cannot do anything else on the build until I obtain it.

That would be the head set.

Think about it- if you you do not have the head set, you cannot have two wheels, and what you are working on is two bad unicycles until you get that part installed and mount the fork. I have to have a head set or, in my mind, there is just no use to doing anything else. You cannot string up your cables, (or in a Di2 scenario, your wires), you cannot mount your brakes with their levers, unless you don't care that they dangle without purpose. You pretty much cannot effectively do anything but mount your crank set and derailleurs.

But what's the point of that without a head set?

So, in my case it was my old Badger that I wanted to rebuild, but I had no head set. Guess what? I didn't do anything with that idea until yesterday when I got a hold of a used Velo Orange Grand Cru head set. By the way, what the heck is with that name? "Grand Cru? seems like there should be an umlaut over the "u" in Cru and a back catalog of hair metal music to go with that name. Hmm...... Didn't I see those guys in '88?

Ah...... Sorry! 

More on the Badger soon.......