First Puncture

Went to ride the trails at Harris Lake County Park this past weekend. The trails are as great mix, but they weren't to kind to me. At about the 4.45mi marker I noticed my rear tire was squishing a little too much. Pulled over and heard the infamous hissing. Slowly spun the tire around to find a metal fence staple had made a u-turn in my rear tire. Sucked but I did have a extra tube and CO2 bottle for tubeless emergencies like these. And 12 mins later I was back in the trail and finished it the 9.5mi ride with no issues. 

The bonus for me was the opportunity to do a little too upgrade I've been thinking about. Currently I had a 2.1" Maxxis Advantage in the rear and a 2.25" Maxxis Ardent up front. My plan now is to order a Maxxis 2.4" Ardent for the front and move the 2.25" Ardent to the rear. The 2.25" is only about 8 months old whole while the 2.1" is 4 yrs old. 

DSR 2.0 Upgrades - A Slacker Bike

Well it's been quite a while since I've posted anything to this blog.  I have still been riding somewhat inconsistently until these last 4 or 5 months.  The bike has been great but as I've tackle rougher terrain (specifically Beaver Dam) I have begun to realize the limitations of the 2011 geometry.  The most obvious being the steep head angle of 71° on this bike and the 100mm travel on the front.

Now I know making these changes is frowned upon because you are changing the overall geometry in a way that was not intended.  However, in my case I felt the pros outweighed the cons.  I started by looking for a 120mm fork and quickly realized I first needed to understand the impact on the geometry of my bike.  The best online tool I found for this was at https://bikegeo.muha.cc/ which appears to have been specifically designed for upgrading forks.  While not all forks are available in the drop down there were enough across the popular brands (RockShox in my case) to do a decent comparison.

My existing build was with a Recon Silver TK (Solo Air) with 100mm of travel.  This was the fork travel originally spec'd on the bike but with a Reba.  So in playing I started by selecting the "Reba 100mm" option in the drop down.  Then I updated all the other frame geometry values with those from Fuji's website.  After playing with the numbers and being realistic with the options available on eBay I settled on a fork with 140mm of travel which resulted in a -2° adjustment in head angle (71° to 68.9°).  With this still being well above modern day bikes but a huge improvement for my setup I then had to consider the other changes this would invoke on the frame's geometry.  Most notably were the following items:

• Head Angle = -2°: This is the main goal to slacken the bike.
• Fork Length = +44mm: contributing to the slacker geometry.
• Reach = -20.7mm: This is probably good considering it is a 21" frame and I probably need a 20".
• Wheelbase = +15.1mm: A good thing IMHO overall tracking.
• BB Height = +15.5mm: Another good thing for clearance.
• Seat Angle = -2.09°: Maybe not optimal but I'll leave with it.  I think the head angle is still steep enough that climbing is mildly affected.

Now for the fun part.  I found and ordered a RockShox Sektor 140mm (Solo Air) in black that was a new bike takeoff. Catch was it required a 15mm thru-axle for the wheel and mine where quick release (QR) skewers.  So I had search out a new wheel that not only had a 15mm thru-axle but also the Shimano center-lock for the 180mm disc brake.  I could only find one wheel which was a Mach1 ETR with Shimano Deore hub with Center-Lock and 15mm thru-axle.  Downside it was shipping from Bulgaria.  Oh well seems to be the reality of trying to upgrade a 26" MTB.

Now the new wheel had a internal width of 23mm which larger than the previous and was begging for me to use a wider tire than my current 2.1" Maxxis.  So of course I couldn't resist and purchased a 2.25" Maxxis Ardent DC/EXO/TR tire for the front.  I kept the rear Maxxis 2.1" Advantage the same as this offset is pretty common for MTB applications.

In addition to these items I also purchased a new FSA headset and upgraded my handlebar from 720mm and 760mm.  I did the bar upgrade before receving the other items and noticed a massive improvement in easy of steering (less user input needed).  In the future I'm considering a forward offset seatpost to counter the loss in seat angle and move me from the rear axle to the BB.  Previous upgrades not documented were: 34T Oval chainring, Stages 2 Power Meter (used).

Finally all parts arrived with the wheel being the last and despite the fact it was listed as "Easy Tubeless Ready" I still had to use rim tape and sealant before it would hold air for 24hrs.  I've since ridden twice once on an easy hardpack trail and another time on rooty rough terrain with plenty of steep drops and punch climbs.

In summary I'm extremely pleased with the upgrade choices and result of the overall ride.  I have more confidence in downhills and drops, steering is easier and climbing has remained as efficient as before.  Guess I'll be selling the Recon Silver TK 100mm fork and wheel and they are no longer needed.  Or maybe I'll save them for a build for my son?

Final results of the bike...

Wheelz Up! ...and other goodies

In the months since my first MTB ride on this bike at the RTP trails, I've ridden that loop every Thursday after work until daylight savings time and the last few rides on my Maxxis Aspen's running tubeless with new Shimano Deore XT UST rims.  This was a really nice ride improvement, but ultimately not having UST on lighter thinner tires resulting in watching many micro-holes in the sidewall fill with sealant with airing up before a ride.

So I decided to get UST tires and settled on Maxxis High Roller (front) & Advantage (rear) both in lUST/120TPI casing.  Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to ride these on dirt yet and it's driving me crazy.  However, I have started riding a 4-5 mile loop in my neighborhood that provides good climbs and flow when run midday.  I also went from the 620mm to 700mm flat bars looking to improve steering response.

Investing in the Garmin Edge 520 was a Christmas present that I was really looking forward to.  I really want to pursue local XC/Trial races in my age group and knew some training that involved measuring myself against competition would be a requirement.  With Garmin Connect and Strava Segments this is now possible.  It also came with the Cadence/Speed (hub) sensors which mated up perfect.  Lastly I pulled out the old Mio providing an ANT+ heartrate sensor since my Samsung Gear 2 only mates with the phone.

I'm planning to get a ride in tomorrow but we'll see if that's the local loop around the neighborhood or a quick ride over to the landfill park which includes a short MTB trail and skills area.

Endomondo or Garmin Connect Data?

This post is a local loop ride in my neighborhood and a comparison of which embedded data to use - Endomondo or Garmin Connect?


Endomondo - Once logged in go to https://www.endomondo.com/widgets


Garmin Connect - Unlock the workout then click the share button and select "Embed"

RTP Final Ride of the Year

Had a great ride on the RTP trails and finally linked all the loops old and new together for a 4.84 mile ride.  I hope to hit this ride more often.

Fuji DSR 2.0 MTB Ride

I finally got a chance to put the Fuji DSR 2.0 on the trail @RTP.  Also after getting a replacement camera took soon detailed photos.

The ride on the trail was awesome and the climbs were drastically easier with the reduced weight and improved drivetrain.

Fuji DSR 2.0 Build Complete

The build of my Fuji DSR 2.0 C7 Carbon Fiber Full Suspension MTB has been completed.  The Maxxis Aspen 2.1 tires and Formula R1 hydraulic brakes were installed yesterday evening and a maiden voyage completed this morning.  And while the ride this AM (started @05:45) was mostly greenway (asphalt) I did get to do a short section of singletrack.  

The bike performed amazingly from my perspective and the reduced weight and superior drive train allowed me to handle climbs like I had never done before.  Also I greatly underestimated the power of hydraulic brakes and will never go back to mech brakes again.  I did use the poploc for the front fork on the green way and am please to never deal with a front derailleur again!

At this point I see no additional upgrades in the immediate future.  But I am considering a 700mm riser handle bar instead of the 620mm flat I currently have and further down the line a rear shock with lockout abilities.

I hope to get on some more real singletrack this week and will provides updates as well.