2013 Trek Rumblefish

So I wanted to do a little bike check to tell everybody about what I have been riding this year, for the most part. I have wanted a full squish pretty much from the get-go but until this last season I have not had the drive or resources ($$$) to make it a reality. I definitely do not see a full squish as a starting point for beginning riders, but once you have the basics down the compliance of full suspension sure is nice.

2013 Trek Rumblefish

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So I bought this bike used from a nice talkative guy on the south side of the cities. there were a few mods that he had done that I thought were useless to me but I also thought that they showed that the bike was not beat up by him. Unlike me using a bike...

So we agreed on $1100 and I took the bike home. I didn't even know how to remove the QR15 front axle that day so I tried to fit it inside the truck cab and that wasn't even close so i ended up flopping it in the back. It has since rode many miles in the back of the ole Chevy!

I took the riser post off of the fork and the silly flame grips off and returned the bike to a mostly stock configuration. I checked the pressure in the shock and fork and rode around the yard until I thought the ergonomics felt good.  I took a few bits apart to grease and check the condition of bearings but for the most part everything was in good shape if a little dusty from sitting in the guys garage for a while.

First Ride.

Myself, Bryan and our coworker and former classmate Shawn met up to ride some trails non of us had hit before. We hit up Carver Lake Park, which is awesome with great technical features for the more trialsy riders. then we went down the road to Battle Creek trails area. This was an area none of us knew and we parked at the top where there is poor trail signage. There are some wicked narrow and technical descents and sure enough I got caught out trying to keep up with those two ya-hoos.

I hit a little kicker along a bank thinking the guys had hit it and as soon as my front tire came up I regretted it, panic braked and when I came down the bike stopped and I went OTB and the bike tumbled down the trail. Unknown until a week later I bent both the handlebars and one of the saddle rails in this off.

I didn't get significantly injured, besides my pride, so I considered it a good day.

I also rode my first MTB race at Elm Creek on this bike over the summer. I didn't finish very high but I still had a blast doing it. I can see doing lots of XC on this bike but after riding it at Spirit Mountain a few times, and my experience at Battle Creek, I am not sure if I will keep it for the long haul. I will likely post a new update once that fate becomes clearer...

Night light review

Hey all,

I was going to do a video review of this light, but I decided to return it before I even had a chance to shoot any footage. As you will notice at the link above this light only costs about $18. That should be setting off alarm bells in your brain that this product is so incredibly cheap that it cannot be good. I am here to confirm that idea for you.

It arrived in an unmarked brown cardboard box with kanji written on it. I opened the box and found all of the components to be in decent condition after shipment. Unfortunately all of the components are of very cheap quality and build. The rounded portion for clamping to a handlebar is designed for a 25mm or 1" handlebar so it was not going to work well for me as I run 31.8mm bars on any bike that I would ride at night.

The included "headband" was also of low quality. It had a small round plastic section that was on the front where I assume you were supposed to use all of the handlebar circular pieces to mount the light. This all made the whole assembly rather bulky and awkward.

I had to get one just to see what $18 gets you, but I cannot suggest it to anybody I know. Consider one of the lights below as an alternative. Sadly I have not had them in hand to evaluate if they are better or not but at least they come from a known cycle related company.

2010 Specialized Hardrock Disc

Thought I would give a little more detail on a couple of my bikes, to help flesh out what I do around here.
As I have recently mentioned I bought this 2010 Hardrock off of craigslist.org for the princely sum of $150. It was as original as they come.

I think this picture was the day I bought it. It still has the specialized tires on it even!

Since I was getting more into bicycles when I bought this one, I decided to go through and do some clean up and simple maintenance that i knew how to do. I took the fork apart and cleaned and re-greased it. I also rinsed and re-packed the headset bearings while I was in there. I tried to lube the cables and clean and adjust the derailleurs. I also replaced the clanky BB with a cheap Shimano one.

And then I rode it for a while. It was great! I could ride over way more rugged terrain without having my fillings or kidneys fall out. It had disc brakes so I learned what good brakes felt like. things were wonderful.

Of course I couldn't leave things alone! Why have disc brakes if you aren't going to hydraulic, right? Here comes our friend eBay: $60 for a full set of Tektro china specials, with all the hardware and discs even!
Then a new seat. Then some new stems to play with ergonomics.
Then some pedals to replace the poly original ones. Cheap Wellgo pedals. Work wonders over the worn out stock poly ones.

The chain and sprockets start looking poorly so I buy a new cassette, a new chain, and decide to take the raceface crankset off of a frame I got and freshen up the whole drivetrain. I learn how to adjust derailleurs correctly this time.

Finally I bend the wheels one too many times. Brian, the mechnic at my LBS, says "these things can't be trued correctly. I got it straight but if you hit too many more bumps its probably going to pop right back to where it was." So off to the internet! what looks robust: Azonic Outlaws! they cost twice as much as the bike but they come in green so it happens. May as well put some of these aggressive looking Michelin ATs on it while I am in there.

Lots of time and money spent on this rig. I just took it out for a ride today as a matter of fact: since I have been recently riding my XC bike this thing feel terrible. but it is still light, flickable, and nimle feeling comapred to my 33lb full squish. :) Experience it a terrible thing sometimes.

cheers!

Video fun

Hey everybody! Some of you might already know this but: I have a YouTube channel! Well sort of.

https://www.youtube.com/user/dtmracerx

Yup, that's it. As of today I have posted 12 videos in all the years of my membership but as of late I have been watching lots of videos lately. This has inspired me to get back into the attempt of making my own videos.

Channels like Seth's Bike Hacks and Phil Kmetz along with more commercial yet cool channels like Park Tool really make me want to get back into the idea of making videos for other people to enjoy. Back when I used my GoPro camera in California I really enjoyed being able to share my experiences. Then I bought Adobe Premiere and things got more complicated...but again youtube helps a guy out and now i feel like I have some level of fumbling confidence.

Of course in the years since California I managed to somehow break my old GoPro 2: I decided I should just purchase a new one, possibly a session? Enter stage left: Amazon.com our favorite online mass marketplace. It turns out GoPro is no longer the one and only, thanks China, and now I can get a GoPro knockoff for stupid cheap: Wespire Action Camera 2.0. Of course when the camera is that cheap i can't just buy that: I have to buy a bunch of stupid cheap accessories too!

So far I have bought:

• 1x Stupid cheap camera
• 1x stupid cheap battery set with charger
• 1x stupid cheap accesories kit that doubles as a case
• 1x stupid cheap SD card
• 1x stupid cheap studio mic for doing narrations

So far I am back into video for about $130 which is still less than one single gopro brand camera would set me back. Crazy.

The only item I have not purchased that seems to be popular now is a powered gimbal. I am looking at some on the ole Amazon but I have not decided if I want to go that route just yet. I will see how a couple videos turn out with this knock-off camera and then decided if I buy the gimbal or save up for a GoPro Session.

So keep tuned in while I get things up and rolling. And feel free to watch all 12 of my sweet videos I have posted.

Thanks for reading! -G