Newsletter Issue No. 6 - April 2002
...and do we have issues!
www.mtbkanata.com
Newsletter Issue No. 6 - April 2002
...and do we have
issues!
www.mtbkanata.com
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In this edition: News From The Editors So our videos have received much attention
and we’ve been able to pick up both a Trials/Urban Assault video
from Toronto (Bustin’) and a Freeride/DH/Hucking/Urban Assault
video from a local group of hardcore riders we meet from time to
time during our XC-type rides We have had a couple of comments on our
videos (Read: our MTBKanata Stuff – not the above) that express
dissatisfaction with the skill level and the type of riding
demonstrated in the MTBKanata videos… Like we say over and over again… The main
MTBKanata crew knows that we’re never getting into a Kranked
video, we know our videos aren’t Kranked. For this reason we even
worked out a special price for the Kranked DVD trilogy as offered in
our last newsletter… For those of you that want “Kranked”, we’re not it but we made arrangements to get you a discount! For those that enjoy our lame but “hey, I could do that” videos, thanks. Show our videos to a friend that has a bike but doesn’t really ride trails, show Kranked to that friend if they start getting all “in-your-face-‘cause-now-I’m-really-cool”… Feature Product:
DVD includes Kranked I (Live to ride), II (Trails from the Crypt) and III (Ride Against the Machine). DVD is NTSC, and non-region specific. (I picked up my trilogy from Alan last week... a great addition, or way to start your DVD Mountain Biking collection! Video's sold through www.spokewrench.com - Email Alan for more information. News from Joe... Eric had his turn, now it's mine! Well, some people are still not aware of all the additions on our website! My own brother didn't even know that we had an online forum until I told him! :) If you only check a few areas out this month, take a moment to view the following: Where is everyone from section... We are using a push-pin system to map the world of MTB riders... post your location!! Our Online Forums are growing more and more everyday! So far there are only 37 people online, but where else can you chat with mountain bikers from all over the globe? See what others are doing around the world, and post what you're up to! How-to Create your own Mountain Bike Videos! Here is a section I am working to show how easy it is to make your own videos! Well, it's a lot easier than riding, that's for sure! We are always interested in how and where other people ride out there... need somewhere to host your video.. send it here! We will gladly host for you... and you will probably get over 300 downloads your first week :) Well... I think that's it... thanks for reading my babble... don't stop here though, we have a lot more in this months issue! -Joe Our local wrench will try to answer all reasonable questions related to maintenance tips and will provide one article each issue on how to perform some type of maintenance. Send your suggestions for articles to wrench@mtbkanata.com Jump
to: Dead DerailleurSometimes a component is just plain dead.
During the St. Pat’s day ride Tom had a problem with his front derailleur
catching the teeth of the big chain ring. That’s when the
speculation and verification started… the following article is
banter back and forth between Tom and myself trying to determine
exactly what was/went wrong: Tom: Remember my front derailleur problem? I’ve adjusted and adjusted, but I can either get smooth switching action for 2 chainrings only, or have all 3 accessible, but lots of scraping of the cage, etc. The problem may be deeper than just the derailleur; properly set up, the cage should only be a couple millimetres above the largest chain ring. If I did this, the cage would get caught in the ring’s teeth. In addition, the cage doesn’t easily center over the smallest chainring when there is no tension in the gear wire. I’m wondering if the spindle in my bottom bracket is too long, and this is throwing the whole crank too far out... Eric: The alignment of the derailleur with the smallest ring (granny gear) shouldn't be much of a problem (particularly if the BB spindle is too long) The Deore spec also has the clamp spec'ed for 34.9mm tube with the use of a spacer to get 31.8mm or 28.6mm clamp diameter... we may be able to develop an offset clamp spacer to get the correct lateral alignment but the lateral alignment issue is almost always a symptom of another problem (and rarely chain-line) The problem of the cage catching teeth is normally caused by a 44T chainring and a derailleur set-up for 42T chainrings... so I checked the specs... The spec sheet says that the derailleur should cover 44, 46 and 48T chainrings so in theory this shouldn't be happening... The only other spec that looks like it may be off is the "chainstay angle" the Deore specs either 63-66º or 66-69º... the wrong angled clamp here could be what's driving the rear of the cage into the big ring... No real hassle... I would like to take a stab (oops that didn't sound good) I mean "assess the situation" with the bike in the repair stand and the full compliment of tools, measures and gauges handy... A proper decision can then be made based on assessment, or a improper fractionally posterior’ed attempt at a work around can be inflicted. After inspection there was no obvious damage
to the main part of the cage. The back of the cage had suffered some
twisting from its first introduction to the chainring but nothing
that should have caused the cage to misalign as bad as it did. Using
Mardi’s adjustable set square/protractor we determined that the
chainstay angle was in fact 69º. This was consistent with a
measurement taken on my bike indicating a 69º chainstay angle and a
66º-69º spec LX derailleur. At this point it became obvious that something either was really wrong or “Euclidian” geometry was never meant to work on bicycles... Tom did some further research and deduced
that since his frame and the next model up have the same geometry
(varying in material only) and that the model up when spec’ed as a
complete bike comes with an XT derailleur which is only available in a
66º-69º chainstay angle configuration A few seconds of deduction later and the
purchase of a new derailleur to prove the results and Tom was up and
running again with full range of gearing. Turns out even though no obvious distortion or stress in the chrome plating was present, the derailleur had been bent when it first hit the ring. This Issues Sneaky Tip
Knowing which of the above applies to the situation at hand requires good judgment... good judgement often comes from bad experiences... the "good" news is that you can gain a lot of bad experience ("learning experiences") with just a very little bit of bad judgment. Spring time ridingIf your riding in an area where the roads are salted during the winter keep in mind that the snow slush and runoff that you’re riding through likely still contains much of that wonderful electrolyte… you need it in your system, just not on your bicycle… For those that think Aluminium, Titanium, Brass and stainless steel don’t rust… well if you’re talking about that flaky orange coloured stuff you’re right… but these are all metals and they all have a Electrochemical potential… they all corrode. Not only will they all (eventually) oxidize with exposure with air alone, but good marketing combined with poor planning often has metals of dissimilar electrochemical potentials in direct contact… sometimes with just enough space to get salt water trapped in between. Remember to do a spring tune up and grease any metal to metal contact areas (except where the steerer tube and threadless stem bolt together) paying particular attention to threaded and “seldom touched” components. In the environment section we will be trying to avoid getting all preachy about staying off damage susceptible trails… in this section we’re warning you about the conditions on the road… try not to think of this as not being able to win… just an additional challenge to conquer. As a suggestion, it may be time to review the December Newsletter article related to drivetrain replacement options. Bike Rebuild - B.R.C. Sierra The idea of MTBKanata is to get people riding, "The Wrench" section is to help keep bikes working. So here it is, probably the most odd looking device that you will ever see in the "Sports Bar"... a bicycle with a child seat!
The project background: Joe and myself regularly participate in "le tour Nortel Networks", a local charity ride, and encourage other victims, uh... participants, from our office to join us. This year, as part of getting ready, I'm offering free tune ups for folks that are interested in getting ready for the event. Erica is our office admin, the owner of the pictured bicycle and someone that our friend Kellie managed to convince to participate in the 30km version of the charity tour. Erica took me up on the offer of a free tune-up since she didn't have the tools to perform the maintenance. The request was to remove the child seat and take a look at the bike to make sure it's safe. The Play by Play: The first thing to go was the child seat.... the removal of which was simplified by the quick release features included in the design. If you think that there is no place for a child seat in the "Sports Bar", Phi would disagree with you.
Overall the bike, an early 90's B.R.C Sierra with Shimano "Exage 500LX/ Exage Trail" components, was in really good shape... and could have survived with just a cleaning and minor adjustment. The bike was completely stripped since overkill is fun and an excellent excuse to drink beer... I mean... to ensure that we fully examine the condition of the bicycle to do our best to ensure safety.
Now just to sound responsible: In one of the last editions of "The Wrench" we learned that Hockey and bike maintenance don't mix... the same applies to maintenance and beer... always be sure to not be working with tools or performing operations that require precision adjustment or controlled amounts of force to be applied while enjoying any adult beverage. One safety concern was that there was nothing preventing the straddle cable from hitting the front tire in the case the main brake cable broke or came loose. This is a one-in-a-million kind of thing but it isn't worth letting somebody ride a bike that's risky if you know better... I'll be heading out to the hardware store to buy a reflector set before this thing gets a test ride.
It was obvious that the middle chain ring was beyond worn. I used the CC-2 chain checker tool to learn that the chain was no longer anywhere near design specification we're talking a pitch of 1 1/8" instead of the correct 1". There wasn't much grit in the chain so I'm really impressed by the combination of leg strength and use that the drive train has seen.
The Lawyer Washers were bent into some really odd configuration that didn't seem to serve any purpose in actually retaining the wheel. There were removed and will be replaced by safety wire, yes another one-in-a-million thing since this bike uses axel nuts instead of a quick release, but no sense in letting a bike leave any less safe than it was (or at least was intended to be) when it came in to the shop.
The chain had obviously been wedged between the chain rings and the chain stay a couple of times... the burs that were left on the chain stay were filed down to reduce the chances of the chain getting snagged if a future mishap should occur. Some touch up paint was applied to the chain stay to reduce the chances of rust forming. The tape that had been wrapped around the stay for chip protection (or concealment) was
This bike brought something we haven’t worked on in quite a while to the Sports Bar… Brake Cables… not to sound all snooty about hydraulics… oh fine… I’m being snooty about hydraulics. The brake cables showed definite signs of corrosion and frayed straddle cables. I “made” some straddle cables by using the lever end of some used (but good condition) brake cables Since this wasn't a full restoration and the bike will probably not end up being raced DH at Mt. Ste. Anne this year certain issues were overlooked such as the presence of rust at the head tube, headset cup interface... paint chips, other than where I filed the burrs off the chain stay, were left as is. The Hubs, bottom bracket, and headset were packed with White Lithium grease - I have a personal distain for the stuff but there is also the fact that it reacts with many bearing surfaces and interacts poorly with certain types of seals. It was removed from the bottom bracket and the headset but I left the hubs as is... the seals appeared intact and after a good external cleaning the axle spun smoothly. It was easy to do the overhaul on the bottom bracket and the headset since both were adjusted finger tight... one of the first reasons to do an overhaul... When the chain was broken to facilitate drive train work some touchup paint was applied to the link that was broken to mark it... the chain is of the type that can be broken and reassembled with the same link but repeated manipulation of a chain rivet is a really bad thing. During the entire repair the brake levers and shifters were left on the bar in the same position they started. Be careful when working on somebody else's bike to not affect the contact point adjustment too much. I added a water bottle cage and water bottle to the deal (I'm not letting somebody do a 30 km tour without water) and when I advised Erica about the cage I was asked if I didn't like the bungee cords... well that explained their purpose... Joe saw the frame stripped down and he didn't even ask about the bungee cords, we were kind of “blocking that out”. The Summary: After a good cleaning and readjustment of all the components, the installation of new cables and repacking the main bearings (headset & bottom bracket) the bike is ready to go. Most bikes will not see the kind of usage that requires anything more than the above performed on a semi regular basis to keep them running fine for years. Replacing brake and shift cables is one of the fastest ways to make a bike feel new again. I have to admit that these are the projects I really like... yes, custom building wheels, installing any form of hydraulic brakes or overhauling a shim stack hydraulic damped suspension fork is really "high tech" and these components drive the development of innovative components that become trickle down technology… but it's time to get real... I'm sure (and have often heard/read) that it's the $200-$500 bicycles that will keep this industry going...and their riders are the ones that we need to get into this sport for our voice to be stronger. If you're reasonably mechanically inclined, I encourage you to offer a friend a (practical) bike tune-up (within your skill level) and then take them to a beginner level trail.
Continuing our search for the best of the web, I came across another website with XC, and hucking videos well worth a look! Check out: www.iwantmymtb.com Not only do they have a cool name, but they have a great selection of video (Helmet Cam!) Take a second out of your day to check them out... you'll be glad you did! - Joe Elliott
Okay, so the brakes have been on my bike now for a month, and I've had a chance to really test 'em out! After riding these brakes now, I would not go back to cables... You know when you find something that just works for you, well these are the brakes that just work for me! Playing with trials really shows the brakes power and modulation. Nose wheelies are a breeze, and control is total. Another good thing is the ability to alter the brakes sensitivity on the fly. As it's a closed-system, you can control the amount of pull required just by turning a dial on the lever. Only complaint so far, well I think this is a Joe-set-up issue, but in high speeds on bumpy runs, the rotor rubs on the pad... not to sure if that is just that I have the brakes too sensitive, or just flex in my hardware... oh well.. I'll keep riding 'em hard and we'll see what happens. - Joe Elliott Not Really Features, but Product Reviews! The list of reviews is slowly growing... I can only review so much, so if you have a product you have reviewed, send me the details, and I'll make a page for it! webmaster@mtbkanata.com Review
1 - Sigma Sport Cycle Computer
It’s spring time, it’s going to be muddy
in most places. We’re not talking about regular conditions here,
we’re talking “Mud Plus”. Please keep the condition of the trails
as they are today and as they will be tomorrow in mind when you’re
deciding when it’s time to hit the dirt again… We really don’t
want to sound preachy with this statement but we also want to balance
potential damage to the trails with the enjoyment of their use. I hate to admit it, but this year it’s actually getting tough for the local MTBKanata crew to “respect the trail” since even doing “skid turns” and “spinning out” in mud puddles doesn’t do nearly the amount of damage we’ve seen from the steel tracked road building and de-foresting equipment that is becoming more a part of and shaping the landscape… but let’s try to show that in spite of this we are trying very hard to respect the trails we still have available Sunday ride - Well... what better way to survey the damage then to go out for a ride? On Sunday we (Eric, Tom and myself) checked out all the trails in Kanata Lakes... there were some bright spots, some very dark. Entrances to the West Side of GFR are all covered in downed trees and branches. Without a small hike it's difficult to find where the trails even begin! The only way to clear that much wood, would be with large equipment... there is too much there to clear by hand. Surprisingly enough, there are many trails that are untouched! Anything North of the Descent are completely intact... super muddy, but intact. One sad find, was tracks from where a large dozer was just driven through the forest as if on a joyride! Trees where knocked over and large tracks were dug deep into the single-track for no apparent reason. These tracks were pretty far North of the clear-cut... so really who knows why the dozer was in there. Another feature of Sunday's ride, was that we were able to give an interview to CBC Radio on the trail destruction. Also, we met up with a new rider Rob... we also met up with Gary for a quick loop. Links for more information on the Kanata Trails situation: Our online forum Thread: Trail Destruction Ottawa Citizen Online: Click here to read the story -Joe Elliott St. Pat's Day ride In case you have not seen the video yet, you can download it from our video downloads page: This was one of those rides where the weather played havoc with your good time... The trails were icy, but this opened the door to a whole other type of riding fun. This is the first ride that Tom joined us.. and even after offering us with an endless supply of bloopers... he said he would ride with us again. Peter came out with his daughters bike again... now, don't forget, he has a perfectly good, brand-new Rocky Mountain in the garage... what a nut. One of the most notable events was Eric doing the descent (which may not exist in a few months) in less than 3 seconds... talk about unsafe... anyway, he's alive, and we have the footage to prove it. All-in-all it was a good ride... lots of footage for the site, and some great bloopers. See ya next ride! Henri's Ride Report: Henri* from Voorthuizen - Holland, told us about a road trip he was planning to go see an INDOOR DS race… that’s all we needed to hear before we asked for a "Ride Review". Please enjoy Henri’s ride report. *Henri is know as ik-jij-en-jou-NL in our forums Montana Dual Snow DownHill (Dual-Slalom) report 12th of April 2002 Westerhoven – Holland I’m back from Westerhoven, its 23:25 local time, time for me to make a report. Chit-Chat I’ve planned this day 2 weeks ago. So I’ve talked to my teachers and said that I’m not coming to school. I didn’t tell them the reason, but they didn’t ask. It’s on my agenda because this is my first (indoor) Dual-Slalom (DS).The location is Westerhoven (Holland), 17:00 local time. It's cold, the indoor temperature is 4 degrees Celsius below zero. That’s the chit-chat about the location… The basics of Dual According to the NORBA (National Off-Road Bicycle Association) competition guide a DS race is: "An event where two competitors race head-to-head down two parallel slalom courses. The two courses should be as close to identical as possible with an average time differential of less than one second." Dual is a mix of Downhill and BMX, it’s really cool to watch! (EuroSport – X-Gamez) There’s a lot of action and one DS-session only takes about 30 seconds.Duals are held on tracks that are not much longer than 400 meters (440 yards) long and with a maximum vertical difference of 60 meters (200 ft.). On the track you find all kind of obstacles and humps.If you want to go Dual racing, you don’t need an expensive bike or the top of the line materials. The wear on the material is less then with Down-Hill (DH) or Cross-Country (XC) and it doesn’t break as fast with DH/XC. This makes Dual attractive to all kinds of people. All you really need is a Hard-Tail, with a good fork, a chain-guide and a good pair of brakes…… and you can go Dual.
Dual/Dirt Track Source: http://www.mountainbike.nl linked from http://www.track-of-the-tiger.com Most of the Dual bikes (often called Dirt-bikes) have a sloped upper tube (like a Trail-Bike). Really wide tyres are recommend, because you’ll need the grip in the banked curves. Also protective clothing and a helmet are required without exception.
A Dual Slalom Track Source: http://www.twa.com.sg/ The characteristics of the Dual/Dirt Bike
The properties of the Dual/Dirt Bike
What can you do with a Dual/Dirt Bike
The Montana Dual Snow DH (MDS) report After a car trip of 2 and a half hours, we finally arrived in Westerhoven. It was 140Km from my home, and we got stuck in a traffic-jam, that’s not so nice if you want to be there on time. But we only missed the practise/training. Here is the race schedule: 17.00 - 18.30 Training 20.45 - 21.00 2e series down-hillers with licence 22.00 - 22.30 Final of both classes I arrived at 18:15, but my dad and I had to eat something. You can see the track when you’re eating, so that’s a really good way to eat, and enjoy the race! It was 18:45 when we really start watching at the race. First we watched it in the "lounge", but you want to feel the cold and speed of the race. So we went in to the snow. And man, that’s freakin’ cold!! –4Co!! But after 10 minutes you don’t feel the cold, you get warm by seeing the nice bikes! And there where a lot of great bikes!! And a lot of crashes (nah-nah)The track was really slippery (Duh: Snow) so a lot of bikers lost the control of their bikes in the first corners, but if you can make it to the end, you can make a jump! The biker that makes the biggest, the most beautiful jump wins 48 cans of Red-Bull. That’s enough for the whole summer ;)
You can ride this track if you have a DH- licence.
There can only be 54 riders in this class. The MDS track is 140 meters (150 yards) long with an inclination of 18%. There where 54 bikers in the Down-Hill section, and 54 bikers in the open-class section. When you race, you go out with two other bikers, so there are 3 bikers on the track.Most of the bikers did finish, but they couldn’t keep control of their bikes in the last corner (with the jump). One of the bikers smashed his bike into the snow wall… the upper tube of the frame wasn’t really as straight as it was before the race. There were a lot of crashes and some you can see at my web site: http://httpd.chello.nl/m.vandewal1/Westerhoven.htmI watched 3 hours of the 5 and a half hours. But I had to work at 06:00 in the morning, so my dad and I went home at about 21:00. By 23:00 we were home. I’ve dreamed really sweet. There where so many nice rides!!That’s about it, it was a great day!! If you have the opportunity to go to a DS race you certainly must go! You don’t really have to know the rules, there are so many bikes! Its just GREAT!!
Special Thanks Me dad, for bringing me to Westerhoven. http://www.mountainbike.nl for the mention of this race, without them I would have missed this race! The Montana Snow centre for organizing of this great Dual-Slalom And all the bikers with their nice bikes!! - Henri (a.k.a. ik_jij_en_jou-NL-) About the "Flat Tire Award": Category: We have two nominees for this category, this category acknowledges an individual’s commitment to offer criticism in a way that dramatically reduces the chances that they will be taken seriously. Just for being nominated each nominee's IP has been blocked from further participation in our forums. Not to influence the voting, but we were thinking of renaming this category's award the "Wang Chung Award". "Wang Chung" Whoever How important is it to categorize riding types?
So the question gets back to how important is all of this anyway? For our calendar, the icons are intended to let folks know what we plan on doing... For individuals, it may be a way to belong to a group... From a marketing perspective it would be good if all the consumers out there to fit into one neat little category and lived a single specific lifestyle. This would make the target audience easy to pin down for advertising and make product spec very easy... product lines continue to benefit from and reinforce (if not create) the classifications. I'll admit that parts spec gets rather obvious for the (I hate this word) extremes of the range of labels. It seems that every component maker out there seems to have their "full-on-DH-whatever" or their "All-out-cross-country-race-thingamajig" which makes parts selection a bit easier at the "extremes"... but what our the rest of us? I look at my bike and I think of it as perfect for me...
So how important is it, not just to have the categories, but for each of us to fit into one of them? The answer?: I know it would really mess up the marketing but it's too bad we couldn't have an all encompassing category called "Fun"... where the ideal rider community is always "one more" and the perfect parts spec is whatever makes sense for however you would plan to ride wherever you ride... then we could have websites all over the world dedicated to that "Fun" category not caring about being one label or another... Oh wait... there already is that all encompassing category, it's called "Mountain Biking"... and you're already reading one of those www.com's newsletter... Okay... so no one has a dream bike... that's cool... we'll start this back up in the summer. In the meantime, if you have a dream bike, send it to me (Not the bike!) joe@mtbkanata.com
Video's sold through www.spokewrench.com - Email Alan for more information. Hey all, well new month, new stats! As you can see this month, we have made a few changes, and added quite a few new movies! As the site is always in transition, expect to see many more changes in the upcoming months... now, if only I was any good at graphic design!
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