Jacks Peak

Took on Jack's Peak today on the Karate Monkey. With Schwalbe Big Apples at 60psi, that thing rides like a road bike, only smoother. I took it on and off road, the whole ride lasted about an hour.

The weather was unreal.

The music was "Into the Wild".

California Rules...

A video of the climb and descent are available on the right column under "My iMovies".

Wildlife at lunch

Took off at lunch from NPS and rode 45 minutes out towards Marina and back to Monterey. On this 90 minute ride on the Karate Monkey, I saw:

1 snake

30 squirrels

3 lizards

countless birds....

It was 56 degrees and winds gusting up to 25mph, so beautiful and blue, but a difficult ride with headwinds and crosswinds.

Now I'm VERY hungry!

Avidly impressed

The Karate Monkey got Disc'd this weekend. The Avid BB7 mechanical disc brakes came in from the retailer for $84 with free shipping including 160mm rotors.

Changes in my toolbox and my values

I grew up a little recently and decided to spend some $ on tools and less on accumulating more bikes and useless parts. I bought new brake tools including a Park Tool cable cutter and cable puller.  No longer will I use the electrician's snips and needle nose pliers to cut housing and cable!!!

I also decided that off-brand cables and housing for brakes and shifters are a thing of the past. I bought XTR shifter and brake cable kits.

Initial installation consisted of ripping off the old Deore linear pull calipers from the cantilever bosses and quickly mounting the rotors to the wheels (with adaptors for LX splined hubs) and the calipers to the fork and rear triangle.  I sized and cut the cables and housing to fit the frame and followed the Avid installation guide to the letter.  I even read a few blogs and the Park Tools Blue-Book for backup knowledge. 

Results and lessons learned:

1. MOUNT AND ALIGN THE CALIPER. With all tension removed from the alignment screws (backed off until slack), tighten the brake pads tight against the rotor. Now tighten the alignment while the whole caliper sits in line with the rotor. Now back off the red knob a few clicks until there is no rubbing/scraping.

2. TRIM CABLES AND HOUSING LIKE A PRO. Use a cable cutter, dremel tool, file, whatever. Remove all burs and shoot for a perfect "dead end" that does not crimp or bind. Use the cable puller to remove all slack from cable so that all lever movement moves the brake pad to the rotor.

3. CLEAN THE ROTORS AND KEEP THEM CLEAN. I used isopropyl alcohol because I couldn't find any denatured alcohol. It REALLY made a difference in my performance because I dirty-fingered the rotors initially and couldn't stop without squeezing the lever to the grip.

My first ride with them installed and set up correctly was flawless. The brakes grabbed without locking up, and required very little lever movement.

The equipment gets a 5 star rating for performance, aesthetics, ease of installation and price. Highly recommended.

Letter to Devian; Day One at Fort Ord, Seaside CA

So there I was at the intersection of Gigling and the 8th St extension at 0630...

Hey, it was a good ride. I would not have guessed it would be so SANDY. I can understand why the Pug is such an asset out there...

I hit the "Mark Location" function on my GPS and then rode out for about 30 minutes. I stopped, took some pics, and then started the way back. The GPS has a "Find Home" function, and I am SO GLAD I brought and used it. I was never on the same trails as my outbound leg of the ride, but I eventually made it back by just driving towards and intersecting my outbound track over and over. I eventually made it right back to my car.

It was a good time.

Lessons learned: 

Outbound in the Easterly direction (as the sun is low on the horizon) means you can't see what the heck is in front of you...

Rim brakes were WEAK coming out of the sandy spots. The AVID BB7s should be here today!!! I expect better since the rotors will never actually be buried in sand unlike the braking surface of the rim.

Drive in the grass whenever there is a sandy spot any longer than about 7 feet, or just expect to fall over...

Bring water!!! My throat was dry and dusty as hell.

Bring a pump or a cartridge deally cuz if I'd have gotten a flat, it would have been a 4 mile walk back to the car (not too bad really, but less fun than riding).

Buy a helmet-cam. They have these on sale at Nashbar (wireless) for like $150...

Less tire pressure up front. I was running 60psi in both tires and it was rattling my teeth out.

Thanks for the tip, and I'll see you out there!!!

spencer

KARATE MONKEY GOES BANANAS and GETS GEARS

The Karate Monkey almost got sold... 

I couldn't enjoy the bulky animal even on simple trails as a Single Speed bike. Between the rolling resistance of monster knobbies and the "just one" gearing ration, it wasn't very fun to ride. I was always either standing up (up hill) or coasting (down hill). I was never really able to just enjoy the ride.

When I bought the KM frameset, I also won an auction for a really nice MTB build kit. I was sure that the KM needed to be max punk and all attitude, so it remained a Single Speed while the parts and components sat in my pile of stuff.

Well, I finally had to face the fact that if I wanted to enjoy the Karate Monkey in all of its heavy monster ass glory, I was going to have to spend an afternoon building it up with the full kit:

Easton riser bars and stem

Shimano LX Mega9 shifters

Deore front and rear derailer (actually the front is a Deore DX from 1991).

Shimano LX cassette, 12-34 teeth

SRAM 9spd chain

WTB cheapo grips

Race Face Prodigy ISIS crankset

Easton seatpost and WTB silver and black saddle with a fertility groove

Egg Beaters (of course)

Deore linear pull brakeset (soon to be replaced by the Avid BB7 disc rig I ordered)

Same old Mavic A319 super boxxxy 29er/touring wheelset

Kenda Krest 9er tires with motorcycle knobbies (I still have the Schwalbe Big Apples in the barn for road-heavy days).

It's very happy now, and so is its rider...

SOMA rebuild complete

Installed:

Chrome lugged fork from Performance Bike

105 brake calipers

105 9 speed Hollowtech II crankset and integrated bottom bracket

105 9 speed Shifters/Brake levers

Shimano M550 wheelset, black and silver, 105 9 speed cassette

Easton winged aero/ergo aluminum handlebar

Ritchey Pro stem, 10 degrees by 100mm

IRO seatpost

Brooks B-117 saddle, black

Egg Beaters Candy C pedals, grey

Still have:

60cm Soma Smoothie frame

Ultegra front and rear derailleurs

WTB headset