Whoopsie!

...Nearly forgot this little critter. He was hiding in the bottom of my box of goodies.

Front derailleur. 2 Speed and of course, SRAM X0. Interestingly, on my Giant, despite all the running gear being SRAM, the front derailleur is a Shimano. There is not a great deal of complexity to the front derailleur, but I'll see if I notice any difference at all with the SRAM (highly unlikely).

Progressive costs:
Actual: $3166.41
Estimated: $3247.39
If RRP: $5404.58

These aren't the droids your looking for,
Justin.

ShimaOHNOOO!!!!!

Well, this little lemming has committed a sin of epic proportions.

Presenting exhibit A....

Shimano M530 pedals. SHIMANO! A POX ON THEE! I feel so dirty. Yes folks, this staunchly SRAM man has gone out and bought a set of Shimano SDP pedals. I guess in a way it is ok. Pedals are very much a consumable part on a mountain bike and I will enjoy banging, scratching them and just generally treating them like shit.

I've always been happy with the SPD clip-in system that Shimano came up with. And you can nearly always find Shimano pedals on special. These are $60 and I picked them up for ~$28. These are a low to mid range set. For the type of riding I do, I don't see much point in getting top of the line pedals. They get banged up, and replaced eventually. Even though they are clip-in's I like to get the platform pedals (as different from "egg-beaters" or pedals just with the clip). I find it is handy if you want to pedal unclipped for a bit (for example for a technical downhill section of track).

Progressive costs:
Actual: $3106.41
Estimated: $3167.39
If RRP: $5324.58

Yeeeah, poppin' taaags!
Justin.

26 + 29 = 27.5

...or 650b.

Don't argue with me. Remember the rules:

Rule No 1: Justin is always right,
Rule No 2: If Justin is wrong, refer to rule number 1.

So, if you are a mountain biker, and you are not familiar with the war that is 26'ers vs 29'ers, then you have been living under a wet slimy rock. It is a debate on wheel size that has divided the mountain bike world.

Personally, while 29'ers are faster. I don't like them (spoken with a severe P. Hanson twang). They also struggle on the more rugged terrain and fast technical downhills).

That said, I get why 29'ers have become so popular. Of all the modern technology in bikes, that you'd swear was pulled from an F1 car only a few years ago, bizarrely, wheels were the last things to undergo a "game changer" in design. This is truly bizarre, given that wheels are so important on a bike... duhhh! The 26 inch wheel was actually a de-facto standard. Once upon a time, a group of guys thought to give downhill/offroad biking a real go. But all wheels at the time were designed for the road. The only wheels they could find that were fat and durable enough for mountain bike riding were off those old-skool roadster style bikes....wheel size... 26inch. Born then was mountain biking and a standard that for decades no one thought to question.

But times change. The rules have changed and the war is on.

...Presenting the 650b (or "27.5") to put an end to the argument.

One wheel to rule them all,
One wheel to find them,
One wheel to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

Enter stage right, specimen A the Santa Cruz Bronson.

Enter stage left, specimen B, the Ibis Mojo HD-R

 



People, mark my words, the following will happen:

- 650b will be the new wheel standard;
- 26inch wheels will be around for quite a while yet, but will die out;
- Manufacturers will make cross compatible frames and forks to allow you to race on your 29'ers, but whack on the 650's for a huck around your favourite track. Or, vice versa, a 26 and 27.5 compatible version.

So, I find myself building up a 26inch bike, which for now is fine. Remember that this is a project build for me. I "had" every intention of buying a new "complete" bike. However, as this project has progressed, I have realised that the build is quite high end and most of the parts, bar the forks and wheels. So I may find myself migrating parts off the Heckler onto a 650b.

I'm so clever..
Justin.

My other great passion...

Allow me to digress for a moment, if you will, from the core theme of this blog.

It's been a big week news wise in Australia. New South Wales got dicked by Queensland in the State or Origin. We also witnessed a leadership change and the appalling back-stabbing and childish revenge that came with it in what cannot fairly be classified as "our" Australian Government. But, something far far FAR more important happened.

Mark Webber retired from Formula 1.

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/motorsport/webber-on-last-lap-in-f1-after-signing-for-porsche-20130627-2ozs1.html


Ah Mark, you have your critics and for sure you have frustrated the hell out of me, but I have loved following you in each and every race, through the Minardi, Jag, Williams and of course, the RBR years. I am certainly not going to say you were the greatest. But you were my favourite and as this is MY blog that is all that matters :-)

I hope the rest of this year is a memorable one for you.

That's all I have to say about that right now,
Justin.

It's a bling fest!!!

..even MORE bling!

Check these puppies out. Mavic 717's on Hope Pro 2 Hubs. How fantastically will these go with the head set & stem (see previous posts).

For those mountain bikers out there, we all know you can hear a hope hub coming from a mile away with that lovely free-wheeling "zzzzzzzzzz" sound. Now, you will know that it is me coming. Mwhahahaha!

As with the stem and head set, bling is bling. But this bling is also the bomb. Hope. Top shelf brand, 'nuff said.

Now, the wheels fall into the same category as the forks of "hope"lessly difficult item to get (pun intended - put in inverted commas just to accentuate where in that sentence the pun occurred - the author of course assuming his reading population is just as slow as himself). Wheel sets actually quite often come on sale, but it was finding the ones I wanted that was hard. You see, I was already targeting the gold components, and stuff made by Hub, rarely comes on sale. Additionally, I specifically wanted the 15mm through axle and most of what I was finding was non-convertible 9mm or 20mm.  A learnered friend advised me the hope hubs are cross-compatible - giving me the option of changing in future. The Rims were a little easier to decide on, just as long as they were light-ish and strong was acceptable.

Anyhooo, after much searching I eventually came across these babies at a very respectable price. I was also being careful to contain costs with the wheels for another little future idea is brewing.... More on that later.

Now, purchasing these wheels could in some ways be construed as cheating. If I was really building this bike from scratch, I would have purchased all the components that make up the wheels (mainly the hubs, the spokes and the rims) separately. But as anyone that has tried it can attest to, building wheels is an absolute bitch of a job and one that is usually only perfected after repeated attempts). Additionally, most of the MTB sites offer custom or 'pre-built" wheel configurations - since you are purchasing all the bits, they throw in the build as well.

Here ends this blog entry. May I re-direct your attention to the photo's of the wheels and bask in their glorious glory.

Progressive costs:
Actual: $3078.62
Estimated: $3067.39
If RRP: $5264.6

Ride on...
Justin.

I "Hope" you like this one...

...more Hope.

...more gold.

...more bling.

...more awesomeness for the bike.

This is a stem. It's pretty straight forward. It's for connecting/mounting your handlebars to the steerer/frame.

Once on the bike it will pretty much look like the stem and head set (see previous post) are one and the same component. Hence the importance of going with the same brand to make sure the colour is coded across the components.

Again, this isn't just about bling. Hope are a top shelf, highly regarded brand in the biking world. Again, light & strong. Surprising considering it is made in the UK... ;-) I did manage to score a discount on this component, about 34% off normal price. Still on the more pricey side of the scale of stem options/brands.

Stem has a 90mm length which is pretty standard. You probably can't quite see it in the photo but there is actually an inclining angle from the vertical (steerer mount) to the horizontal (handlebar mount) holes; 10 degrees for those keeping score. This is a bit more of an all-mountain/free-ride configuration (to sit you up a little more on the bike). This is distinct from a zero angle (flat) stem, common on a cross-country bike. Heaven-forbid I be confused with a cross country rider! (sorry to my cross country brethren, for like humans and apes, we are after-all only a few DNA strands different!).

Progressive costs:
Actual: $2671.34
Estimated: $2567.39
If RRP: $4804.82

May the force be with you,
Justin

I got Head!!...

...Set.

Bahhhh, head out of the gutter readers!

This is a head set. It's gold. It's bling. It's top shelf stuff. I didn't get it on special. I just wanted it.

In fact, I ultimately paid more than what I should have. I originally purchased a silver Cane Creek head set, as it was like $24, reduced from $90. Alas, it turned up, weighed half of what the bike would have anyway and didn't come with the top cap (re-reading the order, it did say that). My sorry, lame-ass excuse here is that I got the Cane Creek head set very early on the piece before I realised the hidden complexity of this build-you-own-bike malarkey.

So, Hope. English made. This is one of 3 Hope components that will find their way on the Heckler - next two ordered. Delivery pending. Stay tuned.

So a head set is what I guess "mounts" the front forks to the frame, provides a bearing race for smooth steering and tightens the whole lot up. A stem will be needed to connect the handlebars. The headset doesn't actually look like this on the bike, the top half sits above the steering tube on the frame and the bottom mounts below. If you don't know what I am on about... meh, wait for the final pictures, it'll all make sense.

By the way, sorry if you think this whole process in taking a while. Firstly, it takes time to source everything, and secondly, a small one of life's annoyances is getting in the way. Work.

Progressive costs:
Actual: $2593.82
Estimated: $2487.39
If RRP: $4687.07

Bite me,
Justin.

"It's in Revelations people!?"

...a Simpsons line to introduce the topic of this post. If you don't remember it, you are too young, or not immature enough.

Rockshox Revelation RL Forks. Mine, all mine. Mwhahahaha! When these babies turned up I had a burning desire to rub them all over my body. I succumbed to that desire. They are just that hot. I chose not to blog that photo. Here I am playing them like a guitar, wearing my sunglasses inside, at night. How cool am I?

 

So I cannot wait to get these onto the bike. They are wicked and will look the shit too (note: "the shit" as distinct and polar opposite to "shit").

The Shit = awesome
Shit = shit.

Capish?

Now, the forks were probably the hardest fucking part to source for the bike. I mused, I mulled, I asked, I reviewed, nearly bought, then didn't, scratched my head, scratched my ass, procrastinated, compared, wondered, and got the shits. Then, when I thought I wouldn't find what I was after, Santo to the rescue.

What for him was a serious case of, well, the shits, turned out to be a blessing for me, for an off work, sick (and bored) Santo = a web crawler, hell bent on finding a bargain. He stood, he delivered.

I've actually never run Rockshox before. The Giant has a set of juicy Fox Talas on it. Which granted are more high end than these Revelations, but mine lacked two things the Revelations has:

- A 15mm thru axle rather than 9mm QR skewer to stiffen up the front end. I specifically wanted this as I find my current bike with the 9mm axle flexes a little more than I like up front.
- A remote suspension lock out for the climbs, which was a nice little surprise as I didn't realise this was the remote lock out version.

Finding forks was one of those classic cases of the ones you want being just that little bit out of the price bracket you are looking at. I scoured soooo many sites, compared so many shocks, prices, sizes, brands etc... My two main choices before these came along were Rockshox Sektors (a rung or two down from the Revelation) or I was considering an organ donation from the Giant of the Talas forks.

The Talas do have travel adjust, so 150mm forks can become 120 or 140 at the flick of a switch (which when you are doing XC, 120mm is more than enough travel). These will simply be 150mm or complete lock out. Probably not quite as good but good nonetheless.

Again, added difficulty in purchasing due to the various options and compatibilities. The "steerer" (the part that slots into the head tube of the bike frame) comes in a few different configurations. Mine is a 1-1/8th. I'll need to cut there steerer down to size (which is pretty normal as people run different fork angles using different head sets and spacers).

Now these forks are worth around the $700 mark. I got them for $411. I high fived myself with this one. Thanks again Santo for the find.

Progressive costs:
Actual: $2499.73
Estimated: $2393.30
If RRP: $4592.98

Eat the pudding eat the pudding eat the pudding eat the pudding eat the pudding eat the pudding,
Justin.

Crank it up!

No...

This is not a weapon to deal a savage, savage beating, as evil as it may look. It is that part of the bike responsible for transferring all that human muscular strength and energy into mechanical kinetic energy. The cranks (well minus the pedals at the moment). Funny, I was going to say they convert all that wonderfully efficient human muscular energy, built on generations of evolution and refinement into horribly inefficient mechanical energy. But I thought I would Google my facts. Do you know human muscles have been calculated to only be ~20% efficient (26% at absolute most!).

Alas, I waffle. So, yet another great bargain secured here. TRUVATIV XX GXP Cranks. Worth $550, sold to the handsome man with the Heckler for $250. That's carbon you see in those cranks before you peoples!! May I also enlighten you to the fact these are Truvativ. Truvativ are owned by SRAM. So I stick to my lemming like commitment to SRAM. Do you remember a few blogs ago I explained the levels of quality in SRAM products? (Of course you don't). So my "level" has been X0. These are one level above, so officially these are the highest spec piece of kit I have procured so far.

Notice the 2 chain ring configuration so as to be compatible with my 2x10 speed running gear set up. Like every<bloody>thing else on a bike, there are multiple different configuration options/restrictions. Specifically put in place so a complete amateur like me can completely fuck things up. It is here I must admit to being a little too confident and bought a crankset before being "advised" it wouldn't be compatible (yep, Santocyclopedia to the rescue again). Luckily that order hadn't been dispatched by the supplier yet, so I was able to bail out.

So a couple of options.. firstly, the length of the crank. I currently run a 175mm crank length which is on the longer side of standard. But the giant has a very high clearance. I have been on a bike with long cranks/low clearance and it is like taking an F1 car 4WD'ing - the cranks bottom out on everything. So, aware that the Heckler will probably have a lower clearance, I have opted for a shorter crank. This is a bit of a risk, as I think I am better at pushing big gears slower, than small gears quicker, and the shorter cranks probably won't suit this style of riding as much. But, we'll see.

Chain ring size.. I went for a 28 tooth small and 42 tooth large. Fairly normal for a 2 speed configuration. You could consider this a "compromise" on a 3 speed configuration (ie: you would have a much smaller small chain ring, a middle ring, and a much larger, large chain ring to give you a greater range of gears). Even keeping in mind the extra gear on the back cassette (10 gears, rather than 9), I will end up with 20 gears, rather than 27. Why is the sacrifice worth it? 1. You rarely use all gears ESPECIALLY the extreme low and high on a 3x9 configuration 2. Weight and simplicity. For the type of rider I am, I have no concern over this setup.

Bottom bracket.. Links the crankset to the frame and provides the bearing's to allow the crank to spin freely. This is a "GXP" type crankset (SRAM's attempt to improve traditional bottom brackets). I've never used this before, so I will see if it makes a difference and stands the test of time. I had to ensure the bottom bracket would be compatible with the 73mm shell on my frame (note the mistake I alluded to earlier....). The BB was $32.70, so, being the honest chap I am will factor this into the progressive price score at the bottom.

Q-Factor.. this one is not widely known about, but one which is gaining a lot of understanding in the biking world as more often than not it is the one responsible for knee pain. It is the distance BETWEEN the pedals (so effectively how wide your feet sit on the pedals). It's something I don't know a lot about. These cranks have a low/very common QF of 166.

Still awake? You are? Refer then to some previous blogs...

Progressive costs:
Actual: $2088.73
Estimated: $1943.30
If RRP: $3892.98

Don't bend your Wookie,
Justin.

I'm Bringin' Sexy Baaack!

Just some artsy-fartsy shots taken on a ride a few weeks back....

Photographic prowess must go to Janyon Boshoff. Do yourself a favour ---> http://janyon.com/. But seriously, how hard can it be when you go subject matter like that? Damn straight!

Here are some more shots, taken at the same place (Old Man's Valley track, Hornsby). I wasn't on this ride, but check out the boys in the fog one early morning ride. Fantastic! Thanks again Janyon.

Justin.