Upgrades

Just a quickie about some more Stumpy upgrades. As much as I normally love to try and run old parts, they do have a downside. The old Suntour XC rear derailleur was getting pretty tired, the pivots had a lot of play and the springs were losing their juice. The chain and old freewheel were, well, old. The combination was making for some pretty sloppy slow shifting, and it was making the bike less fun to ride. So I pulled the trigger and got a new chain and an IRD 5-speed freewheel, one with ramps and newer style contoured teeth. I also, for the first time ever, bought a new rear derailleur. I went with a 9-speed XT model. I took the bike out this morning and the results were great. The shifts are smooth and fast, and all of the old crazy pulley sounds are gone. So far so good....

There it is. The Xt rear der has no barrel adjuster, and looks like a tennis shoe, but works great. The IRd Defiant 13-32 freewheel is working good so far. It is a little pricey at 50 bucks but no one really makes a better 5 speed freewheel to the best of my knowledge. Cable tip forthcoming.
New tires too. No dirt tests yet, but they are the Kenda Small Block 8 in a 2.1 . They make a 2.3 as well. Side wall graphics are garish and have the kenda website address printed in large letters ( must have missed that on the online pic). Also scored a new brakeset recently and swapped out the old ones that had no built-in way to balence the spring tension; the Tektro Oryxs do.

THE HEAD LANDS (in paradise)

I had the day off and decided to accompany my buddy Nick to the Headlands in Marin. He was camping out there for the night and I was just along for the ride. Basically summer has started here, I mean, I know it hasn't and it'll be nasty again, but today was something else. STOKED DONUTS!

I decided to try all B&W today. Seems old-timey still.

Airplane view on coastal trail

Paradise stuff
No technical riding here, just wide crushed granite trail. It's kinda nice because you can zone out and take in the view.
Nick paradise slurpin. Can't really see it here, but that's an old Bruce Gordon he's sitting on. We'll get some more pics of that up here soon.
Up top. My stumpy stand-in, and SF peeking in.

Catching up. Cockpit Swaps, Shop Shots, Rivendell Ridge, High Art, Rarities and Weirdos.

Brian's Hunk, getting a new Nitto Bullmoose. I think these were Riv only and of limited production. Brian set up a bare version so you can see the big brass fillets. Radical.

Much swoopier than the old versions
Then out for a test ride in shell ridge.
No technical stuff for us, but the gnarlitude lies in the view.
Ridge running

My stumpy got a new cockpit as well
Not sure how she feels set up like this. It's a little weird at first. The bars are 48cm Nitto Rm -013 dirt drops, on a Nitto dirt drop riser stem. I'm also tryin' out those wiggly new Tektro levers.
I ended up just using the Shimano 8 speed bar-end shifters in friction mode, but I seriously considered these little gems from Kelly. What a smart idea!

Top view shows the bend on the bars. Unlike many dirt drops, these only bend outward below the brake lever so that the lever sits in it's normal position and not tilted as it is on say the On One Midge/Origin 8 Gary bar
A younger me would think that this is such a dorky set up...
Such a nice bike!
The old cockpit, resting in peace
And since I was in the shop I figured I'd snap a few pics.
Campy stash, pretty, but not very useful to me, at least for the moment...
Sugino AT (aero tech) crankset with a XTR outer ring
1" Kooka threadless stem
Grandma's saddle
Bar jumble
Oakland pride, shifter bits

I also spotted this interesting bike recently. Those who follow this blog know that I have been considering making a monster cross/ghetto 29er out of an old hybrid, and this is a prime example. It's a Miyata triplecross. Lugged steel, and has pretty good clearance for tires. It was running 35's as it was and there was plenty of room for a larger tire. Maybe a 45? Sorry about the phone pics here.
lugs and a pump peg
It looks tight, but there is some space.

Nice details
Another interesting note is this Stumpy spotted on craigslist recently. It's hard to make out a year because of the crappy pics but the last one is the real money shot. It's the Team San Jose model. I dug around and there was nothing on that model. It could be an ultra rare model as Specialized is from San Jose, and this bike was listed in San Jose. Not sure about that fork, but I'd love to see a better pic!

The High Art Part
Also, my ameture photograph, flash and all, of a sweet Cinelli poster. I can't be positive but it looks like a naked Princess Leia on a Cinelli mixte. Everything about this stokes me out. That bike is probably more rare than a Team San Jose Stumpy.

Then there's this great poster made by Brooke Budner for the Greenhorns. Click the pic to link

Lastly I found this Japanese flicker page. There's some bmx stuff in there too, but mostly rad nice 80's MTBs and great pics. Check the pic below and more HERE.