New bike friend!

2008 giant yukon fx

    so one of my friends wants to jump into mtn biking. "find me a bike between 5 to 600 bucks wit full suspension and disc brakes!" finding a bike in that price range can be difficult, if you ever notice all the bikes are the same parts and different colors. yer looking at a bike at least 35 pounds, a coil shock, a low end front fork and disc brakes and maybe some flashy colors on the frame with a fancy name. i'm not trying to be a snob by saying negative things about these bikes but, when it comes down to the long run, these parts will fail you quicker than you expected AND with mtn biking being so addicting, you will want to head back to the bike shop and buy something better.

    as you can see above, this is the 2008 giant yukon fx. it's equipped with a RockShox Dart 2 100mm suspension fork, Giant air shock, SRAM SX-4 trigger shifting, SX-4 rear derailleur, Hayes MX-4 mechanical disc brakes and a WTB Dual Duty XC rim/Formula disc hub wheelset. honestly not a bad setup for a beginner bike, the way i look at it, it's something to build from for a year or 2. swap out the shifters and rear derailleur for SRAM X7's or X9's and maybe go with a lighter wheelset and you got a great transformation of yer bike.

    i'm going to try to get more close up pics soon, i saw it in person today and i gotta say it's a sweet looking bike. I'm sure he'll love it and soon we can hit the trails together (as soon as the mud dries).

happy muddy trails
~dirty bert

STAN TO THE RESCUE!

    I need Stan, Stan's tubeless system. I gather some people from work, 3 people and 2 more at the last minute, for a fun group ride at Mercer. Mercer seems to be the best meeting spot during the weekdays, since it is the quickest place to get to after work.
    Well within 15 minutes into our ride, someones tire started to hiss. We all stopped and helped change the tire and as usual we made fun of each other. The ride was good, there was one newbie riding with us, that was doing well and Mercer is a relatively easy place to start mtn. biking and a good place to get back into shape and start the new season.
    On the way back, my rear tire decided to finally go flat. I have been having an everlasting low/flat tire for about 5 months now. i think this has been the longest streak of not having a flat in my rear tire. I gotta say this, I HATE changing my rear tire. There is so much to deal with, aligning the disc with the caliper, then rerouting the chain around the cassette and trying to align the quick release back into the drop-outs AND all doing this with 2 hands. NO f-en way, can i do this by myself. Well anyway, I rode that tire, completely deflated on that rim to long. So long, that the rim nipped or cut into the sidewall.
    When we got back to the parking lot, I had my chance to get some help changing the rear tire. So Jeff kindly, held the bike up for me, while I cursed at the chain, disc and rear derailleur for about 15 minutes. I have learned valuable lessons in changing tires and one of them is to NEVER turn the bike upside down when you have hydraulic brakes. Why, because you will always get air in yer brake lines causing yer brakes to not work properly. AND as you can already tell from this post, that I'm mechanically challenged and can't handle bleeding my brakes, let alone changing my rear tire.
    Well, after I changed the tire, 3 people bailed to go home and ME and 2 others wanted to join me for some more riding on the other side of Mercer. We had a quick pace because at this point the sun just set and I needed to squeeze in a lil more trail time in. We hustled around the trails, stopping very lil but it became dark quickly, than I expected and once again we were out riding the trails in the dark. Thank god, I know the trails, so well and my eye sight is pretty good, well my squinting is excellent. We made it back to the cars by 8:25, with the lightning in the distance.
    I have learned, once again, I seriously need to invest in a couple of things, if I want to keep up riding like this.

1. Lights: Relatively cheap, under 100 bucks for a system. Any suggestions?
2. Stan's: I still need tubes but I heard and read this system works.
3. CO2 Inflation System: Ya still gonna need it, if you are using tubes or No Tubes and it beats killing yer arm for pumping (there's a joke in here somewhere and I'm not gonna touch it)
4. Tubes: 10 boxes of tubes for 20 bucks, not a bad deal.

I think right now, that would be a good start. I know, them lights can be expensive, especially the HID lights. I think the cheapest i saw them, were for, maybe 300 bucks. LED, here i come! On eBay, you can score Stan's for under 60 bucks.

happy trails
~dirty bert

My Mud Buddy & Me!

    Wow, what a muddy day. Well I met Jen for a nice, bitter, windy cold ride this past weekend at 6m (aka 6 Mile Run). I arrived late and not only do I do that but lost my disc brake pad in the gravel parking lot. Yea, it was like finding a needle in the haystack. The pad was black and gray and the gravel parking lot was black and gray and to add insult to injury, I think the dam pad floated away in the wind.

    Not to be discouraged from no front brake, I decided to ride anyways and not be denied of this ride wit Jen. Off we go, Me sportin' front and rear fenders, wool socks, over my thermal thighs and a long sleeve coml. shirt tucked into the tights and another warm jersey over that and my heavyweight jersey/jacket over that and under my helmet i was wearing balaclava.

    The trails were muddy, the logs looked wet but you never know if they were actually wet or just iced, either way, my rear tire slid along them. All the mud ruts were frozen, which is always interesting to try to ride in or over them. You always fall a victim of riding in them, hoping the other person before you, picked a good line.

    We got to ride over the new bridge, thank god it was much wider with a nice approach, I walked my bike over it because the snow/ice that formed on it made me second guess myself. On the way home, I did ride it but was so paranoid thinking that I would ride off of it.

    The mud we did find, was thick and heavy, nothing like the soupy kind you find in the summer. This crap stuck like crazy glue to the bike and loved to clog every hole on the bike, I think my bike gained 3 pounds of mud over the 2.5 hrs. we rode. I forgot to spray the underside of my fenders with Pam, you know that "non-stick" cooking spray, the crap wipes off so much easier, try it next time.

Very lil traction in da mud.

Look at the mud nest.

    Well the ride was a lot of fun and we got back to the parking lot in time to see the bow hunter head into the woods. I didn't wipe my bike down in the parking lot, I probably should have, so instead I placed the bike on the roof and the wind, froze the mud onto the bike but not before some mud splattered and froze to car. I got a frozen mud splatter on my roof, back window and on the trunk.

My brown & silver Turner.

    It took me 3 days to clean the bike, along with me doing the dumb thing of washing it outside. The sudsy bubbles on the frame, actually froze, good job, dummy! Anyway it's clean, well kinda of, but I'm dropping it off at the shop tonight for sum repairs. Real quick, one time i didn't clean my bike off, well not that labor intensive as I did this time and the bike shop charged me additionally for cleaning the bike so they could work on it. It sounds crazy but it's true. I don't care about the cold weather, nor the wind or the sno, all I care about is getting back to 6m for more mud madness.

happy trails
~dirty "muddy" bert

It's So Intense!

    I just found this and I wanted to share this with you. This bike looks PHAT! I don't know whether it has to do with the brand, Intense or the fact that the black and silver look HOT or it's a full suspension 29er. I'd be more excited (if that was possible) if this was a 96er.

    It looks like a custom selection for the parts. I see on it Thompson Elite X-4 stem, the red version of Magura Martha SL disc brakes, a Recon Rock Shox, red Salsa skewers, SRAM XO trigger and rear derailuer, a Thompson Masterpiece seatpost, a WTB saddle and a RaceFace crank. A real nice parts selection and if I was to guess how much this bike cost, I'd say $4,750!! I cheated and got it from the Hammerhead bikes website.

    I also found another cool bike product website for custom fenders. It's called, Woody's Custom Fenders. I can't even imagine what it would cost for these fenders. Then again paying 4,750 bucks for a custom bike is a drop in the bucket for sum custom wood fenders!

happy trails
~dirty bert