Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Cross Dressing

I'm a bad person.
My brother-in-law's father passed away, and it wasn't long before I was wondering how the arrangements would effect me getting in one last race this year.
Being the team player that I am, I'm going to race the Singular. But being a cross race there are a few adjustments I've made to make it a more appropriate tool for the job.


Huge clearance Clarence
Old school schwoopyness


First, Nitto Northstar handle bars. I ran these last Winter on the Soma fixed. I liked the lower position of them, but for true offroading the tended to slip on rough descents, which is more than a little annoying. I could have probably cured this by buying a stem with a wide, not cutout face plate, but that would involve buying something, so that wasn't going to happen.
So far for the cross applications I have subjected them to they have stayed in place.
They do quicken the steering too. Some engineer can probably explain the bio-mechanics of this, I just know it is. Takes a while to get used to in singletrack.
I could have put standard drop bars on it, but that would involve changing the brakes to mechanical discs, which is more time than I plan to invest in this project.
I had a lot of trouble with flats running 35mm cross tires and tubes. I tried to get the cross tires to work tubeless but that = big FAIL!
My solution is to run the narrowest mtb tires I have. Kenda Karma 1.9's. I've always loved how these tires roll yet grip, but found them to be quite fragile on New England single track. I gave them a double shot of Stan's and cross my fingers.
My gearing is top secret at this point. Let's just say I've been giving the ebb and Sheldon Brown's gear calculator a workout.

Right now I'm 75% sure Ice Weasels will be the race of choice; the 20+ riders registered for the Singlespeed class almost 2 weeks in advance will probably out weigh the greater distance, and now equal registration fee to Beer Cross.
Of those 20+ riders, only one or two are regulars to the SS that I know of. Will my singlespeedalicity out way my cross virginity?

3 comments:

James said...

Hopefully your bars wont slip at the race. It seems kinda sketchy to me. How about some drop bars?

TJ said...

How about your regular old flat bars? Forgive me if my non SS knowledge is showing but if its a course like cheshire think you'll kill it without having to worry bout slippage.

CB2 said...

I'm going to test the flat bar with my secret gear, niw that I know what my secret gear is.