• What is this and why is it here? crossgeared.com was and now is again my blog. A blog is like whatever social media platform exists in your bubble, but is more difficult to maintain, is harder to find, and takes longer to read (no character limits). I stopped updating crossgeared.com in 2013, forgot about it for a decade or so, and now in 2026 have recently returned. Having been away for so long, I had to reacquaint myself with my blog, and this one appears to be mostly cycling related with a few old cars and tech related topics thrown in. I added a tag cloud way down there at the bottom for anyone interested.

  • 20 Years

    2001 Gunnar Crosshairs in March 2006

    20 years ago in the (northern hemisphere) spring of 2006 I bought a used Stirling Silver 2001 Gunnar Crosshairs from Karl at Klunk Cycles in Columbia, MO. It was my first dropbar bike, and I rode it off-road far more than on anything paved. In mid-Missouri there was the MKT and Katy Trail, somehow both gravel long before gravel bikes. Who knew? Aside from that, the Crosshairs saw singletrack and the annual MS150 where in 2006 I rode my first century and then my second century the next day.

    So, what was the Crosshairs then, and what is it now?

    The Crosshairs was Gunnar’s cyclocross frame. My 52cm has a 555mm top tube and a tiny headtube sitting at 72.5 deg. All this results in a fun bike off-road with a lot of saddle to bar drop and significant toe overlap. I was able to tolerate long hours on this thing in the past, but I find the aggressive bar drop a bit much on longer rides these days. Looking back at that photo from 2006, it seems I had significantly higher bars thanks to some spacers and that recalled Salsa CroMoto stem giving some additional rise. It looks like things have changed a little over the past 20 years.

    2026 2026

    This chart below is from the old Gunnar site and lists the original Crosshairs geometries prior to an update sometime in the early 2000s.

    Original Crosshairs Geometry Chart from Gunnar

    If memory serves, my Crosshairs was built with parts pulled from a Specialized cyclocross bike. Based on what I can find and my memory of the components, I’m going to assume it was a 2006 Tricross. The 8-speed 105 drivetrain was pretty good, but the wheels weren’t. The first upgrade was my Karl Klunk built Deore XT/Salsa Delgato Cross wheelset, and they stuck around for years until they were donated to a commuter bike build. The changes continued through a 9-speed 105 drivetrain that wasn’t really an improvement or the 8-speed, to the 2015 SRAM Force 22 rebuild that’s still here.

    Gunnar Crosshairs at the Otway Odyssey 2022

    The most beneficial upgrade of any is almost certainly the tyres. Early 700c off road tyres weren’t great in terms of traction, longevity or puncture resistance. Patching punctures from thorns, goatheads, rim impacts or whatever else was a regular occurrence on my rides through the Adelaide Hills in the 2010s. However, finally swapping over to tubeless was a great improvement. I currently have a set of Hunt 4 Season Aero alloy wheels with tubeless Vittoria Mezcal 700×35 tyres. This combo maxes out the available tyre clearance on the Gunnar and is acceptable in most conditions. The Mezcals have proved to be durable, roll reasonably well on roads, and give decent grip on gravel and dirt.

    I gave a brief summary of the drivetrain in the last post, and aside from the SRAM Force 22 drivetrain and Hunt wheelset, the Crosshairs has the original Thomson seatpost with a WTB Silverado Ti saddle, a newer Thomson X4 stem (the X2 slipped), Salsa Cowbell bars with Spank Flare gravel tape, a shiny silver Chris King headset (very nice), and a couple King stainless cages. I also have an old Fulcrum Racing 5 CX wheelset with some tubed Vittoria Corsa N.Ext 32mm tyres that have seen some use on the road and gravel.

    Gunnar Crosshairs on a bike packing trip at Rosanna train station

    I started tracking my gear on Strava in 2011, and since then the Gunnar has recorded just over 19,000km. As that last post may have revealed, I have a lot of bikes around and I can only ride one at a time, so the Gunnar doesn’t get a lot of use. Still, it does account for about 1/3 of all my recorded distance on Strava, and a few years ago I took the Gunnar out on a two-day, 265km bike packing gravel ride out to Warrnambool. These days I have a coupe dropbar MTBs that probably see more use off-road than the Gunnar, the recent addition of a more traditional road bike means it will now probably see fewer KMs on the road as well, and while it is my only cyclocross bike I believe my last CX race was over 10 years ago. Still, I hope to continue riding the Crosshairs and look forward to the next one.

    What about Gunnar / Waterford Cycles themselves? Richard Schwinn announced the closure of both Waterford Cycles and Gunnar In 2023. More recently, Escape Collective reported the Waterford and Gunnar are revived under new owners. The new owners, Abracadabra Fabrication, have a new site up with a few framesets with familiar names. All these Gunnars a shown with the old Star Wars Gunnar downtube decals (nice.), but I don’t know much else about them.

    What’s left to do? Here’s the Crosshairs now 25 years old, 20 years later, and still leaning against fence.

    2001 Gunnar Crosshairs in 2026
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  • Drivetrains

    Various drivetrain components played out on the floor

    I recently read a fun article by Rob English over on Escape Collective about assembling various mechanical and electronic drivetrains in useful, non-standard ways.

    While my drivetrains aren’t quite as exotic as most of these, some are quirky in their own ways. I’ve included only complete or soon-to-be-completed bikes and only bikes that I regularly ride. Any themes here? They’re all mechanical, mostly 1x, and other than that they seem to be a mix of flat and drop bar, different brands, and various speeds. Still, that’s nine eight bikes, and they’re all detailed below in no particular order.

    Singlespeed • XTR 1×10 • Eagle 12 speed • IG 1×7 • 3×8 • SRAM 2×11 • Shimano 2×11 • 1×11

    Singlespeed
    A SRAM S1400 Crank on a Yellow bike

    This singlespeed 29er drivetrain is pretty straightforward: the components were chosen for longevity, and at 1.65:1 the somewhat odd 28/17t set up was chosen to reduce chainring size and because it’s a little taller than the more common 1:6:1 32/20t. The SRAM steel chainring is particularly good value.

    I used to have a 3/32″ cog and would run any extra chain I had laying around. I neglected to change this habit when I swapped to the 1/8″ Surly cog and broke a KMC quick link in a 10-speed SRAM RED chain on a climb. Oops. I’ve switched to the cheap and cheerful SRAM PC1 1/8” chain and haven’t had any issues since.

    • Cog: Surly steel 17t
    • Crank & BB: SRAM S1400 175mm crankset
    • Chainring: SRAM X-sync direct mount steel 28t
    • Chain: SRAM PC1
    XTR Dynasys + Genvenalle/Microshift, 1×10
    Gevenalle Shifter

    My dropbar 650b MTB drivetrain is built around a particularly nice 10-speed Dynasys XTR rear derailleur. Most (all?) of my other bikes have mid-tier components, but I was given this XTR derailleur and had some fun with it. I’ve swapped the standard derailleur link for a Wolf Tooth Goatlink to accommodate the larger 11-42t cassette. The cheap and somewhat heavy Deore M4100 11-42t cassette works well and works just as well as the previous XT plus Wolf Tooth 42t cog it replaced.

    This bike has been through several configurations, and the current Gevenalle GX shifters are the second set from Gevenalle. I swapped the old Gevenalle with mechanical disc brake setup for the GX’s TRP Hylex-based levers and callipers. The Gevenalle-modified Microshift 10-speed MTB/Dynasys thumb shifter works well and shifts faster than any STI or RapidFire system. Overall, this is a very satisfying and reliable drivetrain.

    • Rear Derailleur: Shimano XTR M986 10-speed, plus Wolf Tooth Goat Link
    • Cassette: Shimano M4100 11-42, 10-speed
    • Shifter: Gevenalle GX levers (TRP Hylex and adapted Microshift thumb shifters)
    • Crank & BB: Shimano XTR M9120, 10-speed, Shimano Saint BB
    • Chainring: Wolf Tooth 36t direct mount
    • Chain: Shimano HG95, 10-speed
    SRAM Eagle X01/XX1, 1×12
    SRAM XX1 Rainbow Cassette

    An Eagle mechanical drivetrain on my rainbow Canyon Lux CF SL 8.0. Not much to say here, it’s a pretty standard SRAM Eagle configuration, except for perhaps the oval chainring, and it all works as reliably as anything. Downsides? The $750AUD cassette is obnoxious, but it is rainbow and complements the frame nicely.

    • Rear Derailleur: SRAM Eagle X01
    • Cassette: SRAM Eagle XX1
    • Shifter: SRAM Eagle X01
    • Crank & BB: SRAM Eagle XX1 with a broken Quarq power meter
    • Chainring: Wolf Tooth 36t oval
    • Chain: SRAM X01
    Nexus 7, 1×7
    A new tyre for the utility ebike?

    My utility ebike has the drivetrain it came with from new. The Giant/Yamaha drivetrain uses a Nexus 7 internally-geared hub that mostly works, but does occasionally hang between shifts and needs a little backpedal for encouragement. The shifter feels cheap, the ‘1’ and ‘7’ in the chosen font are difficult to distinguish, but it works.

    • Rear Hub: Nexus 7
    • Cassette: NA
    • Shifter: Nexus 7 grip shift
    • Crank & BB: Some cheap crank arms bolted to a Yamaha mid-drive
    • Chainring: Round with some teeth, but it’s hidden behind a chainguard
    • Chain: I checked, it’s a very dusty KMC
    LX/XT, 3×8
    Several Shimano XT and XTR cranks

    A few years ago I rebuilt my old 1995 StumpJumper M2. When I bought this bike new in the spring of 1995 it came with a 3×8, predominantly Deore XT drivetrain, save the GripShifts, but I had some integrated XT (M738?) Rapidfire shift/brake levers swapped on at purchase.

    The M2 is now roughly similar to its original setup, but now with a mix of Deore LX, XT and Paul’s brakes and levers. I do have a full Deore XT M739 drivetrain and brakes in a box that I’ll likely swap on at some point.

    Impressions? Clutches are a great innovation and the chain slap from these old drivetrains is way noisier than you may remember.

    • Rear Derailleur: Deore LX M560
    • Cassette: Shimano HG51 11-32
    • Shifters: Deore LX M569
    • Crank & BB: Deore XT M751
    • Chainrings: Deore XT/LX
    • Chain: Shimano 8-speed; and too dusty to read the plates…
    Force 22, 2×11
    SRAM Force 22 Chainrings

    I installed this 11-speed SRAM drivetrain on my old 2001 Gunnar Crosshairs in 2015 and it’s been very reliable, very durable, and very good. The rear derailleur was replaced after the original developed an annoying squeak after being submerged in a flood, the chainrings are new, and the remainder is original aside from the chain. No complaints here, it’s great and I vastly prefer the shifting and lever feel over anything dropbar from Shimano.

    The Crosshairs is a rim brake bike, and I’ve used a variety of cantilevers and now mini-vs on this one. I don’t recall the original cantilevers, probably something Tektro, but I had Paul’s Neo Retro/Touring cantis for several years. They were pretty good, but the setup was finicky and I wanted more power. I swapped to Paul’s Minimotos along with this drivetrain in 2015. I initially had a lot of trouble chasing a chattering front brake and ultimately solved the issue swapping the included MTB brake pads for a some shorter cartridge road pads. All of the brakes from Paul’s are good, but the Minimotos are the best.

    • Rear Derailleur: SRAM Force 22 Wifli/medium cage
    • Cassette: Shimano Ultegra R8000 11-32
    • Shifter: SRAM Force 22 DoubleTap
    • Crank & BB: SRAM Force 22 172.5mm crank and SRAM GXP BSA BB
    • Chainring: SRAM Force 22 50/34
    • Chain: Shimano HG701 Ultegra 11-speed
    Ultegra, 2x(mostly)11
    A Shimano Ultegra ad in Fukuoka, Japan

    I’m currently building a couple bikes. This one, a pretty traditional 2x road build, is based largely on Shimano Ultegra R8000. I don’t have much to say about this one at this stage, but I expect it to work and not require much attention.

    The rear derailleur is Ultegra 11-speed, but the medium cage with a clutch proto-GRX Ultegra RX800. I’m planning on pairing it with either an 11-32, 11-34, or 11-36 XT/Ultegra cassette.

    The crank, a 12-speed Ultegra R8100, is the more-likely-to-remain-a-crank-shaped-object than the matching R8000. I considered the recall replacement FC-08, but the mismatched 11-speed chainrings on the clearly 12-speed crank arm is annoying and a non-starter.

    • Rear Derailleur: Shimano Ultegra RX800, medium cage with a clutch, 11-speed
    • Cassette: TBD, 11-speed
    • Shifter: Shimano Ultegra R8000, 11-speed
    • Crank & BB: Shimano Ultegra R8100, 12-speed
    • Chainrings: Shimano Ultegra R8100 50/34, 12-speed
    • Chain: Shimano XT M8100, 12-speed
    XT/GRX/Ultegra-ish, 1×11
    Chains in the Ultrasonic Cleaner

    This is the second bike in process. This dropbar 29er is a bit of an 11-speed mullet with non-series RS685 Ultegra-adjacent road shifters, gravel GRX rear derailleur, MTB crank, and MTB cassette.

    I’ve ridden this one a few times, and initial impressions are pretty good. The 11-speed GRX derailleur shifts well, the range is great, and the brakes are outstanding. The RS685 levers have a nice shape, but are fairly rattly over rough terrain. I’ve swapped bars the traditional bars already for some old Salsa Cowchippers with some more flare, and I image there will be further adjustments.

    • Rear Derailleur: Shimano GRX RX812, 11-speed
    • Cassette: Shimano XT M8000 11-42, 11-speed
    • Shifter: Shimano ST-RS685 Ultegra-ish, 11-speed
    • Crank & BB: Shimano XT M780, ext. BB
    • Chainring: NSB 38t
    • Chain: Shimano HG701 LX/XT/Ultegra/etc.

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  • Tesla Wall Connector V3

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    A loose connector inside a Tesla Wall Connector V3 that caused a CC_a027 error and reduced charge rate

    I recently had a recurring error CC_a027 from my Tesla Wall Connector V3 that would give three red error LED blinks, send a notification of a charge error to my phone and the in-car display, and reduce the charge rate from whatever to was set to down to 6A. My Wall Connector was about six months past its four-year warranty, so I was on my own to fix this or buy a replacement. According to Tesla’s documentation this could be due to a number of faults.

    I was able to fix my issue, which as a loose connector for the charge cable button/temp sensor. This was reported from /api/1/vitals as a handle_temp_c value of 255.0, which could either mean my charge handle, cable, and probably car are sitting at a toasty 255C, which seems unlikely as this is probably above the melting point of the glass-reinforced plastic type 2 plug, or more likely, there was something wrong with the sensor or associated hardware.

    /api/1/vitals output:

    {"contactor_closed":false,"vehicle_connected":true,"session_s":40519,"grid_v":234.9,"grid_hz":49.926,"vehicle_current_a":0.6,"currentA_a":0.6,"currentB_a":0.4,"currentC_a":0.4,"currentN_a":0.5,"voltageA_v":0.0,"voltageB_v":0.0,"voltageC_v":3.0,"relay_k1_v":11.9,"relay_k2_v":0.0,"pcba_temp_c":18.0,"handle_temp_c":255.0,"mcu_temp_c":24.1,"uptime_s":41523,"input_thermopile_uv":-183,"prox_v":0.1,"pilot_high_v":8.7,"pilot_low_v":-11.6,"session_energy_wh":3742.700,"config_status":5,"evse_state":4,"current_alerts":[],"evse_not_ready_reasons":[1]}

    These are the resources I found along the way:

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