New bike parts?  Yep.  I was fortunate enough to receive a very nice Mavic Crossmax XL ceramic front wheel.  (Thanks!) My old wheel started leaving large amounts of aluminum in my brake pads, and the braking surface was getting a little thin.  So, new wheel and some new brakes and pads to finish it off.  I went with the Avid Single Digit 7 brakes and a pair of Rim Wrangler 2 ceramic pads on the front.

Why rim brakes?  Well, I considered a disc brake, but I couldn’t see much performance advantage, they are heavier, more expensive, require more maintenance, and I’d have to refer to the M2 as a mullet.   I’ve only ridden the new wheel once, but it was quite a bit stiffer than the old wheel, and the braking was impressive.  We had our first snow here in beautiful muddy suburban DC, so it may be a while until I’m back on the trails.   Until things dry out, I’ll probably spend my time tearing down the M2 and getting it cleaned up for the spring…

This story was posted on Saturday, December 8th, 2007 at 22:39 and is filed under Cycling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.