I wasn’t too kind to my brakes in the last post.  Since then, the BB7s have received new Avid sintered pads and some completely unnecessary blue paint.  The red pad adjustment knobs on BB7s are bright, bright red, and in my case the only red on the bike.  Scroll down to see what one coat of plastic primer and two coats of automotive Mica Blue can do for your BB7s.

Yesterday I raced in the second XC race of the season, and the second race in the rain and mud.  While I suppose racing in the mud is “fun” it has been taking a toll on the bike.  The cables are less than a month old, but I’m fairly certain they are shot.  The chain has definitely looked and felt better, and the chainring is certainly showing its age.

However, the components that have been showing the most wear are the brakes.  Up until these two races the BB7s have performed flawlessly and required very little attention.  Prior to the first race I put new Avid sintered pads in the front, and checked that the rear (also sintered) pads were in good shape.  In the first race the front brake needed a couple of adjustments for worn pads, but nothing extreme considering the race was three hours long.  In this last one-and-a-half-hour race both brakes needed adjusting more than six times.  After that I stopped counting.  The results speak for themselves:

I’m not suggesting that other brakes wouldn’t have faired any better, but self-adjusting brakes (found on just about every hydraulic brake available) would have worked far better in these conditions.  Anyway, I’m looking forward to a dry summer.

Until then, here are some more of my photos from the comparatively-dry morning classes at the Prospect Hill XC Race:

I’ve been traveling, so you’ll have to excuse the gap since the last update. For the first update, you get photos of a very foggy Eagle Park in the early winter.

Next, a breif update on the BB7 brake upgrade. I’ve used the BB7s in a few races, and in dry, wet and muddy conditions. My conclusion is that they work and they are a worth while upgrade. Benefits over my old rims brakes included more predictable braking in the wet and less hand fatigue, which is particularly useful in the enduro events. Areas of concern are the increased weight, braking noise and degraded modulation. However, even with the drawbacks, I would strongly recommend BB7s for cross country use.

Moving on, I’ve converted the Eriksen to 1×9. Prior to the last enduro I removed the granny gear, so removing the big ring was the next logical step. I used a Paul’s Chain Keeper, and kept the XT crankset with the 32t middle ring. I’m still adjusting things (mostly the chain length), but the system seems to work well and the big ring hasn’t been missed.  That said, I’ll give the 1×9 setup more trail time before I give a more detailed review.

Finally, my old (but not that old) Adidas Marathon shoes died. The sole surrounding the cleat cracked after about two years of use. I wasn’t impressed. So, I got a pair of Shimano SM-M086L (catchy name, huh?) shoes as a replacement. The Shimanos aren’t as flashy as some of the shoes out there, but they are reasonably priced and appear to be durable. They have been comfortable on the road, and haven’t given me any reason to complain off-road in the mud. That’s all for now, but I’ll have some non-cycling related updates shortly…