If you recall, I swapped the 2.1″ Ignitors on the Eriksen with some rather heavy 2.35s. A few weeks ago I raced the Ignitors (with Eriksen attached) at the AMTBC MT. Torrens enduro. Overall, the 2.35″ Ignitors performed well. More specifically, the 2.35s were noticeably slower on the climbs (it wasn’t me, really), but more than made up for any shortcomings on the way back down.

The downhills at Mt. Torrens are a lot of fun with fast rocky sections, several ramps, berms and other potentially painful features. With my new monster-truck tyres I was able to catch other riders on the downhills and have a lot of fun doing it. So, the 2.35s are staying and I’ll just have to deal with the climbs.

Also of interest may be my new lights. The Mt. Torrens enduro was held in the afternoon with approximately three hours of daylight and three hours of night riding. Prior to this race I had been using a NiteRider MiNewt Mini USB, a 115 lumen light. For this race I used a new bar-mounted NiteRider TriNewt, which comes in at just under 500 lumens.

I ran the TriNewt in the reduced brightness mode for a reported seven-hour battery life during the night portion of the race. Prior to the race I hadn’t noticed much diffrence between the full and reduced brightness modes, and found the light in this mode more than adequate for the race.

I brought the MiNewt Mini USB as a backup light, but I never felt a need to use it. Since the race, I’ve purchased a helmet-mount kit for the MiNewt Mini USB. I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I’m curious to see if it is a worthwhile addition to the TriNewt.

If you’re interested I ended up finishing in the middle of the men’s solo class, even with an unscheduled coffee and photo break– full results over at AMTBC.

Prior to the Mt. Torrens enduro I converted the ’08 Reba Race from 100mm to 115mm. I wasn’t convinced this is what I wanted long term, but I wanted to give it a try. Well, after a few rides and the enduro I converted the Reba back to 100mm. Why? The fork went from fairly stiff and generally nice to noticeably flexy and generally frustrating.

During the conversion back to 100mm I replaced the fork oil (again) and the dirt/oil/foam seals on the fork lowers. Thanks again to BMCR for having the parts in stock. Anyway, replacing the seals is fairly easy, and the now that the fork is back to the “right” height everything feels a lot better. In any case, my rebuild proved a lot cheaper than some others I’ve recently heard about.

Want more? I’ve been getting the Gunnar in shape for the next cyclocross race and had the bottom bracket faced, thanks to Brian at Road Rage Cycles. This may seem like an odd thing to do to a 10-year-old frame, but I noticed my external-bottom-bracketed FSA cyclocross crankset didn’t spin nearly as freely as the more road-friendly 105 Octalink crankset I had been using. Instead of going nuts with a White Industries VBC crankset, I tried the cheaper option of fixing what I already had. I’m happy to report that the FSA crankset now spins nicely and all is ready for the upcoming race.

Yes, it is Spring here.  In fact, we just started day light savings this morning.  Springtime is a great time of year for cleaning and fork rebuilding. Yep, the Reba needed a rebuild.

But, instead of rebuilding the Reba I took the Gunnar out for a ride.  I started from home and rode north to the River Torrens, and then up the river towards Adelaide.  Normally these paths are quite crowded.  Fortunately, Katherine woke us up around 4:30AM, so I got an early start.  I didn’t really have a specific route in mind, so I just kept going.  Well, somewhere in the Adelaide Hills the paths along the river change to about 100m of gravel, and then about 10m of singletrack and then nothing.  The ride ended up being about 83km and 3 hours.  I did not bring a camera.  Speaking of trails, these cycling, walking and public transit maps from the South Australian Government have been very helpful.  The maps include dedicated cycling paths, shared paths, bike lanes, and even bike shops and bike lockers.  According to the maps, I rode through Paradise, and then off of the map to some unknown section of trail (probably the gravel).

Back to the fork.  Sometime during the last ride at Eagle, the Reba lost half of the normal travel and the poplock stopped working.  The symptoms were somewhat familiar, so I knew it was time.  I was able to locate the oil and o-ring kit locally.  Bio-Mechanis Cycles & Repairs in Adelaide had the o-rings in stock, and they even had parts from Surly, Salsa and some others I haven’t seen here.  The only difference I noticed between this rebuild and the last, was that the oil I used this time was blue, while it was previously red.  The only difference you’ll notice this time is that I don’t have any “during” photos of the process.  This is mainly due to the explosive and oil filled nature of Reba disassembly.

Here, in the “after” shot, you will notice that the fork looks exactly like it did in the “before” shot above.  This is good.  The now functional poplock and restored full travel are also good.