• 29er Build: Completion

    The 29er is finished.  The Kona is still covered in all of the standard stickers, but that probably won’t last too long.  The stem is likely a placeholder until I figure out just what size I want, and when I have figured that out I’ll chop the tandem-length hydro lines and everything should be set.  All told, the build went well and the only real hangup was the seat post.

    My 330mm Thomson post was too short for the rather odd 29er geometry.  At the proper height, the 330mm post was inserted well beyond the minimum insertion mark, but due to the steeply sloped top tube and long seat tube extension of the frame the bottom of the post did not extend far enough into the seat tube.  According to Thomson (and general opinion) the post should extend below the bottom of the top tube to minimize the risk of cracking the frame.  The 330mm post only extended about halfway between the top and bottom of the top tube.  The 410mm Thomson extends well below the bottom of the top tube, so problem solved.

    Here are the full specs:

    Specifications
    Size18″
    ColorBlack
    Weight10.8kg (23.8 lbs)
    FrameKona Unit, Steel
    ForkSurly Karate Monkey (w/ ground-off canti bosses)
    HeadsetRitchey
    StemThomson, 90mm
    HandlebarsEaston EA50 low-rise, 640mm
    GripsErgon GP1 BioKork
    BrakesAvid Elixir CR Carbon, Roundagon Rotors (185/160)
    CassetteSinglespeed spacers, Surly 20t cog HBC steel/alloy 20t cog
    ChainSRAM PC1
    Crankset/BBShimano Deore 175mm (FC-M590), HBC 32t SS alloy ring (1/8″)
    PedalsShimano M540
    WheelsFulcrum Redmetal 29 SL
    SkewersShimano XT
    TiresWTB Prowler 29 SL, 2.1″
    Maxxis Ignitor, 29×2.1″
    SaddleSelle Italia Flite Titanium
    SeatpostThomson 27.2, 410mm
    Lynskey Ti post, 27.2 / 400mm

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  • Interesting Video: RideKick Electric Trailer

    I’ve never been interested in electric bicycles, but this does look like something that may appeal to a lot of commuters. Aside from commuters, the LEDs, ports and modifiable firmware should appeal to everyone else.

    A module that uses this design that could fit into a Burly or Charriot would be more useful to me, though that would make an extremely expensive trailer. The only other feature I think it needs is a arcade-style turbo button, which should be red.

    Video Source: Bike Trailer Blog

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  • 700c/29er Wheels

    The topic of wheels and wheel weight came up after one of the sprints on my regular Thursday evening road ride.  This got me thinking about those new Fulcrum 29er wheels and how they would compare to the cyclocross wheels on my Gunnar.  These wheelsets are different in that one has disc hubs and the other is rim brake, but beyond that they are functionally quite similar.

    The wheelset on the Gunnar consists on Salsa Delgado Cross rims, XT hubs, butted DT Swiss spokes (alternating colors, of course) and Salsa stainless skewers.  All of this (minus the skewers) weighs an impressive  2090g (4.6 lbs).  This is the only wheelset I use on the Gunnar, so even though it was built for trail use it does see significant time on the road.

    When compared to the Fulcrum Redmetal 29er SL wheelset, which weighs in at rather portly 2028g (4.5  lbs), you’ll notice that my road wheels do in fact weigh more than my 29er wheels.  Out of curiosity I weighed the Gunnar’s wheelset with tires, tubes cassette and skewers and I was impressed to see that their combined 3080g (6.8 lbs) weight is (significantly) more than some complete bikes.

    I suppose this is interesting, though only in that it means that I could buy some really cheap and heavy road wheels and still save a significant amount of weight.  Dont worry, I’ll be back to the 29er build progress in the next post.

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