• Eagle Park

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    Eriksen at Eagle Park

    I got the Eriksen out to Eagle Park a couple times this weekend. The first day I rode a short distance with some local riders who showed me the tracks and gave me some tips. The rest of the day was spent making minor adjustments and getting the Eriksen (and myself) back into decent riding condition. Now that the brakes, derailleurs, bottom bracket and headset are happy I should be able to ride without carrying a full toolbox around with me.

    Eagle Park: Sunset Blvd

    The second day was a much longer ride and the low clouds made for some great photos. Overall, Eagle seems to have a broad range of trail types. There are easy fire road tracks, mild to technical xc tracks, a ‘skills park’ and even some downhill tracks. The terrain is varied enough that this will be a good park for regular rides and shouldn’t get boring.

    Eriksen at Eagle Park

    The Forester is a great car for transporting bikes around. The trunk is large enough for all of the gear, the roof is long enough that rear-hatch to bike tire clearance isn’t an issue, and the roof line is low enough that getting the bike on and off is easy.

    Forester at Eagle Park

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  • Back to Bikes

    Gunnar on the Beach

    The three bikes we brought with us are now reassembled and ready to ride. All three bikes made it through the three-month transit intact. We’ll start first with the Eriksen.

    Eriksen Boxed

    One of the customs requirements is that the bikes had to be clean and free of dirt. This really isn’t an easy as it might sound. Rather than face potential fines and delays for importing a less than spotless bike, I completely tore down the Eriksen and cleaned each component. The tear down took about three days.

    Eriksen in Pieces

    This is what I had once all of the bubble wrap and tape was removed. The reassembly was fun, and took only a few hours. Notable changes include the tires, which are new Hutchinson Toro 2.15″, and a new cyclo-computer.  Other wear items such as cables, housing and the chain were also replaced.

    Eriksen Assembly

    The computer I was using in DC suffered an impact with a stream bank on my last ride. The crash left the computer embedded in the mud with a mounting tab cracked off. This is unfortunate as I really like this computer, a Sigma 1600. The Sigma is still in use, but not on the Eriksen (more on that later).

    Knog NERD

    The Eriksen now has a Knog NERD that I got from Bernie Jones Cycles in nearby Warradale. I chose the Knog because of the rubbery mounting and apparent resistance to crash damage. Furthermore, I mounted the Knog on the stem to keep it away from stream bank damage.  One note: the included magnet from Knog does not work with Mavic alloy spokes.  The Sigma magnet (which does work with Mavic alloy spokes) works fine with the Knog sender.

    Knog NERD

    I’ll let you know if I break it.

    Gunnar in Bubble Wrap

    Moving on the Gunnar. The Gunnar wasn’t as muddy as the Eriksen, so I didn’t do a full tear down. It went back together in less than an hour. The only muddy parts on the Gunnar were the knobby tires. Here is a tip: to quickly remove dirt from knobbies remove the tires from the rim, place in the washing machine, add detergent, and wash in hot water. This was done with kevlar-bead tires, and the results were pretty good. I wouldn’t recommend doing this with steel-bead tires as corrosion and mangling of the bead are quite likely.

    Fixed Sigma BC1600

    The Sigma computer will now be used full-time on the Gunnar. Due to the now missing mounting tab, the computer is semi-permanently zip tied to the bars. This should work well for road use, but I’m not sure how long it would last off road. The Gunnar is the only bike I’ve ridden so far. Two rides up the coast so far (see the first photo), more to come this weekend.

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  • Forester Updates

    Duct Tape Mat

    The first addition to the Forester was supposed to be a mat or tray for the cargo area. The perfect light grey carpet would surely lose some of it’s appeal with chain lube smeared all over it. After an extensive search, I found no rubber cargo mats for a ’99 Forester anywhere in Australia. Mats from the US are available, but shipping is as ridiculous as you might expect. What to do?

    Duct Tape Cargo Mat In Progress
    I found some bulk rubber mat at the local hardware store, but the two square meters would have cost $60-100 AU. I made a cardboard template for the tray, and I liked it so much I covered it with black duct tape. So, with left over cardboard plus $9 AU of black duct tape and I now have a mat.

    Duct Tape Cargo Mat Detail

    It has creases so that the floor compartments can be accessed, and even cut-outs for the handles and anchor points. So far the mat is working well. We will have to wait and see how long it lasts.

    Forester Rocky Mounts Rack

    The Rocky Mounts were removed from the Impreza before we left, and they finally arrived late last week. They fit pretty well on the Forester factory Subaru rack, but longer hardware was needed to clear the larger crossbars. Maybe when I finish rebuilding the bikes I’ll have something to put on it.

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