That cheap Nokia I bought didn’t work out as well as I had hoped.  The keyboard was really bad, and it didn’t work in the U.S.  That last point isn’t a huge problem, but it was inconvenient.

So, pictured above you’ll see a hand-me-down BlackBerry 8100.   After unlocking the phone, adding a new trackball, battery, battery door and a silicone case, I have a nice phone with a much better keyboard.  Surprisingly, all of those parts only cost around $20 USD.

I can’t really give a complete opinion on the phone as I’m using it on a voice/text only pre-paid plan.  However, I will say that the  8100 is a nice size with a nice keyboard and a decent display.  The camera is a bit of a disappointment, but it does an adequate job.  The USB port for charging/data transfer is a huge improvement of the proprietary Nokia connectors, and the semi-common 2.5mm headphone/mic jack had proven useful.  The built-in MP3 player is clunky, but functional, and is a reasonable substitute for carrying my iPod shuffle.  Other than that, the interface is fairly nice, and the trackball is a reasonable input device (when it isn’t dirty).

Since I don’t have much else to say, here are some shots from the camera in different lighting conditions:

The Eriksen at Eagle Park

A foggy Winter day at Fox Creek

An Amtrak train

Rusty bridge

An archway

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…

My new Hope Pro II hubs are doing well and I’ve been happy with their performance and durability.  It is hard to say how much distance the hubs have covered, but in the three plus months I’ve had them they have been used in several races in dry and muddy conditions.  The seals seem to be doing a good job of keeping the mud and sand out, and the bearings still feel as good as they did when new.  Other than this recent routine maintenance, I haven’t had to do anything to them.

I’m not going to get into much detail on the maintenance.  If you’re looking for more technical info, I found the videos from Hope sufficiently detailed and informative. In comparison to routine Mavic hub maintenance, these are just as simple and the process doesn’t take much time.

Upon removing the cassette there was obvious wear on the aluminum freehub from the smaller individual cogs on the XT cassette.  This is a widely noted shortcoming of the Hope freehub and can make the cassette a little difficult to remove.  Switching to Hope’s steel freehub is an option if the problem gets worse.

Other than that, all I have to add is that an open water bottle is the perfect diameter to re-seat the drive-side seal between the freehub and hub body.  On a related note I used Park Polylube 1000, which in addition to working well in the these hubs, tastes better than most sports drinks.