JDMST EOMM

As always, some hot cars turned up to the JDMST End Of Month Meet (EOMM). More pictures here and here.

Manly Dam

OK, so we finally did Manly Dam. It was always going to be tough, but after a nutter weekend on the booze, it was going to be even tougher. Jing came and got me at 9am, my eyes were stinging from severe lack of sleep. We got throught the traffic AOK and even riding from the car to the trail was burning my legs!

The trail starts off through peoples back yards, which feels pretty strange, but then you enter some very tight single trail, and it gets pretty damn technical in places. The 11km trail just got better and better, and more and more challenging as you go along. It's a super diverse trail with everything you can want. Technical uphill, downhill, fast flowing downhill with jumps, drops, general flatter XC... the works.

Everyone we came across was super friendly. There were also a few volunteer bike riders fixing parts of the trail which I was super impressed with. It's such an awesome trail. I'd be more than happy to help out.

Jing and I got to ride each others bikes too. I'm pretty sure I made the right purchase with the Reign. It chomped up all the tech downhill and fast downhill stuff. It's not great at climbing though, which is abit of a bummer. Climbing on the Reign means staying in your seat (no power!) and trying as hard as you can to keep the front from lifting. Jing's Scott was amazing at out of seat climbing and great in tight technical stuff, just not great on the faster downhill stuff where your wrists would ache and the rear would just jump around a hell of a lot. Having said that, the Scott did manage to do everything the Reign did, albeit a little more un-comfortably.

Photos here. Awesome trail, great ride. Will be back for plenty more, please.

DMR V8 pedals

For the Giant Reign. I've decided to get rid of the clip ins (save it for a road bike later on) so I got some DMR V8 pedals, in army green of-course :) I also got some Maxxis eXCeption High Rollers which weigh in at 480g/tyre (lighter than the OEM's 760g/tyre). Weight now comes to 13.64kg.

Red bits

Little update: New KMC red chain and red non-quick release skewers all around.

Eclat

Eclat. Nice graphic design, nice products.

Almost done

Here's a list of mods with weights and budget all up is just over $1k (scary how $10 here $20 there adds up!):

Frame (2978g)
SASO carbon fork (815g)
FSA Pig DH-Pro Headset 1-1/8 (205g)
Amoeba carbon spacers (10g)
Controltech scandium bar (114g)
Ritchey 2008 WCS Grips (52g)
Syntace Stem (98g)
Shimano Hone Crankset/bb (918g)
VP 196 pedals (260g)
Fire Eye Single Speed kit (85g)
Sette Single Speed Tensioner (110g)
Shimano HG50 chain (338g)
Maxlite 310 (320g)
Tubes flyweight x 2 (100g/tube)
Avid BB7 (697g)
Shimano XTR levers (166g)
A2Z disc brake convertor (100g)
Tioga MC Lite Saddle (200g)
FSA SL-K carbon seatpost (240g)
Tranz X seatpost bolt M6x45mm (15g)
Seatpost shim (12g)
Sette Skewers (109g)
Weinmann Bull Disc front (1080g)
Sun Ditch Witch Deore hub rear (1335g)
-----------------------------------------------------
FINAL WEIGHT: 10.4Kg

I like the idea of being in the 9kg's, a lighter wheelset will do it. A wheelset and a Ti frame will see me in the 8kg's!

The flat pedals and brakes to come but are listed above. The wheelset isn't THAT heavy. The frame turns out to be pretty heavy but it is chromoly afterall. The headset is heavy, I could save 100g with a Chris King, or lighter FSA. I'm tempted to get an ultralight Ti frame, but I'm nostalgic about the Hardrock. It's got character unlike some Chinese Brand-X Ti frame, something romantic about it :)

PS: Also got the A2Z rear disc brake mount on the bike (the Hardrock frame was not made for disc brakes on the rear). Looks like it just might work!

F1RST

Oh wow. Bring it on!!!

Scandium

ControlTech Scandium Flat Bar: 114g
FSA SL-K carbon seatpost: 240g
Current build weight: 9.36kg

Looks like once I put the brakes on I'll have failed my mission to stay in the 9kg's. It's amazing how little things add up (weight and money wise!).

SS update

More parts for the SS! Sexy as Syntace 99 stem (98g) came in the mail today and the guys at the local bike store cut my carbon fork steerer down a little. The Shimano M520 SPD clipless pedals came off my new Giant Reign. The Maxxis Maxlite 310 (310g/each in comparisson to the 760g/each Larse TT's) came in too so I fitted them along with the super light tubes (one of them popped on fitting too, hmmm. Scary!). Currently sitting at 8.8kg with the heavy down hill wheelset.

Weight Weenies here I come!

Australia Post is working today as I got my XTR levers as well as my carbon fibre fork today for the single speed project. Have to say, it's amazingly light and damn sexy! It's actually made in Taiwan and rebranded as a White Brothers product to the USA (of-course for 3 times the price). I paid $173 for it off eBay. Can't wait to get this gear on the single speed!

Loftus Oval

Jing and I went to Loftus Oval this morning to test the new Reign. We ran into a friendly guy (Anthony) in the carpark, who seemed to be excitedly waiting for some bikers to come along, cool that he too had a Giant (a new Trance) which funnily enough he also had never ridden and he just bought it from my local bike store in Maroubra Junction.

All in all the bike did really well, some of the climbs I just had to walk up but the bike really shines on downhills, it's so confidence inspiring. The single track at Loftus is awesome and the bit I loved the most, shame it's so short. Looking forward to joining MWG on some Blue Mountains stuff and also trying Manly Dam. More pics here.

Giant Reign 1

OK, so I finally caved in (bit of pressure from Jing, who actually spotted the bike for me) and bought myself a NEW bike today.

It's a 2007 Giant Reign 1 which was worth $3000 new and was on a run-out sale at Cranks in North Sydney (still on their site now). I ended up bargaining it down (it's the Asian in me) to $1800 cycle away.

Despite initially wanting a hardtail I knew I had to give full suspension a go and it was between the 2008 Scott Genius MC-40 or the Reign. The Scott small felt way too big for me and the lowest I could get it down to was $2350. I did a lot of research on the Reign which is much loved all over the world. 6 inches of travel (that's massive) a good all round all mountain bike, great for downhills, great for climbing too. I was sold.

Riding it feels pretty strange, it's very plush, bobs up and down when peddaling out of the seat, but then you realise you didn't have to get out of the seat, even going off a gutter is surreal as you can sit down and not even feel it. I'm 100% sure it'll be amazing on the rough stuff.

Tomorrow I'll hit the national park, or Manly Dam in it and take some pics! Here's a great clip showing off the suspension at work. Here's the spec sheet.

Edit: just took some pics.

Drop it like it's hot

Spent the day catching up with the JDMyard boys which were busy dropping a B18C (yo) into a customer car. Safety first (notice the use of a seat belt to lift and drop the engine!) ah got to love grass roots backyard mechanics!

Workshop fun

Jing came over last night with his toys, namely a Specialized P3 dirt jump bike, a Scott Scale 40 and a Kona Stinky downhill frame. We got busy taking everything apart to weight stuff. Weights can be found here. I went for a ride today on the Scale and I love it, it's so rigid, light (11kg's) and fast, if anything it even turns a little too fast but I'm sure it's something I could get used to. Gears are a luxury too after riding up my hilly area on a single speed. Hmmm, the brain continues to debate about what bike to build next.

F1!

Must Move To Melbourne.

Just got back from F1. Had a blast. Photos with commentary here.

Mallet C's

I got my new pedals today. They're Crank Brothers Mallet C's and the packaging was awesome, quality is unbelievable, the kit was so complete, cleats, shims for cleats, bolts, even replacable grips for more hardcore conditions. I also got an army grade hydration pack, it's awesome. Latest picture of bike here.

Weight Weenie - Step 1

OK, so I've decided to reduce a little weight off the bike. The heavy 2kg+ shocks have to go. I'm 100% sure on that. I'm eBay bidding on some 1.4kg Rock Shox SID's and have an eye on some carbon 500g forks at about $350 although I'm not 100% sure I want to go rigid over suspension.

One thing I've never skimped on with cars are wheels and tyres. Forged rims are expensive but they're damn light. Reducing unsprung weight is a massive plus for cars and even more so for a bicycle. The fat tyres are heavy but I love them. Maxxis do sell a 300g tyre but it's so thin and probably useless on a trail. The rims I am running are winder and heavier than the original old skool rims too, something I'll have a think about later, but for now I've bought a few sets of the world lightest mountain bike tubes at 96g/tube. Love the retro packaging too.

Import Strings

A couple of mates of mine are bringing in some very nice drool worthy guitars from Japan. They're rare and in immaculate condition. I've been doing a little design work for them, identity, web site work, all in exchange for a nice guitar of-course! Check out the ladies here.

Softride

Caught up with a mate Ben last night, he's a crazy running man, he's also super into bikes. He brought along a super old skool folding bike he found on eBay (which after putting in tome TLC into he was about to sacrifice for a girl), so much character and it had a hub with gears inside it, something I hadn't seen or riden before.

We both geeked out when we walked past a softride bicycle. Super rare! The owner came running up to the bike thinking we were going to steal it, or something (lol).

We dropped in on a quiet little JDMST meet too, which of-course, is always cool :) Oh, and Jing got himself yet another amazing bike (my fave brand too).

Meat Seat

Cool packaging!

Cycling Dedication

I just stumbled upon this Flickr site which features cycling related ink. Talk about dedication! Being a tattood person myself, I love each and every one of them.

On another note: I'm selling a lot of unused gear on eBay, trial and error modification style kills my wallet in the ass. The money made back on this stuff will go back into the bike (of-course lol).

Passed the test

OK, happy to say that I had a blast out there this morning.

Jing came around early and had a new Stealth 3 bike rack installed on his car (he bought it from Rebel Sports). The rack's more designed for road bikes, or bikes that at least have longer top tubes but we still managed to get both bikes on AOK. Driving around with bikes "wobbling" in your rear view mirror is a little disconcerting... but something we'll probably get used to over time.

Centennial Park was packed, as suspected but there were only a few people on the walking trail off the path and we were sure to go by them slowly as well as off their path (although one old lady did remind us we weren't meant to be on there).

We headed for the little off road trail I always used to love blasting through as a kid and have to say it's only a small stretch, but it's still as awesome with a little bit of slippery sand, technical tree roots and harder packed downhill fun. I was a little scared of clipping into the pedals, especially at slow speeds and over soft sand but after a while I got really into it, jumping with them on is a breeze and a lot of fun. The Wellgo pedals themselves are shit though and I'm looking forward to getting my Crank Bros Mallet pedals and cleats.

The front suspension makes going over tree roots so easy you don't even have to lift the front up, instead you just plow through everything. Also, single speed is great! It's heaps of fun so long as I keep up the momentum. I also have no rear brake anymore now, initially it was wierd not having a lever on the left of the handlebars, but after a while it was fine and stopping power is fine too. And, had to mention it, Jing's Specialized P3 is damn heavy. At 17kg's I felt it wasn't just heavy at the front, it was heavy everywhere. Weight makes a huge difference, for sure and I'm looking forward to lightening the Hardrock a little more.

All in all it was a fun little session. I need more training, then we'll hit up Manly Dam.

PS: On other notes. I wonder if MWG was successful in selling the pink girl. Also, check out Ben's new mods (pron warning).

Weight Weenies

Building my bike up without any particular focus was great fun. I've ended up with something that resembles a dirt jump bike. Sure it looks tough but dirt jumping isn't really what I'm going to be doing on it (far from it actually!).

When I builts a Cannondale mountain bike up (1992 or so) I built it frame up and weighed every single part on kitchen scales. The bike came to 11kg's which was a feat back then. I've been a little upset that a lot of components I've put on the Specialized build are heavier than the old OEM items. Whilst is makes sense that the kids these days do some hardcore shit, and need stronger components (thus heavier) it's fair to say I won't be doing 20ft jumps any time soon.

I am glad though that the weight weenie movement is still alive and well. I've been studying these 2 sites:

Weight Weenies - Be sure to check out their "listings" page for weights on everything.

Light Bikes - Be sure to check out their awesoem "gallery".

Amazing that you can get a dual suspension bike down to 6kg's. My specialized monster thing is 13kg's as it is now, and that's 1kg heavier than it was stock with 21 gears! The front forks weight in at 2.6kg's (made to withhold dirt jumping), the fat 2.5 front tyre alone is 1.2kg's!

Perhaps I've found a new direction for the bicycle? I'm already thinking of going back to a rigid front fork (maybe carbon to help soak up some bumps) and also thinner/lighter tyres. In any case, going for a ride today at Centennial Park (the off road walking trails, let's see if I can get the rangers to chase after me like they used to when I was a kid lol), really looking forward to it!

Mash SF - Andy Peterson

I finally found out who the 1st guy from the Mash SF DVD is (I actually got a reply from Mash SF themselves via email). It's Andy Peterson. Out of all the footage in the DVD (which I saw screened at the Verona in Paddington a little while back) I thought his was the best. Heaps of style, love his bikes. Check his clip here.

Finished!

OK so I've finally finished the Specialized build. I had some problems with the single speed conversion, when out of the seat and going up hills the chain was skipping on the front cog, making the chain shorter fixed the trick!

The bike feels slow on the road, mainly due to the fat tyres I think (especially the 2.5 wide front tyre). Off the seat pumping feels strange as the front suspension seems to zap a lot of energy, or it could be that I'm mighty unfit! Also, the clip in shoes and pedals once clicked in feel great but getting into them isn't easy! Maybe I need to adjust them a little somehow.

The bike feels much more at home in my messy garden where I have a few steps and a bit of dirt to play with. Steps are strange with the new suspension, it feels soft but less predictable that with rigid forks, might just take some time to get used to.

All in all I'm just really looking forward to hitting some trails with it, hopefully this weekend!

Ditch Witch

I've been itching to get started on a new bike (even though this one's not even finished yet!). I'm thinking something "boutique" starting with a frame. Ellsworth is on the brain, or maybe even design and make my own frame (well, get the guys at Westside, who do exhausts and roll cages for race cars, to make it for me) we'll see.

Last night I picked up a $100 eBay bargain on a set of brand new, never used Sun ditch witch rims with tubes, Deore hubs and Tioga tyres. I only wanted the rear as my stock rear rim is super old skool, very thin, corroded and the spokes are very rusty.

I also bought myself a helmet (never used to have to wear a helmet back in the day!). I wanted a skate helmet, but have been reading up on how they're not meant for use on the road, but more for skate parks, so I figure I'd be better off getting something that will potentially save my life if I was in an accident on the street, even though it does look like an alien is sitting on my head.

The single speed chain is in, so too the tensioner. I'll get it all on the bike tonight and post more pics tomorrow! Looking forward to riding the "thing" whether it goes or not!

Good old times

Gunning it on rigid forks, thin wheels and tyres. This video brings back a lot of great memories! (killer soundtrack reminds me of Out of Control by the Chemical Brothers too).

Happy Birthday Dad

Christina, her sister Jess and I went to Slaughter at the Opera yesterday. A skate comp at the Opera House. I was hoping it was going to be magical like the massive vert ramp event in the 80's, but instead it was just a rails set-up, which whilst still cool, wasn't as awesome as I'd hoped it would be. Still, I found the scene interesting, grommets everywhere, young girls en-mass cheering for Ryan Sheckler who seemed like the poster boy of the skate world. Ran into Garry there too, he's everywhere, all the time, love bumping into that guy!

In the afternoon we sold Chirstina's Buddy club wheels, we're looking forward now to getting something sexier for her MX-5.

Also yesterday was my Dads B'day, he would have been 61! So Christina, myself, Mum, my sister Jamie and her husband Richie dropped in to see him at the cemetary then had a nice cozy dinner at mums house.

Great day, got massively burnt at the skate show and massively drunk at Mums. When I put my head on the pillow last night I had a billion things flying around in my head.

PS: We had almost 100 cars at the JDM Style Tuning end of month meet the night before. For pictures, click here (you need to login to view them).