I got one of these as a gift many, many years ago. I remember “back in the day”, the King ti cage commanded serious mojo, as it still does today. It cost all the money and was amazingly light at an advertised 28 grams. Supposedly, it didn’t mark up polyethylene bottles and make them all black, since ti was inert and oxide free. This cage had no place on the Freeride rig, and the XC bike had a wonderful (but now discontinued) metal-matrix Blackburn Chicane MTN cage, so appropriately, the retro King cage found its way onto the Bridgestone MB-1. Continue reading ‘King Titanium Bottle Cage’
Archive for the 'bike' Category
Page 27 of 40
Shafts of sunlight cut through the clouds above the Ko’olaus as I made my way home after work. It was still early enough to turn in a little riding even though I had to make a stop for gasoline. As I went up through the neighborhood, I saw a bike rider at the curb near the park at the bottom of the hill. Rounding the turn, I saw the infamous entropy herd stacking up at the end of the street. Not them again! I almost gave up on riding for the day, but I wasn’t about to let them spoil my fun. I geared up, pumped up the tires, and hit the road.
The beginning of my ride went pleasantly with no signs of them as I spun through the neighborhood and ripped down the highway. Climbing up to WCC, I spotted a pair of them at the circus at the entrance to campus. I gave them a wide berth and went through the lower parking lot and worked around them via the back road and climbed to the top. Happily, I didn’t see them for two laps. Smiley security guard was walking his rounds and was as cheerful as usual. On lap three, I saw the horde going up the climb. A couple of show-offs had gone blitzing it up the hill, but I had to carefully work my way around the slower riders as they weaved haphazardly up the narrow roadway. One person was pushing her bike up, and she was the only one moving in a reasonably predictable fashion. On lap four, they were clogging up the top road, making life unhappy for car drivers. I gave them a lot of space when I passed them and put them well behind me. On lap five, they were lingering at the blind corner at the end of the road under the mango trees, circling and turning like a roiling whirlpool of cheap metal, rubber, flesh and sweaty lycra. My knees were hurting a little, so I bailed home through the park and did a little weight training.
D = 13.97 km (8.68-miles), Vavr = 21.1 km/h (13.1 mph), Vmax = 51.1 km/h (31.8 mph), T = 40-minutes
Introduced this season, MRP’s new bottom-bracket mounted chainring guard is ideal for All-Mountain/Trail/Long-Travel XC bikes with triple chainrings. I had a difficult time tracking one down, but Jarrel managed to find one from one of McBike’s distributors. It wasn’t the gold I was hoping for, but it’ll still do the job. The guard is essentially an aluminum plate that mounts between the bottom bracket shell and the drive side bottom bracket bearing. In the case of external bearing type bottom brackets like current Shimano ones, the plate replaces the spacer on the drive side. On the underside of the plate is a curved section of high-impact plastic that extends past the arc of the outer chainring. It’s very similar to the e-thirteen Light Guide, but without the roller/tensioner and upper guide. If e-thirteen had produced a guide-only product similar to this, I’d be reviewing that now instead, since I prefer their products. Continue reading ‘MRP XCG Triple Bash Guard’
If the mud ride on Sunday wasn’t enough, ominous clouds and rain in the back of Manoa and Palolo did little to dissuade us from riding on Monday. When I showed up at Ckucke’s and told him about the impending rain, he seemed unconcerned. Like on Sunday, I adopted an “OK, whatever – you suffer, I suffer, we all suffer” attitude and we loaded up. Root arrived and we headed up to the top of St. Louis. Continue reading ‘Monday Mud’
Chris fell ill on Saturday, so we changed our Sunday ride plans from doing the entirety of Demon trail to a less involved afternoon ride. Up Wailuna and down through the mystery hills was the plan, but rain from Saturday evening through Sunday morning along the leeward side of the Ko’olaus made that idea a wash. The final fallback was Ditch. Sunday afternoon was windy with mixed clouds, but it looked like the weather would hold on the windward side for an afternoon ride. This was not to be. On the way to the trail the sky opened up and dumped when I reached Castle junction. It was socked in all the way up to the Pali, and out past Mount Olomana. I figured I’d give it a chance and at least drive out to the trailhead, since we’ve had dry rides on days when it was dumping along the Pali.
Chris managed to arrange some free time on Saturday for a weekend ride, so we got a crew together for some trail time. During the week, the discussion went around about Wailuna, so the die was cast and we met at the park a little after noon. Root was in as was Ckucke. The Wandells were probably going to be on the water, so they were out. Scat had other plans, but changed his mind at the last moment and arrived with Ckucke. CKH was already there when I rolled in. His Yeti was sporting the new Magura Louise brakes I put on for him on Thursday. The black smears on the rotors indicated that he had gotten some break-in time on them. Ckucke and Scat rolled up, followed by Root. We weren’t really sure if Jeff and Sara were in or not, but after an unsuccessful phone call, we geared up and started up the hill. Continue reading ‘Craving Brains’
It was a little cloudy when I got home yesterday, but I figured I could get a ride in before anything happened. Going up the road to WCC, there was a hot wind blowing me up the street. It was like someone following me with a blow dryer. I managed to get in a few laps before the first hint of the smell of rain reached my nose and the first hard drops stung my skin. I beat a hasty retreat home and just did some weights after putting the bike away.
D = 12.06 km (7.49-miles), Vavr = 20.4 km/h (12.7 mph), Vmax = 39.2 km/h (24.4 mph), T = 35-minutes
Monday morning and throughout the day has been drizzling in the mountains, with rainclouds rolling in late in the day. The Saint Louis evening DH has been called off and instead the decision is made to hit the Koko Head dirt jumps. Rolling into the parking lot at a quarter to six, it’s still full sun and the lot has quite a few cars, but the track is deserted. All hikers doing the Koko Head tram trail. I had hoped the spotty past rains might have dampened the track a little, no such luck. It was bone dry except for one spot on the backside step-up where someone had watered the jump. Continue reading ‘Progression Regression’
The crew met up for a Sunday afternoon ride. The weather was partially overcast and hot out at the Ditch. Earlier in the week, the showers that have been persisting for the past few weeks made the prospect for a weekend ride a little iffy, but toward Friday, it cleared up a little. Friday afternoon on the windward side was clear, and Saturday was blazing hot. Sunday morning was cloudy, but as midday approached, the clouds thinned as the wind picked up. Continue reading ‘Good Samaritan Ride’
Sunny Friday = time to ride
No unruly herd of entropy riders to deal with – Just me, smiley security guard, and 3 strollers. Fun in the afternoon!
D = 20.23 km (12.57-miles), Vavr = 20.8 km/h (12.9 mph), Vmax = 40.4 km/h (25.1 mph), T = 58-minutes