Forks and Tires

It took hours, but I finally built the mountain bike up yesterday. I hadn't touched it since November. My bottom bracket was filled with sand and grime, I'm surprised of didn't seize on the White Rim last year. With about ten days left until my race it wasn't a moment too soon either.

I'm going to focus on cross country (XC) this season so I made some changes to the bike. My plan B to race Super D didn't work out last year. The Santa Cruz Superlight frame just isn't the right geometry for a downhill bike. The Fox Talas fork I mounted in August gave the bike too much rake in the longer travel settings resulting in carnage on more than one occasion. I've changed back to a straight 100mm (4") travel Fox F100RLC fork which is lighter and is without a doubt the best fork I've ever ridden.

After the non-tubeless 2.4 front tire I was running tubeless last year catastrophically failed as I landed a jump on an off camber piece of Moab slickrock I switched to a 2.1 (smaller cross section diameter) tubeless tire up front. I felt confident the bead wouldn't "un-zip" on me, but the smaller volume hurt my confidence and speed on technical descents. So I found a new tubeless 2.4 Specialized front tire with a tread pattern similar to my old 2.4 and have my confidence back.

Although it should survive the next couple weeks and is running relatively smoothly my bike and it's components are the victim of many miles of abuse and in need of many new parts. This picture of my zip tied and electrical taped seat is a good example.

After the Greenbrier Race next week I'm planning on tearing down the bike, repainting it, and rebuilding it proper as a true XC machine with new shifters, drivetrain, and wheels. Just like it's owner it needs to shed some weight off it's current form to be competitive! I'm going to have to make some trade offs to be competitive the most dramatic will be new tires. I've always favored big volume high tread, but high rolling resistance tires to accent my technical riding style, but on the mostly hard pack and climbing courses most races are held on in Colorado I think these hurt me. It's time I bit the bullet and switched to a true race tire on both wheels. This is really going to initially hurt my technical riding, but I'm confident I can adapt over time.