Must Move To Melbourne.

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

Cool packaging!

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).

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).

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!

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.