Friday, October 30, 2009

Flash...cold off the presses

Well, strictly speaking the young'ns out there may not even know what a "press" is(was). I've been riding alot, and when I say alot for me its alot, which means I'm destroying stuff. For some reason I go thru cassettes, chain rings and chains at an almost even 6 month interval. Damn they're expensive to replace, and I've tried EVERY chain lube out there, currently its ROCK-N-ROLL blue (cause I'm SO cool) This stuff seems repel dirt and grime the best I've seen. Hell I even had to replace the pulleys on the rear deraillure (sp?) as there were NO discernable teeth left on either the upper or lower. All these components worked wonderful in the relatively dry trails at home, but when it got wet and muddy at Farmdale (I-74 Series finale) they conspired together in an ORGY of chainsucking violence. So bad that I was using my XT chain to cut through my chainstay, ripping off the groovy-but-absolutely-worthless-bling thing thats meant to protect the nice carbon underneath. Then my bottom bracket spit all its ball bearings out, not that this was a shock seeing as its two years old, I must say that I'm impressed with outboard bearing designs. Replaced with a Chris King BB, if its half as good as my six year old headset I'll be happy. Oh, I also snapped two (upper and Lower) titanium pivot bolts on the BLUR...nice...If you've ever had to drill a 15mm titanium bolt/pivot out of a carbon frame you'll know this is easier said than done. Replacements from Santa Cruz were free and quickly sent, however, they've went to Stainless Steel on the lower pivot...hmmmm, me thinks I'm not the first to experience this issue. Other than MY drivetrain problems and broken pivots I can't complain about the new bike too much, its stiff and light, climbs pretty well and makes a big hit nice and soft (btw I snapped those two pivots climbing believe it or not) So, on with the early winter riding, the lights are on the bike, I'm freaking out the local Deer herd, and am STILL patiently waiting for snow....