Monday, August 9, 2010

Pre Retaard!

Now updated with video!
On Saturday when I was in Borlänge I went to Biltema to pick up a new front wheel, found it and then some. A new set of tires, 700x35c and a pair of tubes to fit.

When I got home in the evening I had to try the wheel on the Crescent but this time I had no luck, turned out that the axel (solid) was too thick to fit in the fork! :(

On Sunday I decided to go to the basement and see if I still had the front wheel left from the Motobecane, I did and it turned out to be 36h as the Biltema wheel! So I did a rim transplant, swapped the original Mavic tube rim fr the Alexrims Ace24 that was on the Biltema wheel.

The Biltema front wheel was really badly built, 12-15 spokes where in such bad condition I had to scrap them, luckily the nipples and spokes on the Mavic wheel was all fine! Well, I suppose one gets that one pays for? :)

The spokes where slightly too long but not so bad as previous wheels I build of spare parts. :)

I was done sith the wheel in the afternoon so what better way to see if the stuff works than go for a ride? I also put the new tires on and they fit without problem, even fatter tires will fit.

It's not that long time left until the Finnmarksturen, so I rode to Brunnsvik on the bike lane where I entered the Finnmarksturen route and followed it to Stensbo. Ouch, the bike felt so much duller with the huge tires compared to Continental Ultra Sport I usually have on the bike!

Brunnsvik:


A small uphill road in the beginning.


Finally some gravel roads! Here I was glad to have fat tires! :)


Perhaps I had a tad too much pressure in the tubes.


Current set-up, swapped the saddle with my Pugsley, this one is much nicer to the butt. It's an old WTB SST X2 saddle I reupholstered. And the tubes has Dunlop valves! That's really Retaard in my book, glad I bought adapters at Biltema! :)






It didn't take long before the track turned into the woods, surprised how well I managed to pedal on the trail with the gearing I have, 42x16!


Not as smooth as a full suspension bike but ok, the photos got a bit blurry though. ;)


Passed the bridge, after it the trail goes basically straight up on loose soil so I confess, I walked up. :)


A rear view.





It was well worth the climb, since after it there was a loooong gravel road down!


Enjoyed the scenery.


The fun didn't last long before it was time to go up hill again. Once again I had to push the bike up, starting to doubt my gearing...


Still able to get some speed upwards on the less steep parts!


Once again some single track, sweet!


From there it was like a roller coaster ride, steep up and down, pretty exciting with race bike drop bars!


The reward:




Now I started to get warm in the saddle, this was fun! But I knew that further ahead there would be a really steep down hill part, but after going down there on the bike I wondered where the hard part would be? :)

Funny a few years ago that part was tricky on a mountain bike!


Then it was basically down a road til I got to the bike lane again and the shore of Väsman.


Thankfully I got tail wind so I did good speed on my was back to Ludvika.


Bud I could not help my self from going on to the gravel road and thus skipping the asphalt. It was a good decision!


Decided to avoid asphalt as much as possible so I passed more secluded beaches.


At moments I wondered where I was, but with the road on one side and the lake on the other it was hard to get lost even if the forest got dense here and there.


Well, now I started to get a bit worn so asphalt wasn't that bad sometimes.


Since I had my credit card with me I went past Caruso and picked up a Hawaii-pizza, way to tired to start cooking at home!


The route, missing the last few hundred meters home from the pizzeria:


Speeding on gravel roads and riding a rigid bike on trails sure gives a completely new dimension to the bike riding, this I have to do soon again! Only thing I might consider change, is the gearing. ;)

(Have some video but the video editor is on strike so if I'm lucky I might manage to post some here tomorrow.)

2 comments:

  1. Looks awesome but what's up with this freewheel thing? Go fixed and do it now!!

    ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice! Wish I had time to build my retard bike, but I guess I'd better focus on getting the DH bike built up this week. ;)

    ReplyDelete