Friday, January 29, 2010

Sold - BlackSpire 26/38 chainrings



Up for sale are 2 brand new BlackSpire chainrings. Never mounted, just not what I was looking for. Perfect for 2x9 setup. Small 26t ring has standard 64mm BCD while 38t ring has 104mm BCD so you can mount them on the granny and middle ring positions on most cranks.

Price
38t - $25 (retail $75)
26t - $10 (retail $30)

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Race Prep Pro special


Despite what is looks like out your window, spring is approaching. Compounded even more so by the fact that Feb 28th my spring officially begins and I will be gone. Get your bike ready to ride with a Race Prep Pro service in the next 4 weeks for only $80. I will have all of my stuff with me in South Carolina so if you are staying at the house you can get it done there. Regular price of $100 will apply.

Pricing:
Before Feb 28 - $80
After Feb 28 until May 1st - $100 (down South only)
After May 1st - $100 back in Ontario as usual.

http://bennosblogandmore.blogspot.com/2009/07/race-prep-pro.html

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Sold - 2009 SID Team fork


Up for grabs is my 2009 SID Team fork off of my Anthem X1. It is in immaculate condition and was just serviced (though it really didn't need it). Used for less than 6 weeks. Reason for selling, getting a Magura Durin SL.

Features:
-lockout with carbon dial
-floodgate adjust
-air preload
-negative air spring
-BlackBox Motion Control
-post mount disk tabs

Steerer tube length - 21.4cm
Weight - 1475 grams actual
Price - $550 ($1100 retail)





Tuesday, January 26, 2010

No this is not a pawn shop.........

You might have noticed, and will notice more in the coming weeks, that I am putting some mountain bike odds and sods up for sale. All it means is that I am weeniefying my 2009 Giant Anthem X1. Getting kind of bored of buying pre-built bikes so thought I would have some fun and go custom.

For Sale - Race Face Deus stem


Selling a 100mm Race Face Deus stem. Came on my Anthem X1 that I picked up in October. Not a single scratch or blemish, could pass as brand new. One of the lightest stems on the market in this price range.
Can ship for $5 or pick up.
Price - $50
Length - 100mm
Weight - 145 grams

Sold - DMR Locking grips


Brand new set of DMR single sided lock-on grips. They have a lock collar only on one side. You can run the collar on the inside of the bar so if you like to ride with your hands right on the edge of the bar the collar won't bother your hand. Box was opened and I think one grip was mounted on my bike but the colour wasn't what I expected so I took them off without using them.

Delivery available for $5 or pick up.
Price - $10

For Sale - 2009 Race Face carbon bar


Up for sale is a lightly used Race Face Next 3/4 riser carbon bar. Came with a bike I picked up a few months ago in October. Few scratches from sliding levers and shifters on/off but otherwise great condition.
Weight - 185grams
Length - 25 1/2" or 650mm
Price - $80

Delivery available for $10 or pick up.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Getting closer!

Just a reminder that regular price goes up February 1st to:
-$180 person/week
-$230 couple/week

Still lots of room left on the tour. Don't miss out on the best way to experience the trails down there.
---> Tour Info <---

Friday, January 22, 2010

Pursuit of perfection

Got a little bit closer to that goal with a shiny pair of Commuteski Special skis as I've dubbed them. So now I can glide to work in style with my shortcut Alpina waxless with some retrofab Fischer boots and custom hybrid bamboo/carbon fibre poles. So how many people do you know that ski to work? Now you know another.

Trip home


"Commuteski Special"


Indoor parking

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Rice for the Civic?


Nope just trying to trouble shoot a cylinder 1 misfire diagnosed by my handy new OBD2 code reader. Starting with distributor cap, rotor, and plug wires. Next move.........ummmmm coil pack and maybe O2 sensors. Lets just say I hope it doesn't come to that.

How-To: Adjust cones on typical loose ball hub

Adjusting the cones in a hub is something that is handy to know for anyone interested in performing their own maintenance and safety checks on their bicycle. These things are notorious for just coming loose for no reason at all (well really we know it is the midnight bicycle gnomes). Such hubs containing cones are known as “loose ball” hubs. Simply put it is a bunch of loose ball bearings that will come spilling out and bouncing all over the floor if you aren’t careful when you take the hub apart. Usually leaving the axle in the hub as well as their bearing grease will help to keep the ball bearings in place.
Having improperly adjusted hubs can lead to significantly shortened bearing and hub life. It can even lead to catastrophic wheel failure resulting in injury and or death. It is something that needs to be checked periodically and it is easy to do. If your cones are too loose you can tell by grasping your tire while your wheel is still on your bike. Pressure it side to side, perpendicular to rotation, and you will know if there is play in the bearing system because the wheel will have play side to side.
It is a little bit more work to check if it is too tight. Takes 30 seconds instead of 10. Remove the wheel and spin the axle with your fingers. If it feels rough it could be that your cones are improperly adjusted or some more serious service is needed. I will cover complete loose ball hub servicing in a later How-To.

Tools needed:
1-assorted cone wrenches. I have two of each size ranging from 13mm to 19mm accommodating 99% of all hubs.
2-Cassette removal tool and wrench
3-Chain whip

Step #1 – Remove the wheel you are going to be working on. In this case it is a rear wheel so I need to remove the cassette using the chain whip, cassette removal tool, and wrench.
(Check out "How to clean your drivetrain" for an illustration of cassette removal.)


Step #2 – Remove any dust covers that might be hiding access to the cone adjustment nuts.
Comprehension – There are 2 nuts on the axle on each side of the hub. One is to adjust load on the bearing, this is known as the cone because it is also the conical inner bearing race. The other nut is to lock the cone in its place (lock nut) so that it doesn’t move on the axle. This is accomplished by tightening the two nuts against each other, locking them together and fixing them in place on the axle.

Step #3 – Usually the rear wheel is almost always the harder wheel to work on and wrap your head around. The reason being is that usually you can only access the two nuts on the non-freewheel side of the axle. The other two are usually buried in the freehub body. What this means is that you should loosen the nuts on the side you can access to in order to reach the nuts on the otherwise inaccessable freehub body side. You need to do this so that you can make sure the two nuts on the freehub body side are locked against each other.
Start by loosening the two nuts that you can reach. Hold each nut with a wrench (this is why you need skinny cone wrenches) and spin them opposite directions.

Step #4 – Remove the locking nut completely to give you lots of room to back the cone away from the bearing. Be careful, loose ball bearings may go spilling all over the floor! Usually the grease will keep them in place, but this is not always the case.

Step #5 – You will now be able to push the axle through to reveal the nuts that were buried in the freehub. Yes I said “reveal the nuts”, get over it.
*Hidden nuts.
*Push the axle through
*Now you can access both nuts on the freewheel side

Step #6 – Tighten these two nuts together (freehub side) making sure you have the correct amount of axle protruding out the end (roughly 5mm). This is what sits in the dropouts of your bike. They are now locked in place and will not move on the axle. They may have already been tight, we're just making sure.

Step #7 – Gently push the axle back through the hub towards the non-freewheel side. This will once again hide the freewheel cone and locking nut but since we tightened them against each other they will stay in place. You want to snug the whole bearing system together by finger tightening the cone onto the axle on the non-freewheel side. You will, of course, have to hold the freewheel side nut in your other hand to keep the axle from spinning.

Step #8 – Since you will still be able to access the outer locking nut on the freewheel side you need to take the appropriate wrench to hold that side steady. Take another wrench to tighten the non-freewheel side cone just a tiny bit so it is just slightly tighter than finger tight. This is usually pretty close to the bearing load you need at this point, I will explain why in step #10.

Step #9 – Thread the non-freewheel side lock nut onto the axle.

Step #10 – Lock the cone in place by tightening the lock nut against it just like you did with the freewheel side earlier. This is where it gets tricky. You need to put the correct amount of load on the bearing. If the cones are too far apart (too loose) from each other than there will be play in the axle. If your cones are too close together (too tight) there will be too much friction on the bearing and it will run rough. Either of these symptoms will result in dramatically shortened bearing life and usually complete hub failure in a loose ball system.
What’s the tricky part you say? Well remember I said to tighten the cones just past finger tight in Step #8? There was a reason for this. Whenever you tighten the final cone and lock nut assembly the cone has a tendency to pull slightly away from the hub towards the lock nut. So by putting just a touch too much load on the bearing before tightening you ensure that you have the proper load once the system is completely tightened.
Confusing? It can be for your first time working on a hub, especially if you have no clue why every time you tighten the final cone there is still play in the hub even though you thought the cones were tight to the bearing. Just takes experience and every hub will respond differently when you tighten the final cone. I have had some not move at all so the finger tightening was all I needed. I usually have to go back and adjust several times for each hub but once you have taken a few hubs apart you will find it easy to fine tune hub bearing load (which is the reason we are here in the first place).

Step #11 – Check the axle for any sort of movement and also give it a spin to make sure it moves freely and without friction. If there is play or roughness you need to loosen the lock nut again (no need to completely remove it from the axle this time) and adjust the cones (pretty much Steps #8 - #11).

Step #12 – Clean that baby up. You are a self respecting, proud mechanic so no putting a dirty cassette back on a dirty hub. Put the clean cassette and any dust covers back on. Stand back and admire your handy work and the fact that next time, it will take you 15 minutes instead of 2 hours.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

The end of an era

So it may shock you to know, I will not be on Giants top-o-the line 2010 Anthem X Advanced SL. No it's not because I can't be bothered to say its name. In fact something that expensive seems worthy of such a long winded title. I am sad to say after 5 awesome seasons the situation has changed a little, not in my favour. It is almost a relief (denial much). I am already getting wind of the typical delays associated with living in Canada and trying to get the latest and greatest from the bicycle world. I give the new Anthem carbon an optimistic delivery date of June.
So for 2010 I will be on my 2009 Anthem X1 that I picked up in the fall. Still need to do something about a road bike though. Hmmnnn.

Friday, January 1, 2010

So it was about time


Well actually I am about 4 weeks past due........My Anthem has been sitting in its same sad state for the past month. Left her just the way she was after a muddy November, not saying I'm proud of it. I know some people like the whole mountain bikes should be left dirty because they are mountain bikes mantra but that just doesn't jive with me. So I started stripping her down and cleaning her up to get me thinking a little more about riding again in South Carolina in only 2 months.
I think what really got me motivated is that it is really starting to look a lot like winter around here. We are getting a consistent 10-15cm of snow per day right now and I have been able to get out skiing some more after my pre x-mas flu. Not only that, it was time to purge the system from all that junk that was ingested over the past 2 weeks. So the bike is getting an overhaul and the body is getting the same treatment. Now don't get the wrong idea here. This isn't some new years resolution crap, a coincidence that is all ;-)
I'm gonna post some more how-to's as well as I go through my bike. Let me know if there is something you want to see done.
Bueno