Thursday, June 28, 2012

Single speed changes

I like riding a single speed either off road or on. Makes you work hard at keeping your momentum going.
For a SS my Specialized SS is (was) heavy at 26lbs. This is stock out of the door. The first upgrade I did to it was a carbon flat handlebar which I quickly trimed to 22 inches and it dropped quite a few grams from the riser aluminum that it brought. The next upgrade was a lighter set of specialized wheels I bought off one of my team mates. Almost dropped 1 pound.
For the last couple of months I've been toying with the idea of installing a rigid fork instead of the crappy sid it came with. Cashed my spinning check and "thanks" to Jason at the Edge Outdoors I now have a White Brothers carbon fork and it looks sharp. The bike dropped 2 1/2 lbs to a hair over 22lbs.  More improvements coming to try to hit the magic under 20lbs line. (a better set of wheels)
What a difference it is riding with a rigid fork after riding with squishy forks for the last whatever years it has been. The front wheel bounces all over the place, you need to grip the handlebars tight or risk losing it. One thing I have yet to figure out is if the front wheel is flexing on the turns, it sure feels that way. But since I haven't ridden a rigid fork in such a long time I can't figure it out. Going downhill is going to take some time to get used to, but so far I'm enjoying the ride. One very important fact I learned  on the first ride is that a big volume tire like a 2.4 pumped to 25-30psi will be better for the front end. I found out the wrong way. After the fork was switched I didn't put anymore air in the front tire and I burped it going downhill leaning hard on a turn. Needless to say it was my broken ribs side that I fell on. Slid down the trail and stopped before I hit a pile of rocks. Got lucky there, no damage other that a couple of scratches. I told the wife and I was warned that she doesn't want any broken bones before our daughters wedding next week. After the wedding is ok, thanks honey I love you too.
I'll post some pics maybe tonight. It does look like a real SS now.
Later.

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