New Bikes Hit Dirt !!

Coming off a crazy 60+ hour work week, complete with 15 hour Friday to top it off - including a 1:00 AM bike commute home - no time to tweak the new Sette Razzo 29er to my specs until Saturday afternoon rolled around.

Why the long hours? Side project at work editing a corporate video soon to be shown at a large meeting. Pro editor I'm not, but have done a fair amount of editing at home, so was drafted into action. Adding that project to my normal workload was nuts, but the editing was fun and we'll see what kind of reaction it gets. Lots of goofy humor involved - not the usual corporate deal.

Late Saturday afternoon I finally had time to swap some parts on the Sette - seatpost, saddle, stem and handlebars. Some neighborhood buzzing around confirmed a better fit. Bike felt good and I was looking forward to hitting some trails on Sunday. Ian was looking forward to riding his new rig on dirt as well.

After killing most of Sunday looking at cars to replace my dead one (didn't buy anything), Ian and I hit the local woods late in the afternoon - just a quick singletrack cruise to feel out the new bikes. Having woods rideable from the house - man, we're lucky.

Ian races the pilotless Sette. Dude, 29ers rolls so well, they can win on their own. All the marketing shtick is true....

In the end, Ian pulls away on his new steed. Go Ian go.

Repeat official sign shot, this time with new bikes. The 29er wheels still look weird to me - they're just plain big. It rides well though - really well. Compare 'em against the 26" wheels on Ian's bike. Freaky, huh?

I am SWOBO man - hear me roar.

Swapped the Sette branded 'bar and 100mm stem for the 120mm Race Face stem and LP carbon bar that I was running on my Cannondale. Fits better and a bit lighter to boot. I plan to pick up a new flat bar, slightly wider, then install with the stem right side up. The Sette has a short 3.5" headtube which helps lower the front end, since 29er frames are a bit tall in the front. This lets you get the bars a little lower - what I like. I'll probably reinstall my bar ends as well - call me Dork Boy - I miss 'em, even if currently unfashionable.

Sette branded seatpost and saddle swapped out for my old Thomson post and old school Flite saddle, both off my Cannondale. I'll replace the seatpost with one sporting some setback soon. The Razzo frame has a steep 74 degree seat tube and I want the seat back about 1/2 inch to get my knee a bit behind the pedal spindle (my usual set up). Saddle is currently slammed back as far as possible.

Sette ready to roll with bottle cages and spare tube under the red saddle - not sure if I dig the red on this bike. I may search for a black Flite saddle. Maybe not. Cast your vote now.

Ian's Access with a mixture of new and used parts finally gets dirty. A few tweaks still needed in the shifting department and handlebar width - a tad too narrow.

The Sette Razzo felt great on the trails. Steers well, feels snappy, and the 29 wheel size does seem to roll faster. Just a short ride, but I dig it so far. The SRAM drivetrain shifts great and the RockShox Reba SL fork is like buttah - nice. It's a great bike and a killer deal - can't beat that combo. I'm looking forward to spending more time on it.

Ian's first ride on his new steed went okay - some adjustment needed. Ian mentioned it felt bigger then his 24" wheel bike and a bit harder to corner. Towards the end of the ride, he was readjusting his cornering style and getting it. He mentioned the bike felt smoother then his old bike, no doubt the Fox fork playing a part in that.

Shifting woes marred Ian's ride some. Partly the bike's fault - bike shifted fine in the workstand and during test rides - but not in the woods. Rear shifting went off, later corrected by me in the garage. Front shifting was off as well, still need to sort that out. Also a learning curve for Ian moving from his old Gripshift setup to the XTR paddle shifters. With practice he'll get it and I'll sort the front derailleur out during the week. Once fully sorted and a little more riding time, this bike should work well for him.

We took a few short videos on the ride, but Google Blogger ain't happy uploading 'em for some reason. I gave up after a few attempts. I wonder if the Amish have these problems?

We'll hit the trails again next weekend and continue to "test" our new bikes. This is one test I don't mind studying for.

Rush Is a Band

I've had The Trees from the band Rush stuck in my head for days - specifically the guitar lead and instrumental piece before the last verse. Quite strange since I own no Rush albums at all - nada. Well, not for the last few years anyway - make that many years.

Back in the '70s and early '80s I listened to quite a bit of Rush and was a fan. Friends and I listened to the Rush 2112 album constantly at the time. I owned a few other Rush albums as well, including Hemispheres that contained The Trees track, so I actually have the song buried in the memory banks back from that era.

For some reason over the years, through the change from vinyl, to 8-tracks, to cassettes, to CDs, to MP3s, Rush was dropped from my collection. Could also be from my fascination, then later obsession, with the Ramones that started in the '80s. The Ramones and Rush, though neighbors in the R family, couldn't be more miles apart musically. The R however also stands for Rock, which both bands do and quite well for their respective genre.

In any case, with The Trees repeating in my head, I downloaded the song from iTunes - along with the entire 2112 album. I listened to complete 2112 album and The Trees - along with Working Man (already on my iPod) - driving to work today, at lunch, and driving home. Sort of a personal Rush Fest 2010. It was great hearing this stuff once more - Rush is amazing, one of the best things to come out of Canada - along with Neil Young, bacon, and the McKenzie Brothers.

Out of the Rush tracks I reacquainted myself with today, by far The Trees is my favorite. No wonder it's been lodged in my memory bank for years now. Intelligent lyrics, killer guitar riffs and the usual over the top drums by Neil Pert.

The video I posted is a slighty cheesy home brew that someone posted on YouTube - but it includes the lyrics. Take a gander if you will.

Exploding Carbon is Best Shared with a Friend

Track racing is crazy. Tandem track racing is even more loopy. Now add in the exploding carbon wheel....

George Carlin Talks Bikes

George Carlin talks, uh - trashes - bicycles. Carlin being one of the funniest dudes that ever lived, and being able to laugh at myself as a cyclist - I find this damn funny.

Carlin being Carlin - you may wanna monitor the volume of this piece at places of employment, day care center, or church picnic......

Sette Razzo 29er - The Big Wheels Arrive

As mentioned ad nauseam over the last few blog posts - Project Access and me scoring a 29er - the wait is over. The new and very shiny Sette Razzo 29er arrived last Thursday. Late Friday night Wrench-O-Thon brought it to light, as well as Ian's Access - hence the 2:00 AM finish for both projects. Yes, I said "hence". My 8th grade English teacher would be proud.

A few reasons and thoughts on why I went with the Sette....

1. Killer price. Cruise through catalogs or the Internet and price out the build kit. I challenge you to come up with the same build for less. A similar spec'd Specialized Stumpjumper Comp 29er is $1850, though I had a local shop quote me $1650. The Scott Scale 29er I also checked out lists for $1650, though REI sells it for $1500. Niner with a similar build is over $2000. The Sette delivered to my door was $1240. See what I mean? Plus I have 30 days to ride and return if I don't dig it. The frame itself also has a 5 year warranty. Great set up.

I hate to harp on dough as I have over the last few posts, but being the single paycheck family of four dictates I do so - especially for bicycle related gear. Bikes are important to me, but so is feeding the family and other normal expenses. You get the picture.

2. Curious about the Sette business model. I've kicked around the online bike company idea in my head for quite awhile - pipe dream for sure - but fun to research. When it comes down to it, for production based bikes, most are made in Asia - even the U.S. boys do this - Trek, Specialized, Kona, etc. Designed here and made off-shore. Sette does this as well, but sells direct, offering big savings. I'm completely overstating here, but in some ways, you're paying for paint and stickers. Sounds sacrilegious, but when you dig into the industry a bit, there is some truth to this - especially at this price level. So, I was curious to order one up on my own dime and check out the experience.

Official Disclaimer: Sounds contradictory, but I'm all for the local bike shop as well - especially if they support the local riding scene. I personally don't really need shop support - I do all my own work, I'm the ex-bike shop rat myself, and feel I know quite a bit about all this bike tomfoolery - but I do appreciate what a good shop provides to the local area. In the past, I've done the full on custom build from a local shop, and bought bikes off the floor as well. I also try to steer folks to shops I think are cool.

However, where bikes are manufactured and how they're sold has changed greatly over the last 10 years or so. I think really successful shops may require a blend of storefront and online sales. Speedgoat would be a good example if this. The online business model does fit some customers, not all - but some.

3. It's all about the frame - right? In a lot of ways I agree, the frame is the soul of the bike. In the past I've owned and still own bikes from Fat Chance, Ibis, Bridgestone, Cannondale, and Ellsworth. Not exactly the low end lot of bikes, nor without character or soul if you will. I've read good reviews on the Sette frame from actual owners. I'm curious to see how a lower cost frame stacks up against what I've ridden in the past.

The whole branding and marketing aspect of the bike industry also interests me greatly - so a little experiment for me to ride a "mail order" bike. Will I be allowed to sit with the cool kids at lunch?

Man, how was that for a psychotic Ramble-O-Fest of an intro? I think about and analyze this bike stuff WAY too much. I'll shut up now, call around for a shrink, and finally give a little a tour of the new wheels......

Big brown box arrived in a big brown truck. Box even say's "Sette" on the side, so it must be a real company.

Bike was impressively packaged for shipping. Double boxed, everything zip tied, bubble wrapped and correctly done. Awesome job - I'm serious. Kudos to Sette on shipping.

Easy assembly: Swing stem around and tighten, install handlebars to stem, install front wheel and pedals, grease and slide seatpost into frame (saddle already attached). Bike shifted fine right out of the box. I had to adjust the front brake to remove a little drag, set correct air pressure in Rock Shox fork. That's it - nice job again Sette. Of course, I've assembled loads of bikes in the past. Still, anyone with a bit of riding experience and minor wrenching ability should have no problem.

Rock Shox Reba SL fork, FSA Orbit headset, Deore hub laced to Mavic 719 rim (double butted spokes and alloy nipples), Avid Elixir CR brake, and Kenda Small Block 8 tire complete the front end.

SRAM X.9 derailleur handles the rear shifting duties. Shimano cassette, complete with 11 - 36 gearing - nice touch for a 29er, since you lose some low end gearing with the larger wheel. Plastic spoke protector will soon become a Frisbee.

SRAM X.7 front derailleur and Truvativ Stylo 3.3 crankset. Both budget minded, but work just fine. Bike also came with Shimano M505 clipless pedals. I installed my well worn 747 pedals instead. I'll give son Ian the new 505s when he's ready to go clipless.

Avid Elixir CR brake lever and Sette branded lock on grip. Not bad at all.

Sette branded stem and handlebar. Light, decent parts - similar to other branded stuff and probably made in the same factory as bigger brands.

Sette branded saddle and seatpost. Seatpost ain't bad, saddle will be swapped shortly.

Curved stays to allegedly soften the ride of aluminum. Kenda Small Block 8 tire for smooth rolling action.

Frame is polished 7005 aluminum, simple graphics (clear coated), 3.2 pounds with double butted main triangle. Pretty damn light for a 29er frame. I'm not big on polished aluminum, but it looks better in real life, then in photos. It looks good - polished with black parts.

Head tube detail - welds won't impress anyone at Moots - but not bad.

Interesting gusset on seat tube area. I also like the top mounted cable guides.

Detail of BB area and rear Mavic 719 rim. Looks cool to me.

Avid disk and frame brace to gawk at in the rear - along with double butted spokes and alloy nipples - same as front wheel. What a coincidence.

Underside of BB shot, complete with "Made in Taiwan" sticker. At this price, thought it would be China. I'm curious to know what frame manufacturer in Taiwan this actually comes from. I'll do some digging around. I'd bet many other brands ship from the same door. See, there I go again...

With Ian's Performance Access and my Sette Razzo completed - we are now officially "Team Mail Order". Yes indeed.

I wanted to photo the bike as it arrived - so there you have it. I plan to swap the seatpost, saddle and stem to better fit my goofy ass body. That will happen this week. I'll hit dirt this weekend to give it a roll. I'm itchy to see if the 29er hype is all true or a figment of marketing imagination. I've only buzzed the bike on the street for a few minutes and it felt pretty good.

As usual - poor photography and miscellaneous rambling to follow. Stay tuned.

Project Access - Ready to Roll

After a late night wrenching session on Friday that concluded at 2:00 AM - Project Access became a living, breathing, ridable bike. And if I may say so myself, it turned out pretty damn sweet. Looks cool, really light - guessing under 23 pounds, should be a killer bike for a 10 year old - no?

Build went together fairly easy, only hassle was the headset. After installing, impossible to adjust without being too loose or binding up. I pulled the fork back out to discover the bottom bearing had imploded into several pieces. Either a defective bearing from Cane Creek (doubt it) or I installed upside down (most likely) and blew it apart. Pretty strange. In any case, I had the exact bearing replacement laying on my workbench - a left over from my HeadShokectomy experience last summer. Total dumb luck and easy fix. Only other complaint would be the chainline not being as perfect as I'd like - still, it rides and shifts fine. I'm just being the fanatic.

Let's buckle up for a build review and tour, shall we?

I started with a new $99 Performance Access XCL Comp frame from uh, Performance. Access is their house brand frame and I was pretty pleased, actually kind of amazed, how decent the frame is for the dough. Under four pounds, disk and v-brake mounts, paint and graphics - all good. Original frame arrived damaged from shipping, the replacement arrived quickly and the build started......

New 170mm Shimano LX crankset off eBay, complete with BB for $76, nice deal. Pedals pulled from Ian's now retired Specialized Hotrock. He's still riding platform pedals, we'll give clipless a shot later. Shimano XTR front derailleur pulled from my Cannondale donor bike.

Fox Talus fork, circa 2004, features adjustable travel (now set at 80mm) - still a killer nice fork. XTR hub laced to Mavic ceramic rim, XTR v-brake to slow things down, Panaracer Fire XC Pro tire for traction. All parts pulled from my Cannondale. Pretty sweet front end, no?

Sette stem pulled from Ian's Specialized, Sette handlebar sitting in garage unused - until now. I cut the bars down a bit, think they maybe a tad too narrow now - may swap 'em later. Grips were laying in the garage, no memory where they came from. XTR shifters and brake levers, pulled from the Cannondale. New Cane Creek headset, eBay sale for $30. Hey, look at that - frame even sports an actual headbadge - no sticker.

Super light Fizik saddle and Ibis seatpost, originally from my Ibis Silk Carbon road bike. I swapped 'em out for other items at the time, so these are new - been laying in the garage since 2006. Perfect for this build.

View of BB area. I dig the unfinished "Stack-O-Dimes" welds and matte black finish - very stealth.

Curved stays and Panaracer Fire XC Pro rear tire.

Shimano XTR v-brake slows down the rear.

XTR rear hub and Mavic ceramic rim, XTR rear derailleur - pulled from Cannondale. New SRAM cassette from local Craigslist sale - $20. New Shimano chain from eBay - $20.

There it sits - not bad, huh? I was going to swap the stem over to lower the bars, but Ian digs it this way. I don't want to cut the steerer tube any shorter. As Ian grows, the extra spacers allow possible use with a larger frame down the road. Smart, eh?

So all in all, a pretty cheap build for a pretty trick little bike. Most of this due to pulling almost everything from my Cannondale frame - XTR goodies, cables, wheels and fork. The XTR parts and Mavic wheelset are from 1999 and first lived on my Ellsworth Truth for many years, then later transfered to my Cannondale - now in use on Ian's bike. Hats off to Shimano for manufacturing quality stuff. That's 11 years of use and now going on bike number three - very impressive.

Whoever built that wheelset also deserves a raise (wasn't me) - still dead true after 11 years. Amazing. The Mavic ceramic rims also held up fantastic. Expensive at the time, but well worth it. Without the ceramic coating, rims would have been toasted years ago from mud damage. Ceramic rims and v-brakes were the hot set up before disk brakes hit the scene. Even today, they still work pretty well.

Another aspect to the low price build was the online deals for the few parts needed. Yeah, hitting the local bike shop for this would have been cooler, but the savings were needed to allow this project to exist at all. That's my excuse anyway.

Due to Easter festivities and other distractions this weekend, no woods time for us. Ian demo'd the bike on our street for a bit and said it felt great. Sizing wise, looks good. I bet we get two years of use out of this set up.

I'm pleased and Ian is happy. Can't wait to see it dirty. As usual, blog updates to follow.

Greetings from Busy Town

I've been stupid busy this week at home and work - no time for blogging at all - writing to my own or checking out other people's blogs for updates. At work I'm involved with a side project editing a corporate video, which has been a blast - not stuffy at all, lots of goofy humor involved. I've edited lots of home movies for fun, so getting paid to edit - in a sense - good change of pace.

On a sobering note, one of my son's 10 year old pals - schoolmate and teammate on his basketball and baseball teams - is in the hospital. Super athletic little kid woke up with a headache one day last week, then later at school carted off to the hospital unconscious with some sort of brain aneurism issue. He's been in a coma for days and from what I hear is facing brain surgery. I don't have all the details, but wow - as a parent, that would the worst thing ever to go through. I've talked to his dad a few times at sport practices - nice guy. I hope everything works out and the kid pulls though.

On a much less important note, my car search continues. Two schools of thought - something big enough to serve as the bike hauler/camper mobile. Maybe a VW camper, wagon or mini van. I'd really dig a VW camper, 'cept the resale values on those - from ancient to modern - is pretty nuts. When you think of it, a pretty big surcharge for a pop up top, mini stove and ice box. The other thought would be something small and fun to drive - my usual style.

After spending way too many hours cruising the Internet for car deals, something in the $3000 - $6000 range, I've bumped the budget up to $9000 or so. Plenty of cars in the lower range, but obviously with plenty of miles on 'em - like 125,000+, which easily turns the $5000 used car into the $6500 car after the head gasket or CV joints explode. Being the recovering gear head guy, I understand that's the risk you take. I really don't have the time or motivation to deal with that.

That also throws out another option I've been considering, the old school Volkswagen Bug. I was into the VW scene many years ago - owned a '68 Bug and '73 Thing. You can score a pretty clean Bug for $4000 - $5000 and that kind of stuff is always sellable down the road. The wife ain't too hip with a 40 year Bug being the second car however. Oh well. What's wrong with no heat or defrosters, suspect safety issues, and the number 3 cylinder exhaust valve meeting Mr. Piston at 60 mph? Women, they just don't know how to have fun.

I'd usually go with something like a VW GTI, Subaru WRX, Mini Cooper S - small and performance oriented - as was my Sentra SE-R before it blew up. For the most part, that's out of the budget. Thought now is to go bargain but with a factory warranty. I'm thinking Toyota Yaris, the cheapest model from Toyota, now available used for under $9000, many with low miles and full factory warranty. Almost 40 miles per gallon and small and goofy enough to be fun.

I drove a Yaris today and it was much better then I anticipated. It's more fun to go fast in slow car, then slow in fast car - my current motto. The used one I checked out had 57,000 miles on it, but a little banged up for a 2007 model, so I passed. I'm hoping to look at this one tomorrow, with only 22,000 miles on the clock......

Add bike rack, stir gently, enjoy for many trouble free miles. I hope so anyway. If I don't pick up this one, will find something similar.

To continue my car theme, my old Mackie Designs pal Dave stopped by to check out my dead SE-R. Dave is big into vintage Datsuns, owning two '60s pick up trucks - one of which he drove over (complete with optional hand crank start motor) - and five '60s Roadsters. He thinks one of the rod bearings is toast (I agree) and is running my car past his fellow Datsun/Nissan freaks for possible sale. He later sent me an eBay listing for new long block. $1200 and many hours later, car could run again. I'm not going there, but maybe one of his pals will and I'll unload the SE-R.

That's enough car nonsense for one night. Let's move to something more fun - like bikes.....

During one of my Garage Sale posts, I mentioned getting a free bike from a neighbor, then shipping it off to my old pal John in Virgina, for a utility bike project. Sure enough, project completed with actual photographic proof. John sent me the pic today. It came out great, perfect donor bike for the Xtracycle kit.....

What every garage needs.

My eBay Garage Sale continued last week with a few items re-listed - with much success. I'm gonna dig up even more bike history in the garage and list 'em as well. What sold this week.....

Funky old Campy crankset - now sold. These were originally on my old Raleigh back in the '80s. Been laying in box ever since and went for $67 on eBay.

Pair of vintage Ringle water bottle cages fetched $51 - amazing. Plus $38 to ship to England. Dude must have really wanted 'em.

The old Scott cantilevers even went - for a whopping $10. Still better then collecting dust in my garage.

Bigger news is the completion of Project Access - bike I've been building up for son Ian. I was up until 2:00 AM last night putting the finishing touches on it. It came out great - super light and looks good. Ian took for a little spin on the street today, we'll hit the woods soon.

My mail order Sette Razzo 29er has landed as well. Pulled from the box, assembled and quick street ride to test. It's pretty cool. I'm looking forward to getting it dirty.

I'll devote full blog posts for both bikes soon, maybe even tomorrow if time allows. We have some family Easter festivities planned including dinner guests - busy day.

Enjoy your Easter. Give the kids a extra hug. Ride your bike.