New Old Bike

Today after work my buddy Rich brought over his 1996 Giant ATX so that we could get it ridable. We spent a couple hours on it which resulted in a rebuilt fork, mounted derailleurs, mounted fork, mounted stem and handle bars, and of course wheels and tires. He is supposed to finish it up tomorrow so that we can ride Sunday. Pictures will be coming on Sunday, I hope.  The bike is bright yellow with an anodized purple rear triangle and accents.  It really is a sweet looking bike, I love the old paint jobs.

Fix A Flat On A 26" Rim With A 29" Tube

Mechanic Mondays - How to Shrink a 29-inch tube to fit a 26-inch tire. from Bike magazine on Vimeo.

SRAM X-9 DERAILLEUR

I got an X-9 rear derailleur from Fullerton Bikes (great shop!!!) and put it on my Marauder this week.  So far it shifting smooth and crisp after very minor adjustments.  I was fine with the X-7 that it came with until it started getting stuck, and rather than try to get it warrantied I just replaced it with some thing better.  So far I am happy with it, but will give it a more in depth review after it has seen some time in the dirt.

My bike is fixed, but I am not happy

About a month and a half ago my bike broke. I was riding in Laguna Canyon when my bottom bracket started to make a clicking sound. I stopped and tried to figure out what was making the noise, but without weight on the pedals it would not do it. So, I get back on and take a few pedal strokes and not only is it making noise, but now I can feel it through the pedals. I end up walking the last four miles of my ride. On the way home I stop by one of the local bike shops and the mechanic tells me that the bottom bracket is toast. What! How could this be, it is only two months old. I tell the guy at the shop this and he says "well the good thing is that FSA should warranty this." I was relived, for a minute, then he tells me that because I did not buy the bike from him that anything he does toward getting it warrantied will be at a fee. I understand this because he will have to spend time on it, but he also tells me I can do it myself and it is obvious that it is a defective product. Just to be safe I took the bike to another local shop and had them look at it also, they tell me exactly the same thing as the first shop. When I get home I give FSA a call, this is where things take a turn for the worst, I got a man in FSA's warranty department named Brice and this is how the conversation went:

Brice: Hello, Full Speed Ahead, this is Brice.

Jeff: How's it going, I have a two month old Dyna Drive crank set that I am having a problem with."

Brice: Yeah, thats not a warranty issue. You need to take it to a shop and get a real mechanic to look at it.

Jeff: I haven't told you what's wrong with it yet, and I already took it to a shop and they told me that it should be warrantied.

Brice: Take it too a shop that knows what they are doing.

Jeff: They do know what they are doing, and so does the other shop I had look at it.

Brice: You are too heavy to be riding that crank set.

Jeff: What!

Brice: That crank set is not made for someone your size.

Jeff: Do we know each other? How do you know how much I weigh?

Brice: You probably blew out the grease in the bearings when you washed the bike.

Jeff: No, I'm always careful not to get water in the bottom bracket.

Brice: Did you ride it in the dirt?

Jeff: Yes, it's a mountain bike.

Brice: You got dust in the bearings, we will not warranty that.

Jeff: It's 2 months old!

Brice: I have had cyclocross bottom brackets seize in the first race.

Jeff: Did you warranty those?

Brice: No. (said like I asked him if the sky green)

Jeff: Thats ridiculous.

Brice: no it's not. You just don't get it.

Jeff: This is the worst customer service I have ever.....
"Click"
He hung up on me I tried to call back several times and could not get past him. I called Airborne, who has excellent customer service and spoke with Eric McKenna. Airborne told me that since they don't manufacture the part they could not do anything about it, but he would try to get through Brice (when I described the conversation I had had with Brice he knew exactly who it was before I even said his name) to someone higher up. As of today it has been a month and a half and there has been no response from FSA. I replaced my crank set this past weekend an I will not be buying from FSA again.

How to clean you brake pads and rotors

Mechanic Mondays - How to clean contaminated brake pads and rotors. from Bike magazine on Vimeo.

Airborne Marauder

I have been riding the Marauder for about two month now and feel that I have a good feel for the performance that it offers. 

The Looks

First off the bike looks great, the blue/grey color makes it stands out and the graphics are unique.  It has caught more than a few eyes at the trail head.

The Bike

Frame 6061 Aluminum 6" Travel Single Pivot Suspension MTB, w/Sealed Bearings

Fork Spinner Cargo 340 w/34mm Stantions, OX-Valving, 150mm Travel and 20mm Axle

Rear Shock Marzocchi Coil F

 Headset Ahead Sealed Cartridge 1 1/8"

 Brake Levers Tektro Novela Sport

 Brakes Tektro Novela Sport Mechanical Disc

 Rotors Tektro 203mm Rotor

Shifters SRAM X-5 Trigger 8-Speed

F Derailleur Shimano FD-C050

R Derailleur SRAM X-7

Cassette SRAM PG-820 13-32t 8-Speed

Chain KMC X-9

Crank FSA Dyna Drive 22/32t with bash guard

Bottom Bracket FSA Dyna Drive

Pedals NONE

Rims WTB FX-28 32H Disc Specific SV

Hubs REAR: 32h Alloy QR Disc Specific FRONT:32h Alloy 20mm Thru Axle Disc Specific

Spokes Black 14g Stainless

Tires KENDA K877 Front 26X2.6/Rear26X3.5

Handlebar Kalloy Alloy 31.8mm Dia., 670mm Width, 30mm, 6 Deg

Stem Kalloy 2D Forged Alloy, 31.8mm Clamp Dia., 50mm, +/- 10 Degree Rise

Saddle WTB Pure-V Sport

Seat Post Kalloy Alloy 30mm Dia., 350mm Length

Extras Owner's Manual, Clear Coat, H20 Bottle Mount

This bike has components that you would expect to find on a bike in the $2,000 range.  The frame is bullet proof, but it is heavy.  The Spinner Cargo 340 front fork is a simple but reliable fork, the only adjustment is the preload so once you set it you just leave it alone.  I was skeptical about the performance of this shock when I ordered, but now feel that it is capable of handling anything I can throw at it.  The only thing this fork lacks is adjustability.  The rear shock is the Marzocchi Roco Coil F, once again there is nothing flashy about this shock but it gets the job done, and it does it well.  At 6'0" and 215 lbs I have yet to bottom out the suspension, even when jumping 4'-5' ramps.  With this frame and suspension the bike loves going downhill fast, and the Tektro Novella Sport brakes with 208mm rotors will help you to control your speed and even stop on a dime when needed.  We would all like Hydraulic brakes, but these mechanical brakes do the job well.  The only problem is they need to be adjusted after almost every ride, but it only takes 2 minutes to do.  The drive train is an entry level drive train with the SRAM X-7 rear derailleur and the FSA Dyna Drive crankset.  The bottom bracket on the crankset is weak and mine broke in two months, FSA also has horrible customer service.  I upgraded the bottom bracket and crank arms to a FSA Mega Exo with Truvativ arms, but kept the same rings.  The X-7 derailleur has a tendency to stick in the down position, so it was replace with the Sram X-9.  I was worried at first that I would not have enough gears to climb with the 2x8 gearing yet I find the only problem I have climbing is a lack of physical fitness.   The SRAM X-5 shifters are good and they do their job. 

My Review

The Marauder is a bike that spans the gap between All Mountain riding and Freeriding.  If you want to fly downhill, huck jumps and drops, and be able to ride anywhere this might be a good choice for you.  The bike is excellent while it is pointed down, it is stable and fast with good maneuverability, but it is heavy, mine weighing in at approximately 42 lbs so you will earn it to burn it.  When climbing the front tire has a tendency to come off the ground unless you keep your weight forward, and like I said the bike is 42 lbs.  When I ride with a group I always get dropped on the climbs, but I always catch up while descending.  If you are looking to ride cross country trails, if you shave your legs and wear spandex, and if you count grams on your bike look somewhere else this bike is not for you.  If you like to fly downhill, hit jumps, huck drops, and don't mind a little extra work on the way up then then like me you will enjoy this bike, you will enjoy it even more when you see the complete bike with shipping and tax costs less than $1000.  With a few minor upgrades it is a great bike, and Airborne has had great customer service.

Satruday ride

Today Jake and I meet up with two of our favorite people to ride with Greg and Vincent.  Vincent is nine and he is one heck of a rider.  We set off from the Nix center parking lot in Laguna Canyon and rode up Stagecoach Springs, the singletrack climbs with switchback for about 1/2 mile then it descends for about a 1/2 mile.  Everything started out good until Jake took a little spill shortly after he started to overheat.  We got all the way to the big hill on Camarillo Canyon Road, which right now is only a singletrack, before the overheating happened.  At this point we turned around and rode our route back to the trail head.  There was a lot of H.A.B. for Jake, but he made it.  We had to confirm for him that everyone has a bad day once in a while.  I on the other hand felt great today!