Stoke

Not much for stoke at the end of the week here. My Ventana is in a box heading back to the factory for an attitude adjustment. Hopefully it can be straightened out without too much hassle. I did throw some of them new shiny parts on and give them a couple of short thrashings prior to breaking the x-5 down to the frame.

The 10mm thru axle is cool.

Between that and the centerlock rotor I have dropped the rear brake noise. Not sure if it is placebo or what, but the centerlock rotors are grabbing harder than my IS rotors did. They also have the added benefit that they are centered on the hub so they aren't constantly running out as the wheel spins. Maybe next week I can get bug Mike to order up a DT RWS thru axle.

MMM. Stiff, light, and tool-less. Excelent...


Also got my 5in rockers for the 2in stroke Roco. They are a bit smaller and lighter. I am somewhat concerned about the fact that the shock mounting hardware is downsized to 6mm on the 75mm thru bolt instead of 8mm. Reason being is that I bent the 8mm one. Maybe I can just run a higher grade alloy steel bolt to help instead of the stainless one that ventana sends with the kit.

They showed up just in time to see the X-5 go into a box.

Well what a load of crap. The most expensive chi-chi fork and now custom frame that I have ever owned have both gone in for warranty in their first 6 months of life. Ever wonder if all of the advances in bicycle technology are getting us anything other than lighter wallets??? That's it I am going to have to go back to a rigid single speed. I am already getting fed up with the complexity of my suspension. Reading through the tech documents on the last couple of forks I have owned it seems to me that the possibility to miss a step during re-assembly outweighs the benefit of learning to work on the particular fork. I miss the open bath marzocchi days. You know, back when forks didn't have 10 o-ring seals in their damping cartridge and you could tune your fork without having to be an expert on damper design. Back in the day it was a shimmed compression damper and you could adjust rebound, oil height, and oil weight. That was it. And it just worked. Now I have 5 knobs to turn externally, but can't get my fork to perform as I want. Gotta love these "advances". Rant off...

Riding? Got in a Fremont Older loop and a HC loop earlier in the week. Good to get back in the saddle after a couple weeks off. Just a couple of 1-1.5 hour rides. I need to get some more saddle time in for endurance. Maybe this weekend.