Monday Morning Debrief No.17

No filth embraced. No hunkering down over the handlebars and pedalling on into the freezing hail. What’s going on?

Seems I’ve been riding so much through the winter that maintenance was inevitably unavoidable. Well that and a bunch of new stuff that needs testing. So with the sleet battering the windows I put the Gaggia and the music on, sneaked the bikes into the kitchen and got down to work.

First up was a quick brake swap on the Highball, we’ve a brake test coming up so it’s going to be the testbed for a couple of different pairs.

Then onto the Highball Carbon, I’m going to be using this for some long haul rides this year. Given that it’s so easy to pedal I figure that means I’ll be able to cover a fair amount of ground.

After two years use the Avid X0 brakes needed a bleed to get them back up to ‘out of the box’ performance.

Then I moved onto its new shoes.

I’d managed to acquire the USE carbon 29er wheels with all their shiny nano tech goodness. So a straightforward swap over of tyre and rotor up front.

And rotor and cassette swap at the back. The Crossmark I’ve been using was looking decidedly  semi slick so I’ve popped on an Ignitor to see how that performs.

After a quick and dirty shake down ride I’m reckoning it’s going to be pretty nippy.

Which is good because I’ve got plans for some adventuring in 2013, mainly with the aid of the Bryton 50E which is going to provide on the fly mapping. It’s the year to ride in new places and feed the 24hour itch that’s starting to niggle again.

Only questions is do I swap out the Reverb for a normal rigid seat post?

Did you ride this weekend? Show us here: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/monday-debrief-weekend-riding

Dave Anderson

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