Karen’s post yesterday about periodical postage rate increases reminded me of a Bulletin I wrote on my MySpace page last week. It went something like this:

And so it goes…

I just got an email announcing that the last issue of Punk Planet magazine is on the way to my house. I knew they were on hard times recently, but I can’t explain how much this news sucks. Punk Planet is/was one of the best magazines ever published. Period.

Since I picked up my first issue of Punk Planet back in 1998, I’ve not missed an issue. The magazine is/was so much more than just a magazine on and about punk rock. In the words of the magazine itself: “Over the last 80 issues and 13 years, we’ve covered every aspect of the financially independent, emotionally autonomous, free culture we refer to as “the underground.” In that time we’ve sounded many alarms from our editorial offices: about threats of co-optation, big-media emulation, and unseen corporate sponsorship. We’ve also done everything in our power to create a support network for independent media, experiment with revenue streams, and correct the distribution issues that have increasingly plagued independent magazines.”

But there was also the music. The band interviews, stories and record reviews in Punk Planet have turned me on to a mountain of music I would have otherwise missed. Again…it’s going to suck not having Punk Planet to have with me when I need it most.

Oddly enough, I JUST started subscribing to Punk Planet. But for the previous 9 years, I bought single copies off the magazine rack at the local, independent record store, and then…gasp…even the evil Border’s Book Store after the record store went out of business.

And like my father before me, I’m a magazine junkie. I get at least 8 subscriptions delivered to the house. And…As many of you know, I’ve worked for an independent magazine for over ten years now. The magazine is successful, but it’s not always easy. It’s disturbing on several levels when I hear that a similar, cool, awesome magazine decides to pull the plug.

For all that is holy…like the sticker says…support your local independent everything.

A few things have popped up on my radar lately, perhaps some of you might be interested also.

First up, it looks like SRAM is updating their 8 speed chains soon. I’m looking into what has changed, but as of now all I have are model names: PC-830, 850, 870, 890. I’ve used the older models(PC-48, 58, 68) with good results in the past.

On the drop-bar brake lever front, Tektro has a new long pull lever, the RL520, available soon. This will make a grand total of 2 long pull levers on the market for drop bars. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Shimano introduce a long pull STI lever soon, although they have released a road version of their cable disc brake. Tektro also does a road disc now, and Avid has been doing a road BB7 for a few years, perhaps we will see more of these rather than the long pull STI.

What I’d really love to see is a hydraulic disc set-up for drop bars. Magura had hydraulic rim brakes for drop bars years ago, but the levers will not work with discs. I’d love a set of hydros for the all-weather bike I’ve been planning in my head for years. I’ve built a few iterations, but have not found just the right combo of parts and frame.

Also from Tektro, a mighty pretty cantilever brake, the CR720. Looks like a nice blend of old school styling with some newer technology.

I’m glad to see continued development and support in products that are slightly out of the mainstream.

PS-I’m still getting the hang of html, please bear with my poor linkage for a few more posts. Anyone have a link to a good html primer?

If you missed my Day 1 Report, you’ll want to read it first to get a little background.

Day 2 and we’re back to the Adams Gulch area, which is convenient for multiple bike testing because you can crank out a loop with a good variety of terrain in under an hour. First up for me today is Trek’s Top Fuel 69er. That’s right—in addition to the Travis Brown inspired 69er singlespeed, Trek now offers both a Top Fuel 69er and a 3×9 69er hardtail (a 69er is a bike with a 29″ front wheel and 26″ rear.)

it’s fair to say that the 69er is Travis Brown’s pet project, and he described the virtues of the 29″ front wheel as follows. Better cornering traction due to bigger contact patch on the front tire. Better angle of attack helps the front wheel roll over obstacles. Stability of the front wheel due to gyroscopic effect, produces less fatigue due to a “steering damping” effect. Travis likes the 26 rear wheel for several reasons. Boostability = easier to get the front wheel over obstacles. Weight, stiffness, power transfer, and acceleration are better with the 26″ wheel, compared to the 29″ wheel.

My first ride today is atop the Trek Top Fuel 69er, which sports a 7000 series aluminum alloy frame, Fox F100 RL 29er fork, 90mm rear travel via a Fox Pro Pedal shock and a R1 Tuned rear suspension with optimized single pivot, and tubeless ready Bontrager wheels. Note that both Travis Brown and Chris Eatough have been racing this bike as part of its development process. The bike’s handling feels very much like the Fuel EX 26″ rig that I rode yesterday. In fact the wheelbase on the two bikes is the same, which probably accounts for much of the similarity in handling feel. The R1 rear suspension climbs well and soaks up the hits when called upon, but it does not have the same bottomless cooshy feeling of the Full Floater suspension on the Fuel EX 9.5 that I rode yesterday. I try to pay attention to the effects of the big front wheel, but it is hard to quantify the “roll over obstacles easier” advantage on the these mostly buff, but occasionally technical trails. There are a few technical spots on the trail where I might be able to convince myself that the 29er wheel rolls better, but more testing would be required to make any definitive statements. All in all, the Top Fuel 69er carved the swoopy track like a champ, and gobbled up the occasional root and rock without complaint. Here’s a photo:

My other rides today are spent atop a couple of 26″ Gary Fisher HiFi rigs—the Carbon Pro and the regular old Pro (aluminum alloy version). See my Day 1 Report for an explanation of the G2 geometry that is the backstory behind the HiFi’s angles. One of the design goals for the HiFi platform was to produce the lightest 5″ travel trail bike bike on the market, and with the Carbon Pro weighing in at 23.3 lbs (medium frame), I’m certainly impressed. The Carbon Pro sports a Fox 120 RLC (with custom offset), a custom Fox RP23 rear shock and a sweet mix of SRAM X.0 and Shimano XTR drivetrain components. There are plenty of Bontrager carbon bits and a Race X Lite Tubeless Disc wheelset. Avid Juicy Ultimate brakes stop the show.

While riding the HiFi Carbon Pro “light, fast and responsive” are words that pop to mind. The feathery nimbleness belies the fact that this is a 5-inch travel bike. The beauty of the Pro Pedal setting on the rear shock is that it very effectively combats pedal induced suspension bobbing, and the bike climbs very efficiently—and when you encounter a bump the suspension is fully active. No question that this is a bike I could ride all day, or even choose for an endurance race, and not feel held back in any way by the machinery. Have a look:

The aluminum HiFi Pro performs pretty much like the carbon version. It sports the same front and rear shock, and a bit more budget minded parts mix. The aluminum version feels more solid, stiffer and rides a bit harsher than the carbon version which has a more supple ride, and perhaps has a bit more flex (or maybe the smoother feeling just makes it feel that way?). In any event, it’s hard to quantify the different “feel” of the carbon versus aluminum frame based one day of riding, but it’s obvious that they each have a unique feel. And I don’t think one “feel” is better than the other, it’s more a matter of personal preference. So the advice I have is that you should look for an opportunity to test ride both, and decide which is more to your liking. 2008 HiFi’s are scheduled to start showing up at Gary Fisher dealers in July. Here’s a look at the aluminum HiFi Pro, and me posing with the bike, just to show off the beautiful scenery in the Adams Gulch area:

I’m in Sun Valley, ID, and it’s day one of the media launch for the 2008 Trek and Gary Fisher mountain bikes (and Bontrager tires and wheelsets). The morning is spent in a classroom absorbing as much information as I can from a series of presentations delivered by folks at Trek Corp who were responsible for developing the latest and greatest. They drop a ton of information me, and the 20 or so media type from around the globe who are assembled for three days of learning and riding.

Speaking of riding, my afternoon and early evening is spent riding Gary Fisher HiFi Pro 29 and Trek Fuel EX 9.5 bikes. Rather than using this space to regurgitate all the information presented in the classroom session, I’ll simplify things a bit and focus on the new developments specific to the aforementioned two bikes, and tell you about the new developments specific to each bike.

It takes a lot of bikes to keep the world’s mountain bike journalists occupied. Here’s a shot of the bike stacked against the big rig that Trek used to haul them from Wisconsin to Idaho.

For the first ride of the day, I’ve got a brand new Gary Fisher HiFi Pro 29 under me. That’s right, new for 2008 is a 29er version of the HiFi, and it shares the same G2 geometry philosophy as the 26″ wheeled HiFi. In G2, version 2 of Fisher’s Genesis geometry, the main goal was to improve the slow speed handling, while maintaining the high speed stability and climbing ability of the original Genesis geometry. To make a long story short, Fisher worked with Fox Shox to develop a front suspension with increased fork offset, which reduces the “trail” while keeping the same wheelbase. The end result is snappier slow speed handling.

When applying G2 to the 29er HiFi, Fisher worked to come up with a 29er-specific custom fork offset that resulted in neutral steering, such that the trail was nearly identical to that of a 26″ bike. The custom fork offset also allowed for slightly shorter top tube, which decreases the cockpit a bit and allows for a more optimal rider weight distribution.

Other spec notes include new Bontrager Rhythm 29er that feature a 28mm wide profile, between normal XC and freeride width, which allows the tire to take on a more rounded profile and supports it better, for added lateral stability, especially with lower pressure. There is also a custom tuned Fox Float RP23 rear shock.

My first ride of the day is an up-down affair on Bald Mountain. After a short warm-up spin through town, we start up Lower River Run trail—a looooong series of switchbacks. I’m happy with the way the HiFi Pro 29er handles the tight, slow speed, uphill turns. It’s really the perfect place to get a first impression on the G2 geometry’s slow speed handling, and it passes the test. Climbing 1700″ is rewarded with a singletrack rip down Warm Springs trail, a “big grin” run with a roller coaster personality that’s got it’s share of sweeping corners, and just enough technical features to keep you on your toes. I feel immediately at home on the HiFi Pro 29er’s handling and instinctively point it into the “best line” through the fast corners without the need to engage my brain and think about the fact that I’m on a brand new bike for the first time, and that’s it’s a 29er full-suspension bike on top of that! So the HiFi passes the initial “it rides like a bike” test quite well, feeling very neutral out of the box and not exhibiting any noticeable quirks.

At the bottom of Warm Springs Trail the Trek crew and support van await to refuel riders and swap bikes for the second ride of the day. For round two I score a top of the line carbon Trek Fuel EX 9.5 with 120mm of rear travel and 130mm up front via a Fox TALAS RLC 90-130.

Traditionally, mountain bike suspension designs have located the pivot point either on the seatstays (like the previous Fuel EX) or on the chainstay (i.e. Horst link), and Trek points out that either of those locations cause the the suspension to stiffen under braking. The new Trek EX uses Trek’s ABP technology, which locates the rear pivot concentric with the rear axle. This pivot location is claimed to keep the suspension active and independent of braking, which keeps the rear tire in contact with the ground for reduced skidding and better braking control.

Also new this year is the Full Floater rear shock mount that allows the shock to float between two independent linkages instead of having the lower mount fixed to the frame. This design allow Trek more flexibility on tuning the spring rate of the rear shock. What they’ve done is aim to produce a rear shock that feels active right away, has less ramp-up at the very end, for a “bottomless” feeling.

Trek racer Travis Brown was on hand and talked about how seriously Trek treats frame stiffness and how critical stiffness is to to cornering (to keep front and rear wheel from flopping in different directions). Fuel EX frame stiffness is 35% stiffer, mostly due to rocker link improvements, though the frame itself has been stiffened. The new rocker link, dubbed the EVO Link is now a one-piece design (not bolted together) with a wider bearing stance (from 46 to 64mm) and both factors contribute to the increased stiffness.

My ride atop the Trek Fuel EX 9.5 in the Adams Gulch area. There is no big sustained climb, rather we encounter a series of shorter climbs and descents, and the trails have a flowing rhythm. One of my first impressions in how light the bike feels for a 120mm-travel rig. Granted it’s the top of the line Fuel EX, still a weight around 24.5 lbs. is pretty impressive. I’m pleased with how well the bike pedals, with very little the pedal-induced bobbing, and it climbs very efficiently. My “first impression” of the redesigned rear suspension is that it feel supple over the small stuff, and provides the “bottomless” feeling that Trek was shooting for. Carving hard downhill sweepers leaves me feeling impressed with the frame’s lateral stiffness (though I wonder if my 150 lbs is legitimate test of any frame’s stiffness). Granted, this is only my first ride, but while I’m riding I find myself thinking, “You know, this could make a great race bike for the endurance events and rocky West Virginia race courses that make up most of my racing schedule.” 2008 Fuel EX’s are scheduled to hit dealers’ floors by August 1st.
We’ll that’s it for day one. The plan is to ride another bike or two on day two, and to do my best to post a bit of tech about the bikes and my initial impression here in the Dirt Rag Blog.

On Monday morning a few of us from the office attended the opening of a new bike lane on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh. For some of you out there in locations closer to bike-topia this is no big deal, but for Pittsburghers, this is only our second official bike lane (and the only one on a busy street likely to be useful to commuters), and getting it took several years of work by a local advocacy group, Bike Pittsburgh, in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. At the event we heard speeches by Bike Pittsburgh’s Executive Director, Scott Bricker, and by the Mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, then we all rode the length of the new lane, accompanied by the Mayor’s police escort (also on bikes). With Scott and the Mayor in suits and cameras all around, it was like a more official, short-track Critical Mass, and a truly momentous occasion for those of us who get around the city by bike.

There was a lone dissenter at the proceedings, however: a guy who seemed intent, to the point of interrupting the first speech, on spreading the message that the new bike lanes were actually dangerous. He passed out a flyer that argued that the lane markings cause several dangerous situations in the bike/car mix, including putting cyclists too close to the doors of parked cars on the street, and that by attempting to separate bikes and cars, the lanes give the impression that bikes don’t belong anywhere else on the streets. A friend who is on the staff of Bike Pittsburgh, Erok Boerer, referred to this dissenter as a “Forester”, and this along with some websites listed on the flyer led me to read some of the writings of one John Forester, who is apparently at the core of a controversy I hadn’t known existed.

It would be easy for me (and many others at the bike lane event) to dismiss this lone dissenter’s opinion, if only based on his rudeness and the fact that he was riding a low-slung recumbent without a flag, virtually invisible to motorized traffic, and somewhat erratically at that. But just after this I came across the opinion, “Bike lanes and bike paths create the impression that bikes need a separate but equal space, like Jim Crow for cyclists,” and a quote from John Forrester’s website, “Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles,” which both made me think about the situation more.

I do think that in order for cyclists to gain the respect and acceptance of drivers, we need to adhere to the rules of the road as best we can. If confronted by cyclists running lights and stop signs and putting the onus on drivers to watch out for their safety, I can understand how the average motorist could be startled and frightened, and then get mad, and then perhaps vote against any cycling-friendly candidates or worse yet, do something rash in a tense moment. This is no justification, of course, but I believe that we have to cooperate to coexist. Official sanction and support from cities and municipalities is necessary, and it will come more quickly if we are not seen as public enemies. At times, commuting by bike can feel like going into battle, with every speeding behemoth of a motor vehicle against you, and it’s really tempting to give back what you get and then some; but I liken the situation to that of mountain biking in its beginning stages, when some riders rode wherever they pleased without trying to respect other trail users, and thus caused enough controversy to put some trails off-limits for good.

So I can see the point of trying to integrate cyclists and make us part of traffic, rather than separate us and complicate the interaction. But due to the physical size and weight difference, cyclists are not the equal of automobiles on the roads, and because of this I think we need some form of recognition and a bit of protection, which bike lanes can provide. Biking in other cities with bike lanes seems easier, not just for the physical space, but because it seems drivers in these cities are more aware of my presence and more courteous. It’s a chicken-and-egg question: is a more bike-aware population the reason why those communities have bike lanes, or did they get that way by being reminded of cyclists’ presence by every bike glyph painted on the pavement? I hope that in Pittsburgh, the latter will be true.

If you’d like to check out all sides of the issue, here are some links.
Pro: The League of American Bicyclists – a national advocacy organization whose platform includes the use of bike lanes and paths.
Con: John Forester’s site – Forester is an engineer by trade.

By the way, the “Bike lanes and bike paths…” quote was part of a question from an interview I did for Pinch Flat News. (I don’t think it was necessarily the opinion of Hans, the interviewer, he was just asking for my reaction.)

I used to brag about my miles of flat free riding, but lately my good luck seems to be running out.

I think it started with last years Wilderness 101 where I pinch-flatted my rear tube on a fire road descent. I remember pushing the pace a bit as I could hear the guys I had passed near the top of the last climb rolling up behind me. I smacked into a big flat rock and thought I absorbed most of the impact but I was stopped a few feet later swearing at my horizontal dropout/trackends, disc brake and chain tug. I’ve had a few more pinch flats since then including a few front ones. I’ve been used to running bigger tires on my previous bikes(26″), but until recently there was little available for 29″ bigger than 2.1.

Last month, less than 2 miles into the neutral start of a 400 mile race I flatted, and again about 30 miles into it. Last year I managed the entire ride with no flats, and looking back the only flat I’ve gotten while commuting hundreds, if not thousand of miles, on those same tires was due to a chunk of frozen wood.

Yesterday I set out to repair a slow leak on the same bike. I pulled out my spare, installed it and soon realized it also had a slow leak. I patched both tubes, and installed the spare, putting the original tube back into my bag, as its short valve was not ideal for the tall profile of my rim. I made it about a block before I realized there was still a slow leak. I went back home and pulled the tube, finding the tiniest hole opposite the recently patched one, a wee snakebite. More vulcanizing fluid, 5 more minutes of waiting, install, pump, depart.

By now I was running quite late, but after coasting down a series of hills from my house to the river, I pulled over for another flat. I’m still not sure how this one happened, but a previous patch had blown open. Not off, as the patch was still stuck, but the orginal location of the puncture had blown out through the middle of the patch. I’ve never seen this one before. More glue, more waiting, lots of pumping to get to 65 psi, enough to get me to work.

A mile or so later I thought I dropped softly off a 6″ curb and soon was pulling the tube again, this time an obvious pinch flat. I gave up on the long valve tube, pulled the short valve spare from my bag, held my mini pump tightly to the valve and managed 75 psi.

I made it in without further incident.

This morning I wasn’t too surprised to find that I had only about 25 psi in my rear tire. I aired it up as hard as I dared and hoped for the best. I managed to get in without pulling out the mini-pump.

I was planning on posting this yesterday, but I was looking for a nice paragraph to wrap up. I couldn’t come up with anything, but on the ride in I came to the conclusion that flats do not make a good muse for fine prose. So, I’ll just wish you all miles of flat-free riding and I’ll go knock on some wood.