2 new bike build progects...

Started building up the Kona Humu frame after lots of humming and hawing about what do do with it.Originaly wanted to hack the frame up to make a 2nd fatbike with a hacked up extracycle kit to build a cargo fatbike but really its just going to cost loads to do and decided its going to be a 69er singlespeed winter woods bike, for night riding the flat local woods that get quite muddy in winter,only a half mile from home the woods are ideal for an hour or so riding and so i want a low maintenance bike that i dont need to wash after every ride,
so far i have used whats lying about in the man cave:
Surly Karate Monkey 29er ridged fork,
hope headset,
azonic stem,
shimano XT square taper BB and shimano Atlas crank arms,
32T XT chainring
bars,grips,levers from the junk tray,
Surly Karate Monkey seat clamp.
USE suspension post,
SDG bel air seat,
rustproof bmx pitch HD chain,
£175 will cover wheels and mud tyres and front cable disc caliper (and disc) building the bike for £250...a nice cheap winter hack...
with the forks on i compared the geometry with the on-one 456......
with 26" wheels it was low at the bottom bracket hieght,BB height was 12 1/4"...

with the Karate Monkey 29er front wheel on it was more in line with the 456 and BB height is 13 1/4"...


456 BB height is 13" with 140mm forks, the humu looks a bit slack at the front as a 69er...


but the view from sitting on the bike looks fine so i think it will ride fine...


only just discovered the rear hub with is 130mm (road size) but i can turn down the pro 2 rear hub spacers that came off the pugsley, still to decide on a shimano coaster hub rear wheel,don't know how long it would last in winter here as no-one i have heard of has used one here!,better than a v brake which are awful in mud grinding away...

the other project to build is this...

took it off ebay...just cant sell it as i love it...collect parts over winter to build it up for next summer...

legs rested Saturday for an epic trailride Sunday...report to follow...

normal mountainbiking.........

today (Saturday) dawned grey skys...forcast was clear and with a midday lowtide i was going to head down the beach for some fun on the pugsley...
rain came on around 10am..oh well...now lacking a bit motivation to go now after the amazing weather last satuarday i decided to take the motorbike a quick spin to charge up the battery as the rain will now be washing alot of the (2 weeks late) salt off the roads,it was heavy rain but what the heck...around the coastroad 15miles from home the bike started to misfire when throttled,it died at a junction and didnt have enough battery power to turn over..either it has a charging problem or more likely the cheap make battery my mate bought when he bought it is goosed...its £50 for a new one,when i bought the bike back from him it had nearly went flat on me a few times when the bike had sat a few weeks,ok so now i have to start it -no kickstart fitted and unlike the honda XR trailbikes the later electric start only XT and TTR yamahas have no decompression lever which lifts a valve enabling them to be kickstart easier...try pushing 160KG + 4 gallons (full tank!) and jumping in 3rd gear...anyway i had to do this at least a dozon times to get home at junctions,luckily i usually had a slight slope but was sweating loads!,once home i ordered a battery,i know it will be this as this model wont run without a certain voltage in the battery and it was fine before when used about 6 weeks ago...
buying cheap parts costs more in the long run...
good news though is i recently got a pair of sidi courier boots...

these are often regaurded as the best boots for the money for dualsport motorcycle riding,they are the hieght of trials boots and have a treaded sole like them too..
there pretty waterproof and comfy to walk in too...my friends and i used to rate good motorbike boots if you can walk to the clachaig inn at glencoe from the red squirrel campsite!,
im lucky in being a half size at size 10 1/2 as i can ware a size 11 allowing a pair of bridgedale socks and army goretex boot liners,warm,cosy and dry...
so i wasnt home untill after 1pm and felt a bit hacked off..the rain and grey skys didnt help too but thats the way the cookie crumbles..

i geared up and for a change grabbed the full suspension cannondale,
despite being a 10 year old frame with a 5 year old shock and forks and build etc i still love the look of this bike,from the drainpipe downtube to the side frametubes around the shock,the super v is a classic in full suspension mtb`s..because it was one that actually worked really well..



i havent ridden this since last down glentress in october,in fact i havent ridden any bike with suspension since then...not just rear suspension but front too!
it felt real wierd,it dosnt bob with the fox RP3 shock when peddeling but the rear movement was just wierd!,i went a ride along the john muir way to north berwick law,

it was throwing it down but i was warming to the old super v again..so i pushed up to the top of north berwick law,it was really wet underfoot and the compacted grass was slick in places,
the jurys out too for me on SPDs..pushing up north berwick law i was slipping on the cleats..and thats wearing shimano MT90 boots,proberly the best SPD shoes to walk in,i used to ride flats for downhill and have them on the pugsley,
i think i will switch to flats on this bike when i start to go back down glentress in the spring- yes GT friends ive enjoyed the break from the routine of going down but will be making the visit monthly as want to do alot of filming this year there and at innerliethen..
up the top the views were a bit grim but i took a couple of pics from inside the WW2 lookout post...


i stuck the tachyon camera on the helmet to film riding down,it was real slick and i proberly dragged the rear brake all the way down!,i just stuck to the main walking path,i took nearly twice as long as in summer to go down!...i plan on reaching 40 with my front teeth...
riding home i was soaked through,wet under the paclite jacket now with sweat...

even in the woods it was too wet for taking pics so it was the usual "pic from inside the garage once home shot"

nice to get out on the full suss bike again..it may be a bit old now (in mtb circles) but it will still run circles around alot of newer stuff..and it keeps on going..single pivot suspension reliability and i think the best brakes hope made-the original (alloy-non anodised) mono`s with cookie cutter discs...
it felt ok riding home and quite comfy!,more fun to have on this old steed...
heres a quick film riding down north berwick law..nothing special and i tried to wipe the lense on the way down!,

click on the thumbnail to watch...

cold november rain

rain indeed!,england is getting a hard time of it this now..,i feel sorry for people having there homes flooded...,id be gutted if it happened to my home,worse if it was the garage...,the railway passes my house and is in a cutting so hopefully when armageddon happens the water will go down there!,
i was up 6am to check out the window,stars to the north and east and none to the southwest as forcast the big front was moving in,the heavens opened by 7am,i was dreaming of a good sky to go film at glentress but that soon went out the window...
8am i wandered out to the workshop with a cuppa and it was quite dark outside...

i even thought about just getting geared up ang going out locally and even put a rear crudcatcher thing on the 29er..i actually hate these things and always end up catching my leg on them or they rattle or loosen and drag on the tyre,i found this one minus the post clamp at glentress,another old reflector mount got it fitted,at least the name matches the bike!...

did some needed maintenance to the commuter...

buying a workshop stand was one of the best things ive done,saves alot of hassle,no more trying to do everything upside down!...

trued up the back wheel,using another smaller handlebar mount plastic reflector bracket on the chainstays,these things are handy..., note the old school brooks spoke key...

deciding to give riding a miss today with the awful weather i visited the parents after an aquaplaneing drive into edinburgh to buy chain wax for beachriding at two wheels motorcycles and caught up with friends who work there and had a look at the nice and shiny new triumph bonnieville scrambler motorcycles which i will never afford to buy,heres a customised one i like that i found on flickr...steve mcqueen eat your heart out...

crazy rain!!!!

about a week ago we had a real heavy downpour type of day,it was the day i posted about the new boot gators id got and was off out on a nightride to try them out,well the rain had cleared and i can report they certainly keep stuff out your boots

here was me just returned home muddy and happy!...

it felt weird riding a full suspension bike as i haven't rode the cannondale for about 2 months,still a great bike...

so on the way up to my friends i shot some film whilst driving and took some stills and ended up making a short sunset film...



so i thought that was the last of the bad weather,oh no,it came back with a vengeance...
we got 2 months average rainfall in 2 days!!,it was mad,it just poured down for hours and hours and hours,thursday night it hadn't let up at all so rather than go a cycle as per usual thursday evening i went a walk along the river tyne armed with an unberella so i could film and although most of the riverside path was underwater i managed to scurry up and down bankings and using the brolly.filmed enough to put together a film...



now ive gone into film over drive as i made another on the pugsley this morning!
i was up at 5.30am for work and filmed the sunrise


while behind this to the west a full moon set


i left a camera on the tripod for an hour then on movie maker i doubled the speed-4 times to make a sunrise film
theres lots of flooding around in the fields.looks like not alot of harvest work for a while...

i finished and left work about 7.30am -early bird catches the worm!!,and i had a low tide to catch on the pugsley at 8.50am!
i stopped a few times on the way home from work to take a few pics...





home for breakfast then time to head for the beach on pugsley...........,

the uber v

i took my uber v out for a couple of hours ride today,i made a youtube film as i haven't seen any ubers on there,you may be wondering what an uber v is?
an uber v is a cannondale super v with a raven or jekyll swingarm which allows a longer travel shock to be fitted (190mm instead of 165mm) giving around 6"/150mm travel,these are your original all mountain bikes,built up around 2002 onwards when someone discovered the swingarm/shock swap out,at the time downhill bikes like cannondales own DH v were 6" travel,i still have a pair of 2002 junior T 6" forks which were fitted to alot of them but i do prefer the pikes,the bike has a 05 build mainly hope and XT though the cranks and wheels were fitted a couple of years ago,with a 140 lefty fork fitted this would be a light build,as it is around 25-26 lbs



i haven't ridden it for ages and often think about selling it to put the money into parts and goodies for my newer bikes then after a ride on it again i think `no cant sell it!!



don't think its the best bike out there but it is nice to ride and climbs and descends well,my heckler descends better but doesn't climb nearly as well,it has a high BB which i like for xc riding where your on narrow singletrack through heather,the coil pikes suit it well and admit ably havent been serviced yet since new in 2005! ,a testament to there reliability


the Fox RP3 rear shock works well with bob free climbing and all the parts work well for what i use it for which now is just xc riding and winter night riding,hence the neoporene gators,i like the old school colour of kawa green with the red,it still has the original 1999 STX front mech and theres still no play in it,
so a 6" rear travel xc bike with wind down forks to enable steep climbs then fly down quite narly descents,these were being ridden all over the place before the scott ransom came out and `supposidly` rewrote biking with the `1st all mountain bike`!!