I snapped a lot of pictures at the SSWC. I got as many of the Rig's that I could find. If you look close at a couple of the pics you will see that there is a Big Sur with a 29" front and a 26" rear. That wheel combination seems to be getting more popular. One of the pics is of GF and KB rolling down to the parking lot together.
This is so funny, last year Dejay was the only one riding a (prototype) Rig, this year it seems everybody was riding one!!
Hope he (Dejay) took a little better care of his Rig this year, guess he is still waiting for the insurance money of the German lady that drove right OVER his bike ("Is that bike that expensive?????) haha
And, all those Rigs were purchased in the past six months!
Amazing that there were so many. I guess Fisher just managed to build more of them that surly did KM's? Those have been on the market for quite a while, and last year in Berlin of all places there were 5 or 6, all tidden by the foreigners present.
I'd ridden there before. I knew, more or less, what was coming, and prepared appropriately. I have two single speed bikes - one a rigid steel hardtail that is great in Santa Cruz. The other is an old Sugar that I'd raced in the TransAlp many years ago and had put out to pasture. I brought the Sugar because it has a little suspension travel in front and back, and that would be a good thing in the rocks.
The bike had vertical dropouts and I used a very old Sachs Aris rear derailleur with the strongest return spring I could find. I pulled the chain as tight as I could so the derailleur cage was pointing almost directly at the chain ring to keep the chain on.
The other key component I added to the mix were some tubeless wheels and the biggest tubeless tires (Jones XR) I had around, along with a pint (not exactly, but you get the idea)of sealant in each. I knew that I would not be graceful enough to ride the line through all of the rock gardens, so this was a set up I could ride straight through a lot of those sections with decent control and no pinch flats.
32x18 gears were fine for me on that course. I walked part of the wall, but gave up easily because I'd decided I could use the stretch. I was bonking and cramping a little by then too, and had no idea how far it was going to go up, so that might have been part of the motivation.
The bike worked pretty well, especially given that it took about an hour to throw it all together. I dropped the chain twice bouncing along in the rocks. Both times I felt it come off the front ring, which was just a regular 32 out of a triple set up. I will swap that for a plain ring and maybe put a chain guide on it too.
2 of the chainring bolts blew out at some point in the event too, so that might have been the source of the chain problem. The ring was one of T'vativs heat treated steel units and the ring didn't fold. That was cool.
BTW I am looking forward to seeing/riding the mud tires you used in the Trans Rockies. They sound interesting. Fun reading your write ups on cyclingnews.com.
mtbtires.com
The trouble with common sense is it is no longer common
I was riding a 32 x 17 with 180 eno cranks, they don't creak as far as I can hear. I made a poor gear choice as I would have been better off with a 32 x 20.
I have changed out many of the parts so I had no problem with finding my bike.
That was one great single speed course. I was one of the last riders off as I don't like running very much. I got to ride the last 8 mi with Rudi on his fixie.
How cool was that?
Sorry about the shorts but I don't care what you think.
I'd ridden there before. I knew, more or less, what was coming, and prepared appropriately. I have two single speed bikes - one a rigid steel hardtail that is great in Santa Cruz. The other is an old Sugar that I'd raced in the TransAlp many years ago and had put out to pasture. I brought the Sugar because it has a little suspension travel in front and back, and that would be a good thing in the rocks.
The bike had vertical dropouts and I used a very old Sachs Aris rear derailleur with the strongest return spring I could find. I pulled the chain as tight as I could so the derailleur cage was pointing almost directly at the chain ring to keep the chain on.
The other key component I added to the mix were some tubeless wheels and the biggest tubeless tires (Jones XR) I had around, along with a pint (not exactly, but you get the idea)of sealant in each. I knew that I would not be graceful enough to ride the line through all of the rock gardens, so this was a set up I could ride straight through a lot of those sections with decent control and no pinch flats.
32x18 gears were fine for me on that course. I walked part of the wall, but gave up easily because I'd decided I could use the stretch. I was bonking and cramping a little by then too, and had no idea how far it was going to go up, so that might have been part of the motivation.
The bike worked pretty well, especially given that it took about an hour to throw it all together. I dropped the chain twice bouncing along in the rocks. Both times I felt it come off the front ring, which was just a regular 32 out of a triple set up. I will swap that for a plain ring and maybe put a chain guide on it too.
2 of the chainring bolts blew out at some point in the event too, so that might have been the source of the chain problem. The ring was one of T'vativs heat treated steel units and the ring didn't fold. That was cool.
Sorry to go off topic. I don't post much. I'm a "lurker". Just wanted to thank GFisher for the guts to bring high quality mass produced 29'ers to the market. This board and all the die hards on here are a testiment to that foresight. Tried my first at a demo day in '03 and the following week purchased a used '02 Supercaliber. Had a Truth and Superlight at the time. Bye, Bye. Still have the Supercaliber along with two 292's. I'm 53 and put in a lot of off-road miles, thus the many bikes. No question this single innovation has made me as well as many others better riders. I also like the fact that you practice what you preach. Thanks again.
it was really freakin cool to see THE gary fisher motor by on the first big hill.
you didn't look like you were having a hard time with that gear at all.... BUT IT WAS EARLY
thanks for supportin singlespeeds and bigwheels. judging by the amount of rigs out there sunday (including the "winners") i'd say your on to something!
If either this forum OR Fisher 29ers didn't exist, I certainly would not have tried one by now. In less than a year, I now own three FS 29ers and the kiddie wheels are in long-term storage...
Thanks Gary, and all my fellow 29er internet geeks
Who is KB? That acronym has a different meaning around my way.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by shiggy
KB defined????!?!?
