MtnBikeRiders.com

More of a question than an article on this.

I wanted to see if you, the readers, have had any negative experiences with hanging your bike upside down from the ceiling of your garage for storage between rides. Here is my experience with this issue: I used to hang my bike upside down and although I never developed any problems with my Rock Shox Reba fork, I did notice a slight leaking issue with White Brothers Magic fork. My Avid Juicy 7′s were fine as well. Once I began storing the bike vertically along the wall, the leaking issue vanished.

Currently, I only hang two bikes upside down: 1. my singlespeed commuter with rim brakes and steel fork and 2. my wife’s cheapie Gary Fisher with rim brakes and a low end fork… which surprisingly has not leaked, but then again it doesn’t work very well either.

I ask this question not because I’m exploring this option again but because a good friend of mine hangs his bike upside down from the ceiling and his year old bike with a nice Fox fork is starting to leak badly. I know many of you will say for him to keep it right side up, but his garage is packed with work (owns his own business) and family related stuff.

Three questions total:
1. Do you have any experiences, particularly negative, hanging your bike upside down from the ceiling?
2. Do you know if certain fork or brake manufacturers are better at being hung upside down?
3. Any elegant, space efficient solutions for storing a bike right side up from the low ceiling in a garage? Those pulley systems seem to take too much room.

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Rl and I hit the loop for a quick short ride to “feel” and do minor adjustments to the Soul Cycles Dillinger. After a few quick saddle and seatpost adjustments, we were ready to hit the trail.

OK, so let’s start with the geometry, the bike felt “big” as in tall, but I was not stretched out. I found this “bigness” to be an advantage on the quick and short steep downhills, I never felt as if I was going to fly over the bars.

Climbing off the saddle, I didn’t feel any flex, the bike was solid. The Reba Race’s poplock remote was very convenient, just a flick of the switch and the fork was almost fully rigid.

At 35 psi, the Geax Saguaro Tires struggled for traction on the loose terrain, especially on the uphills. I will play around with the tire pressure to see if I can achieve more traction, I usually run my 29er tires at 30psi.

The Powercordz brake cables felt amazing, I’d forgotten that I was riding mechanical brakes and not hydraulics! Quick note on the Serfas Tegu saddle… COMFORTABLE, even RL noticed it when he was riding the Dillinger for a bit.

I’m hoping to put a lot of miles on this bike, I really need to get in better physical shape and I find that riding a Singlespeed is one of the fastest ways to do it. I will write a full review of this bike in about 2 to 3 months.

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I did it. I jumped on the single speed bandwagon. I suppose it was just a matter of time really…with all these boys around me on their single speeds. I swore I’d never do it. But I really just couldn’t resist. I was blown away when I first saw RL riding his single speed. The guy actually rode faster on a single speed then he does with gears!

Most recently Jeremy built up his single speed and before that I saw David decide to give it a go. Now he is racing ss! I just didn’t understand what all this excitement was about? Why the self-torture? I like all my gears, especially my granny gear as needed. RL has been trying to get me on a single speed for a long time now. I really just had no desire but my curiosity peeked and I said to RL “Well maybe I’ll just give your single speed a try one of these days – but no strings attached! If I don’t like it I don’t want you to ask again.” That’s all he needed. He had me out on the fully loop in a matter of days on his single speed.

David “Superman” Sanderson racing single speed

I really didn’t know what to think of it initially. The bike was all wrong of course for my body but I kept this in mind as we put in a few miles on it. I felt very frustrated with not being able to climb a few hills but the flats were fun. I felt like a hamster turning in her wheel at times and other times the pedal stroke was effortless, yet I moved so fast!

So after a couple of runs RL suggested building up my beloved Motobecane as a ss for me. The chance to saddle up on the Motobecane again??? Yes! And the best part was I got to pick the color of my chain! How COOL is that?!?!?! My KHS is decked out in pink so I thought purple would be a nice change. I’m all about comfort so we threw on my Ergon grips and a nicer saddle. We thought it best to stick to a 32-18 for now.

My sweet Motobecane…..before the transformation

I have been secretly riding the single speed for about 4 weeks now. Why secret you ask??? Well first off, I didn’t want the boys to know in case I completely hated it and gave up after 1 ride. lol. It’s also really embarrassing not to be able to clear some of the hills out there – yes I have got a little pride. Oh c’mon you know we all feel a little bad sometimes when we have to dismount. I know I am not the only one. But I am over it, because I still can’t clear some of those hills! lol.

This past weekend was my first “group” ride on the single speed out at Sycamore Canyon (ride report to follow). I don’t know WHO said this trail was single speed friendly (RANDALL), but in any case I survived. LOL. We got in a little over 15 miles and I am happy to say I still like it. I love that there is so little to think about on a single speed. I don’t have to give any forethought to which gear I want to be in, I just have to adjust my pedal stroke. The boys thought I was showing off when I was zippin up the hills but, really, I just need A LOT of momentum to get up. I still find the short steep climbs very difficult, which is a blow to my ego..lol….but I hope in time I’ll build up my muscles to clear these. There is also something familiar about the set up. It feels very similar to my spin bike, which I am on about twice a week. It’s really hard to describe the enjoyment I feel on that bike. Maybe it’s becuase it’s a new experience? Maybe I like the extra power I feel in my pedal stroke? Or maybe I just am happy to be reunited with my moto. I don’t know what it is, but I like it.

Me and my SS Moto

The single speed set up is also an incredible work out. I’m not just talking about my legs either. My arms and shoulders are still talking about it a day later! Maybe riding single speed will make me more fit?? Maybe that’s the animals secret?!?!? Well I’ll let you know in time! Ha! I am also curious to know if it will improve my riding on my geared bike?

Single speed = Animal

So in case you have been mulling over a single speed set up – give it a go. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Ask any of the boys. They’ll be the first to let you know I really had no desire to ever ride single speed. I viewed it as a form of masochism! There are some aspects that are difficult but I have come to appreciate the hard work. And the rides have been fun. As painful as some of the ride was this past weekend, I really had a great time and I was proud that I did it on the single speed out there.

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As many of you know, we recently added the Sette Razzo frame to our lineup of bikes here at mtnbikeriders.com WCH. The Sette Razzo was built up as a SS. I have to admit, I was, and still am, very tentative about riding a single speed. I probably got that way due to all the Moe & RL puke stories. I, like many of you, are not a fan of puking.

SS can be quite a workout, especially if you go rigid

I decided to hit my local test loop, the Fully loop, for my first ride on the Razzo SS. The loop starts off for almost flat with just a twinge of an incline. I immediately felt the desire to shift gears and go faster, so much so that my right thumb twitched. Of course, there was no gear to change into so I ended up spinning really fast here and there. But I wasn’t used to all the spinning and my legs quickly got tired of it. I’m going to have to work on that part of SS riding.

What I was really afraid of were the climbs. None of the loop climbs are particularly long, about the only thing the loop is missing, but some are on the steeper side. The first short quick steep after crossing Euclid was conquered without any issues. Rolling along the street after the climb was a bit annoying because again I couldn’t get my legs to spin up fast enough. But ahead lay the climbs and as much as I was annoyed by all the spinning out I was cognizant that the lower gearing would be greatly beneficial on the climbs.

Redline Mono 9 has 9 gears. This helped get me ready for Single Speed riding

The climb that really got me antsy begins with a mild fireroad ascent. It then rolls along a little before hitting a short rooty section followed by a short steeper section. The end of this is a little past the halfway point of the loop. No puking on this climb. I was close… but I held it down. One more climb which is made difficult with railroad ties was up next and only my pride plus the presence of a couple of hikers stopped me from letting it flow.

What I came to realize over my SS ride was that my body had built up a bit of a familiarity to sustained standing climbs which is really your only other “gear” when you’re riding a SS. The familiarity was achieved when I began riding the Redline Mono 9, a 1×9 geared 29er. Before the 1×9, I would sit and spin my way up but when I rode the 1×9 consistently I realized that if I sat and spun all the hills, I’d quickly run out of gears.

So I adopted a different approach to climbing that included a mixture of spinning for a while then climbing while staying in the same gear. For example, if I was in gear 4 on a seated climb and I felt I wanted to change gears, instead of choosing to shift I’d stand up and climb for a bit. This essentially doubled the number of “gears” I had available to me from 9 to 18 and also eased my transition from 27 gears down to one.

Being comfortable with sustained standing climbs turned out to be a great help when I rode the single speed. I truly believe that if I went straight from 27 gears to just one, I probably would have joined RL & Moe with puke stories of my own.

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This week I worked on right-sizing the steerer tube on my carbon fork and the width of my handlebars.  On my last update (#1) I wasn’t quite sure which handlebar/stem to use.  I’ve decided to give the KORE Torsion Bar and B52 stem a try.  Stock length of the Torsion Bar was at 800mm, so I’ve got some work to do in shortening it.

The FORK: I finally got the courage to cut the steerer tube myself.  As I mentioned on the last post, the steerer is also carbon fiber.  Not having cut a steerer tube in the past I was hesitant in doing so.  For awhile I was debating on whether I should do it or take to my LBS.  Always trying to be self-sufficient I did a little research then bought a hack saw at Home Depot.  Following Richard Cunningham’s (Mountain Bike Action, issue July 2007) instructions, I measured the desired length then taped a spare aluminum spacer to use as a cutting guide.  I added an extra 10mm spacer to my desired length to give myself a little room for error.  Fortunately all worked well and the steerer tube was cut evenly.  I reinstalled the fork, added my carbon spacers, tightened the stem then installed the compression plug. 

                            Spacer taped on as a cutting guide.

NOTE: do not use the regular star-nut with carbon steerers; it will damage the insides. Use a compression plug which will expand inside the steerer tube.

The HANDLEBARS: Using the same method above, I proceeded to shorten the Torsion bars.  Original length is 800mm.  I decided to take off 3/4” on each end.  After measuring the desired length, I marked the handlebar, clamped on an old set of ODI Lock-on rings for a guide, tightened the screws then cut away.  Final length is 30.25″.

Once I’ve mounted the stem and handlebars to the appropriate position, I installed the red Oury grips.

                          ODI Lock-on rings as a guide.

Above is the end result.  Not bad ehhh?  Here is where I’m at w/the build.  Almost there…

Frame:                 ZION EBB
Fork:                   SASO Carbon fork
Skewers:              SASO Carbon Levers
Single speed cog:   16t Wheels Mfg SSK-3
Stem:                   B52s 
Handlebars:           KORE Torsion bars
Grips:                   Red OURY Lock-ons
Wheelset:             Sun Ringle laced to XT hubs
Crankset:              Race Face Deus, silver
BB:                      Race Face ISIS spline
Tires:                   Maxxis Larsen TTs 2.1(f)/1.9(r)
Headset:              Woodman Axis SL COMP 
Tubes:                 various brands
Spacers:               Carbon
Misc:                    FSA Compression plug

Current weight: 19.74 lbs

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