Plum Grove Cyclery

Saturday Sun!

plumgrove — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:41:28 +0000

Couldn’t resist getting out on one of the first non-snowy and relatively warm Saturdays of the new decade. Took the IF Ti Deluxe 29er out since it was windy and tackled the gravel roads of Loudoun. We are blessed with an abundance of “unimproved” roads that I think are a HUGE improvement over most of the paved ones. Mapped the ride so someone else less familiar with the fun routes can follow at their leisure. Keep in mind that Spring is less than three weeks away and we should be doing some low intensity longer efforts this time of year so we can peak during the prime riding months of the year. Had to stop a few times to record the majesty of Loudoun as the snow uncovers it’s beauty. I also needed to stop to catch my breath!
Only six weeks until the Baker’s Dozen! Doing trail work in the AM and riding the road bike in the PM. Will post about the relative condition of the race course. We hope to have an open ride within the next few weeks so stay tuned!

Tom Stokes

Loudoun Is Melting!

plumgrove — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:15:58 +0000

Finally starting to see some dry blacktop and dried out dirt roads around the county. Seems like it was last decade that I got to ride my bike outside. Managed to get home a little early Monday to get in 90 minutes in on my IF Ti Deluxe 29er. Rode out Old Waterford and of course right at the bottom of the first hill, Scott came by on his Cyclocross bike to say hello and then ride by me. I managed to keep him in sight up the first climb and most of the second climb and then he was out of sight. Looped around through Beacon Hill and then down Canby and up to Willowcroft Winery. At that point as I was going down Mt Gilead Rd and the sun was setting over the Appalachians and the temperature was dropping quickly. Mt Gilead was also a tad muddy which made for a good look when I got home. Can’t wait for the days to get longer so the after work rides can be extended.

Tom Stokes

Ted Wojcik Going Green

plumgrove — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:08:57 +0000

Ted Wojcik’s booth at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show was very busy and what was attracting quite a bit of the attention was his homemade pedal lawn mower. His bikes are amazing in their beauty and craftsmanship. The Mower with that big fat back wheel was at once functional and quite a piece of design. Rack and pinion steering with gears so he can cut grass on the uphill and keep up his speed on the way back down. Makes quite a racket when it’s going but you can tell it has been used. Made me wish it wasn’t winter so I could get out and cut a swatch of lawn.

Tom Stokes

Custom Eye Candy Galore!

plumgrove — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:23:01 +0000

The Richmond Convention Center was home to the North American Handmade Bicycle Show this year and it did not disappoint any of the cycling enthusiasts that made the trip. I was stunned at the quantity of eye candy in both bikes, components and accessories like clothing as well as fancy ways to open up a bottle of beer. Although there was decent representation by carbon fiber, most of the hand crafted beauties were fabrications of steel alloys and titanium alloys with some pretty hard to believe paint schemes. Then there was the occasional wooden bicycle or a composite of wood and carbon fiber! I wonder how that machine rides? It certainly looked cool. Shimano showed up with there new Electronic Shifting Dura Ace gruppo built on a bike in a trainer. Many took the opportunity to power shift from the small ring into the big ring with the push of a button. It worked every time! I am not a great photographer, but I tried to capture what I could of some of the highlights of this extravaganza. Check them out on Flickr.

2010 North American Handmade Bicycle Show

plumgrove — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:30:20 +0000

Mike and I are heading down south to Richmond to attend the North American Handmade Bicycle show this weekend. An incredible selection of artisans showing off what is best described as “found art”. Function combined with aesthetic beauty, these bikes and crafted components are sooo sweet, I am going to make sure to leave my checkbook at home. We will make sure to bring the camera so we can post some of the more memorable shots on the site.

IF Deluxe 29er

plumgrove — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:25:32 +0000

One of my rides is a Titanium Independent Fabrication Deluxe 29er with Paragon Machineworks slider dropouts featuring an OEM Rohloff dropout. I have what looks like a single speed drivetrain but in actuality it is an internal 14 speed Rohloff 500/14 hub with a twist shift on the handlebar. Rock Shox Reba Race fork with 100mm of travel. DT 190s front hub and both wheels have NoTubes ZTR Arch 29er rims with Maxxis Cross Mark tires set up tubeless. I LOVE this bike!!!

Tom Stokes

2010 Turner Sultan; Bad to the Bone

plumgrove — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:34:13 +0000

Back in 2009 the very respected Turner Suspension Bicycle company switched their entire product line to the DW Link system. Dave Weagle has designed a patented and revolutionary rear suspension design that Issac Newton would be proud of. Their partners in crime include Turner Bikes, Independent Fabrication, Iron Horse Bikes, Ibis Cycles and Pivot Cycles. Although Dave Weagle’s website will chatter on about physics with terms like anti-squat and variable chainlines, the truth is rather easy to appreciate if you get the chance to ride a Turner with the DW Link. People can get a little lost trying to decipher what works and why when it comes to mountain bike rear suspension. Soooo many variables to contend with while trying to maintain a consistent and predictable suspended rear end. Boiled down, that rear shock cartridge is asked to do two separate jobs on all mountain bikes. First, it needs to resist the force of the rider’s weight when you are sitting on and riding the bike. That means the shock is trying NOT to compress too much. The second job is too compress when the rear wheel receives an impact. That means it also needs to be ready to compress to absorb an impact from the wheel while resisting compressing from the weight of the rider as well as the additional load of pedalling. So, most mountain bikes with rear suspension have been asking shock companies to make a shock that can simultaneously perform two opposing tasks, resist compression from the rider while also compressing and absorbing impacts from the trails.
To the credit of companies like Fox

Sweet Ride!

This is What Makes it Work

Bad to the Bone

26 Pounds!

and Manitou, they have managed to create the schizophrenic shock that most bikes require. The essential beauty of the DW Link is that the mechanical linkage does the job of compensating for that compression from rider weight called “sag” leaving your beautiful Fox RP 23 rear cartridge only one job to perform, maintaining rear wheel contact with the ground no matter what you decide to ride over! Without having to perform two contradictory jobs at the same time, this rear suspension is unleashed and you can now experience what dual suspension can really achieve.
My partner at the shop, Mike, has just finished putting together a 2010 Turner Sultan sized Large with the Pro parts package. With a few minor tweaks he has managed to get the total weight down to just over 26 pounds! Not too shabby considering it is a 29er with 120mm of travel front and rear! That new Fox 32 F29 FIT RLC fork featuring their new FIT damping system and 15mm thru axle is VERY sweet. Formula brakes have incredible feel and the XTR drivetrain re-defines “quick” when it comes to shifting.

Where Has All the Oil Gone??

plumgrove — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:25:34 +0000

In the ramp up to the Snotcycle I changed the oil and replaced seals on a few suspension forks and I was struck by a few things. First of all, I am quite careful to catch all the oil that drains out of the fork when I disassemble it. A large plastic bin on the ground below the work stand is a great catch basin. Once the lower legs (sliders) have been removed it is a simple process to clean all the surfaces, pry the old seals out with a large flat head screwdriver from the top of the sliders and then press the new seals in place. Then it is a matter of re-assembling the fork and then filling the fork back up with the appropriate shock oil of the correct weight and the correct volume. As I was pumping the oil into the various chambers of the suspension fork I thought back on all the forks I have overhauled in such a manner and I realized that the amount of oil that had drained out of the fork was perhaps 1/5th the amount that I was re-filling it with. Where in the world did all the oil go? This has occurred even when I have changed the oil on a fairly new fork, usually for the purpose of adding or removing a spacer to change the travel. Even then, hardly any oil pours out into the oil pan. Perhaps manufacturers cut of few corners and save money by skimping a bit on fork oil during assembly in the factory. On the forks that have seen many months of hard riding, perhaps the oil slowly migrates out of the seals and is then washed away when the bike’s owner fastidiously cleans his bike after a few muddy rides? Either way, almost all of the forks I have taken apart have not had the correct volume of oil in them, not even close!
Fox recommends the oil and seals be changed every 50 hours of use. Rock Shox has no stated guidelines but recommends a regular inspection. In every case the forks that I have re-filled have worked markedly better which makes sense since they were running effectively dry before I got my hands on them.
On the scale of mechanical difficulty, changing oil and seals in most suspension forks ranks easy to moderate. Most cyclists I know are fairly diligent about cleaning their bikes and keeping the chain properly lubricated. I would consider this process to be about as easy and not very time consuming. Considering the amount of money some of these shocks cost and the impact they can have on the quality of your ride experience, I think everyone should take the plunge and get oily!
Tom Stokes

Snotcycle Pics

plumgrove — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:00:38 +0000

Here are some more pictures from the Snotcycle race over the weekend. Thanks Bruce!
Tom Stokes

Snotcycle 2010 Video

plumgrove — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:00:50 +0000

Cat 2 men’s competitor, Jason Gull from Wheels of Justice fame rode with his fancy new helmet camera and has uploaded footage to YouTube. Next best thing to riding snow covered single track through the woods is watching someone else do it! Thanks Jason.