we were sleeping this morning, and G reached her meaty little paw around to her meaty little ham and broke herself off a piece. it looked very satisfying. then she rolled over and dozed off again.
Day: August 10, 2007
Buying a Heckler
I bought a new 2007 Santa Cruz Heckler on recently (July 13…long wait!) Liquid Blue. It should be ready in a couple weeks. The shopping was agonizing as I found it impossible to know what I wanted when I’ve never ridden a 6/6 bike before, and no shops seemed to have anything available that I could ride. seriously!!! Adventure, Cactus, Rage, SMC, Pig — inventory was hard to find. It came down based on just reading and specs to the Heckler, a Turner RFX and a Yeti 575. Bill at Adventure finally got a medium Heckler in for me since I nagged him so much, and I liked what I saw. Its stout and simple, but can do a full turn inside a parking space just like my Blur, and is in a comfortable price range for me for a 2nd mtb. Though partly I just caved and went with something I knew would be good, and in my price range, cause after 2 months and countless hours of reading it was all just academic without a test ride on a trail, and I wanted a d@mn bike! Motherfuck I fucking wanted a fucking bike!!!! Its a Santa Cruz, its a tried-and-true rugged design, and I have a good relationship with the shop — I’m sure it will be good to me. And I wanted a fucking bike.
I went with the All Mountain X9 kit, and upgraded the fork and front wheel to a 20 mm thru axle. I’ve never customized a bike before so this was new territory and a little intimidating for me — the cheapest thing to do was buy my own fork (Pike 454 Air) and front hub (Hope Pro 2), then sell off the parts from the kit (Fox Float 140mm RLC, Swiss DT 340 front hub QR) and have the wheel re-strung with my hub. I did a lot of research on ebay and the discount dealers, and it looks like the customizations will cost me about $200 when its all said and done if I can unload the fork for about $450 and the hub for $60 — not too bad to upgrade to something beefier. Should be just about 30lb when done and after I Stan’s the wheels.
Unfortunately there is more to do. So much more. i had to go to the shop and ask about the other parts I needed, if they could provide them or if they were cool with me bringing them in. Bill totally understands about inventory and mail order and whether or not its worth it to him, but the way of doing it all respectfully is giving me a goddamn headache. I wound up talking to Brad and everything except the bash guard they just didn’t carry, so I think all the politics and what not will fall into place. Plus I want to buy a shop jersey! I’m hoping when its all ready I can help build it up, take some vacation time and learn a ton in one day.
I decided finally to go with some flat pedals that will accept spd-style clips, and some hike-oriented sohes. I also finally decided to go with the wide-chamber air shock which should be plush and light. Riding Alta a few weeks ago was great cause it gave me a sense of what I will really use this bike for, and I got to check out everyone else’s gear — man I was like an annoying 4 year old on Saturday with the questions “why are your pedals flat? why do you have a coil shock? why is my bum so sweaty? why did DurtGurl roll down the cliff?” Going for the shock for the Fox RP23 for the shock instead of the DHX 5 coil, since even on the gnarliest things I’m not doing anything big or hard, so might as well save the weight.
now…its like that scene from the gun-control episode of the Simpsons. “but I’m angry now!” tick-tock tick-tock the waiting is the hardest part. 
nah its all good the waiting will make me enjoy it more. for now, this is the picture that I take to bed each night:
And here is what a geek nerd does to track all his decisions.Blur $1000
- shock
- wheels
- http://www.oddsandendos.com
- colorado cyclist
- disc brake upgrade
- seat
Heckler
- heckler will be about 2800, or 3k w. 32mm fork setup for thru axel
- A beefier bike is really worth it to me
- Fox Pike 454 or 426 for 200
| 454 | 426/409 | |||
| Coil | 95-140mm | 2281 g (5.0 lbs) | 2435 g (5.4 lbs) | |
| Dual Air | 140mm | 2023 g (4.5 lbs) | 2177 g (4.9 lbs | call SC and find out if 7.5 inches will work for fork |
| Air U turn | 110-140mm | 2113 g (4.7 lbs) | 2267 g (5.1 lbs) |
| shock | weight | cost |
| dhx5 | +1 lb | +112 |
| rp23 | – | +89 |
| fork | weight | weight | cost | todo |
| 409 dual air | 4.9 | +1.2 | +112 | see mtbr, ebay has 2 for 500 and 400 |
| talas 36 rlc | ||||
| float 32 rlc | — |
buying a fork for 400 and selling the other for 450 still leaves me with some
install and the need for a thru axel hub
45 grams= .10 lb
the one Adventure proposes swapping is likely the Bontrager Rhythm comp. the
hub is probably $50 vs $100, 28 holes on bontrager vs 32 in dt swiss
trading – downgrading hub by $50, downgrading fork by $50. adding $200 to cost.
net loss $300
doing it self – hub for 80 + fork for 500 = $600 in, get back 500. plus 100
labor. same cost, .5 lb less on fork.
or
buy and use or buy\resell wheels, and fork. still can lose 200. fork will fetch 4-450 tops, wheels maybe 350
| dt swiss 5.1 w. 340 hubs | 500 g x 2 + 238 (thru) F or 196 + 372 — probably be 1950 grams | ebay |
| dt swiss 4.2d w 240 hubs | 400 g x 2 154 + 273 1593 grams | ebay $520, CO cyclist 535 |
| dt swiss 4.2d w 340 hubs | 400 g x 2 196 +372 1811 grams | ebay $400 |
| hope pro2 | pricepoint | 80 |
shimano rear was 370, and the mavic 819 rim was 465
Heckler or Turner
- any bike I get is going to ride differently. i will surely enjoy any of them.
- want a durable stout bike
- heckler
- turner
- yeti
- there is no discount to buying offseason, so should i wait for selection in a few months? no
- New
- Heckler – 3k w. thru axel
- Turner – 4k
- price estimate from Adventure – 3k w. tax for thru axel
price estimae from Pig – na - speedgoat.com – na
- colorado cyclist -na
- Used
- Turner
- http://classifieds.mtbr.com/showproduct.php?product=7443
- http://classifieds.mtbr.com/showproduct.php?product=7346&cat=3
- eric at slippery pig
- Heckler
- http://classifieds.mtbr.com/showproduct.php?product=7307&cat=3
- Turner
Going Through the Motions
Sometimes the baby is a lot of work, my day is hard, i am tired. But G has needs, and deserves companionship and attention. beer and party hats are a cure for mood, but not for fatigue. G is too fast for fatigue, you gotta bring your A game, or at least your A- game.
We rode around Somo and up to the Towers on the roadies this morning; Beckie, Janna, myself and about 10 others. good ride, very tired, all alone with Monster.
so we ate, and we played, and we made puzzles, and we read, and we ran around the house, and we went into the pool, and we blew bubbles. and she can not help but fascinate me even when I’m hardly paying attention. she says what she wants to eat, I am teaching her words and she is getting them the first time, she picks out books and recognizes the pages, she hides from me and i hide from her and she knows we are hiding, she finds hiding spots, she get puzzle pieces and knows several pages later that she has the right piece to put in the puzzle book, she knows how to put on a sock, she knows how to fill up the air in her raft, she finally blew her own bubbles! then she drank the bubble juice and made the”I shouldn’t have had that last shot of tequilla face” and puked all over her self.
ahh, such a magical age.