Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Where does one stop

For North Korea? who knows. I was disappointed to hear about the nuclear testing, even if it may have been a false alarm if the initial blast didn't start the chain reaction. Personally i just think it is yet another bad sign for the human race. Another nail in the coffin.

On a brighter note, as part of my learning process for the new bike, I put some information together about the outboard bearing cranks. Blackspire are making replacement rings for xtr m960 cranks. Got to be good compared to the crap that's on there when you buy them. They come as singlespeed or geared. Magic.

Next. It can also be argued that the current crop of outboard bearing cranks have less than durable bearings and seals. Peter Verdone, who seems to be really pretty bright at this sort of thing, paints a bleak picture. It is interesting and it does make me wonder if Race Face are throwing bad money after terrible money with the x type bottom brackets (lets face it, isis was a debacle). Shimano don't come out much better, *but* Phil Wood to the rescue! A new tool to fit their new bearings and as ever, the tool is worth owning just for the classic Phil attention to detail and beautiful shineyness. I will be investing when the time comes.

Lastly, fitting correctly is important with *any* bicycle component. So when you are tensioning the bearings on m960, consider using the Park Tool BBT-9. This has a fitting for a torque wrench in order to do it properly. See the Park website for details. I feel you can never do yourself a disservice if you invest in decent tools.

Ok.

Congratulations to singlespeeder Team Dicky on becoming the singlespeed worlds 24 hour racing champ. Rock on.

Soon, once thoughts gathered and scatter brain has settled: riding a Jones one; riding a TiF; other randomness.

And if you haven't already get yourself the OuTcAsT interbike sheet...

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