Soma Stanyan Build

Yup its a 4S bike..the Soma Stanyan SingleSpeed Project

Little did I realized that when I started the brain screwing when a buddy was looking for a frame and I posted the Stanyan, in time there would be 2. One of them mine.

I was actually in the midst of building another bike http://bikes-bikes-bikes.blogspot.com/2010/01/project-roastpork.html and wasn't ready for another anytime soon but as fate would have it, all the "parts" of the Stanyan starting falling in place.

The more I was helping my buddy to hunt, the more it grows on me as well.

Luck was on my side... someone was selling a SS eccentric hub wheelset on the marketplace. Just what I was looking for.

All it takes was a little bit of polishing to get it spanking new again




(Pictured here is the front, running a non-disc MI-6, what's more, the "bomb" shaped profile of the hub body matches the one on the rear ecc as well!









Frame prepping was done on Stanyan (no.1) last week.

Beautiful chrome polish lugs... One look and it increased my resolve to hunt out for every possible part in chrome/silver mirror polish finish.


Then came the first cache of components from UK. Except for the headset pictured below.

Unexpected find that gave an exact color match with the headtube lugs. Furthermore no distracting brand logos to detract from the looks when installed.








Not too many 57mm reachcalipers on the market. Choice was down to this or the Shimano. Took a plunge and went with this despite the naggy feeling about the brand. Not too shabby. Caliper action doesn't seem as strong but lets see how it gels with the CC SCR-5C levers





















A box of beef patties from the US today ???? WTF

Oh its just more bike stuff :)

 \@@/ Seeing doubles?
No u're not!

2 x Sugino RD2  48t
2 x Tange BB 107mm
2 x Nitto B-135 Randonneur Bars

Oh yea cos' its
For the 2 x Stanyan Twin Evil builds
 


Nice crank. But time to hunt for some 50-52t 130 BCD rings

Awesome stuff and hey...they even 

threw in a free COG magazine.

Now I see what those fixie craze is all about...

The second Stanyan should be arriving anytime this week
and its a matter then of waiting for this chain to be restocked....

Project ROast.POrk

Grilling the Pig

Finally got the wheels done after sitting on it for almost a month. And a first for me having a pair of silver hubs. Used to have a thing against silver hubs until the ENOs..... Not so bad after all. Laced with silver spokes and Black WTB Laser Trail 27mm rims, everything looks strong and good. and they better be.........

Just some final touch...Front pro II hub was bought on "Flood Sale" and the outer were a little rusted. Just to make sure all is well, I decided to pop the seal and check the bearings. No rust, but where's the grease. Damn, those bearings were bone dry!  Ok time for the Dura Ace bearing grease treatment again.

Rear is a brand new 40 engagement Goldtec hub, so just pop the freebody for a quick check and back on it goes.


Frame Prep
@ 2 a.m. in the morning... Anti Rust Treatment and left to sit overnite.

No more Black Magic

Next morning.....dismantled the last bit on the Voodoo Bokor and realized that I have never taken any pic of it.

Too late for a full bike shot. This one had to go to make space for the Pig.

Just can't resist....a skeletal mock-up

Just about to go on to measure out the cables and realize I have forgotten about the shifter housing....rush out for some in the afternoon and again just can't resist seeing how the angles would look like. So on went the tires.

Can't believe how difficult it was to put the Rubber Queen on! Must have been the most difficult tire mounting in my life! Literally both hands and BOTH feet plus an almost broken Park Tool tire lever later.........

Enuf for the day.....dinner time.

Simplicity.....2 wheels 1 gearing ratio

Sure enough, just when I was back with the mentality of a 1-bike-do-it-all
or do-most-of-it-all, the lure of building up another will start to rear its evil head in my mind.........

The El Guapo is pretty much done up with only a new coil left to test out and a new Ragley Blue Pig frame is sitting out in the cold of Heathrow Airport making its way to me.

But even in between these two, I just had to whip out something else. The good old days as a schoolkid riding on whatever hand me down are always a fond part of my memories. The bikes are never in tip top condition and mostly too big for me. The joys they brought, however were of a totally different kind from any bikes I have now.

Having recently been riding on a couple of old school steel frame built up as light touring bikes in Malaysia brought back a whole side of what it means to ride a bike at a personal level. Its not the usual weekend fiery runs with the  EG nor the "must keep pushing above 40km an hour" roadie rides. Its the kind of simple no ego involve ride, cruising and watching the world go by.

Whipping out the hand-me-down Trek 800 that was destined to be the kiddo's commuter (that never got built for that purpose) I decided on a slightly different approach. Since its all mostly flat around here, I decided a single speed daily commuter at least for now. Simple!

Slapping up with whatever there is in the bike bin this is the result....

Not too shabby. It has even went on a night offroad ride. A little help with large modern tires to give small bump compliance.

Updated (23 Jan 2010)

Final build. The "Kopi/Errand Tourer"

Just have to find excuse to use up the ever piling mass of bike and bike related stuff around the house.

The 2 x 200L Dinotte are just too "outdated" for my nite offroad rides, so its being "dedicated" here....

A nice 44t Blackspire DH ring, so no more monkey pedalling. After a round island trip of 104km, looks like a 16t cog will go back on the rear instead of the current 18t

Final piece of change before this pic-- H-bar for the better comfort on longr rides.

Oh... and the 2GB Otomo MP3 player mounted on the left of the bar is probably gonna be a "permanent" feature too.

Writings: Black or White?

No.
Of late everything has been a combination of black and silver for me

It looks good? Yes. An "evergreen" color scheme? Sure. But maybe just a little more than that..

Why silver? That's just grey with a glitter. Greyness that looks good while it last but transient.
Take away all that shines.....everything is just all but grey and dreary. Much like the life we all live? No doubt.

Why black? Its darkness. Gloomy foreboding sense of forlornness. When silver loses its shine and the darkest shade of grey loses its greyness, entering where no color escapes.     Black.

Cold inky darkness keeps everything in. So unlike pseudo whiteness; the color identified with goodness and purity when all it actually represents is nothing more than a farce. Utter farce that throws back every wavelength that approaches it.     Reflecting, instead of holding in and letting those be a part of it. It can't embrace, good or bad, happiness or sadness. Nothing more than a distorting circus mirror.

Don't even start me on "Gold" The color choice of whores. Used by even the most religious to reinforce the idea of their beliefs. Just bright dirty flashes, be it in its elemental form or existing side by side with the pseudo whiteness of purity in imageries cooked up by the feeble human mind that has absolutely no place whatsoever in my life.


Darkness Descends
Run my little Angels, RUN.

Penang DH Trip

No excuse not to go riding, real riding that is. Something I have been putting off for awhile Not the usual monotony that the flat landscape and hiker crowded trails in Singapore has to offer..... 8 hours of smooth driving to Penang lull me into thinking "its just another trail, another ride"

Looking at the elevation of the hills and jungle from the hotel snap me back to reality. Though from afar but knowing the inside of jungles well told me what to expect under humid tropical canopy that may however be intruded by human activities.




Better safe than sorry, so it was all suited up with guards, FF helmet and body armor on the first day. Bad idea in 100% humidity and having sections to portage up before its a one way ticket down.



Made up of different trails it takes a bit of local knowledge to meander from one to the other. Chwee must have been eking out a living in these green patches...snaking around to the right spot...oh I just happily followed cutting from one trail to another or simply meandering through the longer ones.

Most of these are actually hiking trails, usage, weathering and erosion have taken their tolls. But biking around in topical climates, one of the thing is always about cutting a path of travel to circumnavigate what nature has washed away. Except for Line 3, Youth Park which is carved out and shaped for DH races, the rest actually looks more like technical downhill sections of more difficult XC trails.

Apart from the first day of riding, rain was a constant companion which no doubt made the riding a tad more difficult than if it was dry. Steep sections smoothened and slick from all the rain has more slick roots at every pedal stroke; ready to get you. Some sections felt more like skiing rather than biking.


.......Roots


......Rocks


.......More roots and jutting rocks at the bottom


.......Not all is gnarly... nice and flowy stuff too

Even the most brainless maniacs that hurls themselves off into tangled mass of vegetations need to do a rain check at some point :)

......Just too wet. Carbing up on the "free" coffee and biscuits on a detour on the way down Pt 84.



Sure glad to be having 6 inches of travel front and back and wishing for more at some points. On others, it doesnt seem too DH oriented at all






Getting up there?
Well one can push-- but up 850 meters on roads that inclines up to 45 degrees! Thanks but no thanks.




Knowing locals there who would pick u and bike up for a few ringgit a pop is one.
Failing which, there is always the tram service (but we heard that this will be taken down and replaced with something modern in the near future)




Though there is lesser pedaling unless one choose to take some other more XC oriented trails, still a base level of fitness and bike handling skill is required. The mental concentration needed when the brain is cooked under a helmet, especially a full face one and willing the hands and legs to coordinate the bike movement is not something that can be easily achieved if the fitness is not there.

Start off with the ability to ride 2-3 consecutive laps at Bukit Timah or Ubin and followed by a couple of rides at Kent Ridge to hone handling skills are highly recommended for those that has little experience before attempting the Penang Hill trails



The Bike ?

Full fledge DH rigs like what Chwee and Line7 used sure has a fun factor over mine.
But a properly setup AM, not some weenie crap rig will suffice. Moreover I was the one smiling when having to portage some sections. I wish I had a little more travel up front though... a RS Totem would probably feel about just perfect but otherwise no complaints with the EG


...............

In summary.... Once back, riding local trails in Singapore was almost done with a yawn, a very big one. Going to Penang again? Sure.

Besides... where to find food like this around our little island

Almost done

Here goes another writeup that's probably more for my own record of what's done that went wrong or right with the bike setup.

Having always advised others to do one tweak at a time to keep variables to a minimum, I didn't heed my own advise and changed too many things at once. Both to get that "perfect" setup while trying to get the looks "right" at the same time...and all in the areas that matter most to me.

Luckily my old logs have served well to get back to old settings when things went horribly wrong. Guess it was kind of like the XP Restore function.

One thing I never got comfortable was the slightly cramped position. from the ML to the EG, it has always been a small thing nagging at the back of my head whenever I'm out riding. Never thought much about straight and setback seatpost as the fiddling has always been with stem length and bar height.

65-70mm stem with no setback on post felt right without being crammed but handling on the EG just didn't cut it.

Bought the KS i900 adjustable post today as the Gravity Dropper just didn't feel right with the EG's 18 inch seat tube. Like it or not, the KS i900 came with 25mm setback. As I hated the cornering characteristics of the Amoeba 70mm stem, I switched it back to the 50mm El Norte Prolite.

Now the position feels right and handling was back to the crisp point-and-shoot handling from before.

I mulled on it awhile... yea basically I can shift up to 25 mm back while maintaining that longer reach of a 70mm stem with no setback on the post.

Another bonus that came out of it which I still haven't figure out why......the rear felt just as plush but it doesn't max out the travel as much. Which is a good thing because I am ever worried about bottoming and maxing the rear shock.

Tires
I always thought the Fat Albert 2.35 was big. Couldn't resist the temptation when a friend told me he can't fit the new Conti Rubber Queen 2.4 in the rear of his bike. So I took over the rubber and use it as a front while swapping the FA to the rear. The tires itself now seem to have a separate suspension by themselves. The whole combo of tires and suspension simply moves the whole bike up another notch. Already when first setup, the EG made me do stupid things I never would have with the Motolite. Now I think I will get even dumber if not for the broken pinkie that's holding me back these few weeks. One thing left on the rubbers is to fit the optimal pressure settings.

Mountain Biking Rants

I was watching alot of people at the trailhead this morning at BT. It led me to think what has become of the sports coupled to all the marketing ploys out there.

Over time I have heard a lot of people saying things like "Oh, the kind of bike I ride is just not conducive for climbs or flying down etc. True, different bikes have their pros and cons but its getting to the point of limiting what one can do and constantly narrowing down that range!

It used to be " I have a mountain bike" and that one rig is where you ride everything. If its "unrideable", be it technically impossible relative to the bike of the day or a rider's lack of skill, we all just haul it over, across or under.

But today, on the same trails, well maybe a little more eroded than a decade ago, there are bikes that spans a multitude of categories from the familiar XC, to the rather amibguous AM (some will prefer to call trailbikes) and some bad ass looking FR bikes. Even some DH rigs are seen from time to time. No doubt helped by the latest suspension and bike geom in riding a roller coaster type of trail. The techno babbles for each is endless. As one gets familiar with his/her own bikes, adjustments and buying in to technology is quite normal. But should that become the main focus. Isnt the main focus out on the trail suppose to be pedaling and catching one's breath?

Most importantly, its still about the rider.

I mean there are swanky multicolored jerseyed riders on souped up 8k XC rigs that don't even make it past the first little slope without dismounting. Next thing some grouchy singlespeeder that will simply blast their way up with a loud "bike, on the right".

So who is to say what can or cannot be done with a bike. A lot of time it really lies with the rider.

You may not get it the first time but then its a learning curve. Most having a bike and fail to clear rutty rocky climbs has one problem. They freeze when they see the first obstacle on their way up and stopped pedaling. More often than not they have not chosen a line beforehand to follow. Losing momentum is like ten times faster on the up than flat or coming down. Natural progression of things becomes putting a foot down on the ground and push push push.

Just pedal on and learn to shift the body weight around. Yes, its that easy. Close your eyes and visualize then haul that bike out and try.

and try again and again.


Quit the hype, get some rest away from forums and go do some real riding for the best way to improve. Nothing beats feeling that "sticking point", discovering for the first time how a proper weght shift from body english actually gets u up and over that seemingly impossible slope.

Ok, next, one needs to figure how best to clear that forked root that meets u on the way down right after the climb.

Tip: its not jamming the brakes