MTB With Brian Leads to Shopping = Flatbar and Dominator 5's

I've been experiencing a "President's Day Training Camp Weekend" with the family away. Today was the finale after 132 road miles, a mountain bike ride with Brian in the Oakland Hills. As with the last ride, the elevated handlebars were impacting my slow reflexes, causing at least 1 near crash. Like with my last ride in December, I was speed limited by my eyeballs bouncing in my head - age or lack of practice?

After the ride we headed down for coffee, and promptly sheared the bicycles off Brian's roofrack as we turned into a parking lot - another story, the rack seemed to have a series of intentional sacrificial fuses that thankfully preserved the bikes and car. My armwarmers held the rear wheels to the car, Brian dropped me off, and I proceeded to hose, soap and brush the bike down. 

While drying the bike, the caffiene kicked in and I got antsy for a bit more riding,

and pondered shopping for a cheap flatbar in downtown Berkeley to get the bike dry and address the nagging geometry imperfection. I rode first to Mike Bikes - closed until 11am, then to Missing Link, also 11am start time, then finally as last ditch, Performance Bikes now located on University Ave in the old Pier 1. They were open, I literally rode the bike inside and leaned it against the register.

I found exactly what I needed, a "cheap" alloy flat bar, even on sale for $9.99! (Much cheaper than the carbon one on order that won't show until end of March)

Then I noticed the shoes on sale, and started trying them on. Unsatisfied with the mushy feel, this led me to the not-on-sale Sidi Dominator 5's that fit relatively great and felt like boards under my feet (good!) "Don't tell my wife!" I mocked, turning over the cheap bar and pricey shoes to the clerk. The wife is actually supportive of the cycling habit (to a point), and given I sold the Porsche and life I get out of the shoes and and whatever justification I just wanted them they will be great. Besides being fun, these MTB rides are sorta pricey - Nuti got me on new shocks, now Brian the shoes.

Rode home, started some bike-shop action in the garage, installed the bars and tweaked them to fit. Pipe cutter to shorten, only about 1" each side, what a great deal. Bars almost seem low now, I can always rotate the stem back up. Can't wait until the next ride - gosh, I hope before June ;)

100mm Travel and Disk Brake

Just back from the garage, where a mis-labelled fork (Manitou R-Seven Pro with cantis that did not have cantis) led to a mechanical disk brake upgrade (Avid BB7 Mechanical, XT lever compatible) and a little shop project. Keeping the white fork and buying more stuff was easier than returning it for a black model with cantis. I had the Neuvation MTB wheelset kicking around anyway, so why not enter 2001?

Too lazy to get the headset redone, I found the same WTB Momentum Comp ST I put on the frame in 2005 and kept the races in place using new bearings. I suspect that is a no-no.

The last item was a new Michelin XTC Extreme 2.0 tire, to match the rear. It doesn't, again a 5 year delta will do that, but its close enough, should be more reliable than the 12-13 year old Green Silica Michelin of the old wheel.

Took it for a spin in the dark of midnight, in the rain. Feels like 1/2 a new bike,
I notice the front is raised significantly, the travel is huge and super adjustable, the new tire is noisy, and the brake modulates nicely/fine with the rear V-Brake.
Bunny hopping damped severly, have to find some curbs to hit with this fork.

Thinking about all this, I wonder if I tightened the stem to the steerer enough, better leave a note for myself in case I do ride in the sloppy hills tomorrow am.