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Bruce
& Betsy Blais |
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Dallas Ride Vegas Ride |
THE EQUIPMENT Gary Fisher Superfly Hard-Tail His current Dallas ride has an identity crises. It started out as a 2005 Gary Fisher Paragon 29er. In the Fall of 2008, he broke the frame. Since the frame has a lifetime warrantee, he got new frame (2009 model) and moved the components to that frame. Over time, he has upgraded the brakes, drive train and saddle. He later cracked the 2009 frame and replaced it with a 2010 Superfly carbon fiber frame. The fork, wheels, shifters, rear derailleur and bars are the original components from the 2005 Paragon.
He added a pair of Bontrager RXL carbon bottle cages to the carbon frame.
The tires are WTB EXI-Wolf 29 x 2.3 and have a tread pattern optimized for loose hard pack. They are the best tire he has found for the local trails. They hold better in the turns than any other tire he has used before and really "dig in" and grip on climbs.
The original Paragon came with Hayes HFX-9 hydraulic disk brakes. He replaced these with Hayes Stroker Trail brakes after riding Lone Mt. in Tennessee. The descent off the mountain got the HFX's smoking hot and they were never quite the same. The Strokers are Hayes next generation hydraulic disc brake and and are supposed to perform better than the HFX-9s. So far, He finds the performance to be comparable, and the adjustable lever is nice. It allows him to set the amount of "take up" in the lever before the brake starts to engage.
He bought the brakes as a complete kit, so they were already charged with fluid and ready to install. He simply bolted them on and that was it. They also came with a bleeding kit, but he has yet to use that. The brakes went on the Paragon in February of 2009 and and were transfered to the Superfly frame in 2010. They have yet to need any attention even though he puts over 1,000 miles a year on this bike.
The fork has been amazing. He keeps it clean and checks the pressures about once a year and that's about it. Occasionally, it will get some dirt in a seal and leak a little, but that usually clears it self out after one or two rides.
The original drive train has been completely replaced. The crank set is a Shimano FC-M770 Hollow Tech XT with outboard bearings. It is coupled to a SRAM PC970 nine-speed cassette with a PC-971 chain. This upgrade took place during the summer of 2009 and was transferred to the 2010 Superfly in May of 2010.
The pedals are the Shimano PD-M540 SPDs. The pedals also came over from the Paragon in 2010. The rear derailleur is the SRAM X.9 from the original frame. The front derailleur is a newer version X.9 installed to better fit the new frame. The new frame has a slightly different geometry and requires a different style derailleur to allow the shift cable to better clear the rear tire. The sprocket is a SRAM PC970 and was installed in the summer of 2009. The original chain, rings and sprocket had all worn together, so much so, that after replacing the crank set the chain broke. After replacing the chain, the rear sprocket was worn so bad that is was skipping and had to also be replaced.
The computer is a Planet Bike Protégé 9. He initially "sacrificed" two Cat Eye computers to the trail during crashes his first year of riding, and switched to the Protégé on the advice of Tommy. This computer has been on the bike since 2007. The bell in front of the shifter is for passing other riders and hikers. I also use it to irritate Rodney.
The seat wedge is a Topeak Aero, size large. It has room enough for everything he needs for a long ride, so he does not have to wear a CamelBak unless he needs to carry extra hydration. He uses the same seat bag on both bikes except when he has one bike out of town at a job city. Then he configures two separate bags. Scroll on down to "In the Seat Bag" for a description of the contents.
His current ride also has an identity crises. He calls it his Vegas ride because he bought the bike while working on a project in Las Vegas. This bike started out as a 2010 Gary Fisher Superfly 100 Elite full suspension 29er. He bought the Fisher full suspension after he cracked the frame on the Superfly 100 hard tail riding in Nevada and southern Utah. In the spring of 2011, the full suspension developed a crack in the frame and chain-stay yoke. Since the frame has a lifetime warranty, the shop moved the components from the 2010 Fisher to a new 2011 TREK Superfly Elite 100 frame. The result is shown in the photo below. This shot was taken atop the Spring Range mountains west of Las Vegas.
The tires are 29 x 2.1 Maxxis CrossMarks with a tread pattern optimized for loose hard pack. They went on in August 2011, replacing a set of WTB Wolverines that wore fast in the volcanic rock in the Las Vegas area. He had hoped they wouldn't wear as quickly in the rocky desert and mountainous terrain, but they did. The lightweight sidewalls also took a beating in the rocky terrain, and eventually, the rear blew out. It was replaced in 2012 with a S-Works Captain Control. At that time he also added rim strips and went tubeless. The rims were tubeless ready, making the conversion quite easy. Below is a special inflation hose he made up to facilitate the installation of the tubeless tires. It was made from an air line chuck with a 1/4" female pipe thread, a 1/4" hose barb for 3/16" ID plastic ice maker tubing (Watts LFA-96), and 10' of 5/16" x 3/16" polyethylene tubing (Watts LSPFD10). It all came from Lowe's. The air line fitting plugs directly into the compressor and the tubing over the valve stem.
Below is a close up of the air line fitting and hose barb.
These were the brakes came with the original GF Superfly 100 and have yet to need any attention, other than replacing the brake pads, even though he tends to ride over 1,500 miles a year.
The shifters are SRAM X.0 Ridwin nine-speed for the cassette and
three speed for the chain ring. These shifters (seen behind the
brake) use a carbon body. The original GF Superfly 100 came with a 3
x 9 SRAM drive train, and this was moved over onto the TREK SF 100
Elite frame. The Superfly HT has X.9 shifters, and while the X.9 are
great, he likes the X.0s even better.
The fork has been amazing. He keeps it clean and checks the pressures about once a year and that's about it. Occasionally, it will get some dirt in a seal and leak a little, but that usually clears it self out after a couple of rides.
The rear shock is a Fox Float RP23 with 110mm travel. It has a boost valve, air spring, 3-position Pro Pedal, external rebound, 7.25 x 1.75" custom race tune. This is a lightweight, high volume air shock using Fox's boost valve damping technology originally developed for downhill courses. This is a great shock for riding in the western states with their harsh trails. The drive train components came across from the now dead GF Superfly 100. The crank set is a Truvativ Noir Redwin Carbon 44-32-22. It is coupled to a SRAM PG990 nine-speed cassette with a PC-971 chain.
The pedals are the Shimano PD-M770 XT SPDs. He considered the M970 XTR pedals, but after reading the reviews figured the XTs were more appropriate for his riding and occasional racing. The XTRs are a bit lighter, but not as durable. The rear derailleur is the SRAM X.0 Redwin from the original GF frame. The front derailleur is a Shimano XT Direct Mount. The computer is a Planet Bike Protégé 9. This is the same model used on the GF Superfly HT. He initially "sacrificed" two Cat Eye computers to the trail during crashes his first year of riding, and switched to the Protégé on the advice of Tommy. This computer has been on the bike since 2010.
The seat wedge is a Topeak Aero, size large. It has room enough for everything he needs on the trail so he does not have to wear a CamelBak unless he needs the extra hydration. Under the seat is a large Topeak Aero wedge that carries just about everything needed on the trail. Its contents include:
The multi-tool is wrapped in a shop rag with a couple of rubber bands made from an old tube around it. The shop rag keeps the multi-tool from banging around in the wedge, and comes in handy for cleaning up after a repair. The chain tool and power links are also wrapped in a shop rag with bands. The spare tube is carried in a couple of old water bottles to protect it. The tube is tightly folded, wrapped in a blue paper shop cloth, and stuffed into a water bottle with the top cut off. The paper wrap makes it easier to slide the tube into the plastic bottle. A second bottle is placed on from the opposite end so both ends of the tube are protected. The inflator and CO2 bottles are wrapped in paper towels to keep them from banging around inside the wedge on the trail and are kept together in a plastic bag. The tire splint is made from an expired credit card and is cut to fit the curvature of the rim. That way, he can put in the spare tube, fit the splint over the slice in the sidewall, secure it with cable ties, air up, and ride back to the car. On two occasions, this has saved me a long walk back. The photo below shows the contents of the seat bag.
The items are as follows: Top row: cable ties, tire splint made from an old credit card, tire levers and a patch kit. Second row: multi-tool, shop rag and bands, inflator and 2 - CO2 bottles in a plastic bag, mini-pump, and a spare tube packed inside plastic water bottles. Bottom row: derailleur hangers for the both the FS and HT, a chain tool and 2 - power links on a shop rag with the bands, and a chain holder made from an old spoke. He made the chain holder after losing his grip on the chain while repairing it one day, having the link flip off into the bushes. This was right after he had already given another rider one of his power links to repair her chain.
He bolted 3 fork mounts to the floor and can lock down up to 3 bikes facing backwards. He uses a small bungee cord to strap the front wheel to the frame. The back of the wheel rests on the chain rings and he uses a small piece of cardboard between the wheel and the fork to protect both the rim and the fork. He has gotten as many as 5 bikes in the back by placing 3 facing to the rear and 2 facing forward, using cardboard to protect the front facing bikes since they are not locked down.
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Version 0.3, June 27, 2013 |
The wheels are the original Bontrager OSTs that came with the 2005
Paragon. While they are "tubeless-ready", he is running tubes,
specifically, light-weight Q-tubes with Bontrager "Super Juice"
tubeless sealant. This provides the advantages of "going tubeless"
without mess of Stans. He uses the Q-tubes because they are lightweight and
have removable Presta valves making "juicing" the tubes rather easy
as you can see from the photograph.
The shifters are the Hayes X.9 shifters from the original Paragon. These are great
push-push style shifters that have served him well and continue to do so.
The rotors are 160 mm and the calipers have a swiveling hydraulic fitting, so
the hydraulic lines can be routed directly to the caliper with minimal bending.
The master cylinders and calipers come in black, silver and white. The white
ones match the new frame nicely.
The fork is a RockShox Reba Race from the original 2005 Paragon.
This is dual chamber fork with positive and negative air pressure
tuning, motion control damping, lock out and external floodgate
adjustment.
The original Bontrager saddle
from the 2005 Paragon had seen its better days and was upgraded
to a Specialized Phenom 143. This saddle was later swapped with the
Bontrager RL saddle from the Fisher Superfly 100.
The wheels are the original Bontrager Race X Lite (RXL) Scandium 29
Disc, tubeless ready that came with the 2010
Superfly. He was initially running light-weight Q-tubes with Bontrager "Super Juice"
tubeless sealant in them. This provided the advantages of "going tubeless"
without mess of Stans. The Q-tubes have removable Presta valves making "juicing" them rather easy
as you can see in the photo for the HT wheels.
The
Superfly 100 came with Avid Elixir CR hydraulic disk brakes. These
were moved over to the TREK frame during the frame replacement. He finds the performance
of the Elixir to be better than the Hayes Strokers. The
rotors are 160 mm and the calipers have a swiveling hydraulic
fitting, so the hydraulic lines can be routed directly to the
caliper with minimal bending.
The
brake leavers on the Elixirs also use the adjustable lever. This is nice in that it allows him to set the amount of "take up"
in the lever before the brake actually starts to engage.
The fork is a
Fox F100 FIT RLC 29 with 100mm travel. It uses the custom G2
Geometry with a 51mm offset crown and an E2 steerer. It also has
lockout force adjustment and a FIT cartridge damper.
The original Bontrager saddle that came with the Superfly was moved
to the GF SF HT and the Specialized Phenom 143 that was on the HT was moved to the
TREK Superfly Elite 100. The seatpost is a Bontrager Race XXX Lite
Carbon OCLV model with a carbon shaft and infinitely adjustable
carbon head.
He uses his old 1999 Chevrolet Suburban as his biking car. The
cavernous interior allows him to carry several bikes inside the
vehicle by removing the front wheel. This way, the bikes are locked
in the vehicle safe and secure, so he doesn't have to worry about them
if he goes into a restaurant for lunch.