They have arrived! Today I got to pick up Julia, my brand spanking new 2008 Giant XTC 2 and Bob, my 2008 BOB Ibex Plus trailer. I brought them from Kalamunda Cycles and my thanks to Jo and Tim Bennett for their service. Julia’s photo album can be found at Picasa.

Julia’s role will primarily be as a off-road tourer with a tour of the Munda Bidda (Mundaring to Collie) and the Kep Track planned for this year at this stage. Julia will also be used for good old mountain biking fun.

Description and Ride Impressions | Maintenance | Modifications | Specifications |

Description and Ride Impressions

July 13, 2008 - 460 km - At the time of writing this brief note on the bike, I have ridden 460 km on her. The majority of that riding has been a week long ride of the Munda Biddi Trail (April 2008) towing a BOB Ibex trailer. The other rides have been a morning of riding single track and a few short road commutes when my other bikes have been unavailable or I needed to have the XTC 2 elsewhere. So far I am very happy with the purchase given my intended use of her, that is a mountain bike tourer. She handled well with the trailer on and is in my view a good set-up. My only change to still happen is to swap out the saddle for a Brooks B17. I know not a mountain biking saddle but a good one for touring.

Maintenance

November 2, 2008 - 640 km

Service preformed early due to failure of the Pedros Chainj lube

• Cleaned drive chain and lubed chain with Rock n’ Roll Gold;
• Lubed other moving parts;
• Checked chain wear;
• Checked all fittings for tightness.

June 20, 2008 - 450 km - Chain cleaned and re-lubed with Pedros Chainj chain lube.  Note added October 30, 2008:  The Pedros Chainj lube has lasted less than 191 km, with the chain drying out on my recent ride of the Kep Track. Definitely not impressed with this product.

Modifications

June 30, 2008 - 450 km - Installed a Blackburn Mountain Air pump which was purchased from Chain Reaction Cycles for $15.55 landed.

February 2008 - The significant modification is the tyres. Given WA conditions (pea gravel) I have gone with Kenda Blue Groove Stick-E 26 x 2.10 on the front and Kenda Nevegal Stick-E 26 x 2.10 on the rear.

Specifications

Tags: Blackburn,BOB,Kalamunda Cycles,Kenda,Pedros,Shimano,XTC 2
Categories: Bicycle gear reviews
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Today I mixed up my exercise program with some walking in the hills, geocaching and riding, both around Lake Herdsman and to Fremantle.

I am in the process of walking or riding all the tracks listed in the Swan Valley and Perth Hills Trails book. The next walk to be ticked off by myself was the Bickley Reservoir Walk. Part of my ticking off of a walk is to complete any caches on the trail or close by and if appropriate to hide a cache as well to encourage others to “Take 30.” Well I had walked the Bickley Reservoir walk last year but for reasons I can’t recall I didn’t hide a cache on the trail nor did I complete the nearby cache, Thorn in my side. So I returned today to first find the cache Thorn in my side and secondly to hide a cache at the top of the Bickley Reservoir Walk. I tackled Thorn in my side first, heading pretty much straight to the cache from the carpark at the Bickley Reservoir. I nice off-track climb part way up the valley. Not as bad as I expected from past logs. From Thorn in my side I continued off-track dropping into and out of the next valley and then into the valley picking up the western side of the Bickley Reservoir walk. From there I continued to the northern end of the walk where I hid my 78th cache, Bickley Reservoir Walk 0178: The Tombstone. From there I finished off the walk heading down hill to the car at the carpark. All up a nice early morning walking and spot of geocaching.

On the riding side, before heading out for the hills walk/geocaching, I rode around Lake Herdsman on Joe and dropped of a trackable at the Stargate P31115 Lake Herdsman TB Cache. My evening ride was my regular commute to Fremantle on Chase. Overall a crap ride, cadence down and a couple of Commodore SS drivers who I believe are from Shacks Holden, Fremantle (number plates pretty close together, Shacks Holden badges, dressed similarly, clearly new each other, just down the road from Shacks, and I believe I saw the burnt orange Commodore at Shacks Saturday morning) made a reasonable effort to “kill me” at the intersection of Ord Street and High Street.

I was heading south on Ord Street and as per the road markings took the left turning lane (bicycles are exempted from turning left). Near the intersection the first of two vehicles (mauve/purple Commodore) pulled pass me taking up the first space in the lane at the lights. I pulled up directly behind this vehicle, taking the centre of the lane, but maintaining what I thought was a safe distance.

Pulling up beside him in the straight ahead/right turning lane was the second Commodore (burnt orange colour). The drivers talked to each other, the driver immediately in front of me, was aware of my presence, even eye balling me in his rear mirror.

When the lights turned green the driver in front of me appeared to deliberately roll back towards me. I judge his role back to far more than one would expect from a foot movement from the brake to the accelerator. Particularly given the speed in which the driver then took off around the corner too the left.

I soon realised that in my view this was a deliberate move by the driver to at best stall my progress forward, as just as I began to enter the intersection the driver in the second Commodore (in the straight ahead/right turning lane) without warning turned left cutting across my path, forcing me to make an emergency stop. The second driver misjudged his action having to swing wider than anticipated, and drifted into the oncoming right lane. He then accelerated fish tailing up the High Street.

I would like to “thank” these two stupid drivers for their moronic behaviour and the potential threat to my life. I am sure my partner, my family and my children would have appreciated the potential outcome, not. I just hope that their driving skills are not reflective of Holden perspective on road safety and that the end of the day, before they have addressed their personal problems, that they don’t hurt someone else or worse or for that matter themselves. Grow up boys.

Tags: Ride Journal,Trackables
Categories: Bicycling, Geocaching, Walk Trails
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They have arrived! Today I got to pick up Julia, my brand spanking new 2008 Giant XTC 2 and Bob, my 2008 BOB Ibex Plus trailer. I brought them from Kalamunda Cycles and my thanks to Jo and Tim Bennett for their service.

Bob will be used on mountain bike tours and also will team up with a future road tourer for road touring and general transport duties.

Bob is all stock at this point. His specifications are:

• Frame: 4130 Chromoly
• Hub: Aluminium, cartridge bearings, Quick Release
• Rim: Aluminium, 28 hole
• Spokes: Stainless Steel
• Tire: 16 x 2.125″
• Cargo area: Roughly 25″ x 16″ x 18″ (64cm x 41cm x 46cm)
• Weight: 7.7 kgs, 17 lbs
• Capacity: 32 kgs, 70 lbs
• Includes: Quick Release attach system, spare attach pin, Spider bungee, 2 piece safety flag, fender, reflectors, detailed owner’s manual NOTE: DRY SAK comes standard with the “IBEX PLUS”
• Key features: Adjustable suspension system, Patented BOB Quick Release attach system, light weight single wheeled performance, open frame design adapts to a many types of cargo.

Tags: BOB
Categories: Bicycle maintenance, Road and Off-Road Touring
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