Some music & Clarity

I’d like to start out by clarifying something from yesterdays post when I said, “he informed me that it shouldn't even technically work.” I should have speciefied that the rep was referring to the pairing of the Dura Ace front derailleur and XTR rapidfire shifters. All even more confounding because it’s rolling along on a pair of mbt bike 29ers with a 9 speed XTR cassette and big fat slick tyres.

I haven’t ever talked much about the Mavic 29er crossmax wheels. I did a quick post on them right when I put them on my bike. I didn’t say much because I hadn't ridden them. Now that I’ve commuted on them through most of the winter. I can say one thing about them definitively, they kick ass.
They roll like road bike wheels, but they feel solid like a mt bike wheel should. The rim is substantially wider than a road bike rim, so 23cm tyres are a no go, 25cm doesn't really cut it either. These rims want fat tires, I run either conti town and countrys or an old set of Avenue tyres (no longer in production). In good road conditions Iill pump them up to 70psi and as low as 35psi if it raining or if I’m ridding on dirt. The wheels themselves are remarkably light; 840g front : 975g rear. For a little frame of reference, the wheels on my road bike, Ksyrium SL Premiums weigh in at 700g front and 915 rear. Not really much of a weight penalty there, especially on the back. But that’s before adding disc rotors, tubes and tyres. How much is that? I don’t want to know. But the ride is amazing, soo plush. They just eat up the irregular bumps in cracks in the pavement. They kind of stuff you try to avoid on a road bike because ridding over it at 30mph is very unpleasant.

Overall the bike is slower than ridding on a standard road bike. But It can do allot of things a road bike can’t. I would however, like to try these wheels on a frame with road bike geometry, wide tyre clearance, and disc tabs. Something weighing in at under 20 pounds, Perhaps a Moots frame. I have always had a soft spot in my sensibility for them.

The Bones of You Grounds For Divorce

Here's a few few albums I want to pass along and recommend for a listen. These four I've been listening to allot this week. Links are to videos.

Gold Lion

"Theme From Retro (John McEntire's Mix)"

Sixteen Military Wives engine driver