Bushlove Racing: singlespeed

What?

2010 WOA MTB Orienteering Series, event 1, Makara Peak

WTF?

As a self-confessed weather geek I pride myself in the ability to look out a window and detect if the sun is shining. When applying the standard tests this morning the rain was so gnar that I couldn't even see the neighbours house, certainly not across the harbour as far as usual to Petone. I decided to commit and donned my spiffy new BLR top, bottom and gimp cap. As my first ever mtb orienteering event I struggled to take in the race briefing, study the map, and sand-bag at the same time. We had to ride a fixed-order course clipping compulsory controls*, but with options to ride extra distance to get other controls that gave time bonuses. The rain continued.

* A 'control' is orienteering geek-tech for a bright orange and white thing with a bus conductors clipper attached. Waterproof.

Through some perverse seeding involving Karapoti PBs and an impromptu and vicious sand-bag-off I was entered in the open category starting at 20 second gaps behind Fastest Man then the wily Simon K. Immediately behind me was Sifter, a season campaigner and experienced map-whore. The early start gave me less time to study the map so at kick off I only had the first 3 controls sorted and figured I'd make the rest up on the bike. The rain continued.

Like me, FM is also an orienteering novice and his plan was to ride really fast around the mandatory controls staying out there for the shortest possible time. I didn't see him at all during the race. After some fluffing around getting to the first control I was caught by Sifter. I clipped my ticket and put the hammer down easily dropping him - actually he went a different way on a much more clever route. At the second and third controls I bumped into Simon. Then we split as I made my oh-so-cunning next wrong decision. My mighty single speed powered through the rain and muck across Missing Link and down the very slippery and super fun Nikau Valley track. This was my only real deviation to get an extra time bonus of 20 minutes. That extra loop took me only 18 minutes so I was chuffed. The rain continued.

Back at the summit I had a bit of trouble finding control 4. It was cunningly placed "nearly" as marked on the map, this caught out a few punters (and Sifters). From here my cunning plan was to get home quickly and get out of the rain. So I blasted down from the summit to the top of Vertigo then back up Zacs collecting a simple 7 minute time bonus for a 20 second deviation. Back over the top and down to the eastern corner of the park to get the last two compulsory controls my rear brake pads had completely gone, no worries nearly home. The rain continued.

When I arrived at the finish I had ridden for about 1.5 hours and with time bonuses I had a 6 minute lead over the next person, FM. He had ridden right past the 7 minute bonus on Zacs... Only Simon was still out there so I got warm and dry and returned to see him arrive about half an hour after me but with a bunch more time bonuses. On count back he had pipped me by just 30 seconds. Crap. The rain continued.

A fun day out doing skids in the puddles. Driving home the rain stopped, grrr.

Wasup Dawgs.

I've recently built up a new singlespeed. I did most of my racing in the last year on my second singlespeed, a '99 S-Works with a Rennen tensioner. I 'enjoyed' it so much that I wanted a proper dedicated singlespeed with none of these un-singlespeed fail things, like tensioners and gear cable stops.

I wanted a steel frame as I wanted something very durable and also inexpensive. I saw some brands with mint frames like Independent Fabrication, Desalvo and Vanilla among others. Then I saw the prices and immediately shit the bed.

Back to the drawing board - I decided to keep my eyes peeled for something to convert. I preferred a 90's Kona Explosif, but ended up with a good deal on a 1997 Kona Kilauea. I had ridden one a bit back 'in the day' and always loved it. it was snappy and fast, reasonably light; all the things I wanted. The shock geometry didn't matter as was going to be running a rigid fork on it.

I thought about what I wanted and talked it through with Jeff at Kiwibikes in Rotovegas, who in addtion to making very tasty NZ custom frames, does repairs and mods. He was great to deal with. Very approachable and forthcoming with ideas and variations to what i had thought up. Initially I wanted horizontal dropouts with slotted disc mounts. I liked the idea. It seemed very light and I had read a lot of webchat about creaking Eccentric Bottom Brackets, which was the other option I fancied.

Jeff pointed out that to remove the rear wheel with my initial idea, I would have to release a bolt on the disc mount. And of course tensioning the chain would take a few extra seconds. This didn't sit well as I like to race my bike and I didn't fancy doing a Kennedy Special and taking 20mins to get a tube in, so I went with the EBB after Jeff extolled it's virtues to me.

Jeff did the following: Removed canti mounts; fitted disc mounts to frame and fork; hose guides fitted; all gear cable stops removed; EBB shell fitted.

Jeff's turn around was good and I had the frame arrive pretty quickly. The work looked mint. Jeff had said he had spent a good amount of time on the bike and I certainly appreciated the excellent value he had given me. The welds were all really smooth and everything was done just as I asked. Then 'shock horror' - I realised it still had a rear mech hanger on! The ultimate SS bike fail. I quickly realised I had not actually asked Jeff to remove it and of course he had gone to the letter of my requests. Ooops. I set about removing it myself with my modest Bunnings tool kit. I really enjoyed doing it and did a mint job even if I do say so myself. It felt good to have had some input to the frame too.

I got it powder coated. The cost was reasonable and the two coat subtle sparkle was exactly what I wanted. Was called 'Orange Silver 2K'. But is very similar to 'Candy Copper'.

My main maing, Bushlover Dave Sharpshanks at Penny Farthing Cycles fitted the headset and the bottom bracket, which has not creaked since. This is probably down to Sharpie's liberal application of decent grease around the EBB insert and the cunning bolts Jeff supplied which had the ends ground to a point. They really locate in the aluminium insert and make movement or rotation of the insert in the shell, pretty impossible.

Sharpie also helped me out with some good advice on parts and things which was really helpful. What a super trooper.

An evening of fettling in the garage with a few lagers brought the beast to a rideable condition and i stood admiring it, shining and oozing potential, while I finished my beer and got my shoes on. I was really holding my breath as I motored it up the hill from my house, waiting for the creaks and popping noises. Nothing. No matter how much good news I gave the pedals. It was as quiet as a mouse. I loved it straight away.

The only thing I've done to it, apart from a few tire changes, is to reduce the length of the front end. It had a 110mm stem and it felt too stretched climbing and i wasn't able to pop the front end up as easily as I'd like. I switched to a 100mm Thomson and acquired mighty Whacko's FSA carbon bar which was always far too good for him. The extra bend in the bar gave me another 10mm and the position was dialled in.

It's done a good few decent rides now. A few long ones over 4hrs and a few short hammers. I can definitely say it is more comfortable to ride than my S-Works. Must be the 'real feel of steel' vs the stiffer aluminium. It rides perfectly. It always feels in balance and snaps round tight switchbacks heading up or down the trail. It climbs fantastically, although this characteristic is currently limited by my out of shape shanks. This bike descends really well. Especially considering the rigid front. Worth noting here that Steve Peat in the mid 90's started his downhill career winning the British NPS on a rigid steel Kona with 1.5 tires. The same bike he would win the Sport class of the XC the following day. I was there. He floated that bike down the trail. I can't, not to save my life. I am more like a medicine ball falling down the stairs.

It has plenty of little things I love about it. I had the disc hose for the back placed in a 10 o'clock spot along the top tube so it didn't get in the way when I shoulder the bike in my usual way. I had a custom crud-catcher mount put on so I don't suffer the indignity of little straps or clips. The slopping top tube also means that when the bar swings around, the brake levers do not foul the top tube. This also helps with my madcore bar-spins over huge huck cliffs ftw.

The fork is great. I've ridden and raced so many times on this same triple butted project two fork, which being a Kona classic, compliments the frame very well. I had Jeff add a hose guide and even fill the redundant mounting hole in the crown, so it looks swish. I have a shock with a whole 70mm of travel on my gearie, but prefer the direct and talkative quality of the rigid. It reminds me of my early years biking and importantly it doesn't cost very much. I don't lose too much time to some of my cobbers on the descents anyway. I could go on about my descent time on Ridgeline to the carpark in the Makara Peak Grand Loop Challenge on a rigid with v-brakes, but I won't.

I'm looking forward to the good ole' PNP XC series starting in August. I did ok last year on the SS with a shock and it might be a bit more difficult on some courses without a shock, but I'm looking forward to revving my new SS around all the best local tracks and trying to give the other M1's a bit of bother.

Vaguely pointless I know, but here are the specs of the bike and a couple of notes.

Frame: 19" Kona Kilauea. Full Reynolds 631. 'Chop-job' and mods by Jeff at Kiwibikes.
Fork: Triple butted P2. Modifications by Jeff.
Headset: Race Face Deus XC
Stem: Thomson X2 100mm
Bar: FSA K-Force Carbon. Pointlessly pricey. Mugged Whacko for it.
Grips: DaBomb Holy Shit. Brought for the 'Holy Shit' written on the collars.
Brakes: 2008 XT
Post: Thomson
Saddle: Selle Italia lightweight.
Cranks/BB: Truvativ Stylo.
Chain: Sram PC48
Cogs: Surly 34:18.
Wheels: Mavic 618 on Hugi/DT Swiss 240s. Freehub has been mint for SS. Hope skewers.
Tires: Depends. Right now Nobby Nic 2.25 Evo with tubes at 30psi each end.

Thanks again for the help and service I got from Jeff at Kiwibikes and Sharpie at PFC

And for the complete win - It has custom Bushlove Racing decals from Custom Cut Graphics.

Hope this was a faintly interesting read. I'll see you on the trails or the race track. I'll be the guy either walking or shaking the numbness out of my hands.

Happy trails!

Davo

Appendix: My other Singlespeeds.

S-Works with shocks for racing in 08.

S-Works rigid with V's for the Makara Grand Loop Challenge and other hooning.

First SS. Marin Indian Fire Trail convert with Magic Gear.