Avid Mechs.

[Mike Kennedy]

I got my bike back from the LBS Wednesday with my new Avid mechanical
disk brakes installed.
Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the local cyclocross folks to discuss
setting up a course
around the "dog park" over by Fort Boise, so I decided to take the mtb. and
check out these brakes.
It was an awesome day with near perfect temperatures, I guess around 73deg.
I rode from my house up to the Corrals and then on over to trail 1,
Freeway and then to Military
Reserve trails. It was one of the few times this season that I did not have
lot's of dust kicking up
on the ride, I guess all the rain we have had since last Sunday took care of
that. Boy between 5:30
and 6:00pm must be prime time for group mountain biking, I must have passed
7 separate groups
of 5 or more heading out just by Fort Boise alone.
Well these brakes work so much better then the old CODA hydraulics,
however for the first
hour or so I was going insane from all the squealing. Man they made me wish
for V brakes. Also
after going through a small creek, the rotors got wet and these things just
about screamed the
first time I applied the brakes. I think I scared off all the wild and not
so wild life within
a 5 mile radius.
The squealing all but went away by the time I got home so hopefully they
are close to being worn in.
And I hope that the water incident was also due to being new and not a
continuing feature. I will
be riding the Hidden Springs trails tonight and if Dry Creek still has
water, I think that I
will ride through it and see what happens.

Mike

 

[Bill Wheeler]

On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 13:59:00 -0600, "Mike Kennedy"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> I got my bike back from the LBS Wednesday with my new Avid mechanical
>disk brakes installed.
>Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the local cyclocross folks to discuss
>setting up a course
>around the "dog park" over by Fort Boise, so I decided to take the mtb. and
>check out these brakes.
>It was an awesome day with near perfect temperatures, I guess around 73deg.
> I rode from my house up to the Corrals and then on over to trail 1,
>Freeway and then to Military
>Reserve trails. It was one of the few times this season that I did not have
>lot's of dust kicking up
>on the ride, I guess all the rain we have had since last Sunday took care of
>that. Boy between 5:30
>and 6:00pm must be prime time for group mountain biking, I must have passed
>7 separate groups
>of 5 or more heading out just by Fort Boise alone.
> Well these brakes work so much better then the old CODA hydraulics,
>however for the first
>hour or so I was going insane from all the squealing. Man they made me wish
>for V brakes. Also
>after going through a small creek, the rotors got wet and these things just
>about screamed the
>first time I applied the brakes. I think I scared off all the wild and not
>so wild life within
>a 5 mile radius.
> The squealing all but went away by the time I got home so hopefully they
>are close to being worn in.
>And I hope that the water incident was also due to being new and not a
>continuing feature. I will
>be riding the Hidden Springs trails tonight and if Dry Creek still has
>water, I think that I
>will ride through it and see what happens.
>
> Mike
>
get use to new pads squealing. every time I swap out new pads I get
the devil's haircut scream! Water does the same but it does last
long.

Peace,
Bill

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Well I rode, yesterday, from home over to the canal that runs along Hill
Rd. here in Boise and on over to Pierce Park Rd. Hill Rd. follows a portion
of the Boise foothills on the west side of town. Pierce Park heads up one
the canyons into the foothills and eventually intersects with Cartwright Rd.
and taking a left on Cartwright will take you back to Dry Creek Rd. These
roads provide a multitude of ride options for Road, Mountain, and Cyclocross
rides.
Pierce Park is paved for maybe half a mile and then turns to dirt until
it intersects with Cartwright. The road can be heavily traveled and can be
dusty and like yesterday very washboardy. I know that washboardy is not
really a word, but how else to explain? The road is not very steep and most
times of the year provides a well packed surface but other times it can be
very sandy and makes for some real fun squirrelly rides heading downhill.
Today, well packed.
I zip up to Cartwright with only a few vehicles to put up a dust screen
then up and over to Dry Creek and the Hidden Springs trails. This has
probably been posted here before, but here is a link to the Boise Area
Ridges to Rivers trail maps
http://www.ridgetorivers.org/trsystem/trailmap.html If you look at the
Hidden Springs map, you will that I provides many little ride options that
can make for a good work out. Red Tail trail, named because of all the Red
Tailed hawks in the area is the only tough part of the system. It is good
long climb to the top, but I you are into out and backs, then you get a
treat with the downhill. The other option is to get back on Cartwright and
bomb back down on the pavement to trail 75. 75 is a nice trail that provides
the most technical part of this system, especially if you are not paying
attention. I will always ride everyone of these trails and sometimes do a
few in reverse order just because they are so fun.
From here I rode over to the Hidden Springs community to meet up with
some
friends to pre-ride the Hidden Springs Duathlon mtb. course. Hidden Springs
was a little community nestled in the Dry Creek area about half a mile from
trail 71's trailhead, but man has it grown and it is still growing. Houses
and cars everywhere. Anyway a friend asked me to do the long course mtb team
with him, he runs and I ride, and the organizers had laid out a new course
so we were going to see how it was. The course is a 4 mile loop that
starts/finishes in front of the Merc. The course has a little single track,
double track and unfortunately paved road. The long course does 2 loops and
I had reservations about doing this because it just did not seem fun. (After
racing today, I and everyone I talked thought it was a hoot!) We rode 1 lap
fairly slowly since we had some beginners and then opted to head back over
to Red Tail and play there. I then headed home. The Hidden Springs folks
have a great opportunity to add to the single/double track that they used in
the race today, hopefully they will follow through.

Oh yeah, the breaks were great on all rides, very little noise and lots
of stopping power. I need to get use to the rear since I end up locking it
up too easily. The CODA's did not have that problem. No water to ride
through, so I did not get to see if they are going to be a menace when
crossing streams this spring.

Mike


"Bill Wheeler" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 17 Sep 2004 13:59:00 -0600, "Mike Kennedy"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I got my bike back from the LBS Wednesday with my new Avid mechanical
> >disk brakes installed.
> >Yesterday I had a meeting with one of the local cyclocross folks to
discuss
> >setting up a course
> >around the "dog park" over by Fort Boise, so I decided to take the mtb.
and
> >check out these brakes.
> >It was an awesome day with near perfect temperatures, I guess around
73deg.
> > I rode from my house up to the Corrals and then on over to trail 1,
> >Freeway and then to Military
> >Reserve trails. It was one of the few times this season that I did not
have
> >lot's of dust kicking up
> >on the ride, I guess all the rain we have had since last Sunday took care
of
> >that. Boy between 5:30
> >and 6:00pm must be prime time for group mountain biking, I must have
passed
> >7 separate groups
> >of 5 or more heading out just by Fort Boise alone.
> > Well these brakes work so much better then the old CODA hydraulics,
> >however for the first
> >hour or so I was going insane from all the squealing. Man they made me
wish
> >for V brakes. Also
> >after going through a small creek, the rotors got wet and these things
just
> >about screamed the
> >first time I applied the brakes. I think I scared off all the wild and
not
> >so wild life within
> >a 5 mile radius.
> > The squealing all but went away by the time I got home so hopefully
they
> >are close to being worn in.
> >And I hope that the water incident was also due to being new and not a
> >continuing feature. I will
> >be riding the Hidden Springs trails tonight and if Dry Creek still has
> >water, I think that I
> >will ride through it and see what happens.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> get use to new pads squealing. every time I swap out new pads I get
> the devil's haircut scream! Water does the same but it does last
> long.
>
> Peace,
> Bill
>

 

[Bill Wheeler]

On Sat, 18 Sep 2004 16:01:04 -0700, "Mike Kennedy" <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Well I rode, yesterday, from home over to the canal that runs along Hill
>Rd. here in Boise and on over to Pierce Park Rd. Hill Rd. follows a portion
>of the Boise foothills on the west side of town. Pierce Park heads up one
>the canyons into the foothills and eventually intersects with Cartwright Rd.
>and taking a left on Cartwright will take you back to Dry Creek Rd. These
>roads provide a multitude of ride options for Road, Mountain, and Cyclocross
>rides.
> Pierce Park is paved for maybe half a mile and then turns to dirt until
>it intersects with Cartwright. The road can be heavily traveled and can be
>dusty and like yesterday very washboardy. I know that washboardy is not
>really a word, but how else to explain? The road is not very steep and most
>times of the year provides a well packed surface but other times it can be
>very sandy and makes for some real fun squirrelly rides heading downhill.
>Today, well packed.
> I zip up to Cartwright with only a few vehicles to put up a dust screen
>then up and over to Dry Creek and the Hidden Springs trails. This has
>probably been posted here before, but here is a link to the Boise Area
>Ridges to Rivers trail maps
>http://www.ridgetorivers.org/trsystem/trailmap.html If you look at the
>Hidden Springs map, you will that I provides many little ride options that
>can make for a good work out. Red Tail trail, named because of all the Red
>Tailed hawks in the area is the only tough part of the system. It is good
>long climb to the top, but I you are into out and backs, then you get a
>treat with the downhill. The other option is to get back on Cartwright and
>bomb back down on the pavement to trail 75. 75 is a nice trail that provides
>the most technical part of this system, especially if you are not paying
>attention. I will always ride everyone of these trails and sometimes do a
>few in reverse order just because they are so fun.
> From here I rode over to the Hidden Springs community to meet up with
>some
>friends to pre-ride the Hidden Springs Duathlon mtb. course. Hidden Springs
>was a little community nestled in the Dry Creek area about half a mile from
>trail 71's trailhead, but man has it grown and it is still growing. Houses
>and cars everywhere. Anyway a friend asked me to do the long course mtb team
>with him, he runs and I ride, and the organizers had laid out a new course
>so we were going to see how it was. The course is a 4 mile loop that
>starts/finishes in front of the Merc. The course has a little single track,
>double track and unfortunately paved road. The long course does 2 loops and
>I had reservations about doing this because it just did not seem fun. (After
>racing today, I and everyone I talked thought it was a hoot!) We rode 1 lap
>fairly slowly since we had some beginners and then opted to head back over
>to Red Tail and play there. I then headed home. The Hidden Springs folks
>have a great opportunity to add to the single/double track that they used in
>the race today, hopefully they will follow through.
>
> Oh yeah, the breaks were great on all rides, very little noise and lots
>of stopping power. I need to get use to the rear since I end up locking it
>up too easily. The CODA's did not have that problem. No water to ride
>through, so I did not get to see if they are going to be a menace when
>crossing streams this spring.
>
> Mike
>
[snip]

nice,
Bill