H
Harv
Guest
Going from a five year affair with my V-REX to the Speedmachine is going to be a quite the
experience. I spent some time on it at the LBS trying to sort out a few bits, and get the bike
dialled in, but there's still a lot of tinkering to do. Good news...by turning my Forester into a
one passenger car, I can put the whole bike, wheels on, in the car. Bad news, I'm not sure how I'll
be able to hook up the rear wheel tray brace of the Sportwork hitch rack to the back wheel on the
SM. To get the brace around the rear rack is going to be a challenge.
The SM has the aero bars, which is important because I have an aerobelly and it's easy to get on and
off the bike with this bar setup. The cockpit is pretty open with the aeros. I see some challenges,
though. There's lots of bar to put my ding bell on, and to mount the Airzounds horn. The problem is
reaching anything besides the shifters and brake levers without performing some kind of levatation
act. Another issue will be mounting the horn's air supply. I probably kept the velcro bottle mounts,
but I'll have to root through all the **** in my tool box's drawers to find them (at least I think I
saved them. I'm generally a pack rat with little spare bits but I bought the horn years ago). I
think I'll try putting the air bottle under the stem.
A test ride on my trainer had me pulling the boom out at least a half inch more that at the bike
shop. Now I'll have to add links to the chain as there's no way I can get the big/big combo now and
since the Shimano compatible SRAM shifters are ass backwards from the 'REX, I'm afraid I'd do
something stupid and rip the derailleur off looking for a gear spinning on the trainer. Looking at
the bike's exposed chain to tube ratio, breaking the chain is going to take a lot of thought so one
or both ends don't disappear into teflon tube land. I made a bent coat hanger chain hook and that
and a piece of string should ge me through the ordeal, but I'm open to helpful experienced
suggestions.
A few monster cable ties around the head tube has trimmed the rear der cable and brake hose close to
the main tube which has lessened the annoying rub against my legs, and another coupla' ties rerouted
the rear brake hose away from a sharp bit on the rear shock. I'm not positive, but I think an
adjusting knob fell off the shock and the DNM website is a bit sparse, O.K. way sparse with accurate
illustrations.
The high foot position doesn't seem to be a problem, except all the training done on the 'REX
doesn't translate into the same power curve on the SM. I only had one good ride on the trainer
before catching a cold which is leaving me short of breath. So I'll ease off training for a few more
days and get back to it when I can breath right again. Like everyone else in the frigid states, I'm
hoping for an early spring, and a good rainstorm to wash all the salt off the roads so I get back to
tearing up the local subdivision streets and get in shape for summer.
Harv
ps did I say the SM is red?
pps and I thought the tube on a Trek was big. HA!
experience. I spent some time on it at the LBS trying to sort out a few bits, and get the bike
dialled in, but there's still a lot of tinkering to do. Good news...by turning my Forester into a
one passenger car, I can put the whole bike, wheels on, in the car. Bad news, I'm not sure how I'll
be able to hook up the rear wheel tray brace of the Sportwork hitch rack to the back wheel on the
SM. To get the brace around the rear rack is going to be a challenge.
The SM has the aero bars, which is important because I have an aerobelly and it's easy to get on and
off the bike with this bar setup. The cockpit is pretty open with the aeros. I see some challenges,
though. There's lots of bar to put my ding bell on, and to mount the Airzounds horn. The problem is
reaching anything besides the shifters and brake levers without performing some kind of levatation
act. Another issue will be mounting the horn's air supply. I probably kept the velcro bottle mounts,
but I'll have to root through all the **** in my tool box's drawers to find them (at least I think I
saved them. I'm generally a pack rat with little spare bits but I bought the horn years ago). I
think I'll try putting the air bottle under the stem.
A test ride on my trainer had me pulling the boom out at least a half inch more that at the bike
shop. Now I'll have to add links to the chain as there's no way I can get the big/big combo now and
since the Shimano compatible SRAM shifters are ass backwards from the 'REX, I'm afraid I'd do
something stupid and rip the derailleur off looking for a gear spinning on the trainer. Looking at
the bike's exposed chain to tube ratio, breaking the chain is going to take a lot of thought so one
or both ends don't disappear into teflon tube land. I made a bent coat hanger chain hook and that
and a piece of string should ge me through the ordeal, but I'm open to helpful experienced
suggestions.
A few monster cable ties around the head tube has trimmed the rear der cable and brake hose close to
the main tube which has lessened the annoying rub against my legs, and another coupla' ties rerouted
the rear brake hose away from a sharp bit on the rear shock. I'm not positive, but I think an
adjusting knob fell off the shock and the DNM website is a bit sparse, O.K. way sparse with accurate
illustrations.
The high foot position doesn't seem to be a problem, except all the training done on the 'REX
doesn't translate into the same power curve on the SM. I only had one good ride on the trainer
before catching a cold which is leaving me short of breath. So I'll ease off training for a few more
days and get back to it when I can breath right again. Like everyone else in the frigid states, I'm
hoping for an early spring, and a good rainstorm to wash all the salt off the roads so I get back to
tearing up the local subdivision streets and get in shape for summer.
Harv
ps did I say the SM is red?
pps and I thought the tube on a Trek was big. HA!
