Seeing Double

This was the second time I ride my Giant Trance X2 at Puncak, and to my surprise my good friend Ozy also brought his. So your eyes doesn't deceive you. Indeed there were two Giant Trance X2 parked at Warung Ade.

seeing double?

Ozy's Trance X setup is slightly different than mine. He installed Fox F120R, the OEM fork for this bike, so the front end is slightly lower than my 130mm revelation. But it's a fix travel.

ozy

However seems like the Float R rear shock didn't impressed him that much. "It's not as plush as my old Blur LT", he said. Float R has built in ProPedal capability. It's good for pedaling efficiency, but at the same time, it 's on all the time. You just can't turn it off like Fox RP3 or RP23 While you do need ProPedal for most of the Puncak's uphill, you also need to bypass it sometimes (well...most of the times..hahaha). The need to bypass this feature seem to be more important if your not a very heavy rider (Ozy's weight is about 60kg...right?). In my case, with my 75kg weight, I do notice that the Float R is not as plush as RP23 with ProPedal off. But it's not much different. I'm still consider my Trance is a very comfortable, just a tad lower than my previous Ellsworth Epiphany.

me....its me..

This ride was also special, since my other good friend Bitong was unveiling his new Blur LT. So he was another Hardtail convert... This was the perfect time to pass him on uphills, since he was still adjusting the rhythm with his new steed.

Bitong Blurred

It was the end of rainy seasons, so there were mudholes everywhere. I almost got caught in one. Luckily nobody was there to take my picture...hahaha..

mud holes - mud wrestling!

Jakarta, April 10, 2008..

Finally, back to blogspot...

Strangely enough... in the past few days I can't access my multiply...
Some says this is due the government enforced some sort of restriction.. blocked by illogical reason!

If that's true, then it's gotta be the stupidest act they ever pulled...

announcement: my MTB Blog moves to multiply

Dear Friends,
Thankyou for visiting this blog. However I will be utilizing my multiply site more frequently to put my MTB activities (plus any other things I want to remember). Please visit my multiply site at: http://hendropw.multiply.com
Thanks & Best regards,
Hendro

Twilight Zone......

End of 2006 I went riding with my neighbors, Mr. Wahyu & Mr. Dhani Chagi. Both of them has been living nearby my house for ages, and I've known them for years. But strangely that day was the first time the three of us ever rode together. And sadly it'd probably be the last, since Dhani has transferred to Lampung province. We met quite a number of MTB-er along the way. Finally we started with 9 people. There were quite a number of incidents during the ride, but this is the most strange of them all......
At the steep rocky descent, Lilik - fellow motorolla biker - fell down and injured his knee. We all stopped and helped treat his injury. During that stop, Wahyu borrowed my tool - the Crankbros 19 multitool - to adjust his discbrake. It was quite foggy, and I could barely see more than 2 metres. While concentrating on Lilik's treatment, I could have sworn that I heard someone said that he wanted to borrow the tool from Wahyu. And I heard that Wahyu said yes. Again because of the fog, I couldn't recognize who he was, and since Wahyu did not complain, I thought it's got to be one of us. No problemo. Almost at the same time, a group of bikers passed by, led by Mr. Dian Chandra of Excelcom...also 9 people.

Afterward, we just started hammering until finally we reached the ngehek 2 post. Then Wahyu asked if I had received my tool back. I said no, and we started to ask everybody - including Excelcom riders, who the hell got my tools. Strangely, nobody has it, and nobody ever asked to borrow it from Wahyu during the incident. What the........

Finally, we all came to the conclusion that someone or 'something' has borrowed the tool. Well, the mountain is always full of mystery after all.....but why? nobody knows....(start playing the theme song of twilight zone)

100 - 120 - 140

No, it’s not the latest bingo number. Confused? Not if your fork is the latest Fox Talas (Travel Adjustable Linear Air Spring + Rebound, Lockout & Compression setting). The above numbers are the fixed fork travel setting, which can be dialed from the top of its left crown. It’s not as easy as Manitou’s Infinite Travel, which adjustment lever is located at handlebar. But personally I hate IT’s extension cable and the lever. It just adds more complication to the already complicated bike cockpit.

I put the new Talas into my blue machine - 06 Titus Motolite, replacing the previous 06 Talas. It’s not that I don’t like the 130 Talas, no siree…130 Talas still the best performing fork I’ve ever had. I just wanted to replace the RockShox Psylo Race which now installed at my other bike, Giant Anthem S. Again, I don’t have any issue with the Psylo either. It’s still the best adjustable fork you can get at its price range. So why bother? Dunno ….Perhaps because I like my Giant sooo much that I’ve rarely used my Blue Motolite – so I reckon if I put longer travel fork at the blue machine, I might start using it more often…that’s 600 bucks of stupidity….hahahaha

I had a chance to try the new fork few weeks ago at Puncak Mountain. During the 3.5 hour ride, I truly enjoy the travel adjustment simplicity. Most of the time, I’d be able to adjust fork travel almost on-the-fly….provided that there’s enough room to release your left hand from handlebar. Changing it on-the-fly is so NOT recommended if the track got more technical. Puncak track - ngehek section, is about 60% down and 40% up. So I've almost never used the 120 setup. Only 100 & 140 mm. My only regret was I didn’t change any setup of the fork, except for the travel adjustment. Boy was I wrong. The fork felt very harsh. I thought because it’s a new fork & need some time for break-in period. At the end of the ride, I’ve just found out the compression damping setting is waay to much. Maximum. That’s your payback if you don’t read your manual before you try. Well, don’t blame me….the manual came with a CD. I’m not an IT guy… all I know about computer that it has lots of bicycle pictures (at the internet) and it hangs quite a lot. Good thing is…at least I have good excuse to use the blue machine again next ride, to really try the better fork setup.

takes three to make a choir......

During Puncak ride last Saturday, there were two more Anthems in my group. Pictured below is my Bike-to-work fellow Reza who has just replaced his trusty Klein hardtail. He applied higher pressure, 140 Psi, in the rear shock. Competition setup, he said. I guess it would be a good transition from a hardtail user to become a full susser.

Below is another new Anthem user. I still don't know his name though....Depe said he is Azis's friend. Works for me! His riding skill is quite good, in fact he looks more like a risk taking guy rather than usual cross country boy. I wouldn't be surprised if later he decide to trade his Anthem with something beefier & longer in travel such as Giant Reign. But for now, he looks very comfortable on his Anthem.

As for myself, I still quite satisfied with my humble Anthem S. It felt sooo light, comfortable and easy to control. I still had to negotiate more if the track went a bit too rough. I'm also keeping my old Psylo Race fork. I can always increase it's travel up to 125 mm to give me more confident to eat up nasty stuff. And during a long climb, it can go down to 85 mm. It helped a lot during steady climbs like Ngehek sections. I still envy Manitou's infinite travel, but I guess I'll stick with my trusty psylo for a little while longer.


END

A-Bike is NOT a Mountain Bike

I smiled when I opened up my newly delivered A-Bike and found a letter with the above sentences as the heading. Of course it is NOT an MTB. Anyone who sees the tiny, "krispy kreme doughnut" sized wheel would quickly realize that. But MTB is not what A-bike is for. A-bike is probably the smallest & the lightest foldable bikes that can still be enjoyed by a person up to 200 cm height (at least that's what the website claimed). With only 5.5 Kg, it is much lighter than my regular MTB. And it can be folded and put into a small bag.


To my surprise, the Doughnut sized wheel is actually a high pressurized inflated tyre. The bike was supplied with Topeak pocket shock pump, to inflate the tyre up to 90 Psi. That's almost the same pressure as my Anthem's rear shock pressure (110 Psi).
How does it ride? honestly is not a very pleasant experience. It flexes all over the place. The seat is to small to support my rear....The rear wheel is to far forward; so if you're not carefully maintain your bodyweight distribution, you can easily fall backward. It can go pretty fast in a very-very smooth road. Unfortunately it is quite rare even here in Jakarta, where plenty of speed bumps, road crevaces and all other road discontinuities. So you have to be very-very careful.

Would I keep my A-bike? sure! Now I always put it in my car trunks. You never know when you'll need it. Maybe you got trapped in a big traffic jam, or got a flat tyre, or running out of gas in the middle of nowhere, or simply had to leave your car in a nearby workshop and have to walk back to your office. A-bike can help you turn a 20-minute walk into a merely 5 minutes ride. It might not be a pleasant ride, but at least take you there faster.

In the future, when Jakarta has already a much better public transportation system, I might even use the A-bike regularly to go to my office. I can ride it to the nearest bussway station, fold it & put inside the bag, and carry it inside the bus easily without disturbing other passenger. Someday................