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................

Out of the Blue....

Last Saturday, the sky was blue.....but who cares?...
You do if you ride at Puncak mountain that saturday....plus you were riding a blue Titus Moto-Lite, with blue Race-Face crank, blue Fizik Gobi Saddle, and blue Lizard Skin chainstay protector.....well, guess what's your favorite color?

Let's talk about the bike, shall we?
Overall, the bike was awesome. It's light, got 5 inch of travel at both wheels, did not feel like a "wet noodle", plus minimum bob during long uphill - with steady crank RPM. Steady pedalling is required for this kind of design - the venerable horst link. It is amazing that this design actually derived from AMP bikes way back in early 90's. My first full-suspension bike was Mongoose AMPlifier which was manufactured by AMP Research based on their B-3 model. It was on sale as frame only at Jenson USA for $700 in 1997. It was the lightest full-suspension XC bike in it's price range. However it only has 2,5" travel at rear wheel & less than 2" of travel in front (using the infamous AMP F-2 Parallelogram fork). I didn't have any complain with the bike, though. It was light, fast and perfect. However I snapped the RD hanger and guess what......it was not replaceable...*sigh*
Now the patent belong to Specialized, and they called it FSR design. Titus perfected this design by adding an additional link at the shock and utilizing box-shaped stays, which improves lateral rigidity and add more travel because of leverage ratios. Therefore it wouldn't behave like a "wet noodle" during sprint & heavy braking but still very plush. It still retain it's original traits, which is separating wheel movement with pedalling effects. Therefore theoritically it wouldn't produce "bobbing" at all. But compared to currently popular design like VPP or Giant's Maestro, I'd say it still moves a little bit under pedalling. But it also more active and supple. Well, you can't have it all, can you?

Since both wheel has 5 inches, it gave me more confidence in eating up the loose rocks at Puncak single tracks. Furthermore the track was dry, so plenty of traction from the Kenda Nevegal tyres.


Would I ride it in my next puncak adventure? You bet!! But it's gonna have to wait until fasting month is over. Since for next Saturday ride (the last one before entering fasting month) I've decided to ride on my Giant Anthem.

Who needs a long travel bike anyway?

I had a chance to try my new giant anthem at Puncak track last Saturday. This time I made sure I didn't forget my gloves...phew!

Also I had a chance to play around with the rear shock setting. Apparently the stock setting was waaay to stiff. Maybe it also contributed to my crash last month in Puspiptek. Anthem is ment for XC racers. Giant's Adam Craig cranked 190 psi into his Anthem, when he won the Sea Otter Classic. But I'm a trail bike lovers. I had suspension because I wanted to smoothen my rides.
Finally I settled with 90-95 psi setting.

Puncak is amost 75% of rocks & loose rocks. Normally, a long travel is mandatory. I usually take my Titus Moto-lite (or Santa Cruz Blur LT before I sold it). But with the above setting, Anthem can level the terrain quite nicely, without bottoming. True that I still can feel the undulating terrain beneath me. But I had no complaint. My lower back didn't feel a pain after a serious 3,5 hrs rides. And I still can tailed my ol' buddy Ozy with his SC Blur LT in long descents.


The different lies on the uphills. During first part of "ngehek" uphills, my secretary called my cell phone. I didn't want to stop, so we had a good chat while I ride uphills. How about that!! Talk about VO2 max....hahaha

I would gladly take this bike for my next Puncak rides. It's lightweight just felt soooo nice when I went for "Ngehek" sections. Maybe I'll put on Talas RLC Fork & XTR Crank which now installed at my Moto Lite. Then it'll be a truly a dream XC bike with perfect parts. Sooooo, who needs a long travel frame anyway?

CRASHED!!!

Date: July 22, 2006
Location: XC Track - Puspiptek Serpong
Photo courtesy of Mr. Dhani Chagi - Tj. Barat



Do you see anything wrong with this pictures? If you can name at least two things, then you are a genius...hahaha..













Answer:
1. MTB's are not suppose to ride on water. Get a boat instead!
2. This reckless fellow is not wearing his gloves! And that gave him a 2-week full of trouble, taking care of skin wound in his elbow and shoulder...ouch!!

That Saturday morning, I planned to try my newly assembled Giant Anthem. It was a dream setup: Anthem S (medium sized), XTR Dual Control shifter & hydraulic brakes, XTR FD & RD, XTR Cogset, Mavic Crossmax SL & Kenda Nevegal Stick-E, Race Face Carbon Crank. Beautiful!

I went to JPG track first, but it was too wet & muddy. No good!
Dhani advised to try Puspiptek XC Track before the race start. Sounds like a great idea.

Before we start riding, I realized that I had forgoten my gloves. But I ignored it and start riding without gloves.
The first several drop-offs was fine. Until we reached the first long descent. Before the ride, Dhani had given instruction to take right side of the descent, since there gonna be a big drop in the end. But I got carried away. The descent was sooo nice, and I tempted to go fast. I was so excited and completely forgot about the big drop, until it suddenly appeared before my eyes. Control!! Control!!.....pull up those handlebars!!.....too late!!.....Don't panic....concentrate on landing....Got to grip the handlebar as firm as possible....but wait...I had no gloves.....

Next thing I remember, I had laid down....can't breath....must breath first. The handlebar must've had hit my chest. I got up, feel dizzy, then examine the damage. My head still intact - thanks to my michelin helmet, my leg was protected by 661 protector, but my elbow is bleeding. Time for a drastic action. Anyone got a Spraydine? I sprayed the anti-septic to my wounded elbow.... AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

The rest of the ride was not fun at all...I had lost my confidence in some tricky descents and drop offs, and decided to walk the bike.
The rest of the next 14 days was also not fun at all. My shoulder wound was healed realtively quick. But the one in my elbow took me almost 10 days to dry. It still haven't completely healed till today.

Moral of the story....start order an elbow protector...


-END-

Tubeless Tire Repair...anyone?

During my visit to Nashville few weeks ago, I visited an outdoor shop called cumberland transit. It's located toward south west of the city, just nearby from two other great bike shops: Nashville Bike Co & Bike Pedlar. It also sells outdoor equipment such as camping gears, hiking, running etc. As for the bikes, they carry schwinn brands.
In there I picked up an interesting small thing: a Tubeless Tire Repair kit for MTB. The concept is no different from a common tubeless repair kit you'd find off the street here in Indonesia. But it's so small, designed for MTB tubeless tires. Furthermore, it only cost me $4 plus tax.

Frankly I didn't know what to do with it until last saturday ride at puncak got me a nearly-flat rear tire. I thought it was a bent rim or something like that. BTW, I was using Mavic Crossmax XL with Kenda Nevegal UST - a bent rim will cost me dearly. I tried to pump it using the minuscule crankbros handpump. But the tire just kept loosing its pressure.

After I got home and cleaned the bike, I pumped the tire using a floor pump. Suddenly a faint hissing sound appears. Phew! it's punctured. Not a defective rim. Now what to do? Then I remember the Tire Repair Kit. I opened it, followed the simple instruction, and VOILA!...my tire was fixed!...great stuff!!

lets sing an anthem

Don't get me wrong! I'm not gonna sing anything for you. I'm only referring to the new Giant Anthem. For you that hesitantly following bike trends, Giant Anthem is supposed to be the replacement of the popular Giant NRS. It only has 3.5" of rear travel, pure XC racing machine. It utilized Giant's owned & designed (this is MBA lines) Maestro design. Giant's Craig David...ooops...I mean Adam Craig won short track XC race on a carbon fiber Anthem at Sea Otter Classic.

It will never replace my previous Blur LT with 5.5" of travel. But it sure climbs very very well. I finished third during last month's Puncak rides (gimme a break, I'm not a strong climber.....so third place is good enough for me).
However I had to negotiate a lot more during the long rocky downhill section. It's rear end just bouncing like it were a hard tail. I did had some difficulties getting the correct shock setting. If I put less pressure, it'll bob too much. But if I crank in high pressure, it behaves like a hardtail. After a while, I was able to find the most comfortable setting. It still bob a bit, but I managed to get maximum travel of the shock without bottoming out.

It's indeed a true XC bike. I would definitely choose it for tracks with plenty of uphills and not-so-technical downhill.

Farewell to Blur LT....

Last month I had this crazy idea. I decided to sell my most beloved Blur LT. Why in the world I would wanna do that??? I don't have the right answer myself. The bike was perfect!! I did complained about it's weight, but it was due to the hefty Vanilla fork. Not the frame. The bike itself was flawless....it feels great on rough descend, and didnot rob your energy on uphill.

What happened was......on a lovely tuesday afternoon, after company BOD lunch meeting (not at a 5-star hotel, but a humble noodle hut..we do care about taste y'know....hehehe), suddenly my good friend Ozy called. He said that he is on his way to our favourite bike shop nearby. So we decided to give him company. You know...to help him choose his right gear.

At the shop, I spotted a secondhand Giant Anthem frame. Secondhand? at this time of the year? I couldn't imagine what was the previous owner's thinking. It was in mint condition. Too bad it's a small size. Then I measured the top tube length. It was 22.5 inch. It's the same length as my medium sized Blur LT. Also it uses the same seatpost diameter as Blur. Whoa!!...with my 550 mm Thomson seatpost, it might do the trick. It'll look odd, but what the heck! So I decided to take it home, move all component from my Blur (excpet for the Vanilla fork - don't get me wrong...it's the plushest fork I've ever had). And put my beloved Blur at the bikeshop. I did asked for a higher-than-normal price for my Blur. If nobody wants it, I can always take it back home for my next bike project. But what do you know? Someone took it only in less than a week. It is time to say farewell for my beloved Blur LT..

Mid June 06

Part 4 - finished - Salak Mt Ride 11 March 06

Time is sure running fast, man! Already a month after my accident at Salak mountain, and my ankle still hasn't fully recovered.

After the long technical downhill ride, we had lots of ups & downs. The group even got lost...not entirely lost, but kinda unsure which path to go. Therefore we decided to ask this old lady who happened to walk by. Too bad I didn't captured her face in the picture. Anyway she pointed to a direction which was uphill. And I mean uphill! Impossible even for our most experienced rider to ride it. It is a mystery how the old lady managed to walk this section with a huge pile of wood on top of her head.

While waiting for the guys to decide on direction, the artiste MTB-ers are posing up for a good shot....here goes...
My good friends Kurs & Eric also posed in front of beautiful scenic valley.
We finally reached the lower plain grounds. But again the leader chose the unrideable section. It's not technical whatsoever, but it's extremely narrow. In between the rice fields. So the pack had to walk the bike once more. It was a beautiful walk. But I felt pain in every step I took. I wished the narrow track could've stopped soon and I can ride my bike again.
Here Kurs (the nice guy with orange long sleeve) had a small accident. He fell into a small river with his bike. Fortunately he was fine. Arya & Harry give him a hand recovering his bike from the pit. Great teamwork guys!!


After the grueling rides, we finally reach Bogor city, and the gang stopped by at a fried chicken stall for a late-late lunch.

Just look at those happy-smiling faces, and try counting the number of empty plates on the table. Guess who had the most chicken....hahaha!
That's all folks!!...hope you enjoy the show. See you in my next MTB adventure.

-END-

Part 3: Salak Mountain 11 March 06

Hi guys,
Let's be focused on something. More specifically, downhill section of this ride. It's definitely not my game though, especially after I got my ankle twisted during the first section of the ride. So I'll just share with you the excitement, glory, and doom...hahaha

This particular downhill section is covered with slippery earth and plenty of roots. There's no way you can control your bike slowly by pressing your brake lever. It'll only make you loose traction. This is the place where you're gonna need that long travel suspension and good control of your rear section. In the middle of the downhill track, there is a short stepping terrain which require the rider to do small bunny hop and carefully adjust their riding position in order follow the track. It's not easy since you won't be able to use your brake properly.

Those freeride lover guys are quickly attacked the downhill section before I got a chance to set a proper photo stance. Here Hendro Isnanto from Solo Power was blasting downhill with his Giant Reign. He described this particular section as a "premium ride".

After Hendro Isnanto, Jemmie Tauw took his turn in blasting this particular section with his Giant VT. The new Manitou Nixon he installed a week before the ride seems working flawlessly and clearly improve his downhill performance.
Putri, Jemmie's fiancee also showed her best effort to rule this section. Unlike Jemmie who used full suspension VT, she used hardtail Specialized Cirrus. So she must have put more effort in controlling it's rear end from bouncing all around. She made it through the first part, but failed to escape the tight switchback. Fortunately she was fine. Two thumbs up!!
Next 'contestant' was Eric "the freeride guy". No doubt, Manitou Stance equipped Giant AC Team rules!
Harry was next in line. In the beginning of the descend, he already lost traction and end up hitting the soil. Good for him he managed to took his right side of the track, otherwise it's gonna be a long way down to the cliff. At least he came up unharmed.

Here's the next Nixon user. Tony with his XT equipped Giant Trance. He used Crossmax SL for a long travel trail bike setup. Kinda ironic, ain't it? (no worries bro, I also use similar setup hahaha).

The next daredevil riders is a mystery. He blasted the downhill section with a big smile, using dual crown suspension with Bike to Work tag on it. So I asked to B2W mailing list if anyone recognize this guy and tell me who he is. But no answer so far....soooo it remain misteeerious...
Some didn't escape the cruel & slippery descend. Here are the proof...well, kinda missed the right-moment shot, but at least there are evidence that bikes are over the soil or over the bikers...hahaha


Aaaaand for the rest of us...lets walk the bike!...eeeeeeeew



END OF PART 3

Part 2: Salak Mountain 11 March 06

OK I admidt I want my own picture in my own blog. So here it is. It was taken before we enter the pine trees. It's a beautiful scenery towards Bogor city.

This is the second part of my mtb trip to Salak Mountain March 11, 2006. Here I still bragging about my riding friends. They are great riding buddies. I always look forward to ride with them in the future.





Next picture consist of Ietjung "Gading Serpong rider", followed by Irawan "more uphill for me", Levy "Racer X", Eric "The Freeride Guy", Beben "biker n diver" and Andre "gimme the uphill section".

Pictured below is KHS rider from Bogor City, Harry, followed by Kurs & Juheri "the sweeper".

This is the only female rider in the group, Putri. Shown here with fellow Gading Serpong rider Arief..

Jemmie, Putri's fiancee, was riding in front of her. So sorry guys, I couldn't take both of you in one picture. Here's Jemmie with his Nixon equipped blue Giant VT..

Aaaaaand....from the black corner, wearing black shirt & black trunks, weighing 75 kgs with 11 kgs Scott scandium....presenting Mamen Depe....finally he decided to ride his bike, after gruelling truck ride. Don't be shy Mamen...I know your age is catching up, so we fully understand why you need the truck ... hahahaha

This is Yongki "I don't have any of my bike picture", also Bogor City permanent resident and Giant VT user.

This is the toughest kid on the block. Can you imagine using rigid bike on this type of terrain? If it were myself, I would have lost all my bones like hell...hahaha...Please welcome Mr. Muda Saputra with his classic bridgestone MTB.

Entering the forest, it was still climbing uphill singletrack. The track got more and more difficult along the way. I sprained my ankle when I was trapped in the middle of very slippery climb. It hurt, but what concerned me was the fact that we were only about 4 km of total 20 km rides. ouch!

This track happen to have lots of 'unrideable' track. So you can imagine how painful each step I took with my injured ankle. Lucky for me most of my riding buddies are very helpful, especially when I need to clear big rocks and small rivers. Thanks guys!

End of part 2

Salak Mountain - 11th March 2006

Saturday March 11, 2006, was truly a great day to ride. The sun was shining brightly, and rain didnot pour the day before, despite Bogor's reputation as the rain city. Anyway the gang gathered at the NISP Bank parking lot in front of the famous Bogor Botanical Garden. Man! there were more than 40 bikers from Jakarta, Bogor & Serpong area. This ride was special, since there were three senior bikers from Solo - Central Java who happened to be in town. And they were fully prepared to attack the trail. And I mean prepared.

We hired around 10 minibuses to take us uphill to the end of the road. The destination was Sukamantri Camping Ground. The minibus ride last around an hour & cost us Rp. 50K per bus. But there are some of the hardcore-diehard XC riders who opted to ride uphill. Not surprisingly they arrived at the same time as the bus, strong guys!

After quick bike assembly, we continued riding uphill to the camping ground. It was a 3 km uphill under beautiful pine trees. Picture below is our Bogorese fellow, Buchan entering the Sukamantri camping ground

Some guys found an easier way to reach the camping ground. I wouldn’t say they were cheating, but maybe close enough…hahaha.

After all members reached the camping ground, we continued riding to the forest. I managed to took some pictures of all participants before we enter the forest. Below is H. Ujang, leading a whole bunch of MTBR.

Our distinguished guest...Hendro Isnanto from Solo Power..

Sugeng "The Hulk", also from Solo Power. A skillful downhiller and strong climber. Ripping all the climbs with Dual Crown equipped Giant AC. Whew!

Next is Sapto (nice goatee...), followed by the one and only Mr. Arya...

Next picture is my young friend from Bike 2 Work community, Sunu "the mad cow". Despite his daily town commuting, he was very comfortable riding off the road.

End of my part 1