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.