Just what the world needs, another bike blog. Well, I recently got a new mountain bike frame which seems like the perfect time to start a cycling blog, starting on sort of a clean slate. Except that all the parts that will be attached to this new frame are old and are presently being pulled off of the old bike. Anyway about me, I reside in beautiful Indianapolis Indiana. I am consider myself primarily a mountain bike rider, although the majority of riding is done bike commuting to work 7.1 miles each day. I ride almost all weather, except when the temperatures get above 70 in the mornings as the resulting sweat isn't easily resolved upon arriving at the office. On those days my wife drops me off and I'll pedal home. Other than that, I'll ride in rain, sleet, and snow, and many times during the winter have been the only living thing on the local green ways.
But now back to the bike. To start at the beginning, I purchased a Access XCL 29er frame from Performance Bike in 2009. Over the course of a few months I purchased used parts and sale parts until I finally assembled a complete bike. The bike was great and has served me well since then. But all good things must come to an end. Last week a I started noticing a creak from somewhere on the bike, the kind of creak that you just can’t pinpoint and no amount of disassembly and lubing will remedy.
Reaching maximum frustration I stepped back to evaluate the situation, and recalled a post from the Hoosier Mountain Bike Association forum sometime ago in which a rider had dealt with a similar situation and eventually found a crack in his frame. I checked the normal crack spots and welds and finally happened upon a thin line right above the weld where the top tube and the seat post tube meet. I had seen this a week after racing in the DINO Brown County race, but took it for a small scratch in the frame. Well, the scratch and grown to almost halfway around the seat post tube and was definitely a crack. Frame = dead.
Problem was, I was planning on racing at the DINO race at Muscatatuck Park in North Vernon on July 1. With my primary bike down, I thought my “fun” bike, a Redline Monocog 29er, might get the call. Not that this would have been terrible, as sometimes I think I’m faster on that. Unfortunately, Performance Bike does not provide any sort of discount if you are purchasing a replacement for a damaged frame (boo), nor did they respond to my inquiry about the warranty (boo x 2). Despite being dead set against purchasing another Access frame because of the lack of customer service response. and after looking at other frames (Sette Razzo, Niner EMD, Niner Air, and Jamis Dragon) I decided to go with the Access. The geometry works, and I know all my components will swap over, while that is not the case with the other frames. Two days later, the frame arrived.
The old frame was a matte silver color, which I liked, but the new gloss coloring and graphics are an improvement. All parts switched frames just fine, although I had to use my home made headset press to install the headset into the new frame. By homemade, I mean the directions for making it were found on an online cycling forum and it utilized a threaded rod, two flange nuts, and several steel washers. Surprisingly, the thing worked without a hitch!
I took the almost new bike out for a test ride on Saturday morning, and it rode quite well. Everything was tight, no squeaks, and the brakes and shifting were all in order. Frankly the bike is looking dead sexy. Should be a fun ride at Muscatatuck.
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