|   I dreamed of my 29er in Iraq | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 12:35 AM | | Guys, I had this weird dream. Perhaps one of you can interpret it for me. Yes, it was a real dream.
I'm in Iraq, and I'm tagging along with an investigative journalist team. This particular group of journalists are determined to find out what the common Iraqi on the street really thinks about Saddam, the Coalition occupation, etc. They're there to get the real story.
We stop by a school, and out in front of the school a group of teachers have formed an eclectic musical ensemble. They are singing good-riddance to Saddam, and joy that democracy will finally come to their country, and praise to Allah for the Coalition forces (Bush haters: try not to gag). As I watch and listen, I make a few observations. There is a guy in the band playing a banjo, and I think, Criminy, I can play better than that guy. I notice that they all look more Asian than I expected Iraqis to look, and it occurs to me that perhaps they're not really Iraqis at all, but just fakes trying to promote Coalition propaganda. Finally, I note that they all look very happy, as does the crowd of onlookers. Oh yes, I happen to mounted on my GF Mt. Tam 29 while all this is happening.
A group of sullen tough guys arrives and the mood turns sour. One of them comes over to me and demands my bike. No, you can't have it. "The Coalition promised us bicycles. That bike is for the Iraqi people. Give it to me". Nope. Out of the question. "You have to give it to me, in the name of Allah" No way, dude. Back off. We have attracted the attention of the crowd; he grabs my handlebar and breaks off one side of the bar. You'd think I'd thank him for giving me an excuse to buy some carbon fiber bars, but instead I go ballistic and attack him physically. He gets the first three punches in but to my surprise they don't really hurt too bad. We are rolling around on the street fighting and he finally somehow melts away into the crowd.
I start yelling at the crowd, "Where are the parts he broke off my bike?" (I guess this dream bike had no cables to hold things together). They begin looking at the ground. Various Iraqis bring me bits of torn and twisted aluminum from my bike. But I've got titanium brake levers, and in the dream I want the lever back that was attached to the bar. "No! There's more! Where's the rest?" I yell. Someone bends over, picks up a large section of the handlebar with the lever attached, and brings it to me. I got my titanium lever back.
End of dream. |
| Spiritually untrained wild guesses | Cloxxki
Jan 6, 2004 4:36 AM | | Although you sympathize with the Iraqy people to be freed from Saddam, you're affraid individuals might have a hard time dealing with promises and newly acquired freedoms (getting greedy).
Your bike is very important to you, and you guard with with your life as if it were a child.
You're not the biggest fan of Junior's ways of selling democracy.
You most certainly have a very deep-rooted festishism for titanium parts. (pic of bike please!). I suggerst seeking treatment. Carbon is indeed a better way to go, and a much sounder ground for fetishism.
:-) No, seriously, I want ti levers, which ones do you have?
Also, standing over your beloved bike seems to be your favorite way of absorbing your surroundings.
Basic idea of your dream lies in your warm feelings for titanium, nothing deeper there to be uncovered! :-)
Tell me I'm wrong, you'd have called it a nightmare if you'd waken up before the retreival of those labels?
Sweet dreams!
J |
| Spiritually untrained wild guesses | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 7:39 AM | | Clox, you may be spiritually untrained, but I think you've hit several key points. Protecting my child, for example. I'm generally a peaceful, easy-going type, and if some poor guy asks me for something, I'm generally inclined to want to help him. But I would definitely draw the line on my beloved 29. "Here's the keys to my car, pal. But you can't have the bike". Another good one: absorbing surroundings while on my bike. My bike takes me to my favorite surroundings, beautiful, remote places I am truly grateful to have the opportunity to experience. Let us all hope that someday Iraq will become a place that we would like to experience. As for Ti, Avid brakes and levers, and a Ti WTB seat. |
| All that sand over there | Kolo
Jan 6, 2004 6:13 AM | | it's obviously just the right bike to be on for the conditions!
:)
Sam |
| All that sand over there | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 7:39 AM | | Yeah, next time I'll use it to haul ass outta there! |
| Sooooo... | escamillo
Jan 6, 2004 7:31 AM | | I think our resident tech guru and shrink has nailed it. Personaly I think its all about geting a new set of bars, I have always been a little dubious of the bontrager bars. I suggest Ti bars to satiate your Ti appetite.
e |
| Sooooo... | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 7:42 AM | | I wonder if my wife will agree that this dream justifies me dropping $$$ for Ti bars. Besides, Clox says carbon is more worthy of subconscious drooling. I wonder if she'd agree with that? |
| Sooooo... | escamillo
Jan 6, 2004 12:01 PM | | I won't disagree with the professor but having riden both I'm sticking with the Ti. In the name of sience you could purchase a pair to see if it affects your dreams. Heck, its a lot cheaper than rehashing your dreams on the tharapists couch.
e |
| Sooooo... | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 6:18 PM | | Man, now you're onto something...I could try sleeping with different components under my pillow and see what dreams may come... |
| Ti brake(lever)s? No. Ti bolts, yes. | Cloxxki
Jan 6, 2004 12:02 PM | | Funny how the mind is symbolic in it's own creations, eh?
I was actually kidding about carbon. I do have 2 carbon bars that perfectly satisfy my weightweenie needs and hold up surprisingly well, but I'll never own a carbon frame. I do see a ti frame in my very near future, I regard it as a superiour frame material. I like lightweight, but not in my frame, function is too important there. An extra 100g in a frame makes too much of a difference in riding characteristics to be worth the weight saving.
I've never ridden a ti handlebar, but have 2 unused ones cathcing dust, Bontrager Titec bar, too short for me, and not really all that light. Those should make good trade parts some day.
I understood that the Ti Avid brakes and levers only have Ti bolts as a difference over the SD 7 models, saving a few grams of weight.
The Ti, SD7 and SD Mag all appear to be of exactly identical dimensions. At at once I now realize that that mus be the reason my Mag levers came out exactly the same weight as the SD7,'s, 174g. Mag is only lighter than Al if you use less of it, which wasn't the case. They outperform theSD7's anyway, braking is just that little bit snappier.
If the Ti levers and calipers itself were really ti, they'd be heavier than the Al SD7's, by about half the weight. The used Ti bolts are about half the weight of the SD7's steel ones.
Happy trals,
J
Would Iraq have a any good trails away from it's city's and deserts? |
| Ti brake(lever)s? Salsa on Ti? | Appendage
Jan 6, 2004 6:15 PM | | Clox, you mean to tell me I went Fist City with an Iraqi over Ti levers that weren't Ti? Oh man, now I know how W. feels about the weapons of mass destruction...
About the Ti brakes...now it gets interesting (I'll try to keep this short). I had big problems with uneven, grabby braking on my front Salsa Delgado rim. I didn't have the problem with the stock Bonty rims. The dealer who built me the Salsa wheel replaced the rim, but the problem remained. After many phone conversations with Salsa and trying many unsucessful fixes, Salsa wanted to see my wheel. They also wanted to know everything about my bike so they could reproduce my exact problem.
So I sent them the wheel. First, they built me a whole new wheel. Then, they went to work reproducing the problem. Yes, the new wheel they built for me had the same jerky braking action. Their conclusion: the problem is caused by the Ti brake arms. According to Salsa, the Ti brake arms flex more than the regular SD-7s, and when they hit a "sticky" spot on the rim wall, the arms flex back and forth, creating the jerky braking. When they tried the garden variety SD-7's, the problem went away. They shipped me the new wheel and told me to lose the Ti brakes. By the way, I've never had the problem with my rear Delgado rim, and Salsa attributed that to the fact that brake arm flex in the rear is limited by the brake mount.
So, I installed some old, garden variety SD-7s (or were they SD-5s?) and took a spin down the street. Same old problem! Oh, it was better than before, but it was still there. So I tried it with Avid Mags and then my Ti brakes. There was no appreciable difference between the three. So I left my Ti brakes on and have lived with it ever since.
Draw your own conclusions. I must say that Salsa product support was exemplary. It couldn't have been better, except that the problem, although improved, persists. That said, next time I buy Dyads. |
| Ti brake(lever)s? Salsa on Ti? | Cloxxki
Jan 7, 2004 1:29 AM | | A perfectly fine brake will make a bad or weak fork shatter. Cyclo-Cross riders know all about it. A beefy fork (with a maybe different own vibrating frequency) makes all the difference.
I'd be amazed if the Ti calipers indeed proved to be made of titanium. |
| Ti brake(lever)s? Salsa on Ti? | Appendage
Jan 7, 2004 7:28 AM | | That may be the case, however, there's no problem at all when I use the stock Bontrager wheel. At any rate, I'm considering demanding a urine sample from the brake caliper, and having it tested for Ti content. |
| more on your brake issues... | cycloxer
Jan 7, 2004 8:39 AM | | I've had problems similar to your braking issues with cyclocross bikes. I'm not too familiar with the Delgados and Bonty rims, but is one machined and the other not? Is there another difference such as different anodization?
Here's what I learned from my similar problem(s). I don't know if my experience applies to you situation, but here it is:
I've always had at least two sets of wheels for my cross bikes - one for road use and one for cyclocross. On my old Cannondale bike, my road wheels (Rolf Vectors) worked fine, but my brakes grabbed my cyclocross wheels (Velocity Aeroheads) and caused the pulsing/throbbing sensation you describe. I tried towing the canti brake pads differently but that didn't seem to make a difference. I didn't care for the geometry of the C'dale frame and sprung for a Steelman Eurocross. I mounted the same components and ran the same two wheels on the Steelman and never experienced the problem. I mentioned it to a trusty bike mechanic friend. Together we examined the two frames and concluded that the canti brake posts on the C'dale were scantly longer than the Steelman. The almost imperceptible difference didn't allow the brakes (Paul cantis) to seat completely. While the brakes didn't feel loose when inspecting by hand, the additional stress of braking caused the tiny difference to be felt as the pulsing sensation. Since I didn't plan on keeping the C'dale frame, I didn't correct the problem but believe that a little filing of the canti studs may have resolved it.
Hope this little nugget helps. Aren't there others riding Delgados with much success. Was this a problem that Salsa was aware of, hence the exemplary customer service?
Thanks and good luck. |
| more on your brake issues... | Appendage
Jan 7, 2004 10:49 AM | | Cyclo-
Too weird. Such a little thing causing so much trouble...kinda like Tolkien's Ring of Power, eh? But I lapse into geekdom... Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out, although I'm not sure how, inasmuch as the free play may be nearly imperceptible. Who knows, maybe all that's needed is a little filing...
You are correct, there's lots of guys on this forum who love the Delgados. In fact, I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them, which is why I bought them. It's ironic, because the Bontrager wheels are routinely bashed on this forum and others. (Myself included- I had my share of problems with the Bontys, which is why I attempted to "upgrade". That'll teach me.)
The guys at Salsa apparently had never encountered my problem before. They seemed quite determined to solve this mystery, which may have lead to their "aggressive" (in a good way) customer support.
Thanks again for the help. |
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