XC Turner Czar

slider_phil

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New dropper lever (Wolftooth replacing and KS Lev). Should have done that so long ago. Massive upgrade!





About as clean as an external dropper is going to get I think








First race of the year coming up in Ballarat this Sunday. 50km so should be a fast paced. Training has been coming along nicely and have managed to set an all time best FTP number a few weeks ago so feeling good.

Only issue is I'm pretty sure I broke a finger last Monday with an unfortunate sledgehammer accident. It's not overly painful but I still can't pull my rear brakes very hard yet. Hoping that's all good by Sunday lol.
 

Oddjob

Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Only issue is I'm pretty sure I broke a finger last Monday with an unfortunate sledgehammer accident. It's not overly painful but I still can't pull my rear brakes very hard yet. Hoping that's all good by Sunday lol.
Pfft how are you going to win with rear brake?

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Shifty Fifty?
Yep, hoping to do all 3 Shifty Fiftys this year since I've never ridden Buxton before. Only other race I've got my eyes on at the moment is the Golden Triangle in Bendigo then I'll just take it as it comes through the year. If Bendigo is running a local XCO series I'll probably do that again. Might see if Ballarat is doing one too since they're both 2hr drives for me.
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
How’s that boost rear hub going ?
So far nothing to report. No abnormal creaks, groans or cracks. Not a whole lot of kms (maybe 150kms?) with the setup yet as a ton of my training has been this bike strapped onto a trainer (direct drive so no rear wheel). I think this weekend will be a good test with 50 hard kms of pounding ahead of it.
 

Ackland

chats d'élevage
Nice grips....

Out of interest... I think that it was glossed over that you fit Boost hubs into the rear triangle.
What sort of magic is this?
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
It's only 3mm a side. I'd be more worried about it with a brand new frame but this thing is 4 years old and Dave Turner thought it would be fine. I just bought a longer axle and it basically fell in. Sort of like how Zaf mentioned except you can do it with your fingers

Frame also uses bushings for all the suspension pivots over bearings so that's another thing to not fret over. Suspension performance hasn't been affected.
 
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slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Raced it last Sunday at the first round of the Shifty Fifty series. Trails were super dry and blown out but lots of fun single-track intermingled with crazy step fireroad accents and descents.

Ended up being 1500m of elevation over 50kms of mountain biking and all out a bit tougher than the organisers intended. Out of the 200+ entrants only 105 finished the race.



This was my first time racing this bike and also first race of the season. The bike itself performed exceptionally minus some loud creaks and groans from the lower DW link after some really sandy dusty sections. For myself, I was happy to cross the finish line at the end, that's for sure.

I felt really great up until the 42km mark were we hit the step fireroad climbs for the last time and had to hike a bike the last bit. When I got back on I had to fight a cramp for the next 2kms but after that it was ok and the pace was back to normal for the final stretch. I ended up finishing 20th in the open men's.

Oh and operating with a broken left index finger, that was a little painful every time I needed the rear brake

All covered in dust after the race


The offending lower DW link


Also lost the cable guide somewhere along the trail






The Barzo/Mezcal tyres options worked a treat. No complaints with grip front or rear especially considering it was very dry and loose on course. There was obviously enough knob depth to penetrate the top layer as I had no front end wash out feeling.

Example of the trail conditions. Surface was like moon dust.


Also really happy with the 32 front and 9-46 cassette. On all but the very steepest of pinch climbs the 46t chainring could keep me below my lactate threshold wattage so I could pace the day very well and pick when I burnt matches.

Overall a positive experience. The day was tough but fun to be racing again. Pretty sure I'm going to try and get to the second round in Woodend next month



Oh and so far, no rear triangle breakage from running boost wheels
 
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