BMX Track Training – New bike Again!
After my morning walk I decided to give the FTB one more try before I sold it and as I was transferring my cranks I noticed that the chain pulls that were on the bike were really short which meant that the wheel was really far back in the dropouts!
I took the forward chain tensioners from my Curtis which are much longer and have 2 holes in them, meaning that I could pretty much slam the back wheel once I had fitted a new KMC K1SL Narrow chain that I found in the parts box 🙂 I also swapped the S&M Bruiser bars and Animal Highline top load stem from the Curtis and swapped the 36t chain ring for the 37t one from the spares box.
Once the bike was set up I had a nap for a bit and then went up the track to test it out. When I got to the track the wind was really bad and the only straight that was the least bit ridable really was the first straight so I rode that for an hour an a half instead of doing full laps. I was amazed how different the frame handled with the wheel slammed and the 37×16 gearing is much better for me than the 36×16 that I have to ride on the Curtis! I was able to manual both jumps cleanly almost every time so I think that I will be sticking with the FTB for a while so that I can figure out a solution for the Curtis.
As a rough guestimate I did 20 or more straights in the time I was at the track so it was a good workout even if it wasn’t as much fun die to the wind!
I am slowly starting to feel fitter on the bike and today after the first few straights which were a shock to the system, I was hardly out of breath at the end of the effort! Granted there are 3 more straights to go to finish a full lap but I am feeling much better than I normally do at this time of year which is a good sign! The only worry at the moment is that I did something to my wrist while I was putting the bike together and that was causing me a bit of pain in my hand and wrist. I will have to keep an eye on this but for now it is bearable and its just a niggle!
I am really pleased how the bike is running and I think that I will swap the wheelset off of the Curtis onto the FTB as there is a bit of weirdness with the rear hub where it seems to be rubbing on the break when it clearly isn’t!