Tonight was the first Tuesday evening coaching session at Bath. I was really not feeling it when it came to going to the track but once I was there I felt really good and I was glad that I went. Matt had said that it was better to use flat pedals for the session so I put my flats on but was not super happy about it! I really don’t like riding flats on the track!
The first warmup lap I noticed that my rear tyre was super soft (I am totally over Tubolitos!!!!) so I had to use the jump bike for the training instead! This was a bit of a blessing as I am more used to riding the jump bike on flats so I was able to gate ok on it which on my race bike I tend to pull on my back leg as I am used to clips and then fall off!!
Once I had figured out that the fork on the jump bike could lock out it was pretty good out of the gate. I was way slower as the gearing was too high but I was able to keep up at least even though I should have been in front all the time! We did a lot of manual practice and the jump bike is OK for that so it wasn’t too bad. I am trying to figure out a lower gearing for the jump bike so that I can get as close as possible to the race bmx gearing as at the moment I am using 25/10 as it is the only gearing that I can get to work with the 3 piece cranks that are on the bike. I am thinking that I will try and fit the 170mm dxr cranks to it and then run a 32/16 gearing which I think is as close as I will get to a race gearing.
On my cruiser I run a 24×1.60 Tioga Powerblock and a 36×16 gearing which as a gear inch of 52.88 so on the jump bike is a gear inch of roughly 52 which is slightly lower but thats fine.
I also need to tighten up the seat as that worked loose during the training session as well. I am kind of glad that I used the jump bike as I got used to riding it so I can ride it more now and not need to get used to it all the time. It felt way better on the track once the forks were locked out and it felt more like a race bike and there is still a bit of suspension at the end which should be enough.
If the gearing works out I may even try racing the jump bike at regionals for a change. I have just found out that Halo do a 16t rear sprocket for my wheel and I also found a 32t wide narrow chain ring so that I can give it a go. I will pop up the track later and drop off my Son’s bike at the container as he is in Brazil for pretty much the rest of the month and then I will have a bit of a ride and then bring the Jump bike home with me to try out the dxr cranks on the bike before I order the parts that I need. I have a 34t chain ring here so that will be good enough for a mock up at least!
I also need to remove the Tubolito to see why it has lost air so while I am doing that I will swap the S&M track Mark tyre out for the Tioga Power block again as it feels better gearing wise out of the gate.
I also need to fit the new rear dxr brake caliper as the brake on the bike at the moment is totally not working! It has slackened off so much that the cable can be pulled out of the lever which is not good!
After riding the jump bike yesterday I have gone back to Gary at Curtis and asked him to make my new frame disk brake again if possible as I much prefer a disk brake even if it is a cable one! so it makes sense. I have also decided not to mess with my 20″ wheels and keep them to use on the 20″ instead of getting them re-laced for the Curtis. It makes more sense to keep the wheels as they are and spend the money on new wheels for the Curtis when it is ready them I will have all my bikes with basically the same hubs so that they all feel the same.
*** Update***
I decided to just go for it so I have ordered a 32T Chain ring and chain bolts in red and a 16T Halo Bushdrive Sprocket so I should be ready to ride by next week sometime as I already have the cranks and a bottom bracket ready to go. Once this is done I think that the jump bike will be finished and it can just be ridden until something breaks 🙂 I went with the red chain ring to tie in with the red headset as at the moment the headset looks a little odd as the rest of the bike is black so adding the red chain ring should balance it out a bit. There is also red stitching on the seat although that is hard to see in the photo. Ride wise I am super happy with the way the frame rides and it doesn’t feel heavy or overly big like my other jump bike frame did so I think I will be happy with this setup for a while. In the future I may get Gary at Curtis Bikes to build me a Curtis Jump frame so that all my bikes are Curtis but for now the NS will do.
If I do decide to race the jump bike I may well get an Onyx rear hub on it as well 🙂 I may look into getting an Onyx hub before the new frame as the hub will make a lot more difference on the track as the Halo engagement is a bit low compared to the Onyx on my Race bikes. I will see how I get on with the bike as is for now and then maybe after the Worlds I will sell some bikes and get an Onyx hub and order myself a Curtis frame as well.
Also my Freetrain v1 Phone Vest arrived just now so I can use my phone to connect to my cadence sensor without it flopping around in my pocket so I can start getting some cadence data too. It will also be super useful at the gym (if I ever go!!!) as I don’t have pockets in most of my gym shorts!
