So this morning i got up a bit later than normal (6:30) as I had to pick my son up from a party at 11pm last night and then take him back to his mums house on the other side of town before driving home again! This meant that when i got home I could not sleep very quickly as I was awake from driving so I decided not to set an alarm this morning and get up when I woke up!
When I woke up I chilled in bed until about 7:30 and then headed to Bath track to play on the Black Market Contraband 24″! The forks are deffo too long so I will put on the NS forks that came with the bike for now and then when I get some money from selling bike parts I will buy some Identity Rebate 1420 Jump forks as they have a 20mm axle which I really prefer compared to the QR dropout on my current forks. They are also made in a similar length to an 80mm travel fork so it will get the front end as low as it will go as well. I am thinking that I will build up the DMR with the current Identiry forks and the Gusset Open Prison bars and get rid of it all as a complete bike instead of selling it as parts as its should sell faster I think! I am going to put the hydraulic brake back on the DMR and get an Avid cable brake on the Black Market instead as the hydraulic brake is really harsh and using a cable brake will make the Black Market feel more like the Curtis as I can use the same DXR lever as well 🙂
Today as I was doing full pump laps after peddling the tarmac on the start hill I really noticed the length of the cranks as well so I will try and get some 170mm cranks at some point as well after I get the forks sorted. I found that Source BMX have the Sunday Shaker V2 cranks that I have on the bike at the moment at 175mm in 170mm on sale the moment for £82 so I will get some of them when I get paid to use for now. In the long run I would like to get some profile racing cranks for the Black Market but for now the Sunday cranks are fine!
I have been looking for longer stems for the Black Market but I will wait until I get the forks and cranks sorted before I mess with the stem length but I think that using a BMX stem and the Gusset Open Prison Bars (I found some Black ones in the shed so no need to use the blue ones that came with the bike!) is the most cost effective route to get the bike all dialled in and it should make the bike feel more BMXie as well hopefully!
I am really enjoying riding the Black Market Contraband 24″ so I will keep riding it for now other than at gate sessions when I will ride the Curtis still! I am thinking about putting a 24 x 2.10 powerblock on the Curtis as well to see if that helps my wrist out as riding the Black Market Contraband 24″ is way less painful than riding the race bike at the moment although I haven’t been riding it as hard as I do the race bike so that could explain it! If putting a fat tyre on the Curtis helps then that would be an easy fix!
This afternoon I put the NS forks on the Black Market and it now looks better as they are 6cm or so lower than the identity ones that were on there. I’m not a fan of the white forks but if they ride better then I’ll live with them until I can afford the 20mm Identity ones after payday!
