Dialled MX20R almost Built
Yesterday I got the Dialled MX20R 95% built up.
I am just waiting for more washers to arrive for the front wheel so that I can get that to tighten up as the axle is designed for carbon forks not chrome forks which are narrower. I received confirmation that the extra washers will be delivered between 13:30 and 14:30 so they should arrive in plenty of time to get the bike sorted to ride after work. I have now sorted the bar position as well as they were really back in the picture.
It looks like the Halo Chaos sprocket removal tool has been posted this morning too but I am not sure if that means that it will be here today or tomorrow! I’m not using the jump bike until next week anyway so its not a massive deal.
The Washers arrived as promised and I put them on and the front wheel is now tightened up and ready to ride. I got to the track just after 18:00 and left about 20:00 I spent most of my time doing 1st straights and got a few good straights in and over manualled the second jump a couple of times too.
I really have to swap the tyres out as the S&M ones are way too big at 2.10″ so I will try and get a 1.60 for the back and 1.75 at the front so its the same as the 24″. Other than the tyres the bike felt really good. I have just heard that my wheel is ready so I will be able to fit it on Saturday and race with it instead of the borrowed wheel which is basically the same wheel but the bearings need servicing on the borrowed wheel and they re new on my wheel! I think I will use the tubolito’s that I bought a while ago in the wheels to try them out too and really try and race the best that I can on the 20″. I am also not 100% certain on the forks but they will do for now and if I see a set of Reach forks for sale I will get them.
I was really impressed with the quality of the Forward cranks for the price they felt stiff and solid, not quite DXR’s but they were less a third of the price of a new set of DXR’s so they will do the job for now. Like the forks I will keep an eye out for some second hand DXR’s to replace them at some point but they will do for now. To be honest the Forward cranks actually go with the bike’s colour scheme better than the DXR’s do anyway!
I am thinking that I may well not get a Curtis Jump bike next xmas and instead get Gary to make me a 20″ to go with my 24″ that he is building for the Worlds then I will have 2 identical bikes to ride. If all goes well on Sunday I may well double bike from now until the Worlds to try and build some fitness. I definitely think that I will train on the 20″ more than the 24″ as it fells much easier to Manual and pump with than the 24″ and the tracks just feel right.
I have been looking at the qualification requirements for the brits and it is basically:
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022
Riders must compete in a minimum of 5 regionals in their home region (3 races for a second bike entry) – these races must be competed in full.
This means that if I can do 5 races on the cruiser and 3 on the 20″ and qualify for both bikes so double biking will mean that I only need to do 3 more regionals to qualify for the brits on both bikes 🙂
I decided to buy some tyres for the 20″ tonight and some numbers for my number plate as well and have then saved at Crucial for me to pick up tomorrow afternoon or on Saturday morning before I go to the track for Matt’s training then I can get them on the bike before training to get used to them during the training and gates. I think that I am going to ride the 20″ for Matt’s training and then swap bikes around every gate in gate practice to get used to swapping between bikes all the time. I went for Maxxis Torch folding tyres as they are the cheapest folding tyres by about £15 a tyre and they have a really low profile so the 1.75 tyre is pretty much the same as a 1.60 Tioga tyre so the gearing will not be affected too much. The gear ratios for both tyres are:
Powerblock 20×1.60 44×16 = 53.59
Maxxis Tourch 20×1.75 44×16 = 53.63
So there is a really small difference between the 2 tyres.
As the Maxxis are folding tyres they will be lighter than the powerblocks so should have a lower rotational weight and therefore be faster, especially with the tubolito tubes 🙂 I should also hopefully have my wheel back on Saturday morning too so I can get used to my setup before racing on Sunday which should help. I also got some numbers for my 20″ plate so that I can race it at Nationals and Regionals if I want to.