I am a dunce

 

Apparently I erased all my old pictures……. oops  

SBCU Training

 

Monday February 13, 2012

I went to Morgan Hill in California for some training at Specialized Bicycle Components University. It was a great experience.

I left Raleigh North Carolina for The Twin Cities in Minnesota. During my layover I met Lillian and her lamb Lamby.

We had a long in depth conversation about absolutely nothing it was awesome. After a while Lamby finally opened up and I was getting high fives and hugs.

From the Twin Cities it was a 3.5 hour flight to San Jose California, after I got off the airplane I met some of my other classmates and we left for Morgan Hill. We all checked in at the hotel and prepared for the next day.

 

Tuesday February 14, 2012

I woke up and went to breakfast around 6:30am and left for Specialized arriving at 8:00am. The first part of class we introduced ourselves, it turns out the class had people from Hawaii, Canada, Texas, North Carolina, Alabama and Colorado. For the most part the first day was uneventful except  for the lunch ride where I rode through a huge mud puddle.

Everyone should try this

I was the only one to ride through the mud. A T-shirt was offered as an incentive I asked for socks since I ruined the only pair I had that day. After lunch we spent the rest of the day talking about wheels, brakes and internal cable routing. Once class was over Specialized fed us dinner and we were shuttled back to the hotel.

 

Wednesday February 15, 2012

Wednesday morning was much of the same at the hotel up at 6:30am breakfast then shuttled to Specialized. This was a day to be spent on suspension. The beginning of class was spent on suspension theory, I am still trying to wrap my head around it, I do have a better understanding though.

After we went through suspension theory we worked on a Specialized AFR rear shock. Here is a cut away of the whole shock.

This is the rebound piston that is housed in the air can piston.

After the AFR shock we looked at the “Brain” portion of the shock. The “Brain” is an inertia valve that works when force drives the rear wheel up. This is a cut away of the inertia valve, as the shock is forced up the brass mass at the top drops down to let oil flow freely.

 

When we finished rear shocks we went for another lunch time ride and this was my steed, it is the Venge. The Venge was devolved With McLaren a company that designs and makes Formula1 cars. This bike is not slow it likes to go fast.

After lunch we went back to class and worked with front shocks, it turns out the Specialized E160 and S140 Forks are custom tunable at the shop level. After dinner we went back to the hotel on the party bus, it is to bad I didn’t get any pictures of that.

 

Thursday February 16, 2012

 

Morning was the same at the hotel. When we started class we spent most of the time working on a hassle line, which is about finding the problems of getting from point A to point B, then finding the solutions. This is what we came up with:

Once we we were done with the hassle line we ate lunch and then went for a mountain bike ride to learn how to setup full suspension bikes.

My steed 2012 SWORKS Epic 29er.

A couple others that came along.

2012 SWORKS Enduro

I think this is a Camber.

Not to mention the Vans of Awesome:

There is about 130,000$ worth of bike on the vans. After the mountain bike ride we took a test and then went to dinner at Troy’s Bocce Ball Room.

 

Friday February 17, 2012

Flying from the West coast to the East coast is rough, I left San Jose at 10:00am Pacific time and arrived 12:00am Eastern time, then had to go to work at 10:00am the same day. It was rough, I would do it again in a heart beat if I had the chance.

Colorado Day 1

She had no idea I was coming for a visit.

The pictures speak for themselves, I think she was happy I came to Colorado, and yes I pulled off the surprise of the day.

This was about 10 minuets after I got there.

This is me trying to pack a trail after I get roped into cutting down dead trees for Justin’s fire place,  by roped I mean I had a good time.

The path didn’t  work to well but the smile on my face gave away the good time I was having.

How can you not have fun hauling fire wood to a trailer to keep you warm at night.

Yes that is a lot of wood. Stay tuned for day two.

Trying this again

This is just a coo picture.

Lets see if I can keep up with it.

This is just  another picture to look at while I figure out how to use Windows Live Writer.

So far this is easy, next post to interwebs (yes I know it is spelt wrong) and see what happens.

The innocent looking wheel

You would think that this innocent looking wheel would be easy to rebuild, I mean it is only a 20" wheel with a coaster brake right?
Then I took it apart and found all this inside. Turns out the wheel is a 2 speed kickback hub from 1966 made for Schwinn by the company Bendix.


Finally the drive side is complete.
All these bits go in to the left side of the hub.
If I had known better this is what it would have looked like when I took it apart. I have to admit it was more fun taking the whole thing apart.

And back to the finished product.
This is by far the most fun I have had on a repair in a long time, how many times do you get to take apart a 2 speed kick back hub, I only wish I took a picture of the bike. The bike is a 1966 Schwinn Stingray it was awesome.

Fox Fork Rebuild

I decided to take some pictures of a fork rebuild I did. These are the tools needed. The hammer is my favorite.
Fork before it is taken apart.
These are the uppers with nothing in them.
The lowers are on the right, the middle is the rebound cartridge and the left is the air spring.
It takes a downhill tire lever to remove the seals.

Old seals.
New seals.
Tool for installing new seals.
What is not seen is the hammer that pounds the seal into place.
The air spring back into the uppers.
The rebound cartridge back into the uppers.
Still need the lowers before the fork will work.
mmmmmmm... oily goodness

Done, now it is time to put it back on the bike.
You need the fork so you can steer.
Now we are complete.

Oktoberfest Ride

Mornings suck, it takes a cup of coffee and a few miles before I am awake, and the thought of food 2 hours away didn't help much.

Flat tires suck.
Here we are 10 to 15 miles into the ride and you would think we were miles from town.
This is what you look like after you pull around 20 people for 50 miles at 19mph average.
Sandra our fearless leader.
Waiting for food.
The nice thing about riding to the Bass Lake Draft House is the parking is right up front. Our table was o the other side of the fence.
After some food and beer it was time for the ride home. It was a long 10 miles.