Burn Baby Burn!
 

Middleburn that is! Finally got my new Middleburn RS7 Duo cranks mounted up with a new UN73 bb, attached is the result. What I learned... when Middleburn says 113mm spindle, they mean it. I tried them with a 110 for a lower Q and tighter chainline but the driveside would butt up against the shell of the bb. Can't wait to try them out, I'll do a maiden voyage on the road soon (trails won't be ready for another couple of weeks here) and report back.

Also new for 2007 are a XTR 952 short cage rear mech, a Dura Ace/XTR chain and the FAT 2.25 Racing Ralphs. On the workstand the XTR shifts mind blowingly fast (paired with XTR950 8 speed cluster and 740 shifters). Don't care for the looks of the fat tires compared to my skinny NBX 2.0 Lites that I used to race on almost exclusively but I want to see if the "fatter is faster" mantra turns out to be true.

Cheers,
Kris

PS - I'm hoping this is the build that enables me to reach the top podium in the Master 30+ Expert category this year! :beer:

Good luck on your upcoming, gut busting, lung burning race season! Just remember to breathe in between vomits so you don't aspirate and choke and lose time, hehe.

Looks good, sir!:D

why did you go with those cranks?

Wow, now that is sexy!!! Hope you have better luck with the SID than I did. What size chainrings are you using?

That is a nice purposeful race bike, good to hear you have some new parts to make it that much better.

Nice looking cranks!

nice lookin cranks kris.

Any news on trail maintenance for douglus park?

I got two words for you: Proprietary = teh hawtnezz!

Wanted to go back to square taper after a couple seasons on HTII. Wasn't happy with the Q factor and bearing drag on the HTII. Also wanted to do two ring, and there aren't a lot of options on 4 bolt, only Extralite 30t which I've heard mixed things on and costs big bucks. I also thought they would look good, which they do IMO.

I raced on the SID all last year and was happy with it. Prior to that I was on a Marzocchi MX Pro ETA. Definately noticed that the SID didn't steer quite as well, and isn't nearly as plush, and not very confidence inspiring on rough downhills. However, it's a good race fork for me, our trails aren't that rough and I tend to pick the smooth lines. I also don't find that it bobs much when set up with the "Race" pressures. It's very nice on the climbs, which is my strong point, very easy to keep the front end down when it's so light. My peak season race weight is a hair over 140lbs, so I can get away with the "noodle"! :D

Chainrings are 29-42, they shift SUPER fast, way faster than any of the Shimano, Raceface or Truvativ rings I've owned. My low gear will be 29-32 which I'm sure will be low enough for any of the climbs on the races I've done, I highly suspect it will suck for the few endurance races I do though!

Thanks. I've ridden a few of the trails when they are frozen in the mornings. Some water runoff damage that needs to be fixed. I might see about adding some trails as well in the next few weeks. We'll send out an email if we are going to do some shovel work. :)

yeah, at the end of last year douglus park was really getting rutted up. Buffalo pound should be good to go in a few weeks i would imagine, i wish it was the same for Wascana trails though, damm clay!