I’ve been doing some thinking since my “Stuff for sale” post last week. We got the bill from the electricians who were camped at our place for a full day last Monday and am beginning to think that a new bike, no matter how cheap, isn’t in my near future. With that thought in mind, I went out for a cross type ride yesterday on the Van Dessel to see what the potential is to use it for a cross race or two this year (if I decide to do any that is) and I think the potential is high. I’ll definitely need to put some better brakes on. Right now it has some really old and cheesy cantis from my brothers first mountain bike that only just barely work. I have a set of avid single digits in my parts box at home that might do the trick to give me a bit more stopping power. I’m not sure how they’ll work with road brake levers but they can’t be any worse than the cantis that are on there now so I’ll probably give them a try. Secondly, I’ll probably pick up a set of uber cheap cross bars so that it’ll look like a respectable cross rig. Even if I never use the drops, I should at least look like I do right? Eventually, I’d like to build some better wheels for it as well but the current set-up works fine for now.
The bike is fun to ride so I’m actually excited to make these changes to breath some new life into the steed. My next xc race is actually a short track in two weeks so I may actually spend a bit of time on the Van D. doing some cross style training and getting it dialed in.
3 comments:
Problem Solvers makes a booster to use with Vs on road bars. I used it on my old cross rig. Workd for a while pretty good. I'd just used the cantis if I were you. Who needs to stop???
Why must real life get in the way of our cycling pleasure??
Later.
these particular cantis are scary bad. new ones would probably work fine but I'm looking for a way to get out of spending any money. we'll see what happens I guess. I tend to change my mind a lot!
Yea man. It's been the ultimate summer for me. But it's payback for taking 5 years off the bike to "help" raise the kids. Still, I have the coolest wife I know. I'll never grow up.
I highly recommend you just get that VD fit to ride and try a 'cross race. Drops don't matter, and no one will be cheesing on you unless you beat everybody. However, be warned, if you enjoy the racing, a new 'cross bike will definitely be on your horizon, electricians be damned!
I take it you skipped the Rangeley race.
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