Took a look at the bike fleet the other week. And yes, it is a fleet. Im the first to admit that I have got too many bikes.
The other thing, was I went for a ride on a GT Force at a demo day last month, and really got the impression that here was a bike that could rekindle my recently waning motivation to hit the trails. But how could I do it?
That was when it came to me, I would take the 2 bikes that I dont ride hardly ever, my Jeffson Singlespeed, and my Scott Hardtail. Break them down, do a bit of a switcheroony with various components off Heidi's bike, keep some bits, and sell a whole bunch of other bits. That would allow me to buy a brand new frame, (thanks to a killer deal through my friend Victor who owns Hedgehog bikes), buy another set of wheels, and get some long travel forks to suit the new frame.
Lots of wheeling and dealing going on in the background still. Got some tasty wheels coming too for Heidis bike, with custom Fisher Carbon fibre hubs, and have narrowed down the fork selection to either the new 2009 Revelation, or the 2009 Marzocchi 44 ATA, both will necessitate a change to a through axle at the front, which I have been convinced is well worth it.
Sneaky early build shot to whet the appetite....
Well the whirlwind week has all wound up.
We kept the car straight and finished every stage, picking up 1st in Category, and 14th overall.
The car had 1 or 2 minor problems, a couple of things we can improve on for next year, but on the whole was a really sweet little package right out of the box. I had a major step-up in the co-drivers seat, the driver has had a heap of co-driving experience himself, and it took most of the first day to get things sorted between us. I had no idea just how much a co-driver could do to help the whole shebang go a bit quicker.
We had a few moments of less-than-glory, a couple of incorrect calls, and werent quite the quickest in our class, but thanks to the crew doing a superb job on all the pitstops and overnight services, we stayed ahead of the problems and ran a well-oiled operation.
