Out with the transfer sl, in with the divine sl

I really like weight of the transfer sl, and also that it has a simple mechanism that will probably keep working with minimal maintenance. However, the thin tubes made it hard to get the post properly tightened and it had a tendency to either slip down in the frame or bind up depending on clamp tightness. I think possibly the hei hei frame wasn't helping either. the upper part of the seat tube is pretty short and also just a touch oversized, so the post doesn't have a good tight fit in there, which means the clamp has to be tighter to keep it in place and creates a higher force over a smaller area. Recipe for making a lightweight post unhappy, and in fact my old regular transfer liked to stick a little when cold and I think that was also due to the frame and clamp. Additionally, the stock kona clamp is bad and has a sharp edge that broke the rigid carbon post on my cross bike. The bikeyoke squeezy and wolf tooth clamps are much better.

In addition to it's finicky nature, only 100mm of travel and only up or down doesn't really suit the hei hei. So I ordered myself one of the next lightest posts out there- the bikeyoke divine SL, in 125mm. It's not that much more, but it's the longest drop it comes in.

So yeah I have added a little weight to the bike but that post does work better and the extra 25mm of drop makes a difference. The saddle clamps are not great though, I think because the hei hei's actual seat tube is pretty slack due to the bend. The front bolt is tightened down all the way and the rear bolt jammed up against the upper clamp and I broke it. So I wrapped my rails in fabric tape and dremeled a groove in the clamp and now i can get the saddle level enough so hopefully that does it. Kind of annoying that most clamps I've experienced have to be pretty much maxed out in the nose down position just to get the saddle level.

Also I put some new tires on there- vittoria syerras, which I am liking so far. And a new hardtail showed up last week. I think the transfer sl will be a better match for that bike.

Shock revalve

 In june my shock made a loud bang and started spraying fluid out of the adjusters. Damper shaft had just snapped, apparently a common issue with these things. Not covered by warranty as that is only a year apparently.

While it was being repaired at fox I thought I'd try some different valving. The stock tune from kona is a linear curve, which means that as shaft velocity increases, so does damping force. I've felt like this was part of my issue with the bike as it felt very squishy under pedaling forces, which is low speed shaft movement. A digressive valve means there is much more low speed force and then it levels off in the higher speed range.

Every fox shock and fork has a 4 digit code on it somewhere and you can look it up on the fox website to find out the details of your suspension. Mine spits out the following:

2020, FLOAT DPS, P-S, A, 3pos, Evol LV, Kona, Hei Hei CR, 190, 45, 0.8 Spacer, LCF, LRM, CMF, TC-6265/PMS-447-C Logo

The year, model, bike it comes on, length, stroke, air volume spacer size

LCF stands for Linear Compression Firm
LRM stands for Linear Rebound Medium
CMF stands for Closed Mode Firm

So now instead of linear I have digressive valving, firm, on both rebound and compression sides. I also previously swapped the 0.8 in^2 volume spacer for a smaller 0.4 which allowed me to increase air pressure to make the shock firmer while still using most of the travel. I have been at about 215psi.

The revalve resulted in a pretty big difference. At the same shock pressure it feels like the suspension barely moves when I stand up and pedal hard, yet if anything is more comfortable over bumps and rocks and roots while descending. It also uses less travel because of the extra low speed support, which keeps it from compressing as far and blowing through travel when loading the bike or pedaling hard or even landing on jumps.

I've actually been dropping the air pressure a touch, as previously I was only sitting at about 18-19% sag which is on the low side and then still not ever using full travel. Down at 200-205 I still get a good balanced feel and pedaling support but below that it starts to feel a little too squishy again. I had my rebound pretty well figured out before but now am at about the same spot with a different curve so probably need a little further adjustment there.

In conclusion it feels really good though. I'm not really sure why it wasn't this way out of the box, but I suppose they were going for a more supple feel and progressive curve where I'm looking for more of an XC race bike pedaling feel. But on the other hand it's still pretty smooth and rides nice so yeah, seems way better. Now that this bike is lighter and pedals well I'm starting to question my new bike order. But I think a hardtail will still  be nice to have, and then I can do things like keep more aggressive tires on the hei hei and put on a dropper that goes down farther and works in the middle spots.

Another butte 100

 Did that butte race again, it was really hard the whole time.

At one of the friday night races my shock blew up and I finally got that back on Monday after playing shock musical chairs with a few of the lbs owner's bikes for a few weeks. In addition to the repair I had it revalved from linear to digressive valving, with the hopes that it would be more supportive under pedaling forces especially out of the saddle. Turns out yes. Feels great, I don't think I locked it out once yesterday, maybe on a paved road for a bit. So yeah monday I get my bike all prettied up, install the shock, pull the cranks and suspension linkages and clean everything out, new chain and chainring, go to coach nica and fucking crash. stick through the spokes at low speed sends me otb, broken shifter, bunch of new scrapes on frame, dent in helmet, torn glove, ripped up grips, wheels out of true. Cool. But generally everything is fine. apparently I can't make it through a July without crashing. I needed new grips anyway but that was a new poc ventral so I got to buy another one of those last week which was pretty annoying. Thankfully I get a good discount.

Fitness wise this has been kind of a weird seeming year for me. It feels like my riding and training has been pretty inconsistent but I've been seeing some decent results and some good strava segment times, have some good bunches of high volume weeks, some intensity although not as much or as structured as I'd like. Still mostly just riding a lot and not really "training." Went and rode my local trail climb as openers friday and set my fastest time on the hei hei without even really going for it. Also PR'd the xc course climb and a ~4min road climb somewhat recently. So I guess I'm pretty fit. I figured I could improve by a good amount since last year I had a bad crash in early july and then a mini blowup through the middle of the race. I finished 8th in like 10:50, and thought I could be a little closer to 10 hours flat and the podium.

This year to be faster at the aid stations I put drink mix in empty bottles at every one, so that I could just get it filled with water and be ready to go. Last year I had little ziplocks with it and that was kind of annoying and time consuming. I was able to just stop and be like, "please fill that bottle and this bottle thanks" cram a gel or something down my face, and keep rolling. I also skipped a few more this time. I went with tailwind so had about 150-200 calories in a bottle so I didn't have to try to eat quite as much and mostly relied on gummies and gels. I think I also took a bite of a skratch rice bar, had a honey waffle, a handful of chips, some coke, some gummy bears, and a pickle along the way. Plus electrolyte tabs and some ibuprofin.

6am starts are not my favorite. I camped at the start area but then didn't really sleep. Lying on the ground for 8ish hours is rest though right?

This race always starts out absurdly fast and once we got to the first climbing part I opted to not chase the fastest guys like last year and watched what seemed like 10 people ride away from me. No Tinker or Josh Tostado this year, and Max raced the 50 instead, but still a few pros lined up. I felt like I was going pretty good and actually got through the first 2 segments in about the same time as last year without pegging my HR (well not as high). So I was kind of surprised at how many people were in front of me, plus there were more breathing down my neck. I was going back and forth with this one guy for a bit who was climbing faster but going slower on the descents. I was never really being held up for long and he let me by once or twice but it's race of mostly trying to go your own speed so it's a little annoying to have someone around you and having to pass and get passed constantly. I caught him going into AS2, stopped for a refill and took off my vest, and then was back on his wheel like 2min later because it was downhill for awhile. So I got past, pushed a bit to stay ahead of him on the next climby bit, got on an extended descent, and was clear. Then could see the next guy in front of me and then passed him at aid station 5 by not stopping. First half is so sandy and mostly moto/atv trails so you're just kind of slogging along, have some annoyingly steep things, have to walk parts, and then trying to surf through sand at high speed on the descents. It felt extra sandy this year.

Got to start/finish/AS6 and was feeling pretty good, unlike last year, because I'd been a little more reasonable early on and had eaten and drank more. Took a minute to eat and refill and catch my breath then that guy rolled through without stopping as I was leaving and we rode together for a bit. We got to the next climb which is fairly mellow on singletrack, I'm behind him and comfortable, then he just kind of slows up and I feel good and can see the next guy so ok I guess I'll go by. Get by the next guy before the top, hit the descent, skip the next aid station, get to number 8 which is at about mile 67. Think, "huh I got here pretty quick," and trying to calculate how long the rest is going to take.

Still feeling good, clean chain, eat a little more, drink a little more, fill bottles, and now it's the shitty part where you climb up to the continental divide trail. I was there for awhile, get on the trail, see guy behind me roll through and not stop. I think, uh, that's not a good idea dude it's like 13mi and 3k feet and 2 hours to the next one. But it encourages me to keep the pace up. Start catching 50mi racers. Pass a guy walking, see a red 100 plate which means, oh, actually he's in my race. Legs start getting unhappy twinges. Get to next aid station, guy had got back on his bike and chased me and rolled in pretty much right after me so I hurry up and get out of there. It would have been nice to stick around for a bit- they had hot dogs and bacon and beers and a fun party vibe going.

This is like mile 80, and there's still a big section of climbing to do where you hit the high point of the course at about 8k feet and are on the CDT to the finish. it's fairly rocky and has various shortish climbs and decents along the way back to homestake pass. Legs are unhappy. This is hard. it's hot. I'm yelling fuck you legs, fuck you rocks, fuck you sun, have to walk up some things, but at least on the downhills I can kind of rest and go fast. Probably faster than I should given the level of fatigue but it's free time as long as you stay on your bike. A lighter hardtail would be nice on a lot of this course but on the last 20mi when you're tired and sore and the trail gets rougher the hei hei is perfect. Passing lots of 50mi racers. Looking at distance, time, avg speed, and realizing I'm really close to that 10 hour even pace. Keep it going, fly down to the last aid station, people are getting out of my way. Quick stop, one more climb before you descend to homestake and the finish. Pushing the limits of cramping, backing off, standing to use different muscles, actually breathing hard. Pass my friends Andrew and Mike doing the 50 and get out a "hi". Get to the top and it's like, oh shit this is going to be close. Like 25min to go 5mi, but mostly all downhill. Pushing the descent even harder, pedaling out of corners, out of the saddle on the slight rises. Ignoring my HR page, ignoring my legs, just watching the time get closer to 10 and the distance get closer to 100 and wondering what's going to happen first. And trying not to crash. Come out onto the pavement, sprint more, cross the line in what appears to be about 9:59:40. But got a chip time of 9:59:06 somehow. 5th overall.

https://www.strava.com/activities/7517578121/

Compared to last year my riding parts were definitely faster but not by as much as I though, especially the middle when I was feeling like shit and thought I was barely moving. Only a few minutes here and there across the board, but I suppose that still adds up over a whole day. Time difference was about half from stopping less, and half from going faster. I only had like 18 minutes stopped time compared to 45ish last year. Still felt like I was going way too slow on the climbs in the last 20mi and could barely handle HR over 145ish. So maybe there's more time in it with a few more calories and electrolytes and drink mix. Skipping aid stations meant I did not get a fresh bottle of mix at those and having some electrolyte tabs along early would have helped. REI had these saltstick fast chews which are kind of not really great, it's like a salty chewable multivitamin and I think i'd rather just have the pill format. But having two of those at all the last aid stations was definitely helpful. I also kept picking up gels and then not really eating them so I had like 5 of them stuffed back there by the end. It was also annoying that I couldn't get my standard salted watermelon shot blocks. The long sleeve format is a lot easier to eat while moving than the bags like skratch or gu, especially when you cut then in half and have two pre-opened sleeves of 3.

Winner was this guy Chris who is some sort of a pro that mostly races gravel and recently got 4th at unbound xl. 2nd was Carter, a pro mtb racer from bozeman, 3rd a guy Matt from Michigan who I don't know anything about but seems to have real sponsors and travels around racing, 4th Adam from bozeman who got 4th last year and apparently used to be a pro roadie and also does a lot of ski racing.

Fox Transfer SL review

 The last "heavy" part on my hei hei was the seatpost. The 170mm standard transfer came in at 631g when I put it on our scale. That's a lot, and it bugged me having that on an XC bike. Also, it had started acting a little finicky in cold weather so I figured something else to put in there while I send it in to be serviced wasn't a bad idea anyway.

Enter the fox transfer SL, one of the lightest dropper posts out there

Two years ago I didn't even ride with a dropper but now I'm finding it to be pretty invaluable. While it saves weight, I'm noticing some compromises with the SL version of the Transfer. The main things are that it can only be up or down, and only has 100mm of travel. For trail riding steeper and rougher terrain on the hei hei, that's kind of not enough. I'd estimate I generally dropped the old post down in the 125-150mm range, not usually all the way, but still more. The lack of intermediate positions isn't as important with the shorter travel though.

The other issue is that it has thin walls and is really sensitive to clamping pressure. With the stock kona clamp I couldn't get it to stay in place without sticking, and swapped to a bikeyoke squeezy, which is super slick and low profile and light and has a titanium bolt.

It also seems to not have the tightest fit in my seat tube, which is likely more the frame's issue although I haven't measured it, and could also be why the old post was getting finicky.

When you actuate it, you can't just be sitting on the saddle with your full weight either, as it will get hung up on whatever little latch releases the post and not drop down. You have to unweight, push lever, drop post down. Then make sure to go all the way down.

So anyway my impression is yes, lighter. A full 253g of savings, over 1/2 a pound, and the best value in g/$ I've done. But also, good for racing, not ideal for a trail bike, so I might go with something with more travel and a little heavier.

I estimate it will come in a bit under 26lbs when I go to XC tires, which is still heavier than I want for a race bike. I'm "on a list" for an orbea alma hardtail frame, and then will use my nice wheels on it and piece together the rest. I don't have my hopes up about having it for xc season though.

Adding lightness to the Hei Hei and other improvements

 Out of the box, I was a little disappointed with my new bike. It was a little heavy and sluggish and the brakes didn't work that great. A new hardtail race bike wasn't in the cards due to the availabilty of bikes, and of funds when I needed to be actually trying to order it, so the idea was to turn this into something I could actually race.

So mostly that meant replacing the heaviest parts. Firstly the cranks. Kona specced a ridiculously heavy set of cranks and chainrings, and spending about $200 for some truvativ stylo carbon cranks dropped 190g from the bike. Carbon bars, carbon cages, a few titanium bolts, and xc tires got me through the friday night season with reasonably ok results but I was still not thrilled with riding a 27.5lb bike up the race course at marshall.

I wanted nicer wheels and a lighter cassette, but most of the racing was done by the time anything I ordered actually showed up. That didn't stop me from spending money though and I had some DT Swiss carbon wheels along with an XO1 cassette and 2 piece rotors in time for the butte 100, taking a full pound off the bike. 26.5 is now not so bad for a 120mm bike (with pedals and cages).

Along the way I also did that brake upgrade, going to RSC levers and then carbon blades to keep my fingers warmer in the cold

This was well worth it, the bearings and "swinglink" actuating the MC gives them much better power and feel.

I'd say overall lighter cranks and better brakes would have been the main things this bike should have had in the first place. The fancy cassette and wheels and carbon bars are all things you don't find on a new bike until you spend twice as much.

Combined with an ever increasing rear shock pressure (I'm up to 215 from an initial 185) the bike is starting to feel a lot better on the way up. It also just got a fox transfer SL post, saving another 250ish grams which when I go back to XC tires should drop the bike to just under 26lbs (with pedals and bottle cages on it, most listed weights exclude all that). However, I've still never broken 23min on the ravine trail climb on this, while my best time on the hardtail is 21min flat.

So pretty overboard. I've probably spent as much on the upgrades as I did on the whole bike. And I still want a new hardtail. Hopefully I can get just a frame from orbea and then use these fancy wheels and piece together the rest of it before race season starts. 

Oh yeah I got a new bike - 2020 Kona Hei Hei CR review

So I wrote this like, a year ago? Didn't post it, probably because I sell konas. But did some work to the bike over the last season and was kind of bored and haven't posted in here in awhile and thought about writing about all the stuff I've done so far and found this. Still pretty accurate, but needs a followup that maybe I'll do later.

Finally, I have a modern, full suspension mountain bike. It's been a long time coming. As great as a hardtail xc bike is for around here, and for racing, I wanted something a little more appropriate for big days, rougher trails and steeper descents. 

The new Kona hei hei. 120mm front and rear suspension, 67.5 degree head tube angle, dropper post, carbon fiber, fox 34 step cast. It seemed like everything I wanted and more - still an XC bike, but more capable.

On real descents, big back country rides, and trails that aren't smooth dirt like we have around town, it's pretty fantastic. So fast, so smooth, so stable. Rocks you pick your way through and things you slow down for on a hardtail, you just float right through. It'll go faster than is appropriate for public trails and you'll feel calm and in control.  The difference between how this bike handles and feels compared to the old hardtail with a tall post and steep hta is huge, and getting back on the old bike is really strange and awkward. You have to remember how to ride it again and you're wondering how you ever managed.

Now, my gripe with this bike: Kona calls the hei hei an XC bike, but that kind of depends on your definitely of XC. If you think of XC as racing, yeah nah, it's not going to do that very well. If you consider XC as general "cross country" riding where you go long distances with good efficiency, then yeah, sure. It's that. But not the racey part. I'm sure that for a capable full suspension bike it feels light and fast, and if you're coming from an older, or longer travel full suspension, it'll seem like a rocket ship. But compared to a real XC race bike, it's heavy and slow. Almost every time I ride it, that's staring me in the face. It's minutes slower to the top of ravine trail, which I ride a lot. Trying to get on the pedals on the flatter sections and between corners, it's sluggish. The weight doesn't help (currently sits at 28.2lbs), but it feels like there's something else going on there. Even with the suspension all closed it feels like there's squish and twist and flex happening somewhere, and the bike just doesn't surge forward like you want it to.

So is that even a reasonable gripe? That my 28lb 120mm bike isn't an XC race bike? Maybe?

The other thing I'm not thrilled with are the parts. I thought, GX and guides, yeah that's what I have on the hardtail and i generally like it. Yes, it's what you'd expect on a bike in this price range, and they're not like, low end stuff, but at the same time I don't find them to be very good. The shifting, no matter how carefully I check hanger alignment, adjust the b-limit with the special tool, and fine tune indexing, just never seems to be quite right, especially making multiple shifts, and quick shifts under load like you might in an xc race. The GX 11 speed on my hardtail is way better- smoother, faster, more precise- even though you'd expect them to be about the same.

The guides also really lack power for a bike like this, something I never had an issue with on my hardtail. If anything, they were sometimes too much and I had trouble modulating the rear brake with xc tires. But those are RSCs, and apparently that swing link and bearings instead of bushings really make a difference. The hei hei's brakes are just weak. (they've been bled twice and the pads were bed in properly). I've found myself pulling the levers so hard it hurts my fingers and they just don't give the bite and braking force you want for confidence while descending.

The suspension is fine, but not fancy. The 3-position grip damper on the fork is not very useful, as I want it to be either open or closed. There's not really a good use for the middle spot that I've found although I do try it on smoother, more rolling trails. Still, it doesn't reduce bob enough while pedaling and then is just harsh over bumps. A low speed compression adjustment would be nice too, and I've already looked at what a fit 4 damper with lockout costs. The middle position on the shock, on the other hand, actually is pretty good and I use that more than fully open. I also changed the volume spacer (from 0.8 in2 to 0.4) so I could run a little higher pressure to get more support and a better balanced feel while still using most of the travel.

This bike is still pretty fun to ride though, especially when I'm on the right trails. I rode the alpine 7 trail this fall and it was the perfect bike. I never felt like it was too slow climbing and left the shocks in the middle setting pretty much all day. The other big ride was to the top of carlton ridge, down mill creek, and then up to the top of blue mountain the back way and down deadman's ridge. For stuff like that, it's perfect. I didn't make it over sheep mountain this year, but that's another spot where I'm sure this bike would shine.

On paper, it seemed like the perfect bike. In reality, I'm not in love with it. Maybe, but just maybe, if I had the fancy version with nicer parts and shocks (they were out), I would like it better. Maybe if I bought an XTR or XX1 group for it and better brakes and lighter wheels it would cut it on the climbs. IF it could pull that off it could be a do it all bike for me. But as it is, it feels like my issue isn't so much the weight as it is that the bike just isn't as efficient as I want. You notice it on flat ground, with the suspension closed, with the original light and fast tires.

Which leads me to a dilemma. What do I do when there's actual racing again? Try to upgrade it and make it light enough to get to the top of the xc course? Sell it and buy something else like the fancy xx1 version or a scalpel or scalpel se or orbea oiz/oiz tr? OR, just get a new hardtail to race and keep this as the more fun trail bike, possibly with a modest upgrade here and there?

I guess I have all winter to think about it.

In the meantime, this has been on some pretty fun rides

Friday XC races

After a lot of trainer miles and solo rides over the last year we're back to some regular racing again. Most of what I do is pretty local- the wednesday XC and CX series plus the occasional road, cx, and mtb race on a weekend somewhere.

This year the "wed xc" races are Fridays and we're doing a full day where you can do it solo, time trial style, or a mass start depending on your comfort/vaccination level. The course and timing are set up pretty much all day and then there's an actual race in the evening. This year I'm also working for Shaun/MTCX so I'm there all day helping get the course and things ready. Running all over up and down a mountain is probably not the ideal pre-race routine but on the other hand getting payed to be at a race is nice too.

Week one we did only the "show and go" format with a max starting group size of 4. I went out with Cory, Kory, and Owen and it was almost like a real bike race. It was a pretty short course, up the road to the lower part of hot sauce and right back down, so I rode my old hardtail for the extra uphill speed. It definitely doesn't handle rougher trails and the downhill like my hei hei but it sure climbs better. I wound up 7th, behind all the people I'd expect including Howard Grotts, who lives here now.

Week two was the first time I've worn full spandex on my hei hei I think. This was 2 laps of the full xc course and it's nice to have a more modern bike. I was in a good spot for about the first 5 minutes and then guys started pulling away and one more passed me. I stayed there and held off the fastest masters racers (here we do 40 plus and I'm getting close to there and we all started together). Thankfully it was only two laps because I was not having a good time. It was the first warm one and that always gets me. Like halfway up on the 2nd lap it seemed to be a little cooler and then I felt alright to the end.

The hei hei does make up decent ground coming back down. Comparing my best lap on strava I'm even for the first five minutes, and then lose 37 seconds in the next ~7 to the top of the last road climb before you get onto a kind of rolling bit of trail across the top of the course. There it's pretty even- gain a little ground going down, lose a bit on the short climb back up, then lose a bunch on the last stretch of road to the top, at this point I'm 52 seconds back on about a 20min lap. Then I come back to within 36. picking up 22s over about 3 minutes. However that is compared to my fastest lap, but not my fastest descent on the hardtail.

But maybe this will be an xc bike yet. It's close to 5lbs heavier but for the most part I was glad to be on it, and I have some lighter parts hopefully coming in the next few weeks. The guy in front of me kept riding away on the road and then I caught him at the bottom of the first lap. Then did it again on lap 2 and was almost in a sprint finish. Also, I did my fastest 2nd lap ever so that's something. Comparison says I did the 2nd half from the top, across, and down about 30s faster, and then was only significantly slower on the first part of the climb where you're basically sprinting. Kind of promising that I can put down a lap a good amount faster than I've done if I can just put it all together.

Behind Howard, Ivan finished 2nd and then his dad was 2nd in masters so we got some decent team points tonight. I was 10, after a 7th last week.