Competition snowbikes built for speed: two different approaches.
I've been reading the Salsa Cycles Blog lately. One of the employees of Salsa Cycles, blogs by the name of "Salsa Kid", is entered in the Arrowhead Ultra 135. I'm not positive what his real name is. He has been writing dairies this fall of his build of a Surly Pugsley for the race. I've been documenting my own preparation of a Pugsley here. According to race rules there is a minimum of 15 lbs of survival equipment you have to carry at all times in the race. Since the Pugsley has an offset frame that allows the drivetrain to clear the monster 4" wide tires, it creates a problem when trying to find racks that could be used to carry the equipment. I had read that John Evingson, a custom builder of snowbikes, last year modified several Pugsley's for the Arrowhead with his custom fork and racks. I emailed him this past summer to ask him about this to see if I could do the same. He answered me back. He said he was too busy moving from Minnesota to Alaska to answer me. That's the last I heard from him. I decided it would be best to jump to Plan B. At the time I had no Plan B. Well today, Salsa Kid posted a picture of what John Evingson can do.
The custom fork fits a standard front hub vs the rear hub spacing on the Pugsley fork. Then he has integrated light weight racks front and rear to carry the gear. A very nice system! Salsa Kid has also added a frame bag for carrying smaller items like snacks etc. I thought about this, but decided I will skip it. If you look close, Salsa Kid took a drilll to his Large Marge rims to shave off 40 grams per rim.
Above is my rack system made with two Old Man Mountain Sherpa REAR racks mounted front and rear. Although my system is not as slick or lightweight, it will get the job done. I wanted to go with two racks so that I would have options and choices for securing my equipment. I've seen pictures of snowbikes with equipment lashed and tied to the frame, seatpost and handlebars. That can be lighter, but also turn into a nightmare if the items don't ride nice and start to move around.The goal for this years Arrowhead is to go out there, have fun, and finish with all my toes intact. If I need to carry a few extra items or food/water to accomplish that, then I'll have the carrying system to do it.
Tuesday: 20 mi
January: 49 mi
2007 total: 49 mi
posted by Doug @ 8:12 PM
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7 Comments:
I may be wrong, but it looks like you both are using Ergons. What do you think of them after using them a bit?
I'm still have not decided how I feel about the Ergons yet. It seems to support a part of my hand that has never been supported before. Namely my palm. Putting pressure on a part of my hand that has never had pressure on it in this way causes some numbness in that area. My left palm had some pretty serious tingling going on in it on Saturdays ride. I need more miles with these grips before I can say for sure if I like them. Perhaps I need to tweak the angle a bit too.
a friend of mine(endurosnob) had the ergons and ended up taking them off. He did an endurance ride with them and his hands were, well, injured, they hurt him for a really long time after, and were numb, then later I read an article that many people do not put them on like they thought they would at the ergon factory, If I can find the pictures I will post the link for you, maybe playing around with their orientation will help you decide if you like them. but mostly the idea of the article and the pictures, sorry I cannot find these for you, was that the shwoopy curvy part of the grip is sort of at an angle where the most close to you part of the grip is above the bar, I am really sorry it is hard to describe. and the picture that was with the article, from a down view hovering above the handlebars, you could not tell it was an ergon, so if you were holding the handlebar with them in this position your wrist would not be bent, it would be in a straight position. Ok I am done now. hopefully you have a picture in you mind now? oh well, good luck with those.
a friend of mine(endurosnob) had the ergons and ended up taking them off. He did an endurance ride with them and his hands were, well, injured, they hurt him for a really long time after, and were numb, then later I read an article that many people do not put them on like they thought they would at the ergon factory, If I can find the pictures I will post the link for you, maybe playing around with their orientation will help you decide if you like them. but mostly the idea of the article and the pictures, sorry I cannot find these for you, was that the shwoopy curvy part of the grip is sort of at an angle where the most close to you part of the grip is above the bar, I am really sorry it is hard to describe. and the picture that was with the article, from a down view hovering above the handlebars, you could not tell it was an ergon, so if you were holding the handlebar with them in this position your wrist would not be bent, it would be in a straight position. Ok I am done now. hopefully you have a picture in you mind now? oh well, good luck with those.
Those grips look a little suspect to me, and they have the most ecologically poor packaging I've seen in years.
For me, the key is to make sure the pressure is focused mainly on the pad at the base of my thumb. I did a long trip a couple of years ago and ended up with a little finger that was numb for months. A little research showed that the ulnar (ulna?) nerve runs over the bones on the palm on the side opposite from your thumb. Put too much weight there and you get pain and/or numbness in the little finger and area. This can also be caused by inflammation in the elbow as the same nerve comes close to the surface there.
I've switched to moustache bars on the fixy and Nitto Dove bars on my tourer and haven't had a problem since. Holding bars that point towards you puts all the weight on the thumb side, eliminating the problem.
I have 'Stache bars on the LHT. I like them for my commute (6-25m), but really wouldn't like them for above 25m. My hands and wrists get all goofy after that. The only bike I've never had hand probs on is the Rans Rocket 'bent, which may be the worst possible bike ever for your efforts on the AH135 (or whaev the title is). I've used other simple bar-ends like Profiles and not had any probs back in my mtbiking days.
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