More El Mariachi pics...

If you asked me in 1992 what type of bike I'd be riding in 2007, I'd have never guessed rigid steel... but it's true. I'm riding rigid steel in 2007, 10 years after I podiumed twice a NORBA Nationals on a carpet fiber, full-suspension Trek Y-33. Ironically, I won a NORBA National the next season (1998) on a steel Bontrager RaceLite with a Voyles tuned Manitou fork... and a 150x10 degree rise Salsa Moto stem - quite a switch from the short 100mm stems we run today!

Clean welds... nice gusset and headtube reinforcement ring.

Reba's behind... I kicked her to the curb last night.

I like panels... and green bikes.

How many shops have these? Not many.

That Nevegal is a pretty big tire 'eh? You should see it in person. Also note the sweet King SS bottle cage. They're the best (well, except for King's super expensive Ti version), but they don't mark up your bottles like alloy cages do, they're light, affordable, and they're in-stock at MWC now. Get 'em while they're hot.

The more things change...

My El Mariachi has had an interesting first week as I've worked to find its 'ideal' setup. And through the process, I've been reminded of exactly why rigid bikes, especially sweet riding steel steeds, are so great. They handle with a responsiveness that no suspension bike can match.

The first, and now current setup -- rigid fork, 17 degree salsa bar, 100mm x 6 deg. rise stem

The second setup -- rigid fork, 80mm x 17 deg. rise stem, upside-down Mary bar. Looks awesome, but my back doesn't like the low position. And there was brake lever/top-tube interference that would likely have eventually ended up putting a dent in the tube.

Setup #3 -- as ridden on the MWC ride last night. Back to the 17 deg. Salsa bar and 100mm stem, but this time with my 100mm travel Reba up front. This was a revealing addition to the bike, as it showed me how much steering precision is gained with a rigid fork. Rebas aren't noodles, but the difference in steering responsiveness with the rigid fork is dramatic!

One thing is for sure -- the El Mariachi is a versatile bike. I can run this thing any way I want... single, fully geared, 1x9 (or 1x8), rigid, suspension, skinny tires, fat tires... whatever I choose, it can do.

I'm excited about the possibilities, but one thing is for certain -- I love this bike!

Why are you smiling so much lately MG???

Here's why:
Sorry for the blah inside-the-office images, but my digital camera has been outta commission for a couple days now (coming back online for tomorrow's FFL Cabin Fever Killer), so I had to borrow a camera from work to snap a couple of quick images.

This is my new Salsa El Mariachi -- my first fully-rigid 29er, and the first rigid mountain bike I've owned in more than a decade. Salsa's Website can tell you more about the technical details of the frame, but I've had the opportunity to ride it three times now, and my initial impressions are incredible. Here's some aspects that stand out:

• The Bushnell Eccentric Bottom Bracket (EBB) -- An amazing piece of engineering, the Brownell EBB makes the El Mariachi capable of running either geared or single while using vertical dropouts. I used to be somewhat fearful of EBBs, after experiencing the at times hammer-wielding experiences MW and I had back our days at Cycle Works in the mid-90s. Today, the Bushnell EBB makes it amazingly quick and easy to adjust BB position and chain tension (about 15 seconds), and it only weighs 140 grams. When compared to early versions that weighed in upwards of 400 grams, it's clear that dramatic evolution has occurred in the past 10 years. So where initially I was trepidous about the Bushnell EBB, I'm now a fan.
• True Temper OX Platinum tubing -- Jason at Salsa and I were both fans of Bontrager's fine steel frames back in the 90s. Many of you may recall I won a NORBA national -- my only national win -- on a RaceLite. Well, the tubing chosen for the El Mariachi is a direct descendent of the tubeset our favored Botragers were constructed of. You can tell too... It's got a sublime balance of stiffness and compliance that immediately felt 'just right' to me.
  
• The difference between 'compliance' and 'suspension' -- While the El Mariachi frame and fork are both amazing in their compliance, when you hit stuff hard, it's clear there's a clear distinction between a compliant riding frame and having 3-5 inches of suspension to absorb bumps. I think I'd kinda' forgotten that. I love the responsive feel of a rigid fork though, and the plates in my right arm haven't protested a bit... yet. We'll see how it takes Platte.
  
• Clearance to spare -- I'm running a 2.3 Exiwolf in the rear and a 2.2 Nevegal in the front, and both have plenty of clearance. And it sounds like we might need that clearance this weekend...
• Yep, she's a looker -- Salsa calls it Tomatilla Green -- I see guacomole, or perhaps a margarita... Hmmm, now I'm thirsty. But whatever you call it, you can't call it ugly.
  

My new El Mariachi will accompany me to the FFL CFK tomorrow, so if you're there, don't hesitate to holler at me and check it out. But whatever you do this weekend, have fun and be safe.

Cheers,
MG

Monday Sunny Monday...

It looks like we're finally pulling into a little more spring-like weather pattern this week, and between you and me, I'm awfully thankful for it. The nasty cold weather had lost its luster with me long ago, so the weather these past couple of days has been especially enjoyable.

Bye bye snow... I hope this Monday for great for you too.

Cheers,
MG

Monster Dos...

Somehow this setup just looks bad ass... I like how the stem and the top tube are pretty much parallel. Good stuff.

Here's what a freshly cleaned and lubed Maverick SC32 looks like:

"So MG, what'd you do tonight?" Here it is. A freshly lubed fork. Special...

To those headed to Frostbike in MN Friday, travel safely and have fun.

It's almost the weekend. Make it a good one, whatever you do.

Cheers,
MG

Black (toe) Monday...

I hope you all had a great weekend (all four of you that read my blog...;-).

It was ummm... interesting for me. While working on my bike Saturday night (after a very fun ride through the park with MW, -jb and butchie), I was switching some tires around in prep. for my new El Mariachi's upcoming arrival. With no tire on the Dos' rear wheel, I dropped it on my foot. It hit rim-down on my big toe -- one wall right at the base of the nail, and one wall in-between the two knuckles. It hit the toenail side the hardest, and now said toenail is completely black. It's coming off, I'm pretty sure.

But talk about painful... You should see me right now. I'm hobbling around very slowly, and if I don't have to stand up another time this afternoon, that'll be just fine with me.

... I know there's a lesson in this somewhere, but it's already turning out to be a painful one to learn!

Have a great week!
MG

Wanna be a better technical rider?

No, it doesn't look like this at Wilderness Park today...

...Ride Wilderness Park right now. It's a big sheet of ice, but it's super fun. MW, Butchie and I hit it last night. It's fun. I think I'm going to hit it again today...

Happy Friday!
MG

My first podcast...

Czech it out.

It's Thursday. One more day 'til the weekend. And it looks like there's a good chance we'll be getting more snow. Will it be skis or fat tires??? Hmmm... Right now, the fatties are winning out. But by Sunday morning? It's anybody's guess.

I don't know about you, but I could sure handle a heaping helping of springtime weather... even just a little bit would be good!

Have a great day,
MG

If it aint moto, it's worthless... Hooking up with Salsa Cycles.

I'm excited to tell you all that I've just formalized a relationship with Salsa Cycles that will have me riding and racing their bicycles in 2007 and beyond. As many of you know, I've been on my current Salsa Dos Niner for about a year now, and it's been an awesome bike for me. I also had the 2005 version of the frame. It was my introduction to the world of 29ers, in fact.

What makes me so happy about this new situation is that I'm now able to represent a company that I was already a satisfied paying customer of. I chose Salsa because I believe in their products, and now they've chosen to work with me for the very same reason. It's the perfect relationship.

My Dos Niner will soon be joined by one of Salsa's new steel El Mariachi framesets, which I'll build up into my singlespeed, at least initially. And since the company also manufactures an incredible assortment of parts, I'll also be running a variety of Salsa components on my bikes in 2007. Stems, rims, bars, grips, chainrings, QR skewers... they make just about everything but the drivetrain, and it's all top quality stuff. "If it aint moto, it's worthless," they like to say.

I'll still be flying the Team MWC colors at races in the midwest in 2007. It's possible I may jump into a Salsa team jersey for some races, but Nate and Eric at Monkey Wrench will always be my local bike shop. And when I'm in Colorado, Dave at Redstone Cyclery is the shop du jour.

Yes, I'll still be getting my Intense Spider-29, whenever Intense decides to build it. Nothing's changed there. I still want a full-suspension 29er, Salsa doesn't currently manufacture one, and they're cool with me getting the Intense, so it's all good.

Check out Salsa's fine rides for yourself at http://www.salsacycles.com. Or, Download the complete Salsa Cycles 2007 catalog -- in Adobe PDF format.