Getting ready for 'cross season

Alrighty! Time to bust out those fat knobby tires for training. Pilarcitos Bay Area Super Prestige Series is coming up soon and the first race is going to be at Candlestick Park on October 23. Hopefully we get more rain this season to make those racers suffer through a muddy course just like last year’s final race of the series at Cayote Point.

Soma Doublecross getting a facial and a mani-pedi

Since ‘cross season is about to start, our friends from IRD sent us some of their barrel adjusters to work with their Cafam brakes. Kevin, one of our employees, thought it was a good idea to get rid of the painful microadjustments for cantilevers by using these barrel adjusters.

Everyone, to some degree, finds adjusting cantilever brakes a pain in the butt since most of these brakes don’t have barrel adjusters like their dual caliper cousins. IRD originally made these barrel adjusters to work with old derailleurs and new Shimano derailleurs without one but it seems to work fine with brakes.

Before:

Lonely cable stop

After:

Ta-da! IRD Barrel Adjusters

New fatty tires for training at the local singletrack, Waterdog Lake at Belmont.

IRD Barrel adjusters with IRD extended cable stop.

Instead of getting an Allen wrench to tighten the brakes, reaching for the barrel adjusters is a whole lot easier. Removing the wheels is a breeze. No more undoing the brakes just to get the wheels out.

For those wondering which fatty tire is on the bike, its an IRC Mythos CX Slick 700x40. The sizing is a lie, the actual measurement is 700x45, counting the side knobs. The Double Cross can handle any tire up to 700x45.

Now Kevin's Double Cross is ready for action. With cantilever pain gone and new tires, this cross bike can handle anything. The mountain lions at Waterdog Lake can try their luck chasing this bike at night.