On the trail to Baulmes on October 30, 2016.
On the trail to Baulmes on October 30, 2016.

blog post (47)

Patrick

Updating Brakes

44 Marauder with new Hope XCR E4 brakes.

I owned a lovely set of red Formula R1 brakes since 2010. They went onto my singlespeed Niner Air9 Carbon, moved to my black 44 Kid Dangerous in 2013, and then to my 44 Marauder in 2017; fourteen years of service and still working perfectly. It was time to treat the Marauder to a new set of brakes. I was just waiting for a worthy replacement to appear on the market. This happened recently with Hope’s release of the XCR brakes in anodized colors and the option of two, or four-piston calipers. Hope is essentially the only manufacturer that still offers disc brakes in a variety of colors. The XCR with E4 calipers were the brakes I was waiting for.

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Patrick

Another Round Of Changes

SRAM XPLR Rival, Force and Red AXS derailleurs

Just about when the pandemic started, our two cats were diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. The disease was already advanced in one of the two girls. She lived longer than the vets had given her but passed away two years ago. Her sister, now 19 years old, is hanging in there. She is only still around because we are doing everything to give her the best quality of life for the time she still wants to soldier on. Care-taking, whether it is for an elderly parent, a disabled child, or in our case, aging cats with a progressing chronic disease, requires a big part of one’s time. My riding has dropped from a peak of 8’700 km in 2018 to 3’000 km last year. Because of that, a couple of my bikes have not put on more miles. Since I had to be at home a lot for caretaking, I had time to take care of my dormant bike fleet. I replaced and updated components, instead of riding and replacing my bikes as I normally would.

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Patrick

 Dream Bike Or One That Does The Job

The top of the Romontberg.

When I first got into cycling in the mid-80s, entry-, mid-level, and high-end bikes were not tremendously far apart. Mountain bikes had no suspension, and frames were made from steel or aluminum. Groupsets were the primary difference between bikes. An entry-level bike had Shimano LX, a mid-level bike was equipped with DX, and a top-of-the-line bike came with XT. I started on an entry-level bike, moved to a mid-level Specialized Stumpjumper, and soon rode a World-Cup-level Muddy Fox with a full Shimano XT groupset. Even seat posts were part of such groupsets back then. XT came with a nice black steel seat post. You read that right: a seat post made out of steel. A few years later, I spent a small fortune owning a Merlin Titanium with XTR derailleurs and many boutique components. For much of my cycling career, I bought or built nice bikes that cost a lot. They were never outrageously expensive, but more than I needed.

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Patrick

My Minimalist Home Bike Workshop

My minimalist home bike workshop.

Learning how to do bike maintenance is a great way to save time and money. I have been maintaining and building my bikes for about 35 years and have always done so with very little equipment. If you are relatively new to cycling and would like to work on your bike, a Google image search for "home bike workshop" will likely scare you away from getting started. Many of the garage or basement shop setups that people share online are sometimes more spacious and better equipped than your local bike store. You don’t need that.

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Patrick

Far East Shopping

Autumn purchases on AliExpress.

When it comes to cycling clothing, it should be stylish, comfortable, and practical, all while being reasonably priced. The brand is not important as long as it meets these standards. I don't have a loyal attachment to any particular brand, but if they consistently deliver, they may earn my repeat business. For years, I relied on DHB, which is sold by Wiggle, for my cycling apparel after returning to Switzerland from Northern California.

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