Where are the aggressive 36c CX tires?

I'm going to posit that 33c CX tires are not the optimal tire for CX. It's too low volume. Also that because of this, an entirely new wheel/tire was invented: tubular. However I'm not going to elaborate too much on the stupidity of tubular, except that you are gluing a tire to a wheel, so think about that. Obviously if you get a flat you are SOL, so not suitable for anything except maybe racing CX. And also WTF, you're gluing a tire to a wheel. What's the shelf life on the glue bond before the tire rolls off and you land in a ditch. What the tubular allows you to do is run lower pressure than a clincher would allow before burping, and presumably tubular rims, with a flatish profile can take more rock hits than a clincher, cause you are going to make contact with low pressure.

A 33c tire doesn't have much volume, unlike a mtb tire, but you want to run them low because the bumpy grassy will murder your body and slow your pace. But the only riders that are required to run 33c are UCI pros, so the remaining 99.1% of us are stuck with poor choices: tubulars or riding a tire that is really not optimal for CX. The non stupid solution would be to run a larger volume tire, something like 36c-40c, that can be run lower pressure w/o destroying you wheel when you hit a small rock, or sidewalk curb lip. The problem is these tires don't seem to exist that are both aggressive tread (like clement pdx) and tubeless, in 35c-40c size range. Most tires in this size are labeled "gravel".

Here's what I was able to find, none of which seem like great options:

Maxxis Rambler EXO TR Tire is available in 38c and 40c but it's not very aggressive. At 385g (claimed 38c) this is the best I've found so far.

Clement MSO 36c - not very aggressive tread. Similar to the Rambler tread. Weight not listed

WTB Riddler 37c - similar to the MSO and Rambler but with more side lug. 465g

Continental Cyclo X King Cyclocross is available in a 35c and is aggressive but not tubeless, so immediate disqualification. Seriously, who run tubes any more in anything but road?

WTB CROSS BOSS comes close in a 35c, somewhat aggressive and tubeless but the reviews hint at quality issues (problems sealing and out of round). 400g (claimed)

MAXXIS RAVAGER EXO/TR 40C IS AGGRESSIVE BUT KIND OF HEFTY AT CLOSE TO 500G

VITTORIA TERRENO MIX G PLUS TIRE IN 40C, SIMILAR TO RAVAGER

Add Grip to Your Gloves

Pro Tip: put a smear of silicone adhesive on your riding gloves if they are slipping. Also good for arm warmers that slip or even bibs that don't have a silicone

Gravel Bike Search

tldr I gave up on fenders and bought a Pivot Vault

There's lots of dirt roads in the front range I'd like to ride, yet nearly all the high-end bikes on the market that would be most appropriate for this type of riding were optimized for going around in circles on grass/sand, i.e. the cyclocross phenomena.
Here's what I wanted in a "gravel" bike:

• carbon frame

• supports 38c tire or greater

• fender mounts

• lower bottom bracket (ie not cyclocross specific)

• 50/34 cranks

• tubeless wheelset (supports > 45psi??)

• Under 20lbs

• Hydraulic brakes (Preferably Ultegra build)

• No more than $4K USD

• Internal cable routing

Here are the bikes that more or less matched the above:

• Salsa Warbird

• Jamis Renegade Elite

• Norco Search

• Felt VR (questionable tire clearance)

• Raleigh Roker

• Litespeed T3 (not carbon, omg expensive)

Maybe I'm a snob but I'm going to rule out most of them (Raleigh, Jamis, Norco, and not thrilled about Felt). I don't see a lot of these bikes around; actually almost never. Some were ruled out based on the basis of no fenders, Scott Addict Gravel, and some not being carbon, Niner RLT. And BTW, I really wanted to buy a Niner again, but they can't be serious with an Aluminum frame at the carbon bike price point.
So, I ended up with a Pivot Vault. Yeah, it doesn't have fenders but I was able to get last year's model on sale, while customizing the build, and it ended up costing $1000 less than a Salsa Warbird Ultegra, and w/o a gross red/orange frame.Pivot labels the bike as a great all-arounder. It has a lower BB and shorter wheelbase, but not cyclocross specific. The tire clearance could have been better, only rated at 38c for 2016, but it has all the fundamentals in place.

Things that happen when you install a directional chain the wrong way

In a rush to assemble my new Yeti ASRc I installed the XT chain in the wrong direction. On the first ride I dropped the chain twice, once on BB side and also off the big ring. Another weird thing happened. When I was riding, not even touching the front shifter, it shifted onto the big ring. The big clue is one side of the chain has "shimano" printed on the links, and that should face outwards. Overall I think I did a good job on the build. It always takes longer than expected and I rarely look at manuals anymore except for torque settings.

Fork Steerer Cutting Anxiety

tl;dr Cut it a tiny bit longer and file it down to the correct length. Cover your fork with an old bed sheet to keep metal shavings off the stanchions. Make sure you're not going to cut into the star nut! Steerer should be 3mm below stem for top cap clearance. Measure top cap clearance after stem is tightened.

I read several posts on mtbr of folks using pipe cutters. They seem to work fine but roll the edge a bit. I was going to try this but my pipe cutter is for copper 1/2" and was too small. So hacksaw it is. First I drew a circle around the steerer at the top of the stem with a sharp pencil. Then I removed the stem and measured 3mm down for top cap clearance.

Next I wrapped a piece of painters tape at the top of the line. The hacksaw blade I had cuts a little over 1mm in width (kerf), so positioned it accordingly. The cut wasn't perfect but it veered out rather than in so that's fine. Next I filed it down so it'd be even with the tape. I recommend wearing gloves when filing since it can get really sharp and you need your fingers to ride your bike. Now I tapped the star nut down to the correct position.

This filing created a huge mess of metal shavings which stuck to my fork, so I spent the next 5-10 minutes cleaning shavings off. I put the stem back and tightened down on the top cap but nope it was still too tall (the compression washer in the stem moves about a 1mm as it is tightened). So back to the filing. This time I wrapped the fork with a cover. Now I could get the headset tight. It did loosen slightly on the first ride which is typical.

Top of stem marked

Measured 3mm down from top and taped

Final length

Lastly, after you preload the headset and tighen the stem, remove the top cap and measure again. The preload compresses the washer and brings the stem down a bit, such that it may be less than 3mm now and bottoming out. If it is, file it down some more

RockShox SID XX Service + Travel Change

I have my fork serviced once a year and this time I thought I'd be super smart and do it myself, saving $150. Well almost, I had to make an initial investment in some tools (crow foot wrench, snap ring pliers, etc). The oil + sram butter alone is about $38 but should last three or more services. The seal kit is $17 but one came with my fork, yay sram! Amortizing the services comes to around $30. And less if you just put in fresh fluids. 

I also need to change the travel from 100mm to 120mm for my Yeti. It seems most RockShox forks can support a travel change. I called RockShox to verify. I only had to get a new airshaft (about $25). 

After a year of riding the only thing that was dirty was the foam seals (under dust wipers). All the o-rings look 100% good. I imagine I could go two years on the seals and once a year just clean everything. The foam seals are the one thing I'd want to replace though.

In general, the sram manual is really good but here are a few snags I hit:

• The service manual states -- All o-rings should be greased but they only say this at beginning of manual -- yet they call out greasing specifically in other sections. So, I didn't grease all the o-rings, dang! But I think I should be okay since they are saturated in oil. I did grease the dust wipers (critical) and the air shaft.
• The say to use a dowel to clean the tubes but don't say what size, so real helpful there. I wrapped a cloth around a air compressor hose and it worked perfectly to clean inside of fork lowers and stanchions
• I should have printed the service manual. Instead I ended up with grease on my notebook
• The red rebound adjuster just pulls straight out the bottom, wut?? How does this stay put?
• Air shaft side required harder blows to free shaft
• Dust wipers were *hell* to remove. Super tight in there. With tire levers they were not budging. Had to ever so carefully work loose from outside with razor blade. This time I greased the seal sockets even though it didn’t call for that
• Measured oil depth to top of fork crown. 106ml was right on 72mm
• A 24mm socket would have been easier for air side but used a crow foot wrench
• The amazon snap-ring pliers deform when squeezed don’t work so well (cheap!)
• For the air shaft I installed the 2 seals inner and outer on air shaft plastic disc. Kit didn’t include other seals.
• Put some air in the air valve to push air shaft out a bit before putting the lowers back if you can't screw in bottom bolts!
• Getting the dust wipers in place was tricky, even with some grease. Can see that tool being worth it.

Before travel change measurement showing 100mm of travel

Legs off

Cloth wrapper around compressor hose to clean insides

120mm air shaft

X-loc (XX) fork requires a crow foot wrench to torque properly

In summary, RockShox forks, at least the SID/Reba, are relatively easy to service. The documentation is excellent and doesn't require any proprietary, impossible to get tools. Take your time, follow the service manual and along with saving some cash, you'll keep your fork running smoothly.

Changing Fork Travel and Tribal Knowledge

It's pretty awesome that Rockshox forks (some) can have the travel adjusted. This will be saving me gobs of money as I go from a frame that requires 100mm to 120mm of fork travel. All you need supposedly is a longer air shaft, and it's only about $25! The stanchions are already long enough, how cool! The tribal knowledge aspect of this adventure is I can't find any documentation that describes how to convert and what parts you need so I called rockshox. The rockshox guy was super helpful; he took my serial number and gave me the part number to go to 120mm travel on a solo air SID XX fork 2015 (also for reba too): 11.4018.021.000

RockShox documentation lists the air shaft sizes for wheel/travel sizes. Part numbers would have been nice here

But almost no retailer lists the part number. The first airshaft I bought was listed incorrectly and was for a 26" fork, ugh. Universal cycles does list the part number: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=67483&category=701

Now I'm waiting for this airshaft to arrive and I'll report back on the conversion.

Here's the photo of the 26" airshaft. There is no marking on the shaft but it's it's 7 1/4" long, then it's a 26", not 29". Notice the part # ends in 005, not 000, but who could be bothered putting that anywhere in the website description!

Here's the correct (I hope) air shaft

Yup, I measured and it's just a hair over 8 5/8" so matches up with 222mm in chart.