Evolution Of My Yeti ASR

My bike (Yeti ASR) has been in constant flux. I started off with a K2 Apache, purchased from REI in 2007, when I didn't know any better. The rear suspension was awful, barely functional and absolutely no low speed compression. The  shock would only engage on big impacts and then the rebound was inept. Of course I didn't know this until I demoed a 575 in Moab and realized how poor my bike performed. So, I began upgrading part by part, starting with the main offenders first. I purchased a Yeti ASR frame '09 and put all the K2 DNA on it. This was a huge improvement: a rear suspension that worked! 

Next up was the front fork, a Manitou R7, which was actually decent. The only issue was no low speed compression and no lockout. I found a black Fox RLC on ebay. These forks are damn expensive new (~800) but can be found used for around 250-350 used, depending on condition. The other fork I had considered was a Rock Shox Reba XX (dual air). The Fox is really nice and lives up to my expectations: nice and buttery with lots of adjust-ability. When buying used always ask when the fork was serviced because the service price can half or more of the purchase price ($140 for full rebuild). 

The Hayes So1e that came with the K2 was not a good brake by any measure. The major design flaw is they only compress on one side (one piston), which limits how well they can perform. After some, but not enough, research, I settled on Avid Elixir CR (this corresponds to roughly the X9 line). The Avids started off good but then became problematic, which I'll tackle in another post. 

I really didn't see anything terribly wrong with my cranks but I suspected they may be responsible for a bad creaking noise that I was having trouble pinpointing. Additionally the rings had some missing teeth and with about 2000 miles, were at the point to consider replacement. I found a XT crankset for a great deal at $172 with an XTR bottom bracket, new! Much to my disappointment, the cranks did not quell the creaking, but still a welcome upgrade. Later it was discovered that the creaking was originating from the derailleur hanger. A couple dabs of anti-seize/grease fixed the issue. The crankset was a 10 speed triple instead of 9 speed. It basically works but there are two issues: 1. the spacing is slightly different so a 9 speed front derailleur. will result in some chain rub in some gears, and 2. The big ring is 42T, not 44T so you'll need to lower your front derailleur.

At this point I had accumulated quite a few bike parts and realized with a wheelset, bars/stem (cheap) and a couple other items I could reassemble the K2 (AKA humpty dumpty) and sell it to recoup some investment and buy an around-town bike. I found a nice DT Swiss XR400 with XT Hubs on ebay for $150 shipped. XT Hubs don't live up to the quality of other components in the line (e.g. cranks/brakes), but they are decent. I really wanted a star rachet DT Swiss hub of the X1600 variety, but those can get outrageously expensive (a DT 420S hub is around $400, just for a single hub). I also was looking for a used Mavic CrossMax (very strong and light) but no such luck. 

I was riding the K2 egg beaters (OEM cheap) on the Yeti and didn't see a reason to upgrade since MTB pedals get beat to hell. Then, about a mile into a ride the spring broke. I bought some Candy 3s to replace them.

I was planning on keeping the X9 rear derailleur to be the one and only K2 part to stay on the Yeti but while shopping for a replacement for the K2 I came upon an excellent deal on a lightly used XO for $60. The XO has sealed pulley/jockey bearings, leading to crisper shifting, a carbon cage and titanium spring. These go new for $140 and up.

Recently I picked up a pair of used X9 shifters so I can put the X7 shifters on the K2. I couldn't discern any difference between the new and old shifters. The last items I picked up are a used monkey lite sl 90 carbon handlebar (low rise) and a Ritchey WCS 4-axis stem. You can only get so excited about a stem but I love the bars. Aside from being amazingly light, the bars dampen a lot of high frequency vibration that the bypasses the suspension and this is the greatest attribute of a carbon bar, IMO. The bars also looks awesome.

Now the bike is much more like a real Yeti, containing no parts from the original K2 and everything is X9/XT/XO. Other parts I replaced along the way include: SRAM 990 Cassette (alloy carrier), chain, seat post (EA70) and seat (WTB Pure V). I've learned that putting a bike together is generally more expensive than purchasing used. This is because you end up spending a lot of shipping and there is no economy of scale, as there is when buying everything at once. The upside is you choose exactly what you want for the bike. If you are patient you can find deals and if you live near a ebay bike parts reseller, you can save huge on shipping. Although I wouldn't choose this path if I had to do it again, I did learn quite a bit about bike maintenance. Armed with a few tools you can do most all your bike maintenance yourself and save lots. The only work I didn't do are things that require specialty tools or skill, e.g. setting the crown race on fork, cutting the fork, bleeding brakes, truing wheels and things of that nature.

Thule XAdapt9

I bought the Thule rapid aero bars (aluminum) since they looked sleeker and stronger than the plain old steel square bars. Then, when purchasing the the Echelon (518) bike rack I learned an adapter is necessary for to mount to aero bars. Ok fine, but one look at this adapter and I have to wonder if my two year old designed it. I'm no roof rack engineer but it's really not a stretch of the imagination to conjure up a bracket design that involves a plate over the underside of the aero bar and bolts to the t-slot. But instead they came up with a crude steel plate which locks onto the bike rack slot and the aero bar slot. Then there's a clumsy cam lever which secures the plate to the aero bar. It seems that Thule has redesigned the adapter since I purchased mine, using the aforementioned obvious design. In hindsight I would have ditched the entire system in favor of a Yakima except that the factory mount points for my car only work with Thule, frown face.

Total Shit Design:



Somewhat better than Total Shit Design

ODI Rogue

I recently got some ODI rogue grips after seeing them on a friend's bike. Previously I had SRAM (lock ons) and they were ok, but didn't provide any cushioning and the end caps were a bit flimsy. The ODI grip is a very well engineered product. The rings engage very securely with the grip and use a hefty 2.5mm hex, that can withstand enough torque to secure the grip but not damage the bar or strip the bolt. The end caps, while only plastic, fit securely. Aside from excellent shock absorption properties, the grips seem to work better for my extra large hands due to the larger circumference, compared to thinner grips. Finally, at only $20 at ExcelSports in Boulder as of this writing, these are a steal!

Strava

My latest obsession is this Strava phenomenon. I only heard about them due to a recent lawsuit. While that lawsuit seems completely absurd, I do think it's not such a great idea to create incentives for riders to endanger others, and perhaps themselves. There are plenty of bidirectional mtb trails that can be very dangerous for the uphill rider, when other riders are descending at often uncontrollable speeds. I've had a few close calls where I'm the downhill rider and I have had to bail off my bike to avoid uphill riders (yes, I felt like a huge jerk). I've also experienced encounters where the downhill rider does not attempt to yield. I'm not sure exactly what the best solution is but think a Strava feature that lets users flag a descent segment as "unsafe" would help deter this sort of behavior.