Finished

I finally finished the bike. Like with any build, there are always things you overlook—a disc brake adapter, cable housing, 32 mm seat clamp—and have to order.

For the most part everything went smoothly. Time to ride.

Later.

Coming Along

As the few parts I needed finally started to trickle in, like the 150 mm spaced front wheel, I began the Jones build process.

Still a lot to do, especially since I am scavenging parts from a few different bikes to complete it.

Later.

Time Away

We spent the better part of five days in Monterey this week doing the usual: riding, relaxing, eating good food and having a few beers.

I'll let the pictures tell the story.

Later.

Jonesing

Review: Teravail Cumberland Light & Supple TR 29x2.6 Tire

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was looking to move to a tire that was less ponderous and slow than the 29x3 Maxxis Chronicles.

I had concerns that the bottom bracket would be too low on the Krampus with the smaller tires, but the 60mm bottom bracket drop is exactly the same as my Kona Unit which runs 2.35 inch tires with no issues.

Also as mentioned before, the tires were super easy to set up tubeless. The beads were tight but not ridiculously so. I needed a tire lever for the last few inches, and I am totally OK with that in exchange for ease of seating.

Mounted up, the tires measure out at 2.69 inches at the casing on 39mm ID rims. It's not often that tires measure out larger than the listed size. (I'm looking at you, WTB.) I will say the Teravail website lists the optimum rim width at 29mm, so that's likely how they measure out at 2.6 inches. At the knobs, the diameter is 2.81 inches. Clearance was very tight on the rear end of the Krampus running the Chronicles, so I didn't save a lot of room there.

The profile is decidedly round in the middle but flattens out on the sides.

I felt faster with these tires, and the bike went from "meh" to fun immediately. I can't quite put my finger on the reason, though. The weight savings over the Chronicles is only 55 grams (listed), so it can't be the weight. The raised center section LOOKS like it would help, but at the pressure these tires run at the tread flattens out on the ground anyway.

The casing is definitely more supple than the Chronicles, so I feel like even at the decreased width the tires provide more absorption and comfort.

On the trail the tires roll extremely well. Cornering traction was excellent with the large side knobs and I noticed no weird transition when leaning over. This is often the case with tires that try to be fast and corner well.

One weird feature I noticed during measurements is every third side knob is ever so slightly smaller. The website confirms this "staggering" feature. I am not sure this has any performance benefit, but I am no tire designer.

When I first built the Krampus five years ago I wrote that overall I was disappointed in the 29 Plus platform and felt that the sweet spot would be a 2.7 inch tire. This tire confirms that I was right, because the bike is now, finally, fun to ride.

Later.

Test: Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex Tubeless Strips

When I first built my Krampus in 2015, rim and tire options were limited. I went with Velocity Dually rims and Maxxis Chronicle tires. The tubeless setup was a nightmare, by far the worst I have ever encountered. It was so awful that I ran the same tires for almost five years even though I found them slow and heavy. At the time I though something in the 29x2.7 neighborhood would be the sweet spot for this bike.

The main setup issue was the rim bed diameter being a little small and/or the tires too large. I had to build up the rim bed with Gorilla tape and it was still a struggle to set the beads with the shop compressor.

Recently I finally decided to make a switch and purchased some 2.6 inch Teravail Cumberland Light & Supple tires. They sat for a while because I just didn't want to deal with the Velocity rims again.

I stumbled upon the Effetto Mariposa rim strips and thought they might be the ticket.

Out of the package the strips are dense and stiff, but somehow still very stretchy. The "M Plus" kit for 41-45 mm rims turned out to be a perfect fit on my Dually rims. Getting the strips on the rims is no easy chore; expect a pinched finger and a little cussing on your first rim. The second rim went more smoothly, but it's still like wrestling an octopus. A third hand would have helped.

Once installed both tires seated quickly and easily with a floor pump. The extra thickness was exactly what I needed.

A retail price of $38 for my kit may seem high. I have seen more than a few people compare this price to a $10 roll of Gorilla tape that can be used on many rims. But since you can easily drop twenty bucks on tubeless valves, I don't think $18 is too much to pay for an effective and reuseable strip.

Later.

Bar Fight

In 2006 I tried a pair of Jones H-bars on my single speed. Jeff Jones had interesting things to say regarding bicycle design and comfort that seemed to make sense.

However, I pretty much hated them immediately. It felt like my hands were right in my lap and climbing out of the saddle felt terrible. I tried a longer stem but that seemed to make things worse. The grips only felt good in one place, and from there I couldn't comfortably reach the brake levers. I wrote off Jeff Jones as a kook with dumb, curvy bikes.

Years later I bought a pair of loop bars because they seemed to address my issues with the early model: sweeping forward so a normal length stem can be used and more grip area to move around. Still, after purchasing them they sat unused for years.

With my recent neck issues, I thought I would do some experimenting. After all, pain is a great motivator.

I installed them on my Krampus using a ridiculous +17 degree stem I purchased on Amazon. Even with the high-rise stem, they aren't quite as high as Jeff recommends.

After a couple rides I have to say I like them a lot. The bars provide a very comfortable position for the general mixed terrain riding I do most from the house. Because the grip area is at a 45 degree angle, subtle changes in hand placement change the angle of your back and neck so you can change it up. (Mine are the older 660 mm model; the newer 710 mm model even more so.)

At one point today I had a nice tailwind. I grabbed the forward portion of the loop and tucked down to go fast, so you still have the option to get your race on if the spirit moves you.

Anyway, it's only two rides, but so far so good.

Later.