Mather in 29er mode

With significant help from Rob (Thanks Rob!) I finally got around to metamorphosing the Mather tourer into its 29er alter ego. I have been out to Wales on it twice now and I must say it has been an absolute revelation. I had forgotten what it is like to ride a hardtail MTB and had no idea what it was going to be like riding a 29er. I am totally converted...

The combination of being a hardtail, and Rohloff means that there is more grip in the back end ue to the weight of the hub and the lack of bob. That directness of power transfer that you get and smooth gear transitions at low speed have given me a lot more confidence climbing on technical singletrack. The second thing you notice is how the bigger wheels create a shallower angle of attack going into small rocks and roots. It is so nice to just point the bike in the direction you want it and not worry that you are going to get stopped by the front wheel. The upshot of the change is that I was able to clean both of the singletrack climbs at Cwm Carn and the White Trail at Afan.

It is a bit more of a handful on the descents though...no floaty speed descents like the Rocky. Still...I'd settle for that trade any day. I think that the Mather is going to be a great long ride bike as well...looking forward to my first all dayer already.

Broken brake lever...

This weekend was the weekend I finally managed to transition the Mather tourer into its alter ego the 29er...after a much needed helping hand from Rob (thanks Rob) I managed to get the new forks on and the brakes switched. I was gearing up for a test ride when it came to Rob's attention that the front brake lever had sheared off and was only held on by a bolt. I thought that it felt a little strange the last time I rode it...that'll explain a lot.

I will be sending it back to Avid to see if they will replace it.

Now that I am back in the land of the living I'll try and make the updates regular again ...resolutions...resolutions

29er envy...

I am definitely starting to feel bit of 29er envy. Two things have spiked my envy recently. The first and most recent was seeing Cass's On-one Inbred in action. Cass had switched out his new carbon On-one fork and put the Reba back in, however, it was eating up the trail at Cwm Carn.
The second was a post on the Singletrack website that showed a picture of the Jeff Jones titanium 29er. As they say in the article, this bike will polarise opinion (the marmite of the cycling world). If you ask me he is the kind of maverick that framebuilding needs...what I'd do to get a titanium 29er from the crazy man of woods!
Photos courtesy of Singletrack and Cass Gilbert