What’s not to like about this place? Once again the crew at Decline rolled out the red carpet for us industry types for a 3 day symposium. We got to mingle, ride, eat and play.

Josh and I arrived with our Highline and Socom fitted with some test worthy Double Barrels ready to hit the mountain. We had 3 days to wear ourselves out. After a great breakfast and industry meeting each morning we would hit the mountain. This was the first time Josh had been to Whistler, so he was a kid in a candy store for sure.

I wanted to keep Josh in one piece and work him up to the top of the mountain as the days went by. Well by day two he had snuck up top with the Marin boys and was crazy hooked. Me I was working Dirt Merchant and A Line over and over again. It’s an old racer thing for me to keep dialing in the same trails and hitting lines, not to mention getting some shock testing done. By the second day Josh was hitting backside on all of the jumps he could find and getting really smooth. I was proud of my engineer bringing his desert racing style to the show.
Then it hit me, on my way up to Freight train. For some reason the chair lift up really started bugging me, my fear of heights kicked in, I guess I’m getting old. I’ve been a little tweaked on heights all of my life but this hit me hard dangling up there on that lift. I would make sure Josh would talk to me the whole way up to keep my mind off the subject. Weird stuff, I will jump a bike but freak on a high chair lift. I wasn’t going to let it ruin my trip though.

I could stand riding up on the lower lift with not much drama, so I kept riding Dirt Merchant, Schleyer, Lower A line etc. There’s a lot to ride and dial in or get in trouble on depending on your mood. Later on the second day Josh and I met up with Paul from Intense and set off on a photo spree. I suck at taking pictures, so what you see is what you get. In the evening after dinner while others were hanging at their desired haunts, Josh and I went to the dirt jumps for a little fun and watch the skaters at the skate park. Good stuff.

By the third day I was tired but was riding well, so I was pushing it a little more than usual. I stopped for lunch met up with our Decline gang, Josh kept ridding. I went to the bike shop to look around for a bit came back out and I see my boy Josh all bent over at a table with a crowd around him. You know what that means: man down. Josh had overcooked a turn on A line and down he went. After some x rays at the clinic it was confirmed, Josh had chipped a bone in his wrist and elbow. Not all bad, it just made for a lame ending to the trip. Many thanks to all who helped that afternoon!

All in all it was a great time and a good chance to test some new shock ideas…wink.

Herndon invited me to see the new Headwaters Outfitters and Brevard College Slalom and Downhill facility in Brevard.

The wonder twins (Herndon and Haley) were putting on a Slalom clinic and asked me to join them and give a little gate instructions to the clinic crowd.

I brought the usual Cane Creek dog and pony show to the event. Set up a tent and brought Double Barrels and 110 headsets displays for all to see.

To see these tracks cut in the mountainside is amazing, not to mention it’s in the shade. These guys have worked overtime on this project. It’s a true Euro type Slalom and DH course built in a compact area perfect for training and honing your skills.

I had a blast with the clinic and getting to know the riders, plus playing on the course for the better part of the day. Watching Herndon and Haley go at it on the Slalom was a treat. Thanks to Wes D. for feeding me, that hit the spot.

Until next time.

No matter how good you are or how good you think you are, there’s always someone lurking with more talent.

Case in point: my 13 year old son. A go-all-day, long hair, hesh skate rat, who can ride a bike real fast DH when he wants to.

I set up a bike with a Double Barrel and a 200lb spring. We proceeded to hit Greens Lick. This trail is like an old school BMX track that points down hill. Before we head down, I tell him, “Chill behind me, I’ll keep my speed down so you don’t get over your head”
 
“Whatever, Dad”

So right off this little guy is putting a wheel on me, dragging his foot roosting corners and just plain being a pain. (The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…) I see his bottom bracket near my head on one jump. He’s hurling no brakes just because.

If my son’s generation is any indication and the hammered rear wheel and tire factor into this, I’d say the future of this sport is in for more like him lurking, waiting to show us all the way.

I got out this weekend for an incredible ride, one that really made me question my “ideal bike”. I wanted to give Cane Creek’s Double Barrel equipped 2008 Turner Highline a go in some rocky fast stuff.

The trail I had in mind requires some serious climbing though, and the prospect of doing it on a 7″ travel bike certainly had me calculating the pain/benefit ratio.

Once I got going I couldn’t have been happier. Since the Highline has a full length seat tube, I could get into a full leg extension position for climbing. This along with a front derailleur and a few extra clicks of low speed compression into the Double Barrel turned the Highline into a respectable climbing bike. I rode everything I could have ridden on a “little bike” or a hardtail… just slower.

I found myself enjoying the challenge of it, cranking a “big bike” up the long, steep, technical uphill sections. At the top I was tired, sure, but had cleaned everything and gotten my cardio in for the day! Also, I was at the top of a 15min downhill with a super bike… fantastic.

The ride really made me appreciate a full length seat tube (enough seatpost for climbing and can also be dropped down for descending), clearance for a front derailleur, and the zero-bob attained by the suspension design/Double Barrel shock combo. For me, a bike that can’t be ridden up the hard stuff just isn’t much fun since I like riding uphill almost as much as down. Getting this ability from a 7” bike opens up a world of possibilities. I won’t be winning any races on it, but for a day in the woods, I’ll be taking the Highline (or similar) far more often than I would have previously.

It seemed like ages since I really rode.

Sure I had been on a bike; I’d thrown a leg over a few rigs for parking lot spins, ran up to the store on my commuter, but as far as really riding… it had been a long while. Last weekend though, after putting my 6 month old daughter down for her morning nap, I dusted off my trusty old Tuscany for a couple hours in the saddle.

At first it hurt as my heart rate jumped up close to my max BPM and my body struggled to keep up with my contorted sense of “easy spinning”. The problem is, I still think I’m fast. What was a leisurely big ring climb only months ago is now a paced breathing effort. As I huffed and puffed along to my secret entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway I was surprised at how quick my fitness had gone and the real climbing hadn’t even started. As the road steepened, it was slow going at first, even for me. I could barely turn over my 39×27 (I used to spin a 39×23 up this thing!).

After about 10 minutes of this, my heart rate settled down, I started pedaling circles, and a smile started slowly emerging from my grimaced face. It felt great, really breathing hard, controlling the effort but getting that connection with the bike back, ticking off the elevation, turning over the cranks, letting the shoulders down.

After about an hour of this I turned around and headed back to relive my wife from her solo mission at home. Soon thereafter a twosome passed me, just flying. Instinctively I punched it to catch on. They were hammering, but it was easy to suck wheel, and when we had to part ways, they smiled and waved as I thanked them for the pull.

Being back on two wheels, feeling the intensity of a steep climb, the rush of screaming downhill, and taking advantage of the orchestrated chemistry of two guys in a hurry… it was a great ride.

Just need it more often…

I often get asked what bike I’m riding with a Double Barrel. Well the past few weeks it’s been an Intense 6.6. Before that I was on the new Turner Highline and a Session 10. I don’t have any rhyme or reason why I ride one bike over another.
Basically whatever mood I’m in is what I will ride. The bike of choice at my house is my Standard 125R model or my new favorite thanks to Joe Haley, the Eastern DJ-4 . On the weekends I like to hit the dirt jumps or my son’s mini ramp to clear my head.

Just wanted to briefly discuss spring size, since I get questions about this occasionally. The springs used on the Double Barrel (and most other coil over shock springs) is assigned two numbers. For example, 350 x 2.00. The second number refers to the rated “stroke” of the spring, or the “size” of the spring. In the above example, the spring can be safely compressed by at least 2.00 inches. Such a spring will typically be used on a shock with a 2″(50mm) stroke. However, it would work just as well on any shock with less than 2″ of stroke (assuming the overall length would permit it to be installed).

Note that the rated spring stroke is always less than the actual stroke. Why? Consider a 2.00 spring on a 2″ stroke shock with 0.25″ of preload to achieve proper sag. The 0.25″ preload is already in the spring before before any motion of the shock has taken place. Thus, at bottom out of the shock, the spring has compressed 2.25″. Taken to the extreme, if enough preload was put into the spring, the spring could “coil-bind” (”coil-bind” is when a spring’s coils touch each other) before the shock bottomed out. Not good. To prevent coil-bind Cane Creek recommends going up in spring rate or spring size if more than 6mm of preload is necessary to achieve the desired sag setting.

I often get questions on spring rate and would like to clear up a common misconception. On Double Barrel springs (and most other coil springs) the “rate” of the spring is the larger number. On the CCDB the rate is denoted in lbf/in (lbf/in = pounds of force per in). For example, a coil spring marked 350 x 2.00 is 350lbf/in spring). This means it takes 350lb of force to compress the spring every inch. To compress it two inches takes twice as much (700lbf) and so on. The misconception is that preload changes the spring rate, and when I hear this it is like shoving a dagger through my brain’s left lobe (I have been told I have two left lobes… I still don’t know if that is meant as a compliment).

Spring rate is a constant (in theory at least), it does not change (much at all) with preload. To illustrate this, consider a 350lbf/in spring sitting on the ground all by itself. There is no preload on the spring, the spring’s rate is 350lbf/in, and the spring is not at all compressed. Now put a 350lbf weight on top of it. The spring will be compressed 1″, and will have 350lbf of preload on it. Now place an additional 350lbf on it. The spring will now be compressed 2″. The important thing to note is that despite the 350lbf or preload, the spring still moved an additional 1″ when the second 350lbf was added. This means the rate stayed constant, the spring moved 1″ for every 350lbf.

How does this relate to setting your shock up? Well, since spring rate is unaffected by preload, it is not adjustable. Since it isn’t adjustable, getting your spring rate correct is super important, just as important as getting your damper set up correctly (the correct sag can be obtained from any spring rate). Spring rate should be considered an “external adjustment,” just like low & high speed compression and rebound damping (on the CCDB at least!). Changing spring rate does require a new spring, which is why Cane Creek has developed a sophisticaed algorithm to do our best to get you on the right spring the first time.

A few weeks back Josh C. and I headed over to Ohlins to give a Double Barrel a beating on the shaker rig. This is great stuff! You take the info from a data acquisition system mounted on the bike, and download that into a computer. The computer tells the shaker rig to, well, “shake”. So you get to see the Downhill run or runs you did live on the shaker rig. The shaker rig mimics every bump, jump and drift you did on the trail. It’s crazy because you can see your run being played out in front of you. All kinds of hydraulic lines leading to the shaker move around and you watch your Double Barrel getting what you gave it on the trail.

More on the shaker rig…

I get questions on how we use the information we gather from these tests. Here’s the short version: We gather all of a rider’s data from a downhill run and load it into the computer. The computer then tells the shaker to mimic the run on the shock. This gets noisy with all of the hydraulics running the shaker, very fun to watch. I still flinch…. when the shock starts taking big hits. You can also see when a rider slacks off or the trail smoothes out. The short of it is, we can tell if a test rider is using the Double Barrel to it’s full potential.

Heads up,

For all of you in need of a 10” x 3.5” size shock upgrade. “A big ole shock.” We will have the ability to build this length shock sometime in January. I have been on a Session 10 — yes a Session 10 — with this length shock and it completely transforms the bike.