Bike Build - GT Marathon 2.0

Our friend Hiep had been riding a GT 29er hardtail he didnt like very much and decided to upgrade a little bit.

He found a GT Marathon 2.0 frame on ebay, bought a Rock shox fork, a headset, and brought over an old Gary fisher to swap parts from.

"New" Frame

Parts bike

We made some good progress on our first day in only a few hours.  We pressed the headset, cut the tube on the new fork,and put put on the fork, stem, bar and mocked up the wheels.  Its looking good so far.

UPDATE - 9-22-12 

We did some more work on the GT this weekend and almost finished it up.

We put on my old hydraulic disc brakes we had laying around, pulled the crankset and bottom bracket from the gary fisher and put it on, routed the rear derailleur cable, seat, seatpost, seatpost collar, pedals, etc. 

We just need to get a front derailleur that fits, hook that up, put on the chain, and that should do it.

Back to Big Bear (September 15, 2012)

We made it back to Big Bear!  This time Eric, Carlos and myself.

We got 4 runs in, lots of GoPro footage, but most is not very good.  Our camera angle was too low, but we got some good crashes on camera.

Eric breaking in his new Ibis Mojo

Eric's cleat came off his shoe and got stuck in the pedal

It was pretty funny, everyone who wore the GoPro camera, ended up crashing. 

Short video of my crash

 

Short video or Eric's Crash

Carlos Crash...

One finger breaking

After reading many websites and seeing some videos I finally decided to listen to my friend and try "one finger breaking"

This is a great website that explains everything in depth...

http://www.mtbtips.com/mountain-bike-control-tips/mountain-bike-brake-and-shifter-setup-position/

It starts with the basic set up.  I needed to move my brake levers towards the inside of the handlebars, on the inside of the shifters.

To do this, i had to make some small modifications, had to hack off the shifter gear indicators to make room.  Then covered the hole with tape and then i was able to put the brake lever where it needed to be.

Removed shifter top cap

Hacked off the top part with my dremel

I rode this weekend in Big Bear and the difference was amazing.  I had much more control due to having one more finger on each grip.

A few local rides, ready for Big Bear

We rode Marshall Canyon this weekend near La Verne, California.  The Marshall trail is about 10 miles long, 1,200 feet of elevation gain and once you get to the top its all downhill single track fun, with jumps creek crossings, rocks.  Very fun trail.

The week before, Labor Day Weekend, we rode Aliso on Saturday and then Whitting Ranch on Monday.  I had the hardest crash ive had so far at Aliso.  was navigating through the rock garden and hit a big rock, my front tire got stuck and i flew over the handlebars landed on rocks, and did 2 flips.  Luckily i was wearing my helmet, like I always do, and also knee/shin pads.  My elbows and arms got pretty messed up, and i had a headache the rest of the day, so i must have hit my head pretty hard.  My front tire (tubeless) blew out so I had to walk my bike down the final part of the single track and then a few miles on flat trail to the car.  It was the one and only time i forgot to take my pump with me.  When i got home my rear (tube) tire was also flat.

Wanting some redemption we went out and did a very fast run at Whitting on that Monday.

Were heading back to Snow Summit in Big Bear on Saturday morning, hoping to stay dry this time.

ODI Rogue Grips

My friend had these grips and I checked them out, and decided to give them a try.

They are thicker compared to my old Crank brothers grips, and look much nicer.  The black should go better with the bike than orange too. 

I really like that they are Made in the USA.