[næstep]

It took six months, but I finally got that Iron Horse MkIII built up just the way I want it: Rohloff Speedhub :heart: White Brothers DT 1.2 fork, Hopey steering damper, and some other goodies.

I've got a ton of pics and a whole slew of other crap posted over at eMTeyBeeR.

Link to MkIII / Speedhub Build Pics (Main Post)

But wait, there's more! (I got all this, too!):

Hopey Steering Damper Installation

Drilling Out Cable Stops (Full Length Cable Run)

Stripping & Polishing an Aluminum Frame

Homemade Headset Removal & Installation Tools

Star Fangled Nut Removal (Drilling out the Star Nut)

Cane Creek AD-12 Air Chamber Volume Adjustment

Bottom Bracket Drain Hole Drilling & Installation

Dremel Cut & Prep of Cable & Housing

Yus, I've been a busy ape.

 

[ridetoofast]

in a word...IMPRESSIVE

ive always wondered about both the damper and the speed hub.

 

[robdamanii]

Sexy beast.

What exactly does the steering damper do?

 

[ThePriceSeliger]

Does any of that work void the warrenty? But besides that, kick ass job man!

 

[douglas]

dang, sweet ride

and props to the detail of your all your posts

how much $ do you have into that IH?

 

[douglas]

Sexy beast.

What exactly does the steering damper do?

With the hopey bicycle steering damper, Downhill racers experience enhanced stability, improved cornering, and a far less fatiguing ride. This is because the steering damper absorbs the hits that throw the bike off line. XC riders and Roadies share the same benefits, plus, find that the damper helps with climbing. Technical climbs are easier, you hold your line and won't need to step off as often. Power climbs are more efficient, since more or your energy input is directed straight forward.

http://www.merchantmanager.com/timhopey/

 

[hooples3]

looking good!!!!

 

[næstep]

how much $ do you have into that IH?

Gaahh... I'm not sure I should say -- my wife might read this!

Actually, I got a really fair price for my old Hollowpoint frame & fork on eBay, I carried over a bunch of old parts and sold off a bunch of the new stuff, and then there's the Speedhub. This one is four years old now, mounted up on its third bike (or as I like to call it, a "Speedhub rack"). So my cost per year or per mile or whatever gets smaller and smaller all the time.

In the end, with all the parts swaps & ebay sales, I came close to breaking even on this build, but the White Brothers fork, the Hopey damper, and the CX-Ray spokes (my luxury items) pushed me past that by a couple hundred dollars.

 

[douglas]

those parts look new........I make parts/frames/etc look a couple years old in 2 rides

 

[stosh]

I feel a certain amount of hurt in my heart for that poor rear triangle in all it's nakedness. That beautiful color green is now long gone....

I love when you get that nice detail pattern around the outside of old tires...

 

[næstep]

Does any of that work void the warrenty? But besides that, kick ass job man!

Thanks for the props!

I inquired with Iron Horse the first time around (with the '03 Hollowpoint) and got a thumbs up to drilling out the cable stops and installation of the Speedhub.

Big difference there from when I talked to Giant in 2001 about installing the Speedhub, and got a telephone call from one of their corporate attourneys. Yikes! (But a now ex-Giant Product Manager gave me the thumbs up to open up the cable stops.)

 

[næstep]

I feel a certain amount of hurt in my heart for that poor rear triangle in all it's nakedness. That beautiful color green is now long gone....

I love when you get that nice detail pattern around the outside of old tires...

I feel a certain amount of hurt in my fingertips from the tiny shards of Scotchbrite pads that ended up under my skin. That beautiful flesh color is now all red and blistered...

Yeah, I need to change out that back tire. The Conti Traction Pro has been a mainstay of mine for years, but it's behaving poorly on this particular bike.

 

[stosh]

I feel a certain amount of hurt in my fingertips from the tiny shards of Scotchbrite pads that ended up under my skin. That beautiful flesh color is now all red and blistered...

Yeah, I need to change out that back tire. The Conti Traction Pro has been a mainstay of mine for years, but it's behaving poorly on this particular bike.

I was running Kenda Kinetics on mine and I haven't been really happy. I'm going to go to a smaller tire. I think a Kenda Nevagal in the back and a Specialized Adrenaline in the front.

 

[stosh]

Drilling out the BB is so you don't get water build up correct?

 

[næstep]

What exactly does the steering damper do?

In addition to what Douglas wrote, take a gander at those two older threads I linked to in the Hopey post (this one and this one).

For XC riding, I notice the Hopey more while climbing something steep where the front end is slightly light and normally has a tendency to wander.

With the Hopey, the bike almost feels like a drag racer, where I only have to worry about applying power to the rear wheels and maintaining traction. The front end is all point and shoot, and tracks extremely straight, with minimal input or correction.

But I can definitely feel it working for me on faster, rutted terrain, and in really loose conditions such as sand patches.

The Hopey has a big adjustment knob up top, where the top cap used to be, and the amount of damping can be quickly dialed anywhere from maximum to nearly off, making it really easy to play with under different conditions and to also get a "damped vs. undamped" feel. So far, though, I've mainly been riding it at or near the maxed out setting.

 

[grundy]

Beautiful job! Thanks for taking the time to detail each of those installation processes. I’ve learned quite a lot from reading your posts.

 

[næstep]

Drilling out the BB is so you don't get water build up correct?

Yessir... The Hollowpoint teardown was looking kinda ugly.

Hey, when you say you're switching to a smaller tire, what sizes are we talking here? The Traction Pro is a meager 2.0 diameter.

 

[stosh]

Yessir... The Hollowpoint teardown was looking kinda ugly.

Hey, when you say you're switching to a smaller tire, what sizes are we talking here? The Traction Pro is a meager 2.0 diameter.

2.1 I'm going to switch to from a 2.35.

The tires that came on it weren't bad but they had super soft sidewalls that ended up pinch flatting all the f'ing time.

 

[næstep]

2.1 I'm going to switch to from a 2.35.

The tires that came on it weren't bad but they had super soft sidewalls that ended up pinch flatting all the f'ing time.

Well, if you have some tire suggestions you can throw at me for the rear, I'm all ears. NorCal riding, mostly dry hardpack (right now downright powdery on some trails), and most likely something in the 2.2" range.

I've been so content with the Traction Pro tires in the rear for 5 or 6 years now that I haven't been paying attention to anything else in the 26" realm.