Jeff is a Canadian ex-pat living with his wife and 2 dogs Tard [the little black one] and Nub [the rottie] just north of Taipei. I can't really remember how, but our paths crossed and now we were finally getting a chance to ride together.
We first went to a trail that had a serious hike-a-bike for about 15min through a cemetary. Apparantly the Taiwanese bury their dead on the mountains and Jeff pointed out a couple of human
bones to me... he also had to watch the dogs cause everyone knows dogs like bones, and that would be a little creepy catching Tard running around with a human femur between his chops - "here girl go fetch"... gawh!
We just didn't have it in us for a hike a bike with DH rigs so we decided to hit our fav little spot, speedtrap, again for the next shuttle.
I was testing a new set of Funn brakes, and me and Keith always like to test anything that we spec on our bikes. Rather then just having some sales dude tell us how wonderful they are, we like to find out for ourselves.
Unfortunately the Legend wasn't out of T6 in time to build up for the ride so I had to rely on my Scirocco. I love that bike and whatever I throw at it, it just steps up and amazes me.
I did however kill the fork on my 5th run and had to shut it down... Jeff let me borrow his Scream which was cool but I should have taken it easy as my front washed out during a high speed run and I got rocked - the limping is slowly going away. I guess I assumed the tires would hook up the same as what was on the Scirocco - a wrong assumption.
What was cool was to bump into John, one of the original builders
of speedtrap who was over here from Hong Kong where he now lives. It's always cool to get the history on a trail and some of the challenges they had to get over to build it - like crazy machette weilding bamboo farmers!!!
Later it was off to a resturaunt/bar that Jeff likes to frequent. Steve ordered some kinda drink that came out looking like a Dairy
Queen sunday... not really sure what the hell he ordered.
About a half our later on mass all these girls pile into the place and we can hear them singing happy birthday. Jeff says that we'd be rockstars if we went over there and wished them a happy birthday... Steve was caught doing more then that.
I guess the results of the election earlier that day had come in because
some dude just started firing off fireworks in the middle of a sidewalk. Although fireworks seem to happen alot here for all sorts of reasons so it might not have been the election.
We stopped to have one last glimpse of Beitou before the final drive home. We'll be seeing you again but not for awhile as we head back to our respective countries.
It was another great trip and I look forward to coming back in October to learn more about this island in the east. Hopefully I'll get my shit together next time so I can visit some of my other distributors in Malaysia, Phillipines,
NewZealand, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong and Ken down in Australia
I suppose my next trip will be Sea Otter but beyond that I'm not sure as I usually leave things to the last minute.
Tomorrow I help Gabriel pack up Markolf and Marcelos Legend Mk1's. I'll have a seperate post on that.
Oh and one last thing to Ryan... who failed to tell us where speedtrap was the many times we asked him. Ryan you know how you like Mexican food... and you know how hard it is to find here... well we found burritos and if your reading this then you're gonna be pissed to know we're not telling you where they are - touche mon a mie.
THANKS David they look great - of him and his new wildcard... he also sent a few from a little sesh he did.
" The Rune seems like a friend that I will have for a long time. "
Jeff is a Canadian ex-pat living with his wife and 2 dogs Tard [the little black one] and Nub [the rottie] just north of Taipei. I can't really remember how, but our paths crossed and now we were finally getting a chance to ride together.
bones to me... he also had to watch the dogs cause everyone knows dogs like bones, and that would be a little creepy catching Tard running around with a human femur between his chops - "here girl go fetch"... gawh!
I was testing a new set of Funn brakes, and me and Keith always like to test anything that we spec on our bikes. Rather then just having some sales dude tell us how wonderful they are, we like to find out for ourselves.
I did however kill the fork on my 5th run and had to shut it down... Jeff let me borrow his Scream which was cool but I should have taken it easy as my front washed out during a high speed run and I got rocked - the limping is slowly going away. I guess I assumed the tires would hook up the same as what was on the Scirocco - a wrong assumption.
of speedtrap who was over here from Hong Kong where he now lives. It's always cool to get the history on a trail and some of the challenges they had to get over to build it - like crazy machette weilding bamboo farmers!!!
Queen sunday... not really sure what the hell he ordered.
some dude just started firing off fireworks in the middle of a sidewalk. Although fireworks seem to happen alot here for all sorts of reasons so it might not have been the election.
NewZealand, Indonesia, Korea, Hong Kong and Ken down in Australia
Oh and one last thing to Ryan... who failed to tell us where speedtrap was the many times we asked him. Ryan you know how you like Mexican food... and you know how hard it is to find here... well we found burritos and if your reading this then you're gonna be pissed to know we're not telling you where they are - touche mon a mie.
Szwed forgot to post up this picture.... hahahaha ok he didn't but I'd thought I'd burn him... he sent it so he should know I might just post it up.... hahahaha
was Saturday morning, woke up and had swapped over the parts from the Scythe onto the Legend in record time. Unfortunately we didn't make record time to the show and ended up driving around for 4 hours looking for the convention center. Things to note in future... don't use maps in show guides, and just because people live in the city doesn't mean they'll know where the location is for a massive convention center which has been under construction for 6 years - taxi drivers and police included??!!
now and I'm here at the factory missing a bunch of appointments.
process anyway to figure out how your tolerances are and what kind of changes you need to be to make production go easier. I'm actually suprised we haven't run into more problems but everthings coming together nicely *knock wood*.
weight is 10.67lbs with shock but we still need to add paint and 4 aluminum axles, but then we get to take away weight because they forgot to do the inside windows on the driveside aluminum seatpost mast. My guess is it will be around 10.9 with everything done... of course we'll weigh it after its painted with everything in it. Production will be lighter as there are just a ton of places to shave weight off.
...
rocker is pretty much complete and you can't see from this pic but there is a hole that goes through the middle of center part that helps to remove weight. Also you'll notice the little groove on the edges of the rocker.... that's where the cables go and that little hole is where the zip tie slides into to hold the cable in place. We're pretty pleased with the smooth lines the cables run and it should help with crisp shifts.
The lower link is big, strong, and stiff with massive axles that should keep that backend from squirling around making the bike track great in the corners. The axles, again, will be similar to the VF4B axles with the grease ports and are aluminum to lighten the bike again.
Its 2.65lbs exactly. that leaves us with 5-6lbs to play with for the front triangle and all the links. So far its on target for the 10.5lbs mark for the whole thing... infact we're looking at it and thinking its still overbuilt even at 10.5lbs. but rather this then having it underbuilt.
getting something like this put together.
We've hogged out the inside of the "canoe" and created the little windows inside as well as outside.
It does cost more to do the added machining but in addition to strength there is a further reduction in weight as well.
Update: later that day...
Legend production so I missed out on Sat. ride. Steve [Niner] followed Lance [Canfield] off a ladder stepdown and the bike he was riding had too soft of front springs and basically spiked one of his crank arms into the ground which catapulted him sideways into a tree.
back at the factory and Me, Lance and Chris [both Canfield brothers] head out for a rip. We pass under Lance's favorite sign... we don't have a clue what it means but its got a skull and crossbones so I guess its a warning of some sort - ah ignorance is bliss.
time to do some trail maintenance.
This week everyone in the industry who has any business over here -which is everyone practically- will be here for the Taipei show.
Got in a couple more runs and then it was off to sushi express to chow down.
