29in·CH+

This year, my wife wanted to make the jump to big wheels, so we spent time online browsing a large number of bike manufacturer’s website to find out what they had to offer for 2012. She wanted a good mountain bike that was specifically designed for women without looking too feminine. Colors like pink were an absolute no-no. In addition, she wanted a bike with a low standover. She quickly found everything she wanted in Specialized’s Jett Expert 29.

So, one rainy Saturday we made a visit to the Bicycle Gallery in nearby Ipsach. The shop is the largest Specialized dealer in the area and has quite a large selection of 29ers in the showroom. The shop had two Jett Comp 29 in 17 and 19 inches but no Expert. A quick look at the computer showed that Experts were already sold out. Three were at the central warehouse but were already reserved. Knowing that people often put a reservation on something but then decide not to get it, we told the shop that we would take one of these Jett Expert 29, should one become available. The following week we got a call and my wife had her Expert.

We bought it with its original 3x10 mix of Deore and Deore XT transmission, which I immediately removed. My wife doesn’t want to deal with derailleur shifting. Instead, the new bike was equipped with a black Alfine hub laced into the original, white Alex rim. Black spokes and red nipples were used to match the front wheel. The crankset lost its three chainrings and got a sweet Rotor Q-Ring with 34 teeth from Bikespeed.ch, which got us the ring in no time.

The Jett Expert 29 runs all the brake and shifting cables along the bottom of the top tube. The rear shifting cable the continues below the right seat stay to meet the XT shadow derailleur in the back. An Alfine hub is designed for a shifting cable at the chain stay. A bit of research before we purchased the bike showed that using an Alfine hub with the cable at the seat stay was no problem. One just has to use the green and blue spacers for vertical dropouts and swap left and right to have the hub cassette joint unit point upwards in the direction of the seat stay.

After a first ride this weekend, there’s one more thing on the wishlist - a Cane Creek Thudbuster suspension seatpost. A red K-Edge ring guard will soon cover the front chainring. Not so much for chain retention, but more as a barrier between leg and chainring. Other than that, the Specialized Jett Expert 29 is now perfectly set up and ready for regular rides through our local forests and along our nearby rivers and lakes.

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When I built my first 29er back in 2006, I had Mike Curiak of Lacemine29 lace me up a set of singlespeed wheels using Hope Pro II hubs, Bontrager Mustang OSB Disc rims and DT Aerolite spokes. I rode this wheelset on my Niner One 9 for four years. They’re still in awesome shape, which is certainly more a testament of Mike’s wheel-lacing wizardry than my unspectacular riding skills, so they’re going to be called back into active duty on a new bike for which I’m currently assembling a mix of old and new components.

★ The Wheelset Specs ★

Hubs:	red Hope Pro II (singlespeed, bolt-on rear)
Rims:	Bontrager Mustang OSB Disc
Spokes:	black DT Aerolite
Rotors:	Alligator Starlite (180 front, 160 rear)

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Bigger is better!
Everything smaller is a compromise!

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The Zaboo folks have been busy and just announced that they’ll be having a small number of their new full-suspension 29er in stock shortly.

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Sipping a cappuccino in front my MacBook Pro this morning I browsed through my feeds in Reeder and read “MTBR.com leaps into 29er Day” from BRAIN. The article mentioned that MTBR is featuring its first sponsored skin - an advertising background image that sits behind the main part of the site. The first skin was sold to Specialized. Curious, I hopped over to MTBR to take a quick peek. I almost spilled my coffee when I saw that MTBR picked a winter photo of my Niner to celebrate 29er day. Pretty stoked to say the least.

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Spring only begins with the equinox on March 20th, but with the warming temperatures and the quickly melting snow the optimist in me got a little bit ahead of schedule. In addition my bikes badly asked to be thoroughly serviced. The Niner A9C has seen its fair share of snow this winter. It has been out at some of the coldest temperatures, where the freewheel of its rear Chris King hub occasionally failed to catch. After a ride, the bike often got a quick hose-down with a followup chain lube. Nothing more. Needless to say, the bike’s internals, though well protected, needed to be cleaned and covered with a fresh layer of the finest bicycle grease.

Last night, front and rear wheel were disassembled, cleaned and lubed. The Edge Composites rims got some Turtlewax and the rotors got a simple rub with a rag. Tonight, the disc brake calipers were cleaned from brake dust, the fork was removed to gain access to the headset bearings, which were wiped clean and generously greased for rust and creak protection. Once everything was back together, it was the frame’s turn be turtlewaxed.

Still to be done is a full drivetrain swap. The 19T Boone titanium cog has reached the end of its life. The Actiontec 34T chainring still has some life left, but will be sacrificed in the process. A new cog also demands a new chain. Since Boone’s no longer around, I’m planning to get some Homebrewed Components cogs - a worthy successor.

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While it’s raining into the snow outside, I’m sitting at my desk drooling over the new Niner Air 9 RDO. A light, “race day optimized” all carbon frame construction with slimmer tubes and a new dropout design that places the brake caliper inside seat and chain stay. Quite elegant that new, kermit green Air 9 RDO.

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I thought about heading to the Lac de Joux on Sunday, but changed my mind knowing that I’d be spending two and a half hours in the car just to visit a frozen lake. It quite often happens like that. There are many cool places to ride in Switzerland, but as soon as I’m looking at the prospect of driving several hours, more often than not I forget about the whole idea and just hop on a local loop. Sunday was no different. After freezing to my bones Saturday, I decided to take a late start in the early afternoon Sunday. On Saturday I passed by the Rondchâtel Climb and noticed that it had been frequently used leaving a snow-covered, rideable fire road. This time, I arrived on my Niner and turned into that climb. The trail was good until the Sesselin du Haut from where I had to follow the tracks of two snowshoers. Quickly, I realized that hiking through the deep snow was easier than to step into the semi-hard tracks left by the two folks who had passed through the area before me. I was hoping to get back onto a rideable trail at Les Coperies, but I didn’t get that luck and now faced an even longer stretch through deep snow to reach La Ragie. It was quite an effort that cost a lot of time. My right shoulder thanked me for having a light singlespeed, though. The small farm of La Ragie is inhabited and the trail to reach it had been cleaned. I was back on the bike and now took the only rideable way out to Les Près d’Orvin. My shoulder thanked me one more time. I jumped into the Spaghetti Trail and carved down the mountain. Ah, now that’s how snow’s supposed to be! A last, short effort up to Evilard and another descent which included a tiny, secret trail took me back into town and straight to a hot cappuccino.

Distance:	30.5 km (19.0 miles)
Elevation:	1’199 m (3’934 feet)
Time:	03:09:40
Speed (avg/max):	9.6/48.2 kph (6.0/30.0 mph)

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While January started with some awesome weekends to ride, the second half of January was lousy and offered not a single pleasant day. My bikes were screaming for some dearly needed maintenance and were happy to stay home. February arrived and with it a blast of Siberian air that dropped the mercury below minus ten and more degrees. I got up with the sunrise and looked at a blue sky while zipping my morning cappuccino. Sun? Sun means bike time. The thermometer stood at minus thirteen degrees when I got dressed to head out. 2 pairs of socks, Defeet knickers, thick winter tights by Sugoi and on top of that a regular bib. The upper body got an undershirt, a thick long sleeve running jersey and my white Specialized jacket. The hands were protected with full-finger summer gloves and a thick pair of winter gloves. The head got a thin cap to cover my ears and the helmet. That kept me comfortably warm for the majority of the ride. Only when I turned east facing the wind and dropping downhill, my toes started to feel the freezing temperatures.

I crossed two other bikers today. As I was hiking my way up a narrow trail, they were coming down. They both opted for full-face helmets, probably to stay warm and cozy. What amazed me though, was how hard a time these guys had to keep a straight line. Their full-suspension 26ers were all over the trail, their front wheels constantly sliding left to right and back. My Niner, with 3 inches more wheel, rolls with a lot more stability in such conditions. Today’s snow really asked for a fat tire bike with gears though, not an Air 9 Carbon with a 34x19 transmission. Hence once I was up, I opted to take a shortcut to reach the Hohmatt and then tried my luck to find some good trails back into town. Funny thing about the descent - the steeper it got the more controllable it got. In the end, I was out for close to two hours, covered 22 kilometers and climbed 720 meters. A short day on the bike, but a good one.

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