Doug Burton
Zen MBB Master
Hello All,
Jim gave me a chance to do some development work on a Sofrider V2 that was returned to us. I'm putting it together for Maria, Jim and his brother to evaluate. The ideas may pop up retail sometime, you never know!
The research is around the brakes and drivertrain. I converted the brakes front and rear to 160mm Avid BB5 discs. I made an adapter for the caliper to fit on the rear swingarm using the two accessory holes in the dropout.
The drivetrain research invloved converting the bike to a triple crankset with 155mm crank arms. This required the use of a "Triplizer" chainring, which was a little quirky to fit, but seems to work okay. We've since found a nice 155mm triple crank made by Forza which has a nice tight Q-factor and will work better than the Triplizer. The chainrings are 48-36-24 (sort of the reverse of my figure!) and produce a perfect gain ratio range, as far as dispersion and overlap go. The low gears woudl allow you to climb a stump, though... The triple is sensitive to x-seam, and right now is limited to about 43" or greater. We are considering an offset derailleur mount to allow for shorter x-seams, but this isn't beyond the discussion stage at this point.
I really like the way this bike rides and handles, and I think the black disc-only wheels give it a nice businesslike appearance.
And you guys probably think we slept all winter... :lol:
Jim gave me a chance to do some development work on a Sofrider V2 that was returned to us. I'm putting it together for Maria, Jim and his brother to evaluate. The ideas may pop up retail sometime, you never know!
The research is around the brakes and drivertrain. I converted the brakes front and rear to 160mm Avid BB5 discs. I made an adapter for the caliper to fit on the rear swingarm using the two accessory holes in the dropout.
The drivetrain research invloved converting the bike to a triple crankset with 155mm crank arms. This required the use of a "Triplizer" chainring, which was a little quirky to fit, but seems to work okay. We've since found a nice 155mm triple crank made by Forza which has a nice tight Q-factor and will work better than the Triplizer. The chainrings are 48-36-24 (sort of the reverse of my figure!) and produce a perfect gain ratio range, as far as dispersion and overlap go. The low gears woudl allow you to climb a stump, though... The triple is sensitive to x-seam, and right now is limited to about 43" or greater. We are considering an offset derailleur mount to allow for shorter x-seams, but this isn't beyond the discussion stage at this point.
I really like the way this bike rides and handles, and I think the black disc-only wheels give it a nice businesslike appearance.
And you guys probably think we slept all winter... :lol:
