I've built and upgraded a lot of bikes in my time. But none so disturbing to me as the next planned evolution of one of my most cherished bikes. Through the years, I've been both over joyed and severely disappointed in the upgrades. But the plan seems very backward, yet highly energizing at the same time.
The bike again on the chopping block is my most winning-est bike. It has carried me to the finish line in more races than any other. It has delivered my most devastating injuries. It has both made me proud and angry. It is my venerable Bontrager.
Since replacing the original fork with the one shown in the pic, I have not been happy with the bike's performance. The original Bontrager-spec gold RS Judy was gutted of it's elastomers and replaced with Mountain Speed Springs; which made the fork much more active and responsive. This gave me a ton of confidence and this is how the bike delivered me time and time again. The all black RS Judy is also Bontrager-spec and I again replaced the elastomers except I used Englund Air cartrages. The thought was a lighter front end and a better ability to tune the ride. I added the extended travel kit and oil dampener. Mistake. Ever since it's been endless maintenance and poor performance from the combination.
I rode my Trek Fuel a lot more after the swap and have hardly looked back.
So now I get nostalgic as I begin my road back to fitness. And I miss riding my Bontrager. So now what? My conversion plan is simple. Chuck the black fork and Englund Air maintenance nightmare and pursue simplicity.
I acquired a Kona 1" rigid fork. The new fork has a threadless steerer, which means I cannot reuse the current headset nor stem. So I picked up a Ritchey Logic 1" threadless headset. I'd love to find a used Chris King, but the dollars are just not justified. I also found some vintage 135mm low-rise stems: Control Tech, Syncros, and a few others. I've tried to find a steel one (Salsa and some others made them back in the day). But the crown jewel I found was a 135mm, 5* rise Moots Ti stem! The problem is that it is for a 1-1/8" steerer. I have to figure out if I want to keep looking for the ideal 1" stem, use an aluminum one, or shim the Moots. More on that one when I get that far. The last ditty is I got a hold of a set of Avid Black Ops Ultimate v-brakes. With these, I need to determine if I should put them on the Bonty and send the XTRs to the Fuel... which has Avid Single Digit 7s. Or just put the Black Ops onto the Fuel. Again... I'll get to that when I get to that!
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