V2 thoughts

I got the v2 right in the heat of the Grand Fondo funk, so I was pretty much spending all of my non-commute time on the 747.  So for any road/non-trail riding, I've been defaulting to the 747 for months.

I see the v2 as all about S24O's, exploring dirt roads, commuting, overnight hauls, and moderately loaded touring. But I haven't been doing any of that in the last month or so.

So, in anticipation of summer, I ripped off the fenders, put the taller rack on, and mounted the super bad-arse Quasimoto tires.

Can we just talk about how f'ing rad these tires are? I got hung up on some rail road routing on my SOS ride today. This required riding about a mile on some rail rock, which at times was off-camber and/or dotted with deeper sand and/or bigger jagged basalt chunks. The Quasi's just ate this up. They're huge - volume-wise, and they're tacky, and they bite just enough on the dirt. What's weird is how well they roll on pavement -- they're no Hetre, but they are suprisingly fast on the road, given how uncompromising they are in the dirt.

I need to bring these bars in one centimeter. The wanker in me wants to swap out the stem and bars for the Ritchey WCS versions to get this centimeter w/out changing the length of my stem. I did that on the 747 and it's all perfect and wonderful. The issue here is that the Campy brifters push my reach out about a centimeter more than the aero levers I had on there for v1. But I'm working the austerity angle at the moment, so I'll be strong and just try putting a shorter stem on there with the Noodles.

Anyway, this bike, with the drops and the fatty knobbies really comes into its own. When Pat is done and recovered from his cross-state journey, I'll get over there and get a lasher rack built for this bike. That will allow me to put my bulky light stuff (sleeping pad and bag) on the rear wheel, while carrying my basics in a bag above the front wheel. (A lasher rack is yet another Alex-idea -- see hint of implementation at on this Pat post).

I've got mid-July through mid-August off of work, so I plan on doing a bunch of bike camping and exploring with Pat Rick (and anyone else who wants to come and hang at the river) in the Colville Nat'l Forest.

The v2 will start seeing some good action.