Jerry wanted a hardcore steel trail bike to compliment his Song 29

We came up with the Longhammer- a Hammerschmidt compatible, All Mountain 29″ hardtail.

We started from the ground up, designing the bike around a Rock Shox Reba 29, 120mm through axle fork. Then we added clearance for big, meaty tires… and a dash of Jerry’s creative input with the Longhammer- a one-off silver brazed, stainless steel seatstay brace/ jewelry piece. Enjoy the pics.

Big thanks go to Jerry for creative input- on the seatstay jewelry and the head badge, which is also based on his artwork. The longhammer piece is a one-off, one time deal… well, we have another here, but it’s staying close to home.

Also- Dan Wilcox of Homebrewed Components did the machine work on the widget. This guy knows how to program and run his machines.

The Longhammer namesake, brazed. Russ is the man with this work.

We polished the stainless Longhammer one last time before handing the bike off to Jason at California Custom Powdercoating. He special ordered the deep-sea blue powder in for the job, and expertly masked & wiped the hammer clean before curing the powder. The finished product is nothing short of amazing:

The Hammerschmidt cutout- we built up the frame first with the desired tire clearance (BIG). After we welded it up, I performed the surgery with a hanful of files and abrasives. The parabolic patch comes from a thick-walled piece of aero section tubing.

When it was all done, it looks like this… we also added Hammerschmidt specific cable routing, and a third bottle mount.

Stay tuned for more pics of this bike, built… this thing’s gonna be a party on the trail.

Dave & I left Idyllwild on Saturday and found our way to Borrego Springs on Sunday…

Mary helped work the logistics for this this trip- big thanks to her as we go into Baby Alert status. We arranged a meeting time in Borrego Springs on Sunday with her and turned off the cell phones at Paradise Corners. We started out on familiar trails in the greater Idyllwild area- some good stuff close to the Enduro route.

The singletrack was beautful…

…and tough.

dirt roads, 4wd roads…

dropping in

We arrived at camp a bit early so we decided to go exploring in Alder Canyon

The creek was flowing strong, good water for morning coffee!

We called Bailey’s Cabin home for the night. The cabin is an old cattleman’s shelter that’s been maintained by volunteers over the years. It is free to use but visitors are asked to tread lightly and clean up after themselves. We’re lucky that places like it still exist today.

We had some visitors Saturday night- two guys who were probably of drinking age & their three teen-something lady friends. They were friendly but didn’t stay too long. Somehow, in a twist of good fortune, we ended up drinking their beer while they split wood for our fire! True story.

Dave hooked up a tasty treat consisting of rice, seaweed, and Japanese fish.
For breakfast, we enjoyed warm burritos and coffee.

We bid the cabin farewell after a great night and headed down canyon- past the road’s end. The middle 10 miles or so of canyon were an exercise in route-finding & not-getting flat tires. The Middle Willows- a rich bird habitat & palm oasis- were thick, wet, and cool at the day’s peak heat.

We emerged from the Middle Willows a short distance from the top of the southern access point into the canyon. It’s a jeeper’s paradise, with lots of rock crawling and hidden gems to find. Because it’s so tough, we only saw a handful of other people with 4wd rigs. We explored just a bit of Cougar Canyon- enough to know we want to go back to the area called “Land of a Thousand Springs”

The Ocotillos were in bloom after the rains a few weeks ago.

We ended up “racing” a few jeepers down the canyon for a bit. They could move pretty quick. on the smooth stuff but once we got to a long rock garden descent we had the edge.

We arrived at First Crossing ready for a splash in cool water. The water was up to the top of my 29″ tire at the deepest point. Last year, when Mary & I attempted this as a loop it was up to our fork crowns!

After First Crossing the canyon flattened & smoothed out. We settled in to a desert cruise.

We exited the park and rendezvoused with Mary at just the right time. After a quick stopover at a fruit stand we found our way to a Mexican joint with stiff margaritas.

Thanks to all my friends and family for making it a great year and a happy birthday.

We spent our Saturday supporting a new event, showing off some fresh bikes, and taking in rays.

Robert Herber -aka the Racer Promoter- put on a brand new event in Balboa Park, in San Diego. Robert is new to the race promotion game and bringing some fresh blood to the XC scene in the area. This was the first event we’ve been to in his Racers & Chasers Series, but with solid venues like Balboa Park (the nation’s largest urban cultural park), it won’t be the last.

We also met up with Scott & Lauren of Totally Tubular Bags…

Nick was our horse in the Beginner race. This guy has mad multitasking skills, especially when it comes to sandbagging while looking dapper. He’ll look even fresher on his new John Henry at the next Sport race.

Adams Avenue was heavily represented in the Singlespeed class. The infamous Scott the Cop made an appearance.

After the event, we went out with Derek & Tessa for a weekend of fun with beaches, bikes, and eats in the greater San Diego area. T’was loads of fun- just ask Mary.

Sunday- I got out for a ride with Derek & Tessa on the Mission Trail System. Fun stuff with nice, tacky trail conditions… even some running water.

Derek Shredzit

We’re putting the finishing touches on the Sierrita prototype now.

What is it? Sierrita is a drop bar, 29″ dirt tourer… and the next addition to the Standard Handbuilt line, joining the John Henry.

Sierrita features drop bar fit, and geometry designed to carry touring loads over a wide range of trail surfaces, including singletrack, dirt roads, and asphalt. Chainstay length, head & seat angles, and bottom bracket drop all play a huge role in this bike’s versatility.

The bike has much improved standover clearance compared to straight-tubed 29″ers of this size. Other features include full length cable routing to assure good shifting performance in mucky conditions, and rack mounts. The frame will also accommodate four large water bottles on the frame.

Sierrita borrows her name from the mountain ranges south of Tucson, AZ, where the design was inspired. This first one is going to our friend, Matteo, who lives in the area. Likely uses for the bike include long distance commuting, cruising border crossers’ trails, all-day explorations, riding singletrack, and a very long ride in a place far, far away that I’m keeping quiet about.

The final Standard Handbuilt version will likely have horizontal dropouts with a derailleur hanger, for singlespeed/fixed versatility and easy repair should your derailleur go south on you in the middle of nowhere.

As you might imagine, the frame will accept everything from 700c cross tires up to large 29″ tires with plenty of mud clearance. The stays use our unique hidden brake line routing for improved durability.

We have a couple more headed out to 1333 N Kingsbury… 4th floor.

El The Tone is receiving an aptly finished purple & bling custom John Henry, geared specific for maximal XX components opportunity.

Also sharing the Brown Truck space will be Brad Major’s stealthy new World Bicycle Relief-Siren team Trauco. (Brad is too busy going fast to maintain a blog or other such nonsense)

This matte black 29″ machine tips the scales right at 3 lbs. It features good tire clearance with snappy short chainstays, and matte black powdercoat for night ops ass-kicking.

We celebrated Black Friday on local trails… just before the snow hit.

Derek & Tessa joined in on the fun…

Tessa draws her camera as much as I do. Maybe more.

Mitchell shreds the gnar on his mom’s bike. Wow!

The snow fell on Saturday. We accumulated about 5″ at the house.

We built a snowman (actually it was a snow-woman) with the neighbor’s kids.

Sunday- Spur of the moment Palm Cayon run

We didn’t see another rider on the trail all day. And it was PERFECT! I was too busy riding to stop and take many photos…

We stopped by the Homebrewed shop in Escondido last week.
Homebrewed Components are new to our lineup, available to Siren shops and customers. Blingdiggity parts for your bike…

Here, we were checking in on a run of cogs & rings coming together for My Next Bike in Manila. They’ll be at the Siren shop soon.

Get yourself a virtual tour, and a real cog or two here.

First it was LA
We met & rode with Hobie, Meghan, and Derek… though Mary was sidelined when she brought the wrong front wheel. D’oh!

Hobie says: “Meghan, I think it’s all downhill from this point on” ….time and again.

Fun peeps. Good trails, views, and one of the tastiest tostadas around.

A little “nesting” visit by Ikea… but we made a commitment not to actually buy anything, except the swedish meatballs of course.

Next, San Diego.

We stopped by the Homebrewed Components shop- more on that soon, but the real day’s work was a visit to the fastest dentist on two wheels. (Also see Dr. Sutton here on the SJ Enduro results page.)
We rewarded the dental work with a little beach visit on the way home:

Mary’s looking more and more pregnant every day.

Been running this setup for a week and lovin’ it

I borrowed the middle four gears from an old XTR cassette that was destined for the scrap bin… the Deore derailleur has been with me at least 15 years. Bud Hunt, the local shop owner, donated an old Accushift thumb shifter, which I turned to the friction setting. I’d guess you could put a couple more gears on the Hope singlespeed freehub body.

Upside: The setup works very well. It’s simple, easy to use, and gives me a good range of “singlespeedy” gears to pick from. And, old derailleurs were built tough. The DX derailleur has less play in it than some new bits.
The whole shebang can convert back to singlespeed quickly, as I didn’t move the sliders, and simply spliced in extra chain with a quicklink.

Downside: It sounds like a geared bike again. Chain slap bugs me.
The old derailleurs, while built tough, are friggin heavy.

Been enjoying some third trimester rides on local trails…