Blueridge

Yesterday must not have been too bad because I'm already thinking about riding today, or even riding gravel sometime again, perhaps on a different mount. Twice now I've ridden the Blueridge on gravel rides in that general area in IN and both times I suffered badly. "Bike or engine?", its the question. Right now the BR is as good a set-up as I've had it, but I'm not sure that it's the right gravel bike for all occasions. Back in the winter, flush with FMR $$, I built up the IndyFab Club Racer as my new pride and joy, the perfect comfy, fast century bike. But still I had the 11 yr-old BR Ti bike laying about getting used a bit but never quite hitting that spot. With some remaining $$ I decided to go for it, to freshen up the BR. I would then have a sunny day dream ride and a permanently fendered, fat-tired rando/commuter/errand/gravel road bike that I would not have to worry about.

To that end I made two substantial purchases, a new fork and new wheels. The previous fork was as whippy Kinesis Alum fork which always made the front end feel disconnected from the frame. Who knows what JanH would have to say about trail, yada, yada, but I was never comfy with the handling. Since I was going whole hog on the ClubRacer, I decided to do the same with a new custom IndyFab steel fork, one with mid-fork mounts, and fender braze-ons. I didn't stress too much over color and went with the ruby red b/c I like the color, but b/c it matches the bike. The new fork has done two things, first and foremost it jacked the front end up on the BR, now making it in line with my "level bar" philosophy that I'm a proponent of. I'm instantly comfy on the BR, even over 40m of too-rocky gravel. The second is that the front end feels more secure and connected. I don't know of a better way to explain it. It feels way more correct.

The second splurge was on new wheels, some DTSwiss 340s mated with Velocity A23s. The old BR wheels- Mavic Opens/Ultegra- were really starting to show their age, especially the rims, and soon I would have to do a rebuild, so I bit the bullet and upgraded, again a good decision. OYLC/Drew built them up 3-cross to be very solid. Yesterday I ran Kenda Small-block 8s and felt very confident in the gravel, however thick it was.

Finally, a more recent change was switching to Silver downtube levers. Again, like the rims the right STI shifter was going goofy, and instead of replacing one at $150 I spent a little less money and went downtube like the days of yore. I had a little trouble pinpointing some shifts, just like the days of yore, but by mid-ride yesterday I wasn't missing any and the shifting action was smooth.

There you have it, the updated, renewed Blueridge. I'm thankful and a bit embarrassed to have two nice Ti bikes, but again I'm not. I'm motivated to ride them and the tandem of silky smooth road and do-it-all rando style will fit most road riding situations.

Frame: '00 Ti Litespeed Blueridge (sport-touring/'cross)
Fork: '11 IndyFab 'cross
Bar: 46cm Salsa Moto Bell Lap
Stem: FSA
Levers: SRAM
Brakes: Shimano Cantis (old)
Seatpost: Nitto Crystal Fellow
Saddle: Brooks B-17
Rims: Velocity A23s
Hubs: DTSwiss 340 Classic
Tires: 32c Pasela/32 Kenda Small Block 8
Crank: Shimano Ultegra Triple-30x42x53
Cassette: Shimano
Pedals: Shimano Deore (old)
Shifters: Silver downtube
FrontMech: Ultegra
RearMech: Ultegra 8-speed