The sun came out today (and musings on 27.5+ with my Stooge Rambler)
Happy new year! After starting the blog off on a strong note in November I took all of December off. I did get some rides in, but I also got laid out with the flu, then add in the holidays and I just felt like I didn’t have much to say on the blog.
That being said I’ve been wrenching on our bikes, Eliisa’s city bike got stolen (RIP), and my internet friend sent me a Centurion Pro-Tour from 1979 which I’ve been assembling parts for. But all of that is for blog posts another day.
Today the sun came out for the first time in weeks. I tried to find a source for this claim but you’ll just have to believe me. It’s been DARK. But since the sun came out I had to go for a ride. So I topped off the sealant on this newly assembled setup and went out for a ramble on one of my Dirty Belle Isle routes.
Here’s my Stooge Rambler as it left my house today. It’s a 52cm w/ a JBBP 12mm step down adapter on the fork to be able to swap wheels back and forth from my wife’s Crust Nor’easter. The wheel and tire setup I was testing today is Velocity Blunt 35 27.5 28 hole with Bitex rear hub and Shutter Precision dynamo front hub with an Onza Canis 2.85” up front and a WTB Ranger 2.8” light and fast out back. On these 30mm internal rims the Ranger measures 2.6” and the Canis is just a little over that.
My pressure was a bit too low on the pavement (16/12 PSI) and I got quite a bit of self steer, but it was pretty legit on the bumpy singletrack. I ended up adding some air to make the self steer better, but I think I added too much which made the ride a little more harsh than I prefer on the bumpy singletrack.
That being said, today’s testing revealed to me that when I want to run plus tires on the Rambler I’m going to end up running the 26+ wheelset. I was getting some frame rub in the rear when cornering hard with the 27.5+ setup. The rollover was really nice, but I think for the way I plan to ride this bike with plus tires, which is mostly sandy doubletrack, 26+ is fine. 26+ musings to come, but here’s a pic from me shaking it down at The Badlands last weekend.
