Ok, so, we're pretty much done photo taken just before a nice muddy thrashing at Jonkers The Dartmoor Simple chain guide has been installed... awesome piece of kit, the red anodised finish is something to behold! Had LBS install it for me, there's a bit of clunkiness when back pedalling which we're trying to figure out but it's not critical. Did Canary at Jonkers which is particularly rocky and rooty, chain stayed exactly where it needed to, so the chain guide is doing its job! Also climbed with no noticeable hassles, in fact, climbing on this bike is actually going well. Made it up without using the granny ring (ok, for me that's a big deal) Deity grips are on now as well. Pretty comfy grips - they have sort of a mushroom pattern, and are kind of octagonal, rather than round. The flanges were a little in my way when shifting, but not excessively so (I've never ridden with flanged grips so might just be that I'm not used to it). Still, I might trim them where my thumb goes to shift. The 2nd Continental Mountain King II 2.4 Protection is also on now - and the front is running tubeless. The back was giving hassle (that rim has seen better days) so there's currently a tube in there, but LBS is going to rebuild the wheel for me. Still, it may be time to bin that rim. While an upgrade might be cool, the budget is sorta tapped out Tyres performed admirably - rolled fast uphill and did well over damp roots, rocks and muddy patches! The purple seat is a demo Fizik Gobi, but I don't dig it. The Zeak is going on tomorrow again, I far prefer the shape of it. To round off the "with-bits-of-red" colour scheme I chucked a red Lizard Skins chainstay protector on, and a Deity sticker (courtesy of my mates at dialdbikes.co.za) All in all I had a great ride today. A bit slow as I'm still getting back into the swing of things, but marvelling at the Commencal's geometry and its ability to just swallow terrain! I was enjoying picking creative lines, and launching off little rocks or rolling over big ones! All I want now is a dropper post (PS. we weighed it... for those who care: 15.1kg. Might go up a few grams when I swap saddles)
