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Wrenchin' in the USA: The Chris Davidson diary 2007
Chris joins us again in 2007 to report on life on the road turning the wrench for a variety of teams both in dirt and on the road. Formerly with Ford Cycling in 2006, Chris has also worked for such teams as T-Mobile, Equipe Nurnberger, Quark and Mercury in the past, as well as neutral support programs with Shimano, Pedros and Trek.
As 2007 holds some new challenges for Chris, some things will stay the same. One of those will be his informative diary contributions on Cyclingnews, where you'll often receive the inside scoop on all things tech and a look at life behind the wrench.
NMBS #1: Fountain Hills, Arizona, March 30 - April 1, 2007
Off to the races
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Well now that the off-season is over, it is time to head to the races. Convenient for me is the fact that the team that I have been coordinating all the off-season frame and parts selection for [Kenda/X-Fusion/Titus], happens to have its frame sponsor [Titus] in the same town as the first race of the NMBS calendar. So while parts started to accumulate at my house over the winter, some of it had to forwarded to Titus, so I could assemble the last remaining bikes before the first event.
I am fortunate in that I have a close friend now working at Titus, Foye Troute, from my days at Shimano. Foye and I worked together for three years doing the Multi-Service support work at mountain bike races, and now he is the inventory and QC manager at Titus, and this would be the first opportunity that I would have to see him since Interbike last year.
I flew to Phoenix on Wednesday morning and went straight from the airport to Titus to get working on some assembly. Titus has amazing facility in Tempe where the bulk of the work takes place in building their legendary Ti and Exogrid ti/carbon frames. During my time there I got to take a look around and see the creation of their proprietary ti/carbon tubing and the welding of frames. It was interesting to find out that Titus' parent company, Vyatech Sports, uses the Exogrid and Isogrid technologies for many other sports applications, I saw ti/carbon golf shafts, sailing booms and softball bats while there.
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After all the show-and-tell, there was work to be done, namely building bikes for the weekend's races. Each rider on Kenda/X-Fusion/Titus gets a custom ti Exogrid hardtail, and Racer-X dual suspension and an Oseo carbon Isogrid road bike. While the road and dual suspension bikes were ready to go, some of the hardtails were just getting finished up the week I arrived. So plenty of drivetrains to assemble, brakes to bleed and fork steerers to cut. I worked all day Wednesday and Thursday at Titus assembling bikes and tying up loose ends, then worked the morning there on Friday before heading out to the racecourse for the TT on Friday afternoon. Once at the race course, the focus shifted to dialing in shock pressures, tire pressures and adjusting bike fit.
Tires were a big concern on this course, as the dry, prickly nature of the desert produced a number of flat tires for those the only ventured slightly off the optimal line. Passing on the course was difficult as well, as you ran the risk of picking up something in the tire if you attempted to run two-wide on the trail. We ended up using some standard tube setups, and some tubeless. In the end it appears that the flat tires had no preference for setup, they occurred equally with both setups.
We had a big team out for this first race, Kenda/X-Fusion/Titus has six female riders this year and two men. That is a handful regardless of the venue or terrain. Add to that the fact that we were just getting dialed on the all the bikes and the five days in AZ seemed like I was awake the entire time.
Mechanics concerns
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Disc Brakes. This weekend I cut a bunch of brake lines and bled a ton of brakes. This job may take more time than any single aspect of assembling a MTB from scratch. Things that make this go smoothly and ensure that you only have to do this process [bleeding] once: a bleed kit with syringes and receptacles from the brake appropriate company and some nitrile gloves.
The bleed kits produced by the major manufacturers really do make bleeding brakes and easy one-attempt job. These kits are worth the money. Second is the nitrile gloves, I have mentioned them before but this experience doing so much brake work in one weekend put a huge focus on having enough pairs of the nitrile ones on me at all times. Check the fit, then get yourself a box of them. Money well spent.
One pump. I have found the riders can get very neurotic about tire pressures, especially when running low pressures with a tubeless setup. This may sound counter-intuitive, but limit yourself to one floor pump with good gauge, as the variance between two pumps is usually bigger than the range of precision that you need. In this way, the tire pressure is consistent setup to setup, as the one pump serves as the continuous reference for pressures. And then protect that pump with your life, as it becomes the confidence inspiring tool of choice for riders with concerns on tire selection and pressure. One pound of pressure is not always just one pound. This weekend showed me that one pump is more valuable than two.
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Sunscreen. Put some in your toolbox. Mine was taken from me at the airport, because it was in my backpack and it was over 4oz. You will always need it at the race, so put the container in a ziplock bag and put it in your toolbox. Need to apply more during the day [like standing in a tech zone for four hours] and your hands are less than clean? Put on a pair of the nitrile gloves, apply the sunscreen, then throw out the gloves. Gloves aren't just for brakes.
Travel and baggage. Once again all three of my bags [toolcase and two luggage bags] were at the airline's weight limit [50lbs]. So in trying to scavenge some additional weight and protect a valuable tool, I put my 1/4" drive torque wrench in my backpack to carry on to the plane. I figured that it would be safer there and it is probably the most damage sensitive tool in my case. Big mistake. My torque wrench was 1/2" over the length limit for a metallic object when they searched my bag at security. I had to go back down to ticketing, find a cardboard box, pack up and check just my torque wrench in a box that had me seriously concerned about its safety and hand it to the baggage handlers. I was now more worried than when it was in my tool case. And I barely made it back through security in time to board my plane. Live and learn.
So 2007 is underway and the first event went off without too many problems. I am grateful to the wonderful folks at Titus that let me takeover some of their workspace for a few days to get the team bikes up and running. It was good to get back to the dirt and see a number of friends, some with new teams. Next stop for me is the Tour de Georgia with Navigators Insurance Cycling Team. This will be a new gig for me, as I look to fill my 2007 schedule with new opportunities. It will be fun to be back on the road scene, as last time I was in Georgia for a road bike race was Tour duPont in 1996. I like Georgia, hopefully April will not be as hot and humid as I remember. If you see me at the event, please stop by and introduce yourself, I always enjoy meeting other Cyclingnews readers such as myself.
Thanks
Chris Davidson
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Chris Davidson
- The author gets to work on bleeding some brakes on a new ride for Australian Brent Miller.
- A rack full of tubes awaiting welding to form a custom frame.
- Titus' adjustable welding jigs allow for custom setup and geometry.
- Melaine Meyers and Heather Holmes get ready for the dirt crit/short track.
- Alternative uses for the Exogrid technology, how about ti/carbon golf shafts?
- More applications for the isogrid technology.
- Isogrid ti/carbon tubes awaiting the heating/pressure/curing process.
- The isogrid material contains a helix of carbon/kevlar material on the inside of the carbon tubes to add strength and stiffness.
- Raw ti tubes awaiting cutting and mitering. The cost of raw ti material has increased 20% in the last year as demand for aerospace applications has increased.
- The first race of the year was a non-stop cycle of prepping and adjusting new bikes.
- Other sports' uses for the Isogrid technology, softball anyone?
- A ti headtube during the manufacturing process.
- The custom jig tables are cantilevered, allowing 360 degree rotation and cutout in key sections, allowing the welders to get critical access to the joints for welding.
- Ti tubes get custom cut and mitered for frame applications.
- A welder at Titus gets down to the finishing work on a ti frame.
- Ti/carbon tubes await welding.
- A headtube is prepared to be welded to a ti/carbon headtube and downtube.
- Ti frames awaiting a new home at Titus.
- A Vyatech worker does some finishing work on a ti/carbon tube.
