The Rebirth of the Bandersnatch

A few years ago I went to the bike shop to buy a water bottle, tube, bottle cage, or something else under $10 and left with a Vassago Bandersnatch. It was pretty and I heard 29er's were all the rage. Well, I rode it here and there. Mostly dirt road rides. It's a steel frame with a steel fork. Heavy and mean. It was a fun ride. However, I still found myself going back to my faithful Stump Jumper. The Bandersnatch's steel fork was murder on my arms while riding the trails. Maybe if I had a suspension fork I'd ride it more. I just never pulled the trigger on the purchase. That has now changed.

About a month or so ago I was talking to coach about upgrading to a suspension fork. As luck would have it he was upgrading his current fork. The price was right and he'd help me install it. By help I mean, I'd watch while he installed it.

Well, yesterday was the day of the forking. Things came apart in quick fashion, however we needed to go to the bike shop to remove some magical rings and do a switch-a-roo. During the car ride coach and I had a conversation about tubes vs tubeless and what's involved in doing the tubeless conversion. By the ride home I was convinced this is the route I should go. Maybe I'll pick up one of those fancy Stan's tubeless kits. That will be ticket. They're pretty cheap and I'll turn my existing wheelset into a tubeless one. But my tires were off a bit. They were too knobby in the back. Coach had a remedy for that too. He gave me a small block kenda tire to try for my rear wheel. It rolls better and will make me at least 3% faster.

We're now back at coach's pad and the forking has resumed. Well, it resumed after he retrieved his grips from his dogs. They mistook them for chew toys. Anyway, as we... he finishes installing the fork and puts the front tire back on, coach sees my rotor is bent. I have no idea how that happened. I'm so careful with things. Coach gave me a spare rotor to swap out. But he also mentioned that I should consider upgrading my BB5 mechanical discs to some hydraulic. Maybe upgrade to some Elixir 3's. He told me about this Biker Bob character and said he could get me a heck of a deal.

Today I emailed this Biker Bob. Sure enough, he can get me a heck of a deal on some Elixir 3's. Well after the good news, I decided to give my bike a bath and admire the pretty new fork since my knees still hurt from Friday's ride and that's all I could do bike related. Well, as I marveled at my clean Bandersnatch my gears really got grinding. Why stop at the just the fork and the brakes. I do have a tax return on the way. I decided to go to the coach for advice. After a little motivational speech which was pretty much "Why buy a Stan's tubeless kit when you could buy a Stan's ZTR Crest wheelset. Biker Bob can get you a heck of a deal."

Well, as it stands now, I'll have a fancy Bandersnatch all ready for Georgia. I have a new suspension fork, and I'll be ordering groovy hydraulic Elixir 3 brakes, and a snazzy Stan's ZTR Crest wheelset. Now I just have to figure out what color spokes and nipples I want. I'm thinking I'll go red on the nipples. And maybe I'll throw down some yellow hydraulic hose for the brakes. Maybe yellow derailleur cable housing too. Hot Dog colors in affect!

Thanks coach!