1998 Overall Equipment Report

Going the Distance

Why the Hell Should You Listen to Me?

Like duh and stuff. I pay for most of my equipment, and I race reasonably seriously in the expert vet (35-44) class. This year i was 5th at the big bear norba nat'l, 2nd at the lemurian, 6th overall at the cascade cream puff 100 miler, and i won the kooka cup overall. So I don't completely suck, and my equipment choices have obviously been fairly successful. Here's the summary:

Wheels

Bottom line: if you don't ride bontrager rims, you're wasting your time and money. Front rims are pretty much all the same, but the Asym rear rims are in a class by themselves. I've never had such reliability in a rear wheel. I'm only 155 lbs, but I race hard, and I haven't had to work on my rear wheels at all this year. I used ritchey revolution spokes, alloy nips and an xtr rear hub. If you ride in lots of wet weather and your lazy, get an lx hub. The xtr's aren't terribly well sealed, but they sure are light.

Tires

It seemed like the weather stayed wet until mid june, then all of the sudden it dried out and everything got really loose. As a result I didn't race slicks too much this year. I had great results with the bontrager revolt st2 in the rear and a tioga psycho in front until it got super loose, then i switched to an irc mythos 2.1. The IRC is narrowish, but it sticks and its way light. The bontrager is a little narrow too, so i'll have to keep looking for a full-on dry conditions race tire. I'd like to try some hutchinson pythons. If you have some, let me know how you like them. <>