Sunday, December 6, 2009

Snowy Springton Manor Farm


Today I rode 7.4 miles at Springton Manor Farm. It snowed yesterday about 1 or 2 inches so I waited until the afternoon to ride. Although short in miles, it was a good workout in the snow. The Fantom 29 performed flawlessly.

I first went on the trail through Burgess Park off RT 282.













Then I made my way to Springton Manor Farm. I actually saw 3 hikers on the trails and two huge deer.


















Riding through the snow made for a good workout.





























Good thing there is no hunting on Sundays.





































































I am wondering if I can ride through here. Maybe if there were a 4th sign I could be sure.











On the way back home I ran into Santa who was driving around the township wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!










5 comments:

Small Adventures said...

Looks like it was a fun time :)
I wanted to ride today,but the wife has Sunday's off,so no mileage for me today. :p

Steve

FraSiec said...

Yeah, my wife says I got fat after we got married but doesn't like me to be out riding too long either. Can't have it all.

Anonymous said...

Hi, came across your blog while looking for information on the Moto 29 Pro Sl. You seem to be the most active blog out there that comments on the bike, and thought I'd ask your advice on them.

I'm considering buying a pro sl, which to my understanding is the same frame as the fantom 29, but with upgraded components. On the bikesdirect site pictures, it looks like there is little room between the tire and the cross bar brace on the chain stays, near the bottom bracket. The bike comes with a 2.1 tire, but I'm wondering if the bike can support a larger tire. In your experience, and looking at your bike, what do you think?

Also, sizing. I'm 5' 11", with about a 31 inch inseam. What do you recommend?

Appreciate any advice you may be able to give. Regards.

Mike said...

To the one asking about tire size:

I measured the frame and the stays neck down to about 65 mm. So the tire width would have to be less than that. Circumference wise there is plenty of clearance,about 27 mm.

But I think you are going to be limited by rim size. The Pro SL has WTB Trail29 LaserDisc rims. According to the WTB catalog the interior rim width is 21 mm. According to Sheldon Browns tire size chart, a 21 mm rim should be limited to a 50 mm tire width. This is slightly smaller than the 29 x 2.1 tire that is on the bike.

According to Sheldon Brown "If you use a very wide tire on a narrow rim, you risk sidewall or rim failure. This combination causes very sloppy handling at low speeds. Unfortunately, current mountain-bike fashion pushes the edge of this. In the interest of weight saving, most current mountain bikes have excessively narrow rims. Such narrow rims work very poorly with wide tires, unless the tires are overinflated...but that defeats the purpose of wide tires, and puts undue stress on the rim sidewalls."

I hope that helps.
Mike

Anonymous said...

Mike,

Thanks so much for your information on the width of the chain stay. Did you measure at the point where the chain cross support is, near the bottom bracket?

Interesting the information you provided on the tire width and rim width. It may limit the rims to use with more racing oriented tires, rather than beefier x-country tires.