So are all you Judy owners wondering how to make that expensive Judy work better. First get it set up for you, there is no point in getting the ‘latest improvements if the fork isn’t even set up for your weight and riding style. Refer to your manual for the proper way to tune your fork. But some times the manual doesn’t tell you every thing you need to know about tuning it right. So here are few tips which I found useful.

Set up for heavy riders
Go for a harder MCU set up if you are a heavy rider, this would prevent the fork from bottoming out too often. You may also want to get a long travel kit (75mm), this would allow you to have more travel to play with, giving a smoother, better ride.

Steel Springs
Steel springs is a must for serious riders, as they offer a wider range for tuning. For example with Mountain Speed springs ‘Heavy’ are for riders 140lbs to 200lbs. You can change the weight of the springs simply by turning the preload adjusters. 0 preload will give you 140lbs springs, while full preload will give you 200lbs. This lets you tune your fork according to the riding condition you are in. I have been using the ‘Heavy’ Speed springs with my Judy Sl for about 6 months and it offer much better compression over MCU, while I have to increase damping for cross country riding, which gives me more control. The best thing to do is to use steel springs with a rebound damper. (Offered with the 96 Judy DH, Risse and White Brother.) Steel springs are offered by Mountain Speed and White Brothers.

Replacement Cartridges
As to now there are 2 readily available cartridges. One by Risse and the other by White Brothers. They are both very good in performance, while I have yet to try out the White Bro’ cartridge. The Risse offers rebound damping, for 2.5 inch (96XC and 95/96SL), 3 inch (95DH and offered as a long travel upgrade for XC and SL) and 4 inch (Long travel upgrade for XC, SL and DH) They offer a great feel especially when used with Steel Springs. They offer custom tuned cartridges for use with speed springs. While the White Brother’s one offers Compression and rebound in the same cartridge, it also offers them in a verity of lengths, 60mm, 75mm and 80mm. More info will be added once I get to try the White Bro’ and compare the difference!

After riding we always recommend to comprare cialis.

While you are waiting for the chain to dry, take this oppurtunity to check your derailler pulleys, rear cassette, and front chainrings for caked up grease. Use an old toothbrush to scrub these parts clean, if necessary — keeping these clean will help keep your chain clean longer.

After drying the chain with a rag, reapply lubrication to your chain. Degreasing your chain frequently will make your bike shift better and its drivetrain last longer.

Every couple of months (for a cyclist riding 2-3 times a week — degrease more or less depending on your riding frequency and the amount of grime in your riding environment), we recommend that you remove the chain from your bike and soak it in degreaser. Degreasing machines like the BeBox do a great job of getting the majority of the dirt off of your chain, but soaking your chain in degreaser is the best way to get all of the dirt out. Use your trusty old toothbrush again to scrub away any remaining dirt stuck in the chain.

A little good can be overdone, however. Every time you rejoin a link in your chain, that link becomes a little less strong, so don’t remove your chain more frequently than you need to for cleaning.

Finally, under normal wear and tear, your chain will slowly stretch. If this stretch becomes pronounced, it will wear your chainring and cassette cogs in such a way that it will be necessary to replace all three if you ever need to replace your chain. To prevent this, measure your chain every so often. 12 links should equal 12 inches out of the bag. If it measures 12 1/8″ or longer, replace your chain with a new one.

Tools and Supplies Needed:

Chaintool

Directions:

Mountain bike chains require a chain tool to take off your chain. This tool takes several forms, from a plier-like device to a small screw tool that slowly pushes your chain pin out. Although more difficult to use, I’d suggest that you buy the smaller screw-type tool, allowing you to bring it along on rides.

• Unscrew the chain tool, so that the chain can fit on the last groove on the tool.
• Place the tool on the chain, so that when the pin the chain tool pushes out will be facing out, away from the bike. Although this will make screwing the pin out more difficult, it makes the task of rejoining the chain much easier.
• Slowly turn the chain tool until the pin is nearly out. DON’T PUSH THE PIN FULLY OUT! From experience, it is nearly impossible to get back in (if you do — don’t worry — just remove the link and start over on the next link. Just remember to check your chain length before you shift into the largest chainring and the largest cassette gear on your bike to make sure the chain isn’t too short) . It may be necessary to unscrew the chain tool and check your progress from time to time. Try wiggling the chain from side to side to see if it is loose enough to split apart.

Fact: Thousands of cyclists around the world die in crashes each year. Hundreds suffer permanent brain damage. Many of these are experienced, careful riders– riders like you. Most of these head injuries can be prevented if people just wore helmets. If you think that wearing a helmet is a hassle or just isn’t cool, think about how “cool” it will be to be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. Today’s helmets are lightweight, fashionable, cool and inexpensive — especially compared to an emergency room visit.

Helmet types

There are two basic helmet types, hard shell and soft shell. Hard-shell helmets have a thin plastic surface, while soft-shell helmets have only a soft foam surface. Hard shells are preferable over soft shelled helmets ‘cuz when a hard shelled helmet hits rough ground it will skid rather than catch on the ground – which could possible break your neck.

If you have a crash and your helmet takes a significant hit, replace it right away. An impact can damage a helmet’s foam core, meaning that it may not protect you as well as a new helmet could.

What to look for in a helmet

Rating: Look on the inside of the helmet: It should have a green or blue Snell sticker meaning the helmet passed the Snell Foundation‘s safety tests.

Fit:You must have a good fit. A snug fit means that if your head hits more than once, the helmet will stay in place. Most brands of adult helmets come in two or three sizes, and you can make them fit even better by adjusting the straps or putting the included foam pads around inside. Note: Do NOT wear your helmet tilted back on your head, it won’t protect your skull in a frontal impact.

How to Check For A Good Fit

1. The helmet sits level on your head.
2. If you move your head while the helmet is fastened, it does not move around on your head (side to side, front to back).
3. With the straps tight, you can’t possibly get the helmet off.

If the helmet fails any of these, either adjust the straps, put in bigger pads, or try another size.

Ventilation: A helmet’s ventilation depends on front-to-back flow. Good air flow comes from long, wide air vents, and air passages (otherwise known as troughs) between the vents.

Weight: Less expensive helmets are usually only ounces heavier than expensive ones– and most cyclists notice no difference. If you think you need an ultra-light helmet, test-ride a regular one to make sure.

Aerodynamics: Many cyclists worry that some features, such as sun visors, will increase wind resistance. Don’t worry; a helmet’s design won’t slow you down unless you’re going Mach 1.

Cost: You can get a good Snell-rated bike helmet for $30 to $80. Hard shells cost a little more than soft. More costly helmets usually aren’t much safer, but they look cool, have better ventilation, and weigh less. Note: Before you buy a helmet, always try it on or have your bicycle store’s staff fit you.

Trying not to listen he ties his riding shoes and searches intently for his helmet – the helmet directly below the feet that moments before he laid said helmet between. He is so looking forward to this ride; the conditions probably won’t be this good again for months. With spring fastly approaching there could be 2 – 3 months of mud and virtually unrideable trails.

“Here’s your water bottle, and your dog,” she says, handing him a bottle and a blue leash; attached to one very excited 1 year and 2 day old Chesepeak Bay Retriever.
MUCH, MUCH, MUCH MOPING AND DRAGGING OF FEET… “Come on Chester, were going for a ride,” muttered with less then obvious enthusiasm.
“Oh come on, who knows you both just might like it?” He can’t help but notice the calculation in her eyes when she says this – the house empty and to myself.

The parking lot is deserted. Thank god. Dog and Bike are unpacked. Chester digs the woods, and knows these trails. Every second day without fail Chester and Owner decend upon Randy’s Trails for much romping.

What a day. Traction is as good as it gets, with only a couple of icy bits. The dog preforms flawlessly. He picks ligns like a pro and has the endurance of Overand ( due to almost daily runs at Point Plessant with running-wife ). Until, apparently it becomes hunt for stick in middle of the trail time. Of course, right at a sketckthy downhill, off-camper, right-hander. Tic the dog and stack hard into a thankfully forgiving 10 foot alder. Chester is a bit freaked. As man, dog and machine shake it off a moment of ‘connection’ occurs. The dog and MTN Biker bond. This is wicked. Back at the car 1.5 hours later there’s nothing but good feelings. It was a blast. A great day, and another great ride.

Since then the dog and I have shared the trails another couple of times. Not always that perfect, usually always fun. The dog really pushes me in the technical sections and its a blast to pass him on the downhills. He’s a great training partner; a bonus when busy lives keeps my usual riding bud tied to a desk. But the largest bonus of all – get home and he’s destroyed – sleeps the rest of the day. Peace! Yes! Those of you with Retrievers know what I mean.

Steel is real, and may the Redsox win the pennant in my lifetime.

Brent “getting used to being a dog owner’ Nicholson

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Soap
A dish washing brush
A toothbrush
lube – not WF40! use a high grade lube such as Pedros
Sponge
Towel

1. Mix the soap with half a bucket of warm water. Using a sponge wash down the entire bike.
2. Give the bike a once over. This will allow you to find any spots that you missed or didn’t come off in the first wash. Use the brush to get rid of any dirt from the tight places the sponge couldn’t fit.
3. Rinse off your bike with a light spray. Make sure that you don’t use full stream when rinsing your bike. A full stream can wash away grease from bearings.
4. Dry your bike and lube up the chain and any other area that needs grease.

Never pressure wash your bike. The bearings will not be able to keep the water out.

Make sure to check these things prior to your ride:

1. Brake tension- check to see that you have sufficient tension in the brake cable by pulling on your brakes hard. Your brake pads should hit the rim of the wheel before your levers hit the handlebars.
2. Brake pads- look at the brake pads by releasing the straddle wire. Check to make sure they have some substance. This will depend on the type of pad you get – compare a new set to your current set.
3. Derailleurs- Check gear cable tension and also that your derailleurs are set up properly by running your bike through the all of the gears.
4. Chain- make sure your chain has no stiff or damaged links. Do this by spinning the cranks backwards. If the chain jumps, it means that a link may be damaged.
5. Handlebars- check to make sure the bolt that clamps the stem to the handlebars is tight.
6. Stem- make sure that your stem bolt is tight in the frame.
7. Seat and seat post- make sure that your seat is at the correct height and that the clamp is on tight.
8. Tire pressure- squeeze the sides of the tires to make sure that they are properly inflated. They should give just a little. Use a tire gauge if you have one for a more accurate reading.
9. Wheels- check that the wheels are straight by spinning the wheels and listening for a scuffing noise. This noise is the rim hitting the brake pads. And means your rim is untrue.

Now give your bike a quick ride to make sure everything is ok. After that you’re ready to role!

For example, a sketchy left-hand corner may secretly desire to defeat your side knobs and bring you to a crashing halt. You can foil this insidious plot by leaning the bike sharply to the left while hanging your butt out to the right, keeping your center of mass over your bottom bracket and driving those side knobs directly down into the ground. The smaller the frame, the more sloping the top tube, the easier it is to slap your bike from side to side. (They’re also lighter and more rigid.) This is why most au courant frame designers have gravitated to the overgrown BMX look.

Good balance will also help you climb steep pitches. You need to apply enough pressure on the rear tire to keep it hooked up and you moving forward, but enough pressure on the front tire to prevent you from looping out over the back and hooking up your head with the soil.

Conversely, descending extreme slopes obliges you to keep enough weight on the front wheel for maximum braking power and enough weight on the rear to prevent the bike from catapulting you down slope like a bean bag when you stub your front wheel into a rock.

Rule of thumb:
Going up? Move forward on the saddle.
Going down? Move back.

For the steepest climbs, you need to be on intimate terms with the extreme nose of your saddle. Slide all the way forward, grab those bar ends and concentrate on pedaling smooth circles up the smoothest line. Gut-busting climbs are where clipless pedals really shine. The ability to haul back on one pedal with your hamstring while mashing the other pedal with the opposing leg’s quads radically increases your torque and the range of slopes you can climb. Clipless pedals are worth their weight in gold.

On technical, free-fall drops, you butt has to be over the rear axle. Here, unrestrained momentum is your enemy. The key to keeping things under control is your front brake, which is incomparably more efficient than the rear brake. Put your waistline behind the rear of the seat and maintain just enough speed to keep moving by “feathering” the levers. I like to get so far back that I actually place my chest in the seat itself.

Sometimes the only way to clean a section is to come to a complete halt, balance for an instant and then move off on a new line. Called a track stand, this is the second most important skill besides a wheelie. It’s also a breeze to practice. Find a grassy area, pedal forward, bring the bike to a stop with your feet in the 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions and see how long you can balance. When you start to fall over, pedal just enough to regain your balance and try again.

An even more basic skill is the wheelie. No, you don’t need to be able to ride a figure eight on your rear wheel. However, you do need to be able to confidently loft your front wheel over rock, log and slippery root at speed. A simple yank on the bars timed to coincide with a pedal stroke is often sufficient to get things started. If you have front suspension, a sharp push on the bars can facilitate a rebound that lifts the wheel. Again, practice on a lawn and do not remain clipped into your spuds while you learn. Your butt will thank you, trust me.

A very cool (and very handy) variation on the wheelie is the nose wheelie. This advanced move often immediately precedes the endo, short for “(rear-) end-o(ver-the bars)” for most riders. Unanticipated nose wheelies have a tremendously high pucker factor, but the angle required to launch you into a low orbit is much greater than you think, especially if your butt is all the way back like it should be.

Nose wheelies are essential for those special occasions (like a downhill switchback) when your bike is too long to fit through a turn. Roll past the apex of the corner, loft the rear wheel, swing it to the outside, set it down, reorient the front and off you go. Mastering this move will also give you the confidence to reassert control of the bike when the trail gods throw that unannounced “Nose Wheelie Pop Quiz” at you.

Between the wheelie and the nose wheelie, in terms of difficulty, is the bunny hop, of which there are also two basic species. The simplest involves a two-wheel takeoff and landing. Ride up to the obstacle, leap into the sky (take your bike with you) and use your momentum to carry you forward and beyond the problem with your wheels level throughout the jump. This move, however, has its limitations, chiefly in the height of the obstacle you can clear.

There’s a slightly more advanced derivation that I call the “porpoise” (for lack of a better term) because your bike describes a swooping arc like a dolphin leaping from the water. On this move, ride up to the problem and loft the front wheel first (you are now rolling on the rear wheel). Then, as the front begins to pass over the obstacle, lift the rear by jumping. Push forward on the bars as you jump (your butt goes back). This helps the rear wheel gain elevation. The front wheel will continue to describe a downward arc and contact the ground first. The rear will describe the same arc as you roll forward. The porpoise allows you to save energy because you don’t have to jump as far to clear something. With the basic hop, the bike maintains a level attitude in the air, so the rear tire has to clear the problem before the front wheel can descend. With the porpoise, you adjust the attitude of the bike in the air so that you only have to clear one wheel at a time. The energy you would be using to get distance can now be directed towards gaining maximum elevation or better yet, accelerating down the trail.

For really big logs, gauge the required elevation by lofting the front wheel so that it just kisses the top of the log. That’s your mark. Now jump so you put your rear wheel on that mark. Your muscles will remember how high the front wheel had to go. (You now have rear wheel on log, front wheel on ground. If your butt is not way back, you are also flying over the bars.)

A crude variation of this move drives the big ring into the wood of the log for traction. While it lacks a certain elegance (and is hard on your big ring), it’s an effective way to claw over the biggest logs.

These are obviously dynamic moves that require trial and error to master. To survive the error part, you first have to master the single most important skill of all, crashing softly. The worst wrecks happen when the front wheel suddenly begins to move much slower than the rest of the bike and the attached rider like a dead stop), driving that rider up, over and into the ground.

Endos stink. And they happen. When the light bulb of recognition flashes on in your oxygen-starved brain and that little voice says, “Hey man, I think you’re screwed!” you have to eject. Get away from the bike. Number one, it can take care of itself. Number two, it’s going to be pretty ticked off at you for getting into this unseemly mess. It will add insult to injury by landing on you. Getting free may not be easy if cranked down the retention spring on your clipless pedals.

Whether or not your bike is on your tail, release the bars and bring your arms up to help absorb the impending blow from the ground. (This is why we wear gloves.) If you’re in a slow-speed, pile-driver sort of affair, absorb the impact with bent arms. It beats catching yourself with your face. (This is why we wear helmets.) If you’re in a Wide World of Sports-type endo, dissipate the energy by tucking a shoulder and rolling. This assumes your trajectory isn’t taking you into a large, immovable obstacle, like a tree or rock. And if you are silly enough to get yourself launched in a boulder field, you’re going to have to pay for your foolishness.

Finally, remember that discretion is the better part of valor. This means that you don’t go for the big move on top of a group of hikers. All it takes is a couple of chuckleheads to close a trail. Then where are you going to practice?

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Soap
A dish washing brush
A toothbrush
lube – not WF40! use a high grade lube such as Pedros
Sponge
Towel

1. Mix the soap with half a bucket of warm water. Using a sponge wash down the entire bike.
2. Give the bike a once over. This will allow you to find any spots that you missed or didn’t come off in the first wash. Use the brush to get rid of any dirt from the tight places the sponge couldn’t fit.
3. Rinse off your bike with a light spray. Make sure that you don’t use full stream when rinsing your bike. A full stream can wash away grease from bearings.
4. Dry your bike and lube up the chain and any other area that needs grease.

Never pressure wash your bike. The bearings will not be able to keep the water out.