The Deep Cuts to Life

Urban Dictionary:  Deep Cut

A song by an artist that only true fans of said artist will enjoy/know. True gems that are found later in an album, a b-side. Rarely if ever played on the radio.

     Greatest hits are shoved down our throats constantly.  Turn on the radio, and if it isn't "Hotel California" on a classic rock station, it's that same old Katy Perry song from a few years ago on the pop station.  It gets old, and it gets stale.  Don't get me wrong, greatest hits are fine.  They're great.  But they are not the end-all.  Personally, I have a fondness for the deep cuts, the less known songs that flesh out a good album and give it substance.  The same can go for other parts of life.  The unusual, uncommon, and out-of-the-way places in our lives can be just as important to enjoying life as the obvious aspects.

Trail pic from the Sandy Ridge system.
Taken September 16, 2015

     Concerning mountain biking trails, there are obvious "greatest hits" in every area.  In Tucson, there's places like Fantasy Island and the Sweetwater trails which could be considered "greatest hits."  Up here in Portland, the "greatest hits" are fewer and farther away.  The Sandy Ridge trails are a great example of a purpose-built bike park that everyone who rides knows about, and it gets talked about a lot.  I rode it last summer, and it was really fun.  I liked it.  But it's not the end-all.  I want more trails, I want less contrived trails, I want to go out and get lost.  I want deep cuts.

     At the end of last summer, when I was trying to wring the last drops of mountain biking out of the warm weather, I decided that I needed a new bike.  I had been riding my dad's mountain bike, his Quintana Roo, since I started exploring mountain biking as an adult.  It's a great bike.  It's light, really light.  I've had a few people pick it up randomly and then comment, unprovoked, on how light it is for a bike of its age.  It has a lot of older but top-of-the-line parts.  It's been a great bike to ride.

     But it has it's shortcomings.  First, the front suspension is terrible.  It's a 1997 or 1998 RockShox Indy SL fork, with a whopping 63mm of travel and it uses an elastomer spring.  What that means is that there's a hotdog sized and shaped piece of old, dried out rubber in each stanchion of the fork that provides the suspension for the fork.  To put it mildly, it sucks.  I wanted a bike with a nice, modern suspension fork.  A common starting point for the amount of travel on a modern fork is 100mm, already a lot more than I was riding.  Also, I knew from my days of test riding bikes at REI that I wanted a bike with an air shock--one that uses compressed air to supply the suspension.  It's lighter, smoother, and much more responsive.  Also, I could adjust the air pressure and control how the shock felt, which was enticing.

     Second, while my dad's bike has Shimano Deore XT linear pull rim brakes, they are still rim brakes.  Virtually all modern mountain bikes are running disc brakes, with now even lower end models coming equipped with cheap hydraulic brakes.  Rim brakes just cannot compete in stopping power, especially in wet or muddy conditions, which are more common up here in the Pacific Northwest.  I know that I had, at several points in Tucson, swore I would never own a bike with hydraulic disc brakes, but I finally realized I had to eat my words and get with the times.

Father & Son
Taken on April 27, 2016

     Lastly, I wanted a bike that just felt more modern.  My dad's mountain bike has a very outdated frame geometry--it has a top tube parallel with the ground--and it uses 26-inch wheels.  26-inch wheels were the standard and just about the only option in the beginning and for much of mountain biking's short life, but today is rarely found on brand new models.  Although I've been able to ride my dad's bike fairly comfortably, I knew it could be better, and I wanted to experience that.

     Also, I wanted to become more intimately familiar with a lot of these newer technologies.  I had brushed against them, sometimes often, while working at the REI in Tucson, but it's different to actually own and use something than to just read and follow directions on a piece of paper.  I wanted to learn firsthand the little tricks and nuances of these things that are fast becoming the norm, as the next wave of next generation technology hits the shelves.

Fully built, ready to ride, pre-dirt.
Taken on April 26, 2016

     I'd had my eye on the Soma B-Side frame for a while, mostly because I liked the bright orange paint job and because it's a chromoly frame.  The B-Side is named so because it is designed for using the 650B wheel size, now slightly more commonly known as 27.5-inch.  The 27.5-inch wheel size is the most recent size fad, coming a number of years after 29-inch wheels became popular and generally "accepted."  But, interestingly, Soma was one of the few companies making production quality mountain bike frames for 27.5-inch wheels long before it became the latest fad.  What was once a very uncommon bike, a deep cut or b-side, if you will, has now become very common and popular.

     I did have a little bit of a dilemma concerning the notion of building up an awesome new bike... that was a chromoly hardtail.  Most people would undoubtedly look forward to getting a sweet full suspension bike, maybe even breaking the bank further by wanting a carbon fiber frame.  Sure, if I were to go that route, I'm sure I'd have a ton of fun.  I've noticed a lot of the trails up here around Portland cater to bikes like that.  Gravity.  Enduro riding.  Trails that have some climbing but when it comes to the bread and butter of the riding, it's with tires pointed downhill and rocketing over gnarly roots, rocks, and obstacles.  Hardtails can handle a lot of it, but at a slower and more concentrated pace.  I was wondering if I was making the right choice by ignoring what was around me and stubbornly saying "No, I want good ol' cross country riding", even if that wasn't around me in great abundance.  But after several nights of scouring the internet and other sources, I began to realize that there actually are lesser known, older trails sprinkled around the area that don't get a lot of publicity.  I decided to put the headphones over my ears, and flip the record to listen to the b-side of mountain biking.

     So one day, at the end of summer and the beginning of fall, I began piecing together a build plan for a new bike.  Originally I started with a pretty straight forward build, spec'ing almost exclusively Shimano Deore parts and a RockShox Recon Gold fork, which was basically the starting point for an air-sprung fork with a tapered steer tube.  The total cost of the bike, using my discount at work, came out to a very do-able and manageable amount for us.  Excitedly, I let that spreadsheet sit untouched for a few months.  Our plan was to start building it in the spring, using our tax refund as a springboard to begin the parts buying process.

     But then I started to notice something.  I have a subscription for bike magazine, the only mountain biking magazine that I really care for, and I noticed that a lot of the bikes that these people were riding were using SRAM parts instead of Shimano parts.  Sure, the Shimano stuff was there, but I was a little surprised to see so much SRAM.  I began looking at what was on these top-end bikes, and noticed that SRAM was really pulling out all of the stops in developing new avenues for bike parts, instead of just rehashing the same thing sleeker and lighter each year.  I made a decision to try something a little different for me, and chose a SRAM GX 2x10 drivetrain.  I figured if I didn't like it, sometime in the future I can always go back to Shimano, which I know is reliable.

SRAM GX 10 speed rear derailleur,
mounted to a Paragon Machine Works
sliding dropout for a 12mm thru-axle.
Whew.
Taken on April 27, 2016

     Then I got to thinking again.  I realized that I was building this bike up from nothing--I could do whatever I wanted!  There were not many limitations--mostly what the frame allowed, and my new frame would end up having some surprises in store for me.  I began pondering the notion of getting a fork that used a thru-axle system instead of a traditional 9mm quick release axle.  I played with the spec again, and settled on the RockShox Reba RL fork.  It was only a little more more expensive to do this, although the fork actually ended up costing a little more than the frame, which just goes to show how vital it is to invest in a reliable and adequate suspension fork.

    Shortly afterwards, I got thinking again.  I had a front thru-axle... why not a rear thru-axle?  The Soma B-Side is a little unique in that it uses sliding dropouts.  I imagine the main reason this was designed into the frame was to allow for single speed drivetrains, be it true single speeds or internally geared hubs such as the reputable Rohloff 14-speed hubs.  But it dawned on me that these sliding dropouts were actually a separate part that could come off the bike.  I did some research, and of course, discovered that there were after-market dropouts that fit my bike that could fit 12mm x 142mm thru-axle rear wheels.  It wouldn't cost that much more... I had to do it.

     Reaching the maximum amount allowed by my wife, I had my plan set and all that was left was to order the parts week by week as we saved back money from each paycheck.  After the last parts came in and were installed, I rode it for the first time in the parking lot of our apartment complex.  I had been nervous for weeks that the frame would not be a good fit; it looked so small compared to all of the other frames I had.  I knew it would be different... but it's hard to judge something that is different.  But the moment I pushed off with that first pedal stroke, it felt right.  It felt good.  The fit, which I'll undoubtedly dial in over the summer, was exactly what I imagined it would be.  As I rode around the parking lot burnishing the new brake pads in, I couldn't help but smile and feel that I'd done it.  I'd bought and built up my first completely new bike for myself.

     I couldn't wait to go find the deep cuts.

Parked next to an old box car on the Deschutes River Trail.
Taken on April 26, 2016

Specs, for those interested.

Frame:  Soma B-Side V.3 18.5"
Fork:  RockShox Reba RL 120mm
Wheels:  Shimano Deore M618 Center-lock hubs laced to SunRingle Inferno 27 rims
Tires:  Continental Mountain King 27.5 x 2.4"
Brakes:  Shimano Deore M615 hydraulic disc brakes, 180mm rotor front, 160mm rotor rear
Shifters:  SRAM GX 2x10 shifters
Front Derailleur:  SRAM X.7 double
Rear Derailleur:  SRAM GX 10 speed
Chain:  SRAM PC-1031 10 speed chain
Cassette:  SRAM PG-1030 11 tooth to 36 tooth 10 speed cassette
Crankset:  GX 1000 double crank, 175mm x 36 tooth x 22 tooth
Bottom Bracket:  SRAM GXP threaded outboard bearings
Pedals:  Eclypse Cutting Edge platform pedal, sealed bearing
Seatpost:  Origin-8 Pro-Fit alloy post, 27.2mm x 400mm
Seatpost Collar:  Salsa Lip-Lock 30.0mm
Saddle:  WTB Speed-V (ok ok, so this is an old saddle... planning on getting a Brooks Cambium!)
Headset:  Cane Creek 40 ZS44/EC44
Stem:  Used Profile Designs 100mm reach, probably 35 degree (gonna buy a new stem once I get the fit dialed)
Handlebars:  Used RaceFace bars (might hold onto these, they were a good deal at work)
Grips:  Ergon GP-1L grips
Dropouts:  Paragon Machine Works sliding dropouts 12mm x 142mm