It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and spewed on about bike tech, as I’ve been busy with riding my excellent fleet. Betweek M’s new ride, restoring my SS to it’s former glory, and today’s exploits with the Lenz, that will be coming to an end.

I haven’t changed the basic setup of the Lenz for quite a while (besides wearing out tires), but hopping a log this Saturday revealed a weakness of my setup, when my much abused big ring bent, quite a lot. I didn’t want to give up my top end gearing, but longed for the return on my Blackspire bashring, and the carefree rock and log hopping it provides.

Solution? 7 speeds!

I took a file to the tabs on the bottom of the cassette body of my Hope SS hub, took off about 2mm of material, and managed to cram on a 12t cog, in addition to the cassette cluster (32-28-24-21-18) and 14t in place. Road tests reveal no issues as of yet, and a 30-12 top gear is pretty good for my needs.

The casualty.

Otherwise, the fat tires are mounted, to guard against sand this weekend. Next on the menu this evening (after the news), packing the bivy gear, and a night ride.