It was a short night, even though I decided not to hang out with the twenty-to-thirty something year old bike mechanics attending the summit. No way I’d fit into this group as I couldn’t see myself draped over a bar stool at the local bar here in downtown Long Beach. Anyway, after a quick breakfast, Day 2 of the tech sessions got under way at 8:30am.
In the first session with Rock Shox, I would spend the next three hours tearing down, overhauling, and rebuilding the 32mm SID SL fork and the Monarch 4.2 rear shock. It was a very informative session covering the theory and engineering of the dual flow air spring assembly, the Blackbox Motion Control damper, and shim stack arrangement for tuning to the bike’s frame.
After a lunch break I headed over to the session put on by Shimano. Their three hour class focused on the multi-service approach to shop mechanics and neutral support.
What it really turned out to be was a potpourri of tricks and tips to accomplishing routine
shop repair and service tasks. Here is a partial list of what was covered:
- trouble shooting/correcting bad shifting
- Di2 installation and trouble shooting (not a elegant design from my prospective)
- XTR brake bleeding
- causes for brake noise
- on the bike brake hose trimming to length w/o bleeding
- brake pad characteristics
- chainring installation
- XTR pedal repair
- perfect chain installation
- rear derailleur cage replacement w/o spring removal
The final session of the day was done by Calvin Jones, Park Tool, and covered several issues. We discussed the problems associated with the variety of bottom bracket design standards and trouble shooting disc brake caliper and rotor alignment that sometimes results in rotor noise. We spent some time removing and reinstalling BB cartridge bearings from different types of frames, and then did disc brake frame prep to improve rotor-caliper alignment on IS and post type mounts. Then he introduced the new industry nomenclature and classification system being adopted for headset identification called S.H.I.S. ( Standardized Headset Identification System). Seems appropriate!
Actually found my brain to be in a state of information over load by the end of the 6th class hour today. Had it not been for the coffee break at 3PM my head surely would have exploded. But, all in all, I picked up some new skills and a clearer mindset about trouble shooting problems I frequently see at the shop in Montana.
Time well spent! Now time to go home. Have missed the Mrs.
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