Bike tweaks!

Let’s talk a little more about the setup of my mountain bike for the Cape Epic, the Chiru Pulse. It is a 29” hardtail that has little tweaks and mods that adhere to the concept of favouring reliability over light weight – an approach that is absolutely essential to surviving the Cape Epic.

 New XTR Trail 38/26 chainrings: as mentioned in an earlier post, chainsuck and skipping gears are two things one can live without; pairing new rings with a new chain ensures that does not happen. Also note the chainstay metal shield is missing...
A huge cable tie secures the rear shifter housing. The Chiru’s frame has cable tie bosses only accepts the smallest of cable ties, often leading to breakage after particularly hard and bumpy riding. We circumvent that by wrapping a big one around the entire chainstay. Big thanks go to my mechanic Gabriel Tan for figuring that one out.

Going on safari two days ago and seeing the sheer number of acacia thorns strewn along the trails out there has convinced me that putting THREE 60ml cups of Stan’s Notube sealant PER tire is a good idea. Some thorns are the size of large nails and needle sharp. The choice of UST versions of Maxxis Crossmarks – with a thicker sidewall and better all-round puncture resistance – was a no-brainer.

Worn Ergon GX-1 grips. Grips are something that get more comfortable the older they are, and these are no exception – these were pulled off the Turner Flux and colour-coordinate with the black saddle on the Chiru, replacing the original white versions and giving the entire machine a black/red theme.

Water bottle cage on the seatpost. This is a hallmark of the typical Cape Epic participant, where extra water or repair kit may be carried here. I’m going for the latter option. A durable, no-nonsense thick-gauge alloy model ensures I do not lose my storage container.

A few things going on here: the XTR Shadow Plus rear derailleur clutch system plays a big role in reducing the incidence of chainsuck or the chain bouncing off the chainrings completely, and was an obvious choice for Cape Epic. The cable housing here and at other points of the bike’s shifting system has been sealed with heat-shrink hosing to create a better dust- and water-resistant interface. Finally, as mentioned before, additional thicker cable ties hold the shifter cable securely. Never ever trust a 2mm-wide sliver of plastic to hold up over 8 days and 698km of racing.