SOURCE: KAT DUFFELS
So last summer I got a sweet little 4 inch travel bike that I named “Little Johnnyâ€. Since I got the little guy we’ve managed to hit up almost every riding spot in the Lower Mainland plus a tonne of amazing trails in the Interior like William’s Lake, Kamloops, Kelowna, Merrit, etc …
To say the least, I’ve pounded Little Johnny pretty hard! To handle the bigger trails I built Little Johnny up to be quite beefy- 2.5 Maxxis Minions, a heavy dirt jump seat, a 5th element coil shock, and a 7 inch Boxxer World Cup. It got to the point where Little Johnny weighed more than my friend’s V10! It was definitely time for a trip to the spa for him!
When little Johnny first got to the spa.
Initial weigh in
First things first, Little Johnny started off with a relaxing bum massage. His heavy black dirt jump seat was replaced it with a sexy white WTB Deva. It’s WTB’s new women’s race saddle. More narrow and padded than the men’s seat, but still light and sleek like a race saddle. It has got titanium rails which helps fring the weight down to only 225g! The only issue I have is that the white leather is hard to keep pristine when riding in the mud.
Old seat:
New Seat:
After the massage, Little Johnny was treated to a pedicure. I took of his 2.5 Minions and replaced them with Hutchinson’s Barracuda 2.3 MRC Tubeless tires with MX casing. All that means is that the tires are designed similar to motor-cross tires, which makes them really strong, even though they are lighter weight.
Remove old rubber after a good pounding:
New Rubber is always better for pounding:
I am really surprised that I did not notice more of a difference in handling from my 2.5’s to my 2.3’s. I felt just as confident in corners and in tight and technical sections. The Barracuda’s have small square knobs that increase traction plus, reinforced lateral knobs, which help in corners. The biggest difference between the tires is that the 2.3’s have much less rolling resistance, so I feel faster. (And we all know that if you feel faster-sooner or later you will be faster)
Fresh Pink Shift Housing:
Johnny’s final treatment was just to pretty him up a bit. While I was just changing my shifter cable and housing from regular wear and tear, I put on some bright pink Jagwire cable housing. The full-length pink looks really sweet! Plus, apparently some of the proceeds from the cable housing sales go to support breast cancer research. (I heard this from a friend of a friend- I could not find more information on the website but they may just be being modest.) If you’re interested in getting some, Jagwire is distributed by QBP in north america, so you can order it from your local bike shop through them. To learn more about Jagwire’s Pink Cable initiative, please visit www.pinkcables.com.
Hot Little Johnny on his way home
Weigh out when leaving the spa
When I got Little Johnny back from the spa he had lost over 2.5 lbs from changing just the tires and the seat. He felt like a new bike! A week after the spa I took Johnny to the Bear Mountain Downhill race in Mission, BC where him and I managed to pull out 2nd overall!
If you are looking for a set of Hutchinson tires, have your local shop contact KMI in Canada or go to their site for to find a dealer. WTB has a great dealer locator on their site as well, if your butt needs some luvin too.
Check out all links here:
www.hutchinsontires.com
www.wtb.com
www.jagwireusa.com
Kat Duffels
Endless Biking Chickas
Brodie Bikes
