'Cross is coming.  Less than 30 days until the real season begins. 

I read Brooke's post on single chainring stuff, and got to thinking I should probably put a bigger chainring on my single ring 'cross rig in preparation for the dirt crit taking place this Sunday.  Since I took everything apart, I decided to snap a few photos and show you how to set up a single chain ring setup for yourself.

First of all, the additional supplies you'll need.  There are two options:

You might also need to snag a bottom bracket spacer, which is basically a skinny washer that fits between your bottom bracket shell and your frame. You can find one at your local bike shop.  If memory serves, you can also use those thin washers that come with 10spd Shimano cassettes.  Best to just ask the bike shop since we're only talking a few bucks here.

Chainring Guard

Jump Stop Chain deflector

Single ring bolt set

If you're going to use a single ring, do it for reliability - prevention of dropping your chain.  Dual guard is the way to go here, as it keeps the chain on in all those funky situations where they'll come off with a deflector (crash, backwards pedal derailment).  It's up to you, but I say dual guards are the way to go.

Chainring guards can be purchased just about anywhere.  They come in metal, or carbon fiber.  I got metal, because I don't think a carbon guard would hold up all that well when bashed into a log.  You can also get an old 46 tooth (or so) chainring and file off the teeth.  Not quite as pretty, but it will work!

If you really want to use a single guard setup, just replace your outer chainring with a guard instead, and install the chain deflector.  For a dual guard setup, here's how I do it:

Where does the chainring go?
This is the main pain-in-the-arse for single ring setup.  Your cranks will have two spots to put your chainring - the inside, or the outside. The spot you use is determined by the best chainline and inner guard/chainstay clearance.  Using the inside looks the prettiest, but that doesn't always work.  If you're using a single guard, use the inside.  For a dual guard setup, the inner guard needs to clear the chainstay.  Check it out:

Usually, you can just put the inner guard on the inner spot on your cranks.  Sometimes, there won't be enough clearance.  You can choose to either get a wider bottom bracket (BB), or stick a 1mm spacer between the BB and the frame to push it out a millimeter or so.  This might not work for all cranks, though.  Every frame/bottom bracket/crankset combination is different, so you just have to try it out. Back in the days of 9 speed, it worked well to get an XTR octalink BB, which was wider than a road double, but more narrow than a BB designed for a triple chainring (splined road and mountain BBs are otherwise not interchangeable). Cranks using a square taper bottom bracket are great, because there are a TON of BB width options out there to choose from. Long story short - it MIGHT take some tweaking.  Might.

So the two chainring spots on your crankset are taken by a guard, and your chainring.  To bolt on the second guard, you use the extended single ring bolt set, which contains five spacers for your outer (or inner) chain guard.  It's hard to describe, but not difficult to do.  I'll illustrate in the photos below.

Here we go...step by step installation of a dual guard setup.  So grab your cranks and follow along:

I'm putting my chainring in the outer spot.  Yeah, it's a green Pro Neck chainring.  So?  I've been itching to use it some day...

I set those chainring bolt spacers on top of the chainring:

Once you get all five spacers in place, place the guard on top of them, and push the bolts down through the holes to hold everything together:

I put the second guard on the inner chainring position, and secured the chainring bolt nuts.  This might take a little more patience than you're accustomed to:

Tighten all the nuts, and you should end up with something like the photo below.  Note - this is a 44 tooth chainring, the maximum size for the guards I'm using.  I normally use a smaller ring, which sits further inside the guards.  It's no big deal if yours does, too.  Certainly, make sure your chainring doesn't extend ABOVE the guards.  That'd be pretty ineffective.

Put the assembly on your bike, and make sure you've got a little clearance with your frame:

The final step - shorten your chain!  Set it up so you can shift into your lowest gear (biggest cog), and that's it.

So there you go - now you can set up a single chainring for yourself.  Good luck!

I did not see this coming, but wow, Google made a web browser. 

Wahoo!  School is in session!

Now I've got some work to do...

Sometimes, I can't get a song out of my head.  So, I'm going to start popping them up here on this site.  I don't know if this will work or not, so this is an experiment.

Big changes in pro bike racing sponsorship continued this week with several announcements of equipment sponsors.  Gerolsteiner will probably not be back next year.  Saunier Duval has already jumped ship, too.  Here it is; I drew you a picture:

What luck.  First DB Cooper, and now this?  I can't believe they caught this on film!  I believe this was filmed in Georgia.

I'm not sure if this is real or not, but I believe I've just seen DB Cooper steal a cyclocross bike. This is amazing footage.

I'm getting a wee bit excited about cyclocross.  I haven't done anything to prepare for it yet, but it's always a good time.

I can't believe the schedule we've got stacked up out here in Portland.  Seriously - we will have a cross (or cross-ish) race scheduled for just about EVERY weekend from now until December.  It's just HUGE out here. 

Personally, I enjoy a cyclical cycling pattern.  It keeps things fun and interesting.  If I do the same thing with the same focus for too long, I get bored.  Quickly.  Here's my thing:

• January-March: 100% fixed gear rides in the rain.
• March-May: Break out the road bike, start going fast.
• May-August: Roadie Season.  PIR, Crits, whatever I can fit in.
• September: Hang up the road bike, break out the cyclocross gear.
• October-November: Cyclocross...almost every weekend (sorry, family).
• December - take a break, break out the fixed gear, locate all my winter clothing.

I do not like the fact that cyclocross is edging into the summer months.  The Olympic games are special because they take place every four years.  Your birthday is special because it takes place once a year.  Cyclocross is special because it takes place when it gets cold and wet (unless you're one of those soCal guys). 

The sport is hot right now, so I guess this is to be expected.  And of course, just because the races are offered, that doesn't mean everyone has to attend them.  Will the sport collapse in a huge ball of fire, the result of a collective burn-out of hundreds of cyclocross maniacs?  Who knows.

For me, cyclocross is a short, intense season.  My family can deal with me being a little nuts for a couple months, but not much longer than that.  So I'm probably going to stick with plan A.

I found this photo this morning.  I don't know where it came from, but I made into my PC's wallpaper (it's double wide because I've got two monitors).  To me, this is the essence of cyclocross.  This is what I am yearning for:

And you?  What do you think?

I was reading a little write-up on Shimano's upcoming 7900 Dura-Ace.  I wish I could find it now, but I can't seem to locate it anymore.

Anyway, the new brakes caught my attention.  Apparently, the new levers pull more cable!  I don't know if it's as much as a v-brake lever, but this could be good. 

I assume this is also a feature of the upcoming electronic Dura-Ace levers.  Though I doubt I'll ever shell out the cash for an electronic group, I would love to try it out for cyclocross! 

I try to set my bike up for maximum reliability.  I don't have the support required to repeatedly switch bikes during a race, so I decided last year that my goal should be configuring a bike that can last an entire 60 minutes in nasty conditions. 

One big barrier for a 60 minute bike is the rear shifting performance.  You can tweak things to help keep out the elements, like string one big length of shift cable instead of breaking it down into segments.  You can adjust things to better deal with the elements, like using an 8 speed drivetrain.  But the fact remains that the elements can still prevail and mess up your shifting. 

But what if no shift cable was involved?  The derailleur knows how far it has to move, and it moves just the right amount, no matter what.  I assume that means even with increased resistance due to mud, grass, whatever, you'll still pop into gear without any troubles.  Wouldn't that be nice?

I don't know if this would catch on with the PRO scene, since most of them probably wouldn't want to ride the same bike from start to finish, if just for the issue of added weight of all the mud they're collecting.  However, I'd certainly like to give it a whirl!