This is an update to a previous blog of mine titled “Problems”. In it, I complain I will be treated unfairly by the mechanics that work on my car, and essentially that the whole world is against me. I was wrong. Not only was I wrong, but every problem that my car has ever had can be traced back to its original owner and the work that he did to it. The world is not against me, and the problems that my car had came directly from it not being stock.

Furthermore, I was wrong about the $20 alignment. The do it yourself garage is a great resource, but a $20 alignment is one that you don’t want. This shop was also supposed give me a good deal on tire mounting, not even close. There was a key piece of information left out of all of my calculations. The little old man that runs the joint personally does all of the procedures that require expensive tools, like the tire mounting machine.

I should have known that I was in for trouble when the feeble old man had to use a cane to lift his leg over an air line on the floor.  I am being serious, each foot had to be carefully lifted and placed on the other side of the 1/2 “ tall air line. The guy barked at me when I offered help, banged my rims up, and smeared oily sealant all over the rims and tires. To top it off, he couldn’t balance them so I had to go somewhere else. There was no way of knowing this until it was too late. It took three hours of this guys physical labor to swap out two tires.

If you want something done right, take it to the professionals. In my case, Slick Motor Sports, http://slickmotorsports.com/ did an amazing job finding the problem, and a few others. The problem was that the intake gasket between the supercharger and head had developed a large leak and that the gasket itself partially covered the intake port. Matt from SMS also hard wired the fuel injectors into my electrical system, tightened a loose wheel bearing (my fault), tracked down a wiring mismatch going to my ECU, and fixed my throttle position sensor. He did all of this for $400.  My ECU was a real mess. It had tons of wires just poking out of it, some cut off, others alligator clipped together. He made sense of it.

What is inside of a carbon fiber crank arm? We asked that question a few days ago while looking online at the weight of the Bontrager crank. Given that Shimano’s 2008 XT crank and BB weigh 850gr, how is it possible that the high tech carbon Bontrager could weigh 930gr complete. It must be an aluminum arm wrapped in a carbon fiber disguise. That would account for the added weight and its similarity to the other cranks.

Could this crank be lurking inside of the Race X Lite GXP Carbon

A number of companies are cashing in on faux carbon parts. I have noticed carbon seat posts with heavy aluminum cores, stem/bar combos covered in a thin disguise, and now an entire crank set.  I have no other choice but to cut the arm in half. It will hurt. This arm retails for $350.

Wow, I would have bet that the spar would be 5X that size.

An aluminum spar connects and maintains alignment between the BB connection and the peddle threading. Two preformed carbon tubes partner with the aluminum spar to make its shape more congruent with the vacuum form process. Next, a huge layer of filler resin forms a motion free bond to the outer carbon shell. The outer layer gains its rigidity from the filler layer, which is stiff.  Carbon fiber is light when it is used to create high performance structures, but this arm is so overbuilt that the lightweight benefits are lost. The arm contains so much resin and extra material that it weighs more than its XT counterpart.

Oops, my bad.  Well, at least we learnt something. Not all companies are out to make a quick buck; some like Bontrager are still living up to expectation.