Back in November I broke my collar bone during a rushed jump build on Berm Creek.
If this jump looks small on video, that’s because it is.
I still don’t really understand what happened, but I guess it was a combination of soft dirt,
carelessness, and bad luck.
Anyway I spent the last three months doing repair and hack focused videos to keep the
content coming.
Although I am proud of that content, it was definitely missing something.
Thankfully I have great friends.
Kevin and Phil helped me dig for a day, enhancing the sketchy little double I had crashed on.
But I knew it would be months before I could actually ride this new and improved jump.
Since healing up, I’ve been waiting for some dry weather to finally hit this thing.
After a couple of warm days, the lip and landing just need a little grooming before they’re
ready.
Now, it’s finally time for redemption.
It’s smooth, effortless, and fun, just like a small backyard jump should be.
But for true redemption, I need to hit this jump on the very bike I crashed on.
Introducing the new and improved Murder Machine.
I did make some changes to it in the name of additional dirt jumperfication.
In addition to removing the dropper post (reluctantly) I installed a oneup EDC kit to run the front
brake hose through the steerer tube.
With that and no dropper cable, the Murder Machine is now barspinnable.
Except I forgot about one thing.
The EDC cap tightens with a cassette tool, and there’s now a brake hose in the way.
Unwilling to give up, I cut a notch in a cheap cassette tool so that it would fit over the
brake hose.
Now I can use this modified tool to tighten the headset.
With that, there’s only one thing left to do.
It still doesn’t feel anything like a dirt jumper, but that’s because it’s not.
In any case, all is now right with the world.
Although this jump makes my recovery official, I have been easing back on to the trail for
a few weeks now.
I even went on a night ride the other week, pushing myself a little harder than I probably
should have.
But even during my recovery I was riding gravel to stay in shape.
And to keep things interesting, it was usually on my El Oso fat tire bike.
I got this Diamondback El Oso last winter to ride in the snow, but the snow never came.
This year when it did snow, my clavicle was broken so Phil was the only one to get use
out of this bike.
And use it he did.
But that’s not the only back story involving the El Oso.
In December, we filled the rear brake with Johnson’s Baby oil as part of a year long
test.
You see, some brake systems use mineral oil blends as hydraulic fluid.
Johnson’s baby oil is mineral oil so it should work fine in theory, right?
Well, these brand specific blends actually do have different boiling points, viscosities,
and other properties which, we can assume, make them optimal for the brakes they were
designed for.
So to obtain evidence as to whether or not this hack is safe, I need to burn through
a set of brake pads using nothing but baby oil.
Hence this year long test.
But having never really taken this bike out on a trail, I’ve got my work cut out for
me.
To ride enough downhill for a proper test, I’ll need to push this beast up a few mountains.
With a proper granny gear, loads of traction, and the fact that this is technically a hardtail,
the El Oso climbs surprisingly well.
I can’t push it as quickly as my trail bike, but that’s not much of a surprise.
In addition to this being my first real trail ride on the El Oso, it’s actually my first
time descending on a fat bike, period.
I’m definitely gonna take it slow and proceed with caution.
Okay, so my thoughts on the El Oso.
Traction is excellent, but cornering takes some getting used to.
You can really feel the gyroscopic effect of those massive wheels, especially when going
fast.
Jumping feels easier than you would think, but again making adjustments mid air requires
more effort due to the mass of the wheels.
But that effort is worth is just for fat tire ASMR.
As for the baby oil brake, it felt fine.
For one ride I’m sure any liquid including apple juice would feel fine, but this test
has many months remaining.
Before my ride the rear brake felt spongy, and it needed a bleed pretty bad.
I don’t know yet whether this was somehow related to the baby oil, or just a careless
initial bleed by yours truly.
Both are possible, but time will tell.
I’ve also been checking the temperature of the rotors and hoses after long descents
to see if they ever approach the boiling point of mineral oil.
So far it hasn’t even come close, but I’ll continue to keep an eye out during future
descents.
I know this video has been all over the place: Berm Creek, Clavicle, Murder machine, baby
oil fat bike….we certainly had a lot to catch up on.
But it’s good to be back, and I feel I’ve returned a better more calculated rider.
If you’ve ridden big stuff, it’s easy to think that you’re invincible on anything
smaller.
But that’s just not the case.
I guess with experience, comes wisdom.
Again, it’s good to be back and from here on, things should start getting back to normal
around here.
Thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.