JAMIE’S CANNONDALE HABIT CARBON 3
MONTH 7: A Covid ‘track and trace’ alert gives Jamie the time to winterise his Habit and hide his stash
This month I had a date lined up with Andy Barlow from Dirt School, he was desperate to lure me north of the border and show me how to jump. Well, OK then, I said. I’d nestled the Habit into the back of my car, tucked it in with blankets, set the alarm clock and headed for an early night. Then disaster, 10pm the phone pings and track and trace tells me I can’t go. And so Covid spoils another adventure.
Back home, I used my time to prep the Habit for winter. It’s made the whole ‘oh crap, winter’s arrived’ sensation a whole lot easier to take, I’ve done the right thing by me and the bike to keep us both in shape over the soggy season (Ed – smug bastard).
The first thing to go was the star-fangled nut in the fork. Controversial, I know. I’ve fitted a
Stash multitool from granite-design.com that fits snugly inside the steerer tube, giving me access to eight tools on the go. To fit it I had to drill out the star-nut inside the fork’s steerer tube and replace it with a round face plate underneath, letting you preload the headset with a super-long bolt from top to bottom. I’ve yet to use the tools, but plugging that gap underneath the steerer has been really useful for keeping out crap.
Step two was to clean the whole bike and douse it in Muc-off Silicon Shine, making it harder for mud to stick to the bike. I’ve used it on the inside of my mudguard too, the logic being mud will have a harder time clinging to it and impeding the wheel when I’m riding. Has it worked? After one mucky ride in the South Downs the mud did indeed spray off the paintwork with just a hose, but the drivetrain remained pretty gunky. I also failed to apply any more Silicon Shine so by the next ride I was back to using my trusty mbr bog brush, that came free with an issue from a decade ago.
I’ve had a set of mud tyres ready to go for a few months now, it’s the obvious winter upgrade, yet I’ve held off putting them on. My go-to winter tyre is the WTB Verdict and Verdict Wet if it’s really bad, but I’m loath to try it on the Habit. I don’t want to kill its lively ride and I kinda enjoy the sensation of slithering around my local woods, so for now the Maxxis rubber is staying put… we’re barely in winter though, so we’ll see how long that lasts when the trails are like a ploughed field.
Size tested Head angle Seat angle BB height Chainstay Front centre Wheelbase Down tube Top tube Reach