Moo - the Pocket Crusoe-Rocket
I originally intended my Pocket
Crusoe as a pure commuter bike to use at home and the sites I fly to
for work. It being my only single bike, "Moo" has grown to be a lot
more. For Moo's birthday this year, Walter was kind enough to spec a
set of light 451 wheels for longer road rides in place of my usual 406s
with heavy Schwalbe Marathon tires. To accommodate the larger rim
diameter, I had fitted and tested a set of Paul Component Engineering
motoBMX brakes that were adjustable to fit either 406 or 451 rims. My
understanding was that the frame for the Pocket Crusoe and the Pocket
Rocket are nearly identical so I could now convert my bike to a Pocket
Rocket!
At the time I bought the motoBMX brakes, they were available in silver,
black or red anodizing. I bought the red for a nice effect with my "old
yellow" paint. (Unfortunately, red seems to no longer be available.)
The noodle needs to be removed by removing the small circlip.
I started with my Pocket Crusoe with Avid Single Digit 7 brakes and 406
rims. Since the bike uses V Brakes with Shimano STI shifters, it has
QBP Travel Agents to adapt the brakes to the pull of the road brake
levers.
I removed the SD7 brakes...
...and fitted the Paul Component's motoBMX brakes.
In installing the brakes, I used the following shimming (5 mm) to get the right distance to the rim:
With the 451 wheelset, this is what the setup looks like. Compare
the position of the brake pads in this picture with the one of the 406
rims above.
There were a few issues with adjustment with this setup. Initially, the
brakes squealed very easily and did not center reliably. Paul at Paul
Component Engineering was very responsive and gave the following advice:
- Travel Agents are not recommended for use with the motoBMX brakes (I ignored this)
- Try applying more spring tension to center the brakes (problem solved)
- Try more toe-in to reduce the brake squeal (problem solved)
How does this work? It takes me about 10-15 minutes to change the
wheelsets, readjust the brake height and set the toe-in. The brakes
function well with my only reservation that they do go off center a
little more easily than the Avid brakes did even with the increased
spring tension. (Maybe they need even more.) They have been trouble
free over the 2000 miles I have had them on the bike. It is great to be
able to easily switch from my commuter wheelset to my fast wheelset
since the 451s with Stelvios are indeed much easier riding.
