new parts and tools 08/2021

new shoes for the bike

In the spirit of trying new things aside from main stream I decided to buy this newly-ish released Onza Porcupine. Onza is a small swiss based company which specialises in tyres, tubes and sealant. Given the amount of mountains in this little country, they have plenty of testing grounds right outside their doors. So I trust their all mountain tyre expertise completely. Someone said to me that the tyres are produced by Maxxis, but I can’t confirm that. There seem to be some similarities in the sidewall prints.

The carcass is a 60 threads per inch single ply nylon weave for side wall protection, which offers good stability and damping even at low pressures despite being designated a Trail Casing. All mountain in swiss terms means occasional sharp rocks and this tyre is built to cope with those.

The black rubber is a dual compound with 60a shore on the center knobs for low rolling resistance and 45a on the side knobs for good cornering traction. The side knobs are reinforced on each corner and there is a channel between the center and side knobs, to give them a better chance to grip onto the trail.

Slick rock may not be the tyres forte and neither is deep mud, but anything in between, this rubber has you covered.

The 2,6″ wide tyre will be on the front wheel of my Hightower and the 2,4″ goes on the rear. This will be the first time in years I have the same tyre for front and rear. Well, technically my current setup with a Bontrager XR4 and SE4 has the same tread as well, but the SE4 has a sidewall reinforcement.

There are both a gravity casing (GRC) with 2ply side walls and a beefed up RC Version for maximum grip available. As I am more of a tourer than a shredder the TRC should be enough for my needs

I love this little easter egg. Onza had a little porcupine printed between the center knobs.

carry water

This bottle cage replaces the Lezyne Flow Cage, which squeezes my bottle almost out of the cage. I use a 1 liter bottle, which might be more malleable than a shorter bottle. Still I hope this bottle cage will provide better retention and better all round support for the bottle.

This is a ‘left’ cage, but since I will install it on the seat tube the opening will face to the right.

The ‘right’ cages come with a coloured highlight and the left ones don’t. Maybe there were simply not in stock.

balls of steel

The other day I noticed the rear wheel of my commuter bike turning a bit rough. So for upcoming maintenance I looked up the replacement parts on the Shimano website and ordered these ball bearings. Hopefully only the balls are worn and the races are still in good shape.

dual ply(ers)

For the maintenance of the hub (see above) I probably need to remove a snap ring, so I decided it was high time to have the proper tools for snap rings.

The upper pliers are designed to spread outer snap rings and the pliers below do the opposite for inner snap rings.

Hint: Can’t go wrong with Knippex pliers and wrenches.

Here’s to happy tinkering and wrenching.