We went riding this week. Wow is it hot out here in Missoula.  But the trails are calling and I try to get out and ride when the call comes.  Summer came late this year.  Back in June I was wondering if summer would ever arrive.  Once we hit July summer found its place here in Montana.  That didn't mean we were devoid of wet days. In fact the last time I rode the Hahanna it was in a rain storm when I was racing the Missoula XC course.  The Hahanna got a nice layer of mud all over from that ride.  Somehow I never got around to cleaning up the bike, so when I pulled it off its hook where it has been resting for the last few weeks I discovered the hard dry mud all over the bike.  Ooh, the bike looked rough.  Some old Catholic guilt set in when I realized how I had neglected the bike and I hoped that a quick spray down from the hose would wash away the mud and with it some of my guilt.  Surprisingly the mud washed off nicely and after dripping a bit of lube on the chain my Hahanna was ready to ride.

The trails these days are very dry and hard packed with some loose stuff on top. A perfect test for the tires on the Hahanna... all 26x1.9 inches of them.  The last few rides I have been on I set the tire pressure at around 30-35psi, hoping to get good grip on the trail without pinching my tubes.  Each ride I take on the Hahanna I have been increasing the tire pressure.  I have been reluctant to increase the pressure too much because the casing on the Hahanna tires feels very stiff.  My thinking is that if I keep the pressure lower the tire will deform better to give me better grip. But even as I continued to increase the pressure I would feel the tire wash out on hard corners despite the stiff casing.  Today I decided to pump the tires to around 40psi., probably a bit more (nothing scientific here). They felt very hard when I gave them a good squeeze. I was a bit apprehensive but thought I would give it a go regardless.

What a beauty! 22" of pure trail fun on a hot (HOT) summer day.

I just returned from the KONA Luau in Bellingham, WA so I was still riding the KONA groove and feeling like I was on a Honzo (more on that later) and looking for every curb, jump, booter or drop I could find.  Unfortunately on the trails I was on those are a rare find. I also discovered that over the course of the summer what little rebound dampening that ever existed on this bike had quickly diminished. Each rebound top-out would end with a hard thunk! A bit annoying, still very rideabe but I think the fork will need some attention.

Dry, hard packed summer trails - these 26x1.9 inchers did just fine.

I only had a short window of time to sneak in a ride so I picked out a few of my favorite trails which included a some good climbs and a couple of nice descents.  I was really curious to see how well or if the tires would get much purchase on the scratchy trail surface.  I gave the bike a good go on the descents kicking up a good plume of dust behind me and pushed the bike hard through some tight loose turns.  The tires worked surprisingly well at higher pressures. There was no wash out and they held relatively firm to the trail.  I mentioned to the Reed and Chad -  the other two "Hahanna Challengers" - that I "discovered" that higher pressures on those tires works better.  Their response was "oh yeah, higher pressure works way better. We've been doing that for a while". I guess I am a slow learner. I have mentioned it before, but one of the biggest limiting factors on this bike is the brakes.  They are either on or off. No in-between. I would be comfortable pushing the descents a bit harder if I had more confidence in the brakes. The Hahanna definitely wants to go faster.  I certainly wouldn't claim to be an elite downhiller but I wold figure that most folks choosing this bike probably aren't going to try and go so fast downhill so the brakes probably are not going to be such a big issue.

Next up for the Hahanna is a bit of dirt jumping with the kids.

I rode a KONA Honzo in Bellingham last week and had an absolute blast.  So I am going to see how the Hahanna compares.  As for the Honzo I will get into that bike in a later posting.

Cheers