This weekend saw me pick up a head cold. So that was Sunday’s ride out of the window for me.

In a way, that’s not a bad thing. My Hutchinson Wyrm and Kraken combo on the Bird Aether 9 have stayed on the bike well into this autumn but have reached their limits. For such a low tread set up they’ve been remarkably good, but winter tyres they are not.

This was confirmed on Friday’s night ride where it was clear the trails are getting just a bit too squirmy. So it was that Saturday saw me attempt to swap out the Hutchinsons for some good ol’ fashioned Maxxis tyres – a Minion DHF for the front and a DHR 2 for the rear.

The Maxxis combo will be fine for all but the deepest mud. I normally run a Specialized Butcher/Ground Control combo on the Pace hardtail after all and things are generally OK short of the worst BGM™ (Bastard Glue Mud).

Except. Things didn’t quite play ball. I started with the front and by late afternoon, finished with the front.

By then I had got the DHF to air up on the Hunt rim (the Minions had briefly been on the bike before and a little bit of Stan’s residue was stopping a quick seal). I needed multiple goes with the Beto booster but the tyre finally popped onto the rim and held. With fresh Stan’s fluid in, it hasn’t lost a bead of air since.

But the effort had taken longer than expected and I was feeling a little rough with my head cold. Time to retire hurt.

The next day

Sunday was warm and a nice day to ride. A pity I couldn’t join the guys.

I woke late after a much-needed lie in and by afternoon had returned to the garage to sort out the rear of the Bird.

This time things went more smoothly, so both wheels now have fresh rubber on and are aired up to 40psi to settle in. I’ll drop the pressures to my usual 18psi front and 21psi rear before I next ride.

The only downside is how boring black walled tyres look after seeing the Bird with tan walls all year!

Meanwhile, I greased up the freehub/axle interface and cleaned the cassette back to a semblance of box-fresh. I also took the opportunity to refit the Mudhugger mudguard.

All in all I now have a clean cassette, lubed freehub, fitted mudguard and Maxxis rubber on the Bird, ready for the coming Surrey Hills winter.

Despite all the above, I know what you are thinking…

Where is my Pace RC627?

Doesn’t it all seem a lot of effort to go to with the Bird when you’ve got a perfectly good hardtail bought expressly for winter riding?

Er, yes it does!

I’ve been running Silt wheels on the Pace – which have been excellent – for nearly 2,000 miles. Increasingly wayward shifting and noise led me to diagnose worn freehub bearings that, unfortunately, have seized onto the axle. Hence why I’ve just taken extra care cleaning and re-lubing the Hunt freehub!

A couple of weeks ago I decided that stuck bearings were a reason to bite the bullet and get Silt to do the work, rather than bodge around myself.

Much to my frustration, the rear wheel has now been with Silt for over 10 days and counting. This is rather unimpressive for what is probably an hour’s job in a well lit and purpose equipped workshop.

I am expecting the wheel back next week, but time will tell. Otherwise, they have been great wheels…

As an aside, MarkJ has Scribe wheels which use the same freehub and last week I re-lubed that too, just in case. You have to learn lessons where you can! For clarity, I think it was neglect, not a design issue which caused my stuck freehub.

As soon as Silt get their act together I will put the hardtail back in to service – assuming my head cold has cleared up…

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About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.