The Golden Wrench

A blog about bicycle repair and maintenance by the mechanics at Freewheel Bike.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Have you been to Cuyuna yet?

Everybody is raving about the new Cuyuna trail system in northern Minnesota. I myself haven't made the trip yet, but identifying a bike that has spent time in the iron-ore-rich dirt up there is easy: just look for the coating of bright red dust.

Just a word of warning to anyone who has ridden up there: One of our Cuyuna-riding customers brought his fork to us for an overhaul the other day and it was just as red and dusty on the inside as it was on the outside. Take a look at these wipers and foam rings:


Here's a photo down into the lowers--notice the red dust on the bushings:


This fork was serviced early enough that there was no internal damage, but I can only imagine what kind of havoc this fine-grained iron ore dust could wreak if it was left in the fork for too long.

Moral of the story? Send us (or bring in) your Cuyuna'd forks before they Cuyuna apart!