I haven't added to this thread for awhile, but there are enough positive changes on the bike to show and tell.
Along the way, I upgraded the headset to Miche Galli needle-bearing, which gives this bike even more control.
The first major change was adding aero position, which was really helpful yesterday on the exposed windy slope of the greenway summit.
I used a Nitto double lamp bracket and mountain bar ends, wrapped the whole thing:
The wide compact double has always been persnickety making the 25T to 42T climb.
This functions as two sequential narrow 1x9, one for the road, the small ring for single-track and extreme grade.
Sugino XD2 triple, Sugino rings, bright-finish 6061, and Sugino bash guard on the outside position.
The 42T Sugino middle ring and Sugino bash guard both contributed to extreme chainring wear.
After 10,000 mi, the Sugino 42T chainring was badly grooved.
The chainring geometry is at least part of the problem - the teeth are aligned in the center of the ramped chainring.
Also, it was possible to over-shift and get the chain jammed between the ring and outward-offset Sugino bash guard. Dialing out the overshift with FD limit just made the ramp-climb more difficult. I'm also using the correct Shimano CX FD to make the big climb and match the 42T big ring profile.
I went looking for hard-anodized 7075 ring - there are really none out there for road x2 and less than 11-sp. chain.
So I settled on a 1x ring from Wolf Tooth. It's flat - no ramp - high square-profile teeth offset and flush to the inside edge.
Rated for 9-sp chain, and I didn't know if it would work, but I bit the bullet. Combined with a BBG bash guard, also simple flat with no offset, good anodize color, and cost-effective. Makes the big shift right now, no fuss, impossible to over-shift.
What's with all the bags? This is my bike-fish rig. Drive to a state road where you're allowed to park, then pedal to the county road crossings where you're not allowed to park a car. A simple cafe cable lock to go around a small tree.
I have two rod options that fit in the half-frame bag, a multi-piece fly rod, and a telescoping stream baitcaster.
The big front bag carries my fishing bag and wading shoes (so I can pedal in dry shoes).
One more note - I went back to a double kickstand to keep the bike stable with a loaded front bag.
I like the new VO stand because the leg lengths are easily adjustable (Esge double requires cutting the legs, which you can't go back...).
It uses a long 3/8"-coarse-thread bolt to clamp the chainstays.
The thread pitch is so close, I easily tapped the kickstand plug hole to M10x1.5.
I swapped this much steel for a titanium bolt.