Three sweet Charge Mixer customisations - including Crud Raceguards
The stock Charge Mixer is a great ride out of the box but there's always room for some improvements. Here's three customisations that make the bike quicker, nimbler and more practical: smaller diameter tyres, a shorter handlebar and Crud Roadracer mudguards.
Speed - fit smaller diameter tyres
The 700*32 Conti Sportcontact tyres fitted by Charge are a good compromise between comfort and speed. However with the steel frame providing a bit of give you can fit smaller diameter tyres, decreasing rolling resistance and gaining a few mph for free without making the ride unpleasantly stiff.
What will fit? Alexrims who make the wheels think anything from 700-28 up to 700*35, but Sheldon thinks 700*25 will work safely too. I went for Conti 700*25 Gatorskins after a rather vague email from Alexrims where (paraphrased) they said you can try 700*25 but 700*28 is what they ultimately recommend.
If you find it difficult deciding on a tyre the consensus seems to be that gatorskins are roughly on par with armadillos (only in 700*23 & 700*28) for toughness but Marathon Plus trumps all when it comes to stopping glass from getting to your tubes.
Whilst on tubes don't forget to buy smaller diameter inners with the tyres if you go less than 700*28 - the stock conti tubes fit 700*28-700*32.
Agility - fit shorter bars
I find it a little odd that the Mixer comes with bars of comparative width - they aren't the best for mixing it up with the traffic. Fortunately you can now buy the bar fitted to the Charge Plug Griffin, named "The Straw" for a mere £20 which trims a whopping 14cm off the total bar width.
To fit The Straw you'll need remove the rubber grips first (twist them off, put some effort into it!) then remove each piece of hardware taking care not damage, twist or kink any of the cabling as you do so.
To make it easier I taped The Straw to the stem to hold it steady then slid on each piece of hardware as it came off the old bar.
Once free of hardware loosen the bar clamp and slide out the old bar. You'll need to remove the bar clamp to insert the The Straw - it's tricky with only two hands to get the bar clamp off whilst holding the new bar, so if there's anyone about to help you now is the time to grab them.
Once fitted push and twist the rubber grips back on to the bar. If you like the silver bullet bar ends you can probably trim the ends of the stock grips off so that they aren't covered, but I left mine in one piece for now.
With the grips on you'll have to adjust the positions of the hardware to suit. Time to get friendly with your allen key - if you are anything like me and feel the need for a speedo and two headlamps the cockpit may look a little cluttered.
Getting the bar ends back on can be challenging - I cheated and rubbed a small amount of cooking oil on the bars to make life easier. Your mileage may vary.
Practicality - fit Crud Roadracer Mudguards
Savvy Mr. Crud figured out that after market mudguards not only add weight but also spoil the look of any ride they are attached to. So he developed the Roadracer Mudguards - streamlined, ultralight and, for guards, quite aesthetically pleasing.
These are designed for sports roadbikes so fitting them to the Mixer can be a bit of challenge, especially if you are using the stock conti tyres. It can be done, however.
The Mixer uses discs rather than callipers so some bodging is required to get the guards working nicely.
The tie-wrap that holds the front end of each guard above the wheel is designed to hang from a calliper mounting screw. No callipers, so no screw. No problem though - even though the callipers don't exist the mounting point does, so you can either buy a bolt and hang the tie-wrap from that, or as I did, run a tie-wrap through the mounting point and hang the guard tie-wrap from that.
Yes, two tie-wraps - as I said, a bodge. But it works.
Mounting the front guard is harder than the rear as the mass of the front disc mount sits exactly where the guard mounts are supposed to be attached. This means placing the mounts higher up the fork. It doesn't seem to affect the guards performance though - just looks a little odd.
Remember to put some tape around the frame where the guard mounts are placed if you want to protect your finish.
That's it - these three simple tweaks makes The Mixer feel like a more agile, sporty beast - more muscle car and less less tank like. And you won't have to worry about getting a wet bum next time you get caught out in a downpour.
Do you have any customisations you'd like to share?
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