|
a foolish pianist posted:Bike theft is rampant in Ann Arbor. I started keeping my bike inside (and using a better lock when I was out) after coming out of Espresso Royale one afternoon to find some guy standing by my bike trying different combinations on my crappy combination lock. Bike theft is rampant everywhere. Bikes, sex and drug are the currency of the homeless economy. In SoCal, we have been getting a lot of targeted (via Strava) garage thefts using the coat hanger technique. Slip a coat hanger between the top of the garage door and the header, fish around for the emergency release, and simply roll up the door. Putting some shims in to block probing wires is a good idea. I also have a couple of these. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XmR7EuFQT4 A local rider went to open his garage one morning, only to find the emergency release disengaged, but the deadbolt kept the door shut. Very easy to install, I highly recommend. Just make sure you disengage the dead bolt before opening. The opener did not like going up against an engaged bolt. No damage, but I can't imagine it was good for the system. A word about Strava. Even if you have a privacy zone, there is a good chance your info will show up via the heat map function. Take a look at your house on the map, and you will see a pretty clear trail leading right to where you keep your bike. Yes, you can opt out, but they do not purge past data right away. It may take up to a month. Heat maps also show the secret military bases all over Africa and the Middle East. Pretty easy to spot an orange dot in the middle of the dessert, with segments name Base Perimeter Run, etc. And also get the names of the people on base and deduce their patterns. I am still amazed that all of that data is still there. Cat Ass Trophy fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Sep 3, 2020 |
#
¿
Sep 3, 2020 18:29
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 10:25 |
|
|
gohuskies posted:Not posting your daily runs on social media doesn't seem like an unreasonable ask to make of those deployed to secret military bases. I know what you mean. But when it comes to security, computer, home, business, etc., you always have to assume that a certain percentage of end users are just loving idiots, or refuse to listen to direction. And depending on the user to always do the right thing is a sure way to end up in trouble. If your CO says not to make segments like "Perimeter run past all the secret motion detectors and the hidden manned spider trap", you can be pretty sure someone will make such a segment. Just like grandpa will always click the fishing link on the Your Bankcard Has Been Hacked email. On the gravel bike note, my warrantied Praxis ring still has not arrived, so I will be on the road tomorrow on the freshly warrantied Giant Propel that my dumbass broke by riding into a parked car last month. Cat Ass Trophy fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Sep 5, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Sep 5, 2020 04:39
|
|
|
Exactly. And 2 years later, nothing has changed. The article states you cannot get individual user info out of the map. This is true, you can't get it from the heat map. But you can use the Segment Explore feature in the main Strava web site, and zoom/pan in the area you were looking at in Heat Maps until you find segments in the middle of nowhere. From that, you can now get Strava user names, dates, times, all the good stuff.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 8, 2020 17:11
|
|
|
MacPac posted:got the clutch derailleurs, ive never remembered to engage the clutch Same. My bike came with a clutched Ultegra. At first I left it engaged all the time, but I shut it off for a long road ride, and forgot to turn it back on for a week. End result, no dropped chains, no chain slap even in small ring, smaller cogs combinations. On a related not, I am waiting to see when clutch activation will be done by a switch on the bars, instead of having to sop, get off the bike and throw a lever.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2020 23:01
|
|
|
On today's gravel ride I had to slow for oncoming horses. At which point, the orbiting pack of dogs made me stop and distribute pets.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 11, 2021 05:30
|
|
|
For the wife's 50th birthday we are going to Catalina Island for 3 days in early April. And since she and the kids are all lazy slugs when on vacation, I will have 3 hours each morning to ride some of the gravel roads. Looking at street view and taking a look at some write ups people have posted, it seems to be a gravel paradise. Actual gravel roads closed to most cars. Some of it looks steep, but nothing a 31x34 can't handle. Much of south Orange County is a bit mountain bikey, so this would be a nice change. I am normally not good about posting pics from rides, so I will try to remember and report back next month.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 15, 2021 19:37
|
|
|
tylertfb posted:I’ve done a bike packing trip on Catalina on my gravel bike, you’re in for some fine riding. The immediate climb out of town up to the airport is kind of a rude awakening (and on tarmac) but unloaded it is fine. After that it’s all great! We camped at Parsons landing and had a blast I have been looking at ride reports from Catalina bikepackers and I really want to try it. In theory, camping looks fun. But I am over 50 and have never done anything other than a few cub scout era car camping trips. That may change as I just ordered a set of bags from Urban Desert. I figure if I have them, I better use them. The first order of business will be a local overnight off of Ortega Highway. I'll take a roundabout gravel route to the camp site and go back the same way. Maybe 80-90 miles total. And if things go horribly wrong, the wife or son can come get me as it is only 15 miles away by car. Fuuuuckkkkk, I am so soft.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 18, 2021 18:59
|
|
|
I have been riding a Giant Revolt 0 for the past year and it is great. But like any gravel bike it does run up against the its limits, especially on somewhat technical downhills and logs, cobble, etc. So I rode my wife's 250 watt power assist bike to the dentist yesterday, and I the way back I decided to do a dirt detour on a route that I normally use to finish my rides. Her bike is built for light trail use, weighs about 45 pounds and has 700x50 Maxxis Ramblers on it, a wider version of the exact tire I have on the propel. It is about 3 miles of offroad consisting of a steep opening climb, a high speed sweeping descent, some gradual downhill to the trailhead, and a quad log barrier exit. I was wearing jeans and leather boots using flat pedals. The climb was super easy with the power assist as expected. What I did not expect was how much better it handled on the sweeping downhill loose over hard. There is a sharp turn at the bottom and the tires just bit into the terrain and held. The entry level RockShox fork let me rip the gradual downhill, and the log barriers at the end that I normal walk over, her bike took them easily. So goodbye Revolt, it has been nice knowing you. I'm dumping you for an XC rig. Fake edit: I'm not. Gravel bikes kick rear end in the conditions they were designed for. There is nothing like the feeling of mowing down a pack of bros riding Enduro bikes on a well groomed DG road at 20mph. Real edit: Giant Revolt Cat Ass Trophy fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Apr 7, 2021 |
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2021 16:35
|
|
|
Literally Lewis Hamilton posted:I’m going to assume Revolt but the idea of bombing down gravel on a Propel sounds really fun as long as it wasn’t MY Propel. Yes, Revolt 0. I also have a Propel and continuously have to look at the name printed on the frame to remind me which is which. I am smart that way. That said, the Propel has taken me up and down Blackstar Canyon in the OC a few times. Good fun.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 7, 2021 18:06
|
|
|
I did some gravel on Catalina Island this weekend. I'll post some pics later, but I had to get this out of my system first. All of the campers that hiked to the interior of the island are loving assholes. Every single one of them, I slowed, gave plenty of room, waved, said good morning. They just looked at me with hate in their eyes. I don't know if it was because I got to the campground in 90 minutes from the trailhead, when it takes most of them 2 days, or if they think bikes in general are awful. But, man, what an unpleasant bunch of fuckers. The route was double wide fire road, plenty of room for everyone. I don't get it. That said, I liked the area north of Avalon best. The loop to the south was OK, but mainly one big climb. Going back for sure.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 12, 2021 19:15
|
|
|
tylertfb posted:There is precious little flat gravel that connects to anything in SoCal. All roads here are either paved, 25% up or down fire roads, or deep desert sand. That said, in your area the Tijeras Creek / Trabuco Creek trail rolls pretty far and isn't all death climbs and descents. I ride that are often, and pretty much the creek trails (Trabucco up, Tijeras down) are it for extended flat gravel around here. And even that is not like a gravel road except in a few places. Tabucco has several cobbled water crossing that can be a challenge, Tijeras is mainly double track with a few rocky sections. There are a bunch of nice DG connectors through the neighborhoods in that are too, but none are really much more than a mile at most. I did Spandex Stampede #7 in Temecula, that had some nice flat sections, but there was a lot of climbing too. Catalina Island had some great flat sections, but to get to them there was a lot of climbing involved, and also a $$ferry$$ ride.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 21, 2021 18:00
|
|
|
I am just here to vent today. loving gravel bike, if you give it any reason to make noise or break parts, it will do both in a heartbeat. I keep it clean and lubed, but it is a constant battle. I have a 1 year old Revolt 0 with 1850 miles on it. So far I have replaced 2 BB's, 1 crankset, 1 headset, 2 chains, 3 sets of brake pads, chainrings, a freehub body, a small chainring and a seat post. Granted, I am a heavy rider and I push the bike hard, but things are just not holding up the way I would expect them to. The road bike holds up just fine, but I am going through a lot more parts than I expected on the Revolt.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2021 05:40
|
|
|
vikingstrike posted:What’s wrong with Praxis cranks? Nobody I know has had issues with them. Aluminum or carbon. Well for me, i broke a chainring, cracked 3 of the 4 spider arms, and the bearings went bad. All within 500 miles. Cracked a second spider after another 700, bearings went bad again too. I replace the whole mess with a DA BB and 810 GRX double. But I think that BB is about to poo poo the bed too. The OEM crankst was a Praxxis Zyante double.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 24, 2021 21:05
|
|
|
vikingstrike posted:Geez. Thats a bad run for sure. Maybe you should start the fuckpraxismemes insta Their customer service was really spot on, and I got a cool t-shirt out of the deal. So I'll give them a pass. I am a larger gentleman racer at 190 ponds, ans I do put out a fair amount of the watt things. My friends do keep a list of BBM parts (Broken By Mark), so breaking stuff is by no means unique to the Revolt. Among the other bikes I ride, this year I have also cracked the left and right arm or a DA 9000 crankset, a replica CInelli 1A stem, 2 pairs of handlebars and another seat post. Not to mention a Propel frame and fork, but the was a dumb rear end crash where I rode into the back of a parked truck while daydreaming.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2021 03:41
|
|
|
So I was out graveling in South OC yesterday, when I saw an animal that I had never seen before. Golden fur, some white markings on the face and black tipped ears. The thing was about a foot long and low to the ground. It was some sort of ferret, stoat or weasel. I assumed that it was an invasive of some sort. But as it turns out, there is an animal called a Western Weasel that is native to most of coastal SoCal. This thing did not look quite like the pictures that came up in Google search, but I don't think it could be anything other than a weasel. I was riding in the San Juan Hills area behind San Juan Capistrano. Have any of my fellow OC gravelers encountered one?
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2021 05:11
|
|
|
vikingstrike posted:Obsessing over gravel tires is never ending. Just pick one and ride it imo. Yup. I'm in OC so all we have is MTB trails. I like to get in a bit of road and there is always some rocky single track. I just said gently caress it and put on 40mm Ramblers front and rear. They roll good enough on the pavement and keep me from making GBS threads bricks in the loose stuff. And there is a lot of loose stuff here.
|
|
#
¿
May 25, 2021 18:02
|
|
|
Important Safety Tip. If you get invited to a no drop, but decent pace gravel ride, don't show up on an enduro bike with 2.7" tires. The rest of us wanted to roll it pretty good and not wait around nearly as much as we did. At least you are a nice guy.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 14, 2021 17:50
|
|
|
The Grail 7 AL arrived today and I built it up. Tomorrow it will get a 1 hour shakedown ride. No surprises in the build, but one thing did stand out to me. I knew it would come with tubes in the tires, and I was just going to go out and buy some valves for the tubeless conversion. The bike, however, came with valves. So I pulled the tubes out, put in the valves and just to see how much air leaked out, I gave it a few easy pumps. Holy crap, the tire sealed, even with the valve cores still installed. Schwalbe G-One Bite 40 mm on DT 1850 rims. Easiest tubeless setup I have ever worked on.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2021 03:14
|
|
|
Along the lines of the mountain bike thread. I do hate money. So I bought some new items for my gravel bike. A Ti bottle opener. A handlebar mounted bell with cow bell mode. A carbon fiber Benchmade Bugout. No idea why I did this. I am most excited about the bottle opener. Mexican cokes don't open thmeselves.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2022 22:35
|
|
|
I got a Giant Revolt 0 in January of 2020, but I only started riding 6 months later when my road frame went in for replacement. But in the past year, the Revolt has become my primary ride. Let's scroll back through Strava to see when I last was on the road bike. .............October 2nd, 2021. I have had 8k worth of road carbon hanging on the wall for nearly 8 months. And I don't know what to do with it.
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2022 16:52
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 18, 2024 10:25 |
|
|
I saw a California King Snake, my favorite of all snakes, on my gravel ride today. It was big and alive. So that made my day. Unlike the previous 2 that I saw, which appeared to have been run over by careless bikers.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 13, 2022 03:18
|
|