|
Never hit the knock block while riding even the tightest trails and have come to really like it for manhandling the bike while dismounted. Feels weird now when I'm moving my wife's bike and the bars just... keep spinning.
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2020 03:01
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:29 |
|
|
On yet another front i hear trek recently started dropping component tiers to squeeze carbon rims into all their carbon-frame builds without changing the price point.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 3, 2020 18:51
|
|
|
thatguy posted:who's building the trails for dragon tail? It doesn't list a contractor just a chapter and two county parks public works orgs. I'm a little surprised they're going so slow on a 47 mile project, at the rate they're projected they'll get finished in like 8 years and people don't like to wait 10% of their lifespans for poo poo like this. There's an 88 mile project in Ohio, different terrain and mostly green trails where they're going to be finished in 2 or 3 years of construction. I mean they had a list of 10 contractors I think, but I'd have expected something similar. lol we have a 30+ mile ongoing project that first hit paper in 2005, broke ground in 2014, and we're now two full years into red tape on the fully-funded last phase without even touching dirt. the users will be there when the project gets done, and the project gets done when the project gets done. throwing 10 contractors at a project is also a recipe for a total mishmash of style and quality, and I've heard a number of horror stories from rapid buildouts where they ate up all their corridor in a couple seasons and had to go redo huge segments that weren't up to snuff. there's a big learning curve when you're managing the buildout of a whole system for the long haul, and precious few top-tier contractors available to do the work.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2020 21:50
|
|
|
Whahappen posted:It's only been a week, but I wanna go back to the UP damnit! hell yeah my man, the women's clinic this year was great even with covid modifications (cohorting, masks in group areas, no inside anything, no shuttles, etc). Looking forward to having the dudes up in september!    We found an interesting carbon failure mode:  Yesterday we had a trailwork day where we removed two stopgap skinny bridges on one of our highest-trafficked and most remote trails and replaced them with 36" beasts. Got some pushback already for "dumbing down the trails" but it was a necessary change and represents the original vision for the crossings. It was certainly an adventure getting those big fuckoff logs from the mill to the site.  There's another ~4 miles of this trail and another monster bridge going in right now, most of which should be open by the end of the month.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 23, 2020 22:16
|
|
|
No idea, but the less-vulnerable population is getting more comfortable doing things while fairly distanced and outside. No close-talking, no parties, no after-session group beers, probably still 90% quarantined and only hanging with a small group of locals otherwise. We've been super rigid organizationally about following state guidelines for events (cancelled everything but the clinics and workdays) and ask people to do the usual don't-come-if-you're-sick, etc. We've been the beneficiaries of pretty good policies in Michigan and our local prevalence is very low, with 50 total cases in our two counties since the start, a 7-day positive test rate of 0.1%, and a contact tracing program taking full advantage of our low numbers. Another consideration is that this project and a few others we've done have all been safety-focused, upgrading legacy features on known hotspots. Since our EMS services consist of like three older, covid-vulnerable paramedics serving the whole population anything that keeps them out of the line of fire is huge.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2020 03:39
|
|
|
Yeah it's just a whole new ballgame for everyone involved. It's one of the first big MTB trails being funded through this particular state grant system at this scale and there was a long period where we thought we might need to meet federal guidelines as well, which adds about six more layers of review. Moving forward though and it's indeed fully funded as long as we don't go over budget!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 24, 2020 19:53
|
|
|
also the majority of new trailbuilding is done with machines that are wider than any bars you're going to run, so its only the old rake-n-ride trails where you'll have any issues
|
|
#
¿
Sep 1, 2020 23:54
|
|
|
Nocheez posted:It looks like it's just cleanup, is it possible they have already moved on? yeah but think about how you'd feel bulldozing the belongings of people who got evicted from their homes then evicted again from the woods and weren't even allowed to take their stuff
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2020 00:07
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:TNGA report fuuuuck that's a really really long time to be on the bike, an insane amount of elevation, and those temps sound like they were awful at times. did you try to sleep during the heat or at night? how long were you out for in total? interesting choice with the shoes, too. I feel like the pedaling efficiency would outweigh the other issues you'd have with wet feet, but it sounds like it worked out so you made the right call! i just wore my rigid-rear end bike shoes through all the crossings earlier this summer because everything was super wet already, but 30-40+ more hours is another game entirely. good work and recover well!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2020 01:05
|
|
|
Whahappen posted:I'll be back up to Copper Harbor for the big boy clinic which is fast approaching, and so looking forward to it. Dropping a message here cus you don't have PMs - I'll be the photographer riding a silver trek, see you Friday!
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2020 22:05
|
|
|
Bottom Liner posted:I know personally I just have better technique pedaling fast with clipless but for mtb it's never made much a difference. Definitely caused some spills when I stall out on a rock or steep punch though. I ride with my pedals super loose with lots of float, and I think it still provides some mental efficiency even if it doesn't show up in VO2 numbers. And like you point out, super high cadences are a regime where clipless shine. Also it's just how I've rolled for 20 years so why bother changing! I'd say one real benefit of flats for technical riding is that you really can't cheat, and you need six fewer feet of setup before a feature when starting from a stop. We make all clinic participants ride flats for those reasons.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 9, 2020 22:18
|
|
|
c o p p e r h a r b o r c l i n i c technical climbing instruction!  hucks in the rain!  my man Whahappen sending it deep!  monster berms!  monster rolldown-berms!  pumptrack sessions!  good weekend, few injuries, no shuttles, no indoors, lots of pedaling, and big progression for a ton of people.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 17, 2020 03:58
|
|
|
The UP definitely has a ton of crazy-good riding of all styles, mostly around Marquette and the Keweenaw. Lots of oldschool hand-built and lots of newschool machine-built. The trail systems really vary a lot based on the topography, substrate, builder, and construction so it's worth hitting up each location. Marquette now has the North Trails (mellow flow, some gnarly DH), Harlow Lake system (tech, rock rolls), South Trails/Mqt Mountain (all kinds of stuff), Ispheming & Negaunee's RAMBA system (hard oldschool handbuilt), and a greenfield newschool build going on right now in Big Bay. There's probably 150 miles of singletrack just in the Marquette area. Minnesota has a load of trails being built in the "Arrowhead" region, with millions being invested in the Hibbing/Chisholm area to redevelop old mine sites, a Rock Solid build out at Giant's Ridge, the Duluth networks, and a new system going in on the North Shore out past Two Harbors slated to open next summer, and those are just the works-in-progress I know about off the top of my head. Anywhere that can afford it is throwing up trails as fast as they can and I know Rock Solid is doing a ton of work. Last I heard they're the biggest trail contractor in the country and are hiring all the time. Honestly it's a lot of work keeping up with them because they move so fast and have such huge vision that if it came from anyone else you'd laugh them out of the room. Like a couple years ago they just went out and bought half a mountain in order to build their own bike park and now there's about 8 miles of the freshest flow trails out there. Copper Harbor's niche is that it's a park-the-car-for-the-weekend destination with pumptrack-quality XC, bike-park gravity riding, and extremely easy shuttling. Almost all the trails are newschool machine-built and hand flow to you on a silver platter. We get a lot of attention for that but there's a ton of other awesome riding of all varieties and I try to point people towards the other trail systems as a great way to break up their trip. For example, if you're coming from Duluth you pass probably the most technically challenging trails in the UP at the Adventure Mine. We're really living in a MTB renaissance and it's pretty cool that you can hardly spit without hitting a new, kickass trail network.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2020 01:02
|
|
|
n8r posted:Machine built trails are too wide and too smooth. Flow us fun for about two corners then I want a different kind of corner after that. guess you'll just have to make a pilgrimage to the midwest and see whats up we have such sights to show you
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2020 22:08
|
|
|
your easy elevation has left you with trails that squander precious potential energy we husband each joule jealously, guarded against waste, maximizing its shredding potential, inventing entire new realms of thought to humbly make our poo poo seriously next level
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2020 22:34
|
|
|
OhsH posted:Please direct my indiana rear end to places. NW Arkansas or the Lake Superior shore are the places I can personally vouch for. Not right on your doorstep but there's a ton happening everywhere though and I'm sure there's a ton of diamonds to be found. I've heard really good things about the Griffin bike park in Terre Haute, for example, but haven't ridden it.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2020 23:04
|
|
|
OhsH posted:All i know is brown county, griffin, and dte energy trails, im up northern indiana, copper harbor is 10 hour drive that'll probably happen next year. Scope trailforks: if you're doing that much mileage to get to DTE or Brown County there's a number of other systems that might be worth checking out if only to see how they ride. Probably going to have to put in the hours though if you want something bigger. https://www.trailforks.com/trails/map/?activitytype=1&z=6.3&lat=41.89483&lon=-84.75375
|
|
#
¿
Sep 18, 2020 23:23
|
|
|
Steve French posted:This reminds me I did a big ride a couple of weeks ago and neglected to post about it. 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2020 02:49
|
|
|
The major risk with unsanctioned trails on public property tends to be them getting shut down. Maybe fines for individual riders if they start enforcing a riding ban and people don't stop. As long as you're cool with your work one day going "poof" then gently caress it.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2020 00:34
|
|
|
if you have multiple then locked in the car, locked to each other, covered with a blanket imo
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2020 01:04
|
|
|
RIP Bike Mag: https://www.adventure-journal.com/2020/10/bike-powder-snowboarder-and-surfer-magazines-shut-down/ Have some friends that got their start there and I got to work with their Bible of Bikes crew once, they were top notch all around. Now they're off to join dirt rag at the great printing press in the sky.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2020 19:49
|
|
|
F
|
|
#
¿
Oct 12, 2020 00:17
|
|
|
poo poo, it got you this far, yolo i'm guessing the crack formed where the bottom of the clamp usually sits?
|
|
#
¿
Oct 22, 2020 22:55
|
|
|
spwrozek posted:Just replaced the air spring in my Fox 34 Rhythm. I went from a 130 to a 140. Went really well cleaning it out and making it better than new. Did the wiper seals and all that as well. I feel really accomplished. I have really gone down the maintenance rabbit hole with tools and lubes and bike stand. Pretty fun stuff. "we know these dumb fuckers aren't going to do a service until the anodizing wears off, might as well at least make sure it doesn't dry out"
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2020 05:24
|
|
|
I'm probably up for a new dropper this year. My stock 2017 bontrager has lost all the anodizing, probably 1mm+ of material on the backside, and the seals are shot so it fills with grit internally and slows way down all the time. Plus it has a shitload of fore/aft play and a pair of setscrews that need to be removed to do a full clean/rebuild stripped out last time I tried to take it apart. Still mostly works though and has never sagged or lost pressure! Gonna give it a nice retirement in a cardboard box upstate with my gen-1 reverb.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 9, 2021 05:04
|
|
|
Best shin protectors out there, IMO
|
|
#
¿
Mar 17, 2021 18:27
|
|
|
Car Hater posted:Multiple iirc. I was so close to being one this year, was going to try for the temp trailworker job in copper harbor but my layoff ended :/ man gently caress that real job come be a dirtbag
|
|
#
¿
Apr 23, 2021 22:49
|
|
|
Yeah I’m four full seasons without a new bottom bracket on my Fuel EX, no issues, despite lots of water exposure. It’s always pivots or seat tube for me. Impossible to localize to any one spot though, have to do a full rear triangle disassembly and deep clean about once a year to quiet things down.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2021 02:08
|
|
|
How important is backpedaling/ratcheting to you? If you could do without, a one way/sprag clutch on the main crank might work. There’s probably already one in the motor assembly, maybe there’s space for another if you could get a manufacturer or skilled fabricator to spend some time on it.
|
|
#
¿
May 1, 2021 03:39
|
|
|
EvilJoven posted:Just whack it on the ground real hard it'll pop back in to place. some people actually swear by this for rims that are really bad but maybe not "so bad it won't spin in the frame" bad... I'm not sure I'd trust a wheel I straightened by smacking it on the ground a bunch until it sproinged back onto place definitely gotten 10+ miles out of the woods using this trick after a "it's no longer a functional bike" taco very much an upside of aluminum rims. just don't hit any big hucks till you fix it.
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2021 05:06
|
|
|
Just get a purpose built handlebar mount gps if you need real-time navigation.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 28, 2021 15:17
|
|
|
I'm dumb and did the Crusher again. Had the option for a point-to-point with the big group (~200 people) but did the loop version with just a single buddy instead. Prep was pretty similar to last year training wise but I was so busy I hardly thought about the event itself and felt underprepared going in, just slapping gear together the day before... because I spent the whole week prior on a boat doing fuckall and "tapering." Rough life.  Started around 7:30am, finished around 5pm the next day. The ride was objectively awesome with few mishaps, body felt as good as can be expected, was able to keep eating throughout, and only slept for 20 minutes this time. The subjective in-the-moment experience after hour 16 or so was fairly godawful pretty much all the way to the end. Sleep deprivation is seriously a bitch, especially after >100 miles on the bike, and it's unbelievable how much lovely sandy dirt road there is out there in the UP. 100% mental game at that point, but it helps that at most points your only option to bail is going to take about as long as it would to just finish the drat ride. I guess the course was 'harder' this year, about 30miles less pavement but apparently a similar amount of climbing. Many fewer opportunities to get potable water, but eventually ran into another group who had a sag wagon and were gifted some water and pickles. We had food and water and a change of kit stashed at mile 135, which we reached around 1am. My buddy had a fire going and it was torture to not fall asleep in front of it and get back on the bike instead. Only the best UP gravel.  Mandatory water crossing on the lake superior shoreline, along with a couple of ladies who happened to be on course at the same time as us. Always nice to meet some people out there, especially when they brought support.  Pretty sure i'm still winning the awards for 'jankiest homebrew bag setup' and 'most paracord.' Commercial bags are expensive as poo poo though.  Bike held up great until about 8 miles from the finish, when my fork damper straight up exploded internally. I rode out the last bit, including 2 miles of rocky advanced/expert singletrack, with about 2 inches of travel before hard-bottoming-out my busted damper. Not a chance I was going to take a DNF for a mechanical at that point though. RIP.  10/10 already forgot how much it sucked, will probably do it again
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2021 20:58
|
|
|
meowmeowmeowmeow posted:Current lead time on airshafts from fox: 'bro no idea, we've got none and no idea if more are gonna show up. Call back in 6wks if you're still looking.' i can probably find you a gently used 140 airspring off a 34 rhythm 29 lol
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2021 20:44
|
|
|
kimbo305 posted:A lockout would no longer work with the damper's seals that destroyed, right? What happened was the cartridge tube unscrewed from the topcap. What seems to have happened next is that additional fork compressions caused the rebound assembly to suck the cartridge tube farther down into the stanchion, exposing the compression assembly. I think I probably lost all damping when the IFP seal popped over the top of the tube, allowing damper oil out and air in and causing the whole compression assembly to exit the tube. Goodbye lockout etc. At that point the airspring still worked so I just had a single unit of rebound assembly + cartridge tube traveling in sync with the lowers and bouncing off the bottom of the compression piston, shattering it.  the only field fix I can think of to avoid damage would involve either limping it home on paved roads and avoiding fork compression at all costs (this worked the first time) or: 1. unscrew the topcap with a 19mm socket 2. remove the topcap and compression assembly 3. unscrew the rebound assembly from the lower and remove it (10mm? socket), including the cartridge tube. this step involves a hammer. 4. extend the damper shaft fully 5. insert the compression assembly into the cartridge tube 6. screw the tube into the topshaft as tight as you can 7. reinsert the damper into the fork 8. look around for the rebound crush washer you dropped in the grass 9. tighten the rebound nut and topcap 10. wonder what the air + oil mixture is doing inside your fork as you hammer home down washboard roads when you get home do all these things again, but fill it up with the appropriate damper oil instead of air, and if the fork is gonna get replaced in a few years put RED loctite on the loving cartridge tube threads (i used blue 2 years ago and that clearly wasn't enough) fake edit: now that I think about it my buddy was limiting his dropper travel using wraps of electrical tape. I bet on a fork you'd destroy your dust seals but those are cheap and it might be enough to protect the internals if you do both stanchions and baby it.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 26, 2021 21:24
|
|
|
meowmeowmeowmeow posted:He broke the damper assembly so the airshaft is probably fine. yep! only five and a half seasons and a few thousand miles on it. raced regularly, oil changed at least once. however it looks like you might be able to get a new 150mm through amazon, 3 left in stock: https://www.amazon.com/Fox-Racing-Shox-Air-Shaft/dp/B07YYPNGDK
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2021 03:11
|
|
|
Dang. While we're at it looks like I misremembered my model designation and it won't work for you either. Good luck, friend, hopefully we both have bikes again soon.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 27, 2021 05:29
|
|
|
Recipe for max send: just roll with the recon for now and put in for a 130-140mm full suspension trail bike for next season or the one after. But first sign up for a clinic if you haven’t already. And put away money for a trip out west. Godspeed!
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2021 07:18
|
|
|
Yall are right but I'm personally a bit wary of using language about "putting enough weight on the front tire" when describing descending technique without a lot of ancillary info about proper body positioning, as it's easy to interpret as "put weight through the handlebars." Yes, you need weight on the front tire, but the correct amount of weight is usually whatever gets put through the bottom bracket when your weight is centered over it. Staying centered over the bottom bracket regardless of climbing/descending/cornering is generally going to get you 95% of the way there. Learning what that feels like is a good reason to take a clinic or work with a friend on picnic table body positioning drills. Have your bike held in the climbing/descending position and work on hovering your hands over the bars. That's the weight distribution you should generally be shooting for, plus hinging at the hip (a LOT) while maintaining that balance point to get low. Same principles are at play in corners and in dynamic situations, and having no weight on your hands will allow you to maximize the bike's movement underneath you while you stay centered.  
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2021 20:09
|
|
|
It's definitely a lot of people's intuition, but the more useful frame of reference for forward/backward is the line from the bottom bracket through the center of the earth. You generally want your center of mass to stay on or close to that line, then the bike can do whatever underneath you and you'll always be right where you need to be. We spend a lot of time reprogramming people on this concept at our clinics. It gets more complicated when you add in dynamic maneuvers but they're all much better understood from a baseline of weight-over-bottom-bracket = neutral.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2021 21:12
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 16:29 |
|
|
meowmeowmeowmeow posted:I would disagree with weighting the front not being weight through the handlebars, every modern bike I've ever ridden has benefitted from getting weight through your hands and having your center of mass in front of the BB, especially if you are going down hill. The longer reaches and short CS and slacker angles result in bikes that really need a bit more through the bars to get the right balance, and I'd say the vast majority of people get behind the bike vs in front of it. Getting being the bars generally means people push forward through them, locking the arms and making the bike act like a toboggan as the front pushes due to little to no weight down through the contact patch. Being centered/in front (some weight through the hands) keeps the arms active to lean the bike over, keeps knees in a position to allow the bike to lean, etc. I get where you're coming from and again - you're not wrong. But weight over the bottom bracket is absolutely the gold standard for your neutral position on the bike. It's taught by pro DH and world cup XC coaches at our clinics, it's one of the only skills taught by Lee McCormack these days, and it's very much what you want to build around. Telling newer riders anything else with any less precise, standard language can create serious misconceptions about where they feel they should be on the bike. It's difficult to put that kind of advanced skillset and the associated proprioception into words in a way that is useful to someone learning the skills or trying to improve, even if it has occasional applications on bikes with aggressive geometries on aggressive terrain. What you're describing are the kinds of adjustments you'll make once you have a strong command of the basics. Bike geometry, terrain, dynamics, and riding style will all require adjustments around the mean, but the mean is weight over the bottom bracket, including pumping berms. 95%+ of the force you impart on the bike on average should be going through the pedals. The rider in that photo is doing the drill for the first time and has a fair amount of ankle-/knee-bend and hip-hinge left to put them in a full-on descending position, and this is a seriously aggressive downhill angle they're simulating, even if it looks mild from the side in a field. They're actually in a surprisingly good position and would be able to ride from this spot no problem. Seriously it's worth trying out yourself, even if you're an advanced rider. It can be really hard to feel what being perfectly centered is like without isolating it using a drill like this one. Take a look at this photo of Aaron Gwin (it's hard to get a full side-on shot but this is close enough).  It's fundamentally the same position: hips back and hinged, knees bent, arms somewhat extended but bent and ready to absorb impact. Even if he's got some weight in front of the BB, the way to teach this skill is to learn to put your weight through your feet 100%. You'll learn the rest from there. Furthermore, learning to keep your weight over the bottom bracket teaches you key skills for momentarily dipping into these more extreme regimes and then transitioning back to flat or climbing very quickly. Most riders won't spend most of their ride going fall-line down 25 degree slopes, but transitioning between shallower slope angles. That's the fundamental concept behind Lee McCormack's obsession with his riprow. Obviously, ride how it works for you! I only interjected because there's a tried-and-true progression for teaching body position, and moving to helping someone manage their front-end weight distribution without first establishing this part is like jumping 3/4 the way through the semester and can lead people down the wrong path.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 17, 2021 04:24
|
|