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Behold, “El Chupacabra”

>the lift does NOT appear to have been assembled by carnies on meth Snort!

Well, it was a $100 day after all. $50 to get in, and $50 for the ER co-pay after I fell off my bike at the end of my 4th run. I came in too fast to the clearing where the lift is. i was headed towards going between a group of ppl and the platform. one of the ppl moved and i swerved and lost it. Just stupidity on my part. it was fun while it lasted, though - snow and all. -cls

Most erosion concerns regarding trails can be addressed through application of the 50% rule and of rolling grade dips in the trail design. Armoring, ladder bridges, and other methods are also available to the trail builder who places sustainability high on their list of design criteria. The same techniques can be applied to repair and improve existing trail, along with maintenance of trail tread to promote sheet flow across the trail, rather than water being channeled into a narrow path following the trail. The fact that IMBA's preeminent tome on sustainable trail construction provides chapters of information specific to addressing this very topic quite literally speaks volumes to counter arguments toward these environmental concerns. Additional studies have shown how MTB tires rolling on a trail actually help address damage done to the trail surface by nature, as well as that done by equestrian and human use, and further exemplifies how mountain bikes contribute to sustainability and erosion prevention in concert with a sustainable design. Lastly, the significant impact of the biking community in volunteer efforts for construction and maintenance of trail systems when compared to participation by other user groups further places mountain bikers at the pinnacle of desired users for any trail system.

In the past couple of years, I've been really enjoying my current hardtail (Nukeproof Scout 275); not just the fun side of it, but the simplicity and dependability... especially in the past year, with my FS headaches. The only thing that could make it better would be to make it steel, along with a few minor tweaks in geometry... This made me wonder if I could design a hardtail that would make me happy enough to pull me away from FS... Being that this would be an experiment, I certainly couldn't justify the cost of the typical custom builder... A few years ago, I had read about a guy in Peru, "Marino Bike" (fb page), that makes custom chromo frames, cheap... there wasn't much about him online at the time, but experiences that I could find were mixed; it was interesting, but I didn't give it much thought. This year though, another PB article popped up in my fb feed with a pretty good review; I was now intrigued, and went to see if more people had tried him since my last search... it appeared that his work had greatly improved, and his prices were still ridiculously low. I did some checking around, messaging everyone I could find that used him, and folks were quite happy... the biggest challenge was the language barrier, but everyone seemed to get past it okay. So, I poked at it... I sent him a fb message with some questions, to feel-out his communication ability, and it went well enough. I also felt him out on pricing etc, and the process... before long I had this ready to go (geo w/sag): We worked out a few other details (dropout type, gussets, etc), made a $100 deposit, and I was in-queue... It seems he has several frames going at once, and he works the process in phases; he'd send an update at each phase (the following photos were all taken by Marino Bike): We are going over shipping details, etc tonight... stay tuned.

OK, that was seriously funny.

most honest thing in this wall of text

From the attached pdf: Reynolds 725 is roughly 50 percent stronger than Reynolds's non-heat-treated tubing, Reynolds 525 (and, for the sake of comparison, Reynolds 525 is the equivalent of the American Iron and Steel Institute standard 4130 chrome- moly steel, which is used to build world-class bicycles). Also from the same website, a good explanation of bike tubing metallurgy: https://www.adventurecycling.org/adventure-cyclist/online-features/2018-cyclists-travel-guide/ Also quite a few good forum discussions online, here's a good one I came across: https://www.bikeforums.net/framebuilders/933018-reynolds-725-tubing-quality-stuff.html metallurgy.pdf

Good choice! Congrats, and a preemtive F' you for all the impending rain

Of course the author is a "he" as only a man would be psychosexual enough to write all the tripe in that book of voodoo. Incest much? You also assumed that from what I typed, just like we assume you're completely feckless and spend all of your time on facebook dreaming about stuff you'll never own or do.

The green run is called "Itsy Bitsy" and by my Garmin is 1.35 miles long. My fastest safe time 🙂 was 4m59s @ 16.4 mph avg moving speed, 23.6 mph max speed. Max speed was towards the end, 1.05 miles in. -cls

Nland was fun. The buyer owns a similar one in CA, so hope they get it up & running soon. They kept having equipment issues and shutting down during prime water activity weather. 😞 It's a really nice facility. The long term fees were kinda steep to me, but they did these constant promo deals that were 2 for 1 priced paired with other activities like Yoga, pilates, gladiator, etc. that made it reasonable if you watched the FB feed or website. I may give Spider mtn a try, but I'm hoping they start running some promo things cause 50 bucks plus gas, food, etc. is vacation rates not every weekend to me.

On a family trip I rode Slickrock in the morn, then hiked around Arches NP after lunch. Another day was Phil's World in Cortez followed by Mesa Verde NP. In April you can't count on the Whole Enchilada being open so have some contingencies. Agree with Anita on Fruita or a little longer drive to Cortez/Durango. Tons of riding in both if there's still a lot of snow up high.

This thread is hot. Can't wait to see it built up.

He claims 3-4 weeks build time on his website, mine was more like double that... but I knew 3-4 had to be pretty optimistic; some of the pics he sent me had quite a few frames and/or drawings in the background, so I think his workload is growing... but, most custom builders I've known have a minimum 6 mo lead time, and Ganderson's Guerilla Gravity took a few months, and it wasn't even custom geo, so I'm fine with it. I'm also in no hurry to get rid of the frame it's replacing.

Thanks for educating us cxagent. If you guys ever get a chance to do trail work with cxagent, you will not be sorry. He's always teaching. We got a chance to do some work with cxagent during Cranksgiving and my kids got a few lessons on trimming and such.

i broke the end of my radius right behind my thumb. there seemed to be quite a few folks there....maybe 40-50 or so. i was able to do 4 runs in literally the time it took to ride the lift up and then do the run. there was no wait at the top or the bottom. the lift ride is slow, at least 5 mins, maybe 7-8. the lift does NOT appear to have been assembled by carnies on meth, which was something i was concerned about. it seemed very solid and quiet. half of the lift chairs have hooks on the backs. the other half have those restraint bars that swing down from overhead and run the whole width of the chair, which seats 3-4. it is arranged every-other-seat i.e bike seat, people seat, bike seat, people seat. you load your own bike at the bottom except for the first time, when they load it for you so you can see how to do it. you dont have to lift the bike too high but the hooks take some practive and i ended up grabbing my bike by the fork with my left hand and the seat stay with my right. but at the top they always unload it for you. the people up at the top were competent and really nice. -cls

DAYUM Mr CatLady! But perhaps it's a badge of honor to be the first, of likely many, to visit the local ER after an incident there!

It is easy to tell the difference AFTERWARD. If they made it and rode or even walked away - that is badass. If they didn't make it or had to go to the doctor - that was stupid as hell. Not much overlap in my mind.

There's a fine line between badass and stupid as hell.... or is there overlap?

Thank you, @First-Blood! I'll definitely look for this next time I'm out there, which will be when it's warmer and not wet!

YouTuber Seth "Bike Hacks" is at Spider MTN now. Blame him for the graupel.

^^^this. My trips out that way usually include camping in Fruita and day trips to Moab as weather dictates or just to hit the Moab stuff.

B_rtman is an ass, but he owns it. I can respect that.

Sold! Good to meet you Caffeend.