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We're clearly doing something wrong, then.

In 2.5 years of riding on my primary bike 8 to 15 hours per week, I've had the Fox Factory fork and shock serviced once at the shop. Just recently I took it back in due to a little play between one of the stanchions and the lower on the fork, and they sent off to Fox for a complete servicing. It came back like new, and there has been no indication that I've been damaging the fork beyond repair by not having it regularly serviced. So for me it's once every 18 months for shop service unless something doesn't feel right, in which case I'll have it checked out. I simply don't have the time or patience to be doing it myself and don't believe in paying for more than I really need.

Up until now, I used to ride down that when it was wet. Now you guys have me a freaked out and skert to leave the house. Thanks

Waaay back before Deception, I used to ride the ditch on my way home from work; it was never wet, unless there was a significant rain within a day or 2. It didn't start getting this way until the surrounding homes were built... my guess is that all the new impervious cover started forcing water to run-off and saturate that immediate area, instead of soaking-in where it fell.

I picked up some Real Ale Skullberry strawberry milkshake IPA yesterday. Fruit and creamy are usually not qualities I look for in an IPA, but I was feeling adventurous. Surprisingly good, although I have to say my expectations weren't that high to begin with. One of those beers that you really enjoy the first one, but then order something different for the next one (or six). Photo credit and a review: http://tommylikesbeer.blogspot.com/2019/06/real-ale-skullberry-strawberry.html

Some rum i picked up last week on vacation. pretty tasty on teh rocks.

Added this to my skills set this week. Things like this were intimidating but I finally bit the bullet. Here's how it is done: http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/repairs/352-upgrading-to-shimano-xt-brakes I am still not comfortable cutting down the hoses on my Hope brakes, so I don't know if those will go onto the hardtail just yet. Next up is learning to service a rear shock and a fork. Maybe I need to bring a 6-pack to Mack Turtle's place one of these days.

This is dumb as fuck.

Tried a few new beers over the past couple of days that I hadn't had before: 1. St. Arnold Divine Reserve - worth finishing the bottle but definitely not worth buying a 6-pack at that price, at least not for my taste. 2. Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA - really tasty to me. Reminded me of the New Belgium Voodoo Ranger Imperial IPA that I drink frequently only a little smoother. 3. Lagunitas Hop Stoopid - nice hoppy ale with a pretty good kick, but prefer their Little Sumpin' over this one.

You may want to buy a 12-pack of good IPA and then invite the forum over to your house to show you how it is done. You'll learn something in the process. Apparently free cold beer is a mating call in the bike world and it will attract people quickly.

my good friends Krys Brown owns and operates Cracked Carbon Repair in north Austin and does fantastic work and great pricing. call or text him 949-310-2011

Mack_turtle is right. Not that you're considering this, but there have been cases where floating rotors such as Hope's wouldn't play nice with other calipers due to the rivets on the carrier catching the caliper. Also, some discs have a different thickness, but that usually doesn't cause an issue that can't be fixed by a little pad spacing adjustment. About truing rotors...yes it can be done. But at $35 for an ice tech rotor, just get some new fresh ones and be done with those SRAM rotors.

Tried a sixer of this about a month ago. It was ok. I recently tried a Dogfish Head Super Eight and was surprised I actually liked it. Not as refreshing as their Sea Quench, but still pretty good.

There's just no winning

You can "true" a rotor back into shape if it's not too badly bent. I bought a Feedback Sports tool for that job which is cheap and will save you a ton of hassle and $$ over replacing rotors at the first sign of trouble. you can often do it with clean fingers, a paper towel, and an adjustable wrench. If it's mangled though, replace it. Some rotors don't play nice with other brands' calipers. It's a matter of the rotor's outside shape. Some have waves and angles that don't line up with the pads or might hit the caliper.

There's always fishing - oh wait is it still Shark Week!

Rotors is rotors. Brake brand generally makes no difference. The only time that matters is if you have some weird off brands with weird sizes. I had a Hope that was once off-sized by a few mm, it was a 183mm and the standard was 180 so I needed some spacers. 160mm, 180mm and 203mm are the most common sizes. The mounts for the calipers are all standardized so all you need to do is remove the old calipers and put the new ones on, everything should fit with no problem. You only need new rotors if your old ones are damaged or too worn down.

When I went in there on foot this AM I was surprised that there was water physically moving. Granted not alot but moving water flowing down DD. And yea.. I wouldn't personally ride down as it is now. Too wet Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I only ride down when it's wet in the event that some asshat is perched in the ditch gluing down rocks, in which case I fishtail into said offender to help maintain my own stability while also disrupting their dirty deed. There, now its related to the event. In all seriousness though, I rarely ride that section unless we're in an extreme drought because it seems to always be wet and slippery as hell. Somebody posted a few months ago about a rider being seriously injured after slipping on the way down. The alternate route, Dave's Glitch, is equally fun and more challenging anyway. Just go to your right instead of your left when approaching that climb up to the top.

If you see anybody doing unauthorized trail modifications - get a picture first. Then ask them what they are doing and if it was approved by the land owner. Note I said to get a picture first. They usually disappear when the questions start.

I've not encountered this feature, but might it be a good idea to preempt the inevitable asshattery by putting some way to pull yourself up that rock? Maybe a rope or chain, or some hand/foot holds that will hold up without affecting the route down? Might also be useful to a rider who attempts the drop, biffs it and needs help getting out with an injury.

I did him a favor. Those rocks pulled off with zero effort. His engineering fu is weak. There is however leftover glue or whatever Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

My kid is at practice now at the fields. Walking over now . Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Nope, if that first drop is wet, I turn my ass right back around. I tried scrambling down it once when it was wet, and that resulted in an uncontrolled slide on my ass, after which my ass was soaked in the muck accumulating on that drop.

Just yesterday I took a tire off and noticed the hole in the rubber part of the valve was pretty closed off. Normally I blow air perpendicular to the opening to clean up any sealant before I put the core back on. I also run a pipe cleaner through it whenever I re-fill the Stan's.

I generally find that if I need to clean the stem out , I keep it simple and use a small diameter screwdriver and that's that. For the valve if it gets gummy I just run under hot water and knock out the cloggy junk. Roll it around my fingers rapidly under the water. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I love this forum because everyone is so nice and helpful. I should probably google half of the shit that I ask on here, but I love the wisdom and experience you all have. Hopefully you like answering the questions too!

Neighbors bought a bike for their kid online and I offered to set it up. Took me less than 30 minutes including unboxing and getting rid of the box. They came over to pick it up and brought 2 really nice bottles of cabernet. At that rate I was probably paid ~$150/hour or so for my work. And the kid's bike was set up right.

I use Stans, not orange and the stems occasionally clog. But I can usually just pick it off the bottom, never had an issue that needed me to clean the whole thing. I do recommend getting something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Valve-Presta-Core-12-Continental/dp/B077L2DXPJ/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=presta+valve+core&qid=1564399442&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExMURDSUVLWExCREhSJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzY1ODU3VU9YNzc1RTdDRzdIJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAxNjA2MzExU0tFN1JEMDlLSDJLJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== Also, as someone I was riding with this weekend discovered, having a presta stem remover in their pack would be a really good thing. So buy a couple of cheap ones and toss one in your pack.

I’ve never ridden any of the trail on the traditional first loop, which includes the big Black Bear climb but I rode 20 miles of this years first loop and it was CHOCKED FULL of magnificent narrow alpine single track through pine and aspen forests. Very much worth a visit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had that problem with my xtrs until I increased travel to max then bled them. Bleeding them without extending the lever travel resulted in the wandering bite point and pumping up on the rear break. Still not as solid as my Hopes though.

Ebikes are still propelled by pedals. If you take the pedals off an ebike, it will go the exact same speed as a regular bike with no pedals.

But seriously, you are projecting your values, your "biggest pride points" on to me. One person cannot judge what gives another person joy. Maybe it doesn't matter to me how I get to the top of the hill. I just want to get to the top. But there's nothing stopping you from feeling some pride of getting to the top of the hill on human power though. I agree with the point you made about Strava times though. That aspect of Strava is not that important to me but I know it is to some people. I think that is a valid point about ebike usage. Perhaps Strava can come up with another category for them. Of course then it would depend on people being honest. But they have to be honest already by marking categories. How many people ride a bike now on trails and use the "run" category just to get a run KOM? (Do runners even do the KOM thing?)

I just put a Manitou Mattoc Pro 120mm on my new Banshee Phantom and i'm pretty pleased with it so far, especially for the price. I got it for $525 new from Chain Reaction. I was also slightly more limited on choices as I went 29+ on my build and Manitou seems to have embraced the 29+ market more than the other manufacturers.

They actually have done this and they did it several years ago. They call it "suspension" and "shocks". It made the sport more fun and let more people do more things that, before the introduction of that technology, were not possible for them. I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I'm just illustrating that things are relative. Are dropper posts cheating? Are carbon bikes cheating? And the guy had a good point about "if you're not racing then does it matter?" I think the only real argument that can be made against mountain ebikes is whether or not they more adversely affect the trails. But these things don't have throttles. I don't think they are capable of rooster tailing a shower of dirt like motocross motorcycles can. No more so than a regular bike railing a berm can that is. And it's not a problem with them weighing more. They weigh what, 20 pounds more? I know for a fact that I weigh 20 pounds more than the majority of folks out there on comparable bikes. So that can't be an "ebikes are worse than regular bikes" argument. Don't be a weightist!