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For whatever reason I found this video fascinating, but what does it really mean? If I'm interpreting correctly, a steep drop that tapers off as you get more into the travel, like what you see with the rift zone, would probably be best suited for our local, rocky terrain. Would you agree? What about how high or low on the graph the curve is though? If that is the leverage ratio, what does it really mean in terms of how the bike rides? Curious to hear what you suspension geeks have to say.

Pendleton 1910 Rye. Good frickin drink for the $

Buddy just bought the 11-50 drivetrain https://www.velomine.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=664&pg=store&zenid=hfe50ar06rtjbl6bib56subn81

That's an awesome channel!

Not a guru but my experience as a chassis builder in my hotrod & rockcrawling days helped a little. The rest I've learned from sites like this one from Andrextr: https://www.youtube.com/user/andrextr/videos

Everything west of Mulligan is gtg.

I had the pleasure of demoing a Specialized Turbo Levo SL this weekend. It was awesome. I couldn't stop smiling. My only complaint was that I wanted to keep riding it, but it was time to go home. That is really the only reason I wouldn't consider owning one as my only or primary bike. If I was in a situation that I wanted to ride longer or couldn't keep up with the pace and distance of the people I regularly ride with, I'd strongly consider it, but for my average allotted window of time I get to ride, I like the exercise the traditional bike gives me. We rode in a group of 2 e-bikes and 3 regular bikes. There were a few sections of tight, twisty, or technical that the regular bikes were faster. The e-bikes were definitely faster on the extended climbs. Overall, the group still stayed together just as well as any group of 5 average riders of varying fitness. It takes the same level of bike handling, if not more, to keep the wheels moving in the right direction with the extra weight. Technical sections were still challenging. The bike I rode was around 40lbs., so not too bad really compared to some 35+ lb pedal bikes on the market. Compared to other e-bikes discussed in this thread, it's about 10 lbs lighter. (And this was the lowest spec'd Comp version.) I could definitely feel the added weight on jumps and techy stuff when I was trying to unweight the rear end, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't deal with. I rode it some with the assist turned off. It wasn't "fun", but if there was a motor failure, it would be completely doable to pedal it out. Even though it was the SL, thus smaller motor - less power, it had three levels of assist. The strongest "turbo" was too much for normal riding. I was fun zooming uphill on the road or a stretch of double track. Most of the time, Eco mode was all that was needed, but the middle setting was nice at times too. It really is not a set it and go. You still need to shift gears and plan for a climb. Also while we were out there, we ran into a group of 5 or 6 riders, all probably mid-20's, all riding eMTBs.

I'll take a shot at answering your questions: Does the Karoo's 15 hour battery life change when paired with sensors or the phone? I've always ran the Karoo paired with a heart rate monitor and wireless drivetrain. Longest ride I've done is 6 hours, and I had about 25% battery left when I finished. The Karoo does not pair with your phone, unless you're talking about turning on a wifi hotspot on your phone and leaving the wifi running on the Karoo. In that case I'm sure the battery life would be affected. Simple menu navigation. The 520+ is horrible compared to the older devices (Edge 500, or Edge 705). Based on the zoom map features, the Karoo is already ahead here, but more feedback on other menu navigation would be welcome. I'd say the menu navigation is better than my old Garmin 1030, but I still find myself poking around and having trouble finding certain settings. Non cycling specific. Can you use it for running? i.e. does it have running type stats (e.g. min/mile pace) or only cycling? You're probably already aware, but this thing is big and heavy. Would you carry it in a running pack? I'm not sure if it has running type stats. I'm not built for running.

I get a lot out of pedals, not a concern, Time are good investments. The collection of pedals is over 6+ bikes for the past ~12-15 years.... As to bottom brackets it is really dependent on conditions. I tend to burn through them more on my commuter because that one is out in the rain more often. The nice bikes stay inside in bad conditions.

I'm no suspension geek either as far as leverage ratios go (my experience is with linear springs/dampers only), but I think how high on the graph the curve is just says more for the shock travel/design/valving than how it's going to ride. I think the curve by itself doesn't say much without knowing how the shock force curve looks. If you had a metal linear spring shock then that curve tells you a lot. But with an air spring plus maybe spacers and the valving, I'm not sure how much it tells. Now I'll sit back and read what the true MTB suspension gurus have to say.

I am no suspension geek, but this video says a couple of clear things to me: First, those that think "I can design my own and it will be better because it will be for me" are wildly underestimating the complexity of suspension and second, any type of change, from fork size to even tire choice, can have a huge impact on suspension. When I bought my Niner RIP 9 I originally borrowed a bike from someone I ride with (exact same bike) and when I bought my used one with lots of modifications, it took me months of component swapping to get it close to the original demo. When I bought my Orbea I wrote down all of the original components and all of the measurements between things when I got it totally dialed in. I know over time things will change, but suspension is such a touchy beast that I really wanted to make sure I was being as optimal as possible.

When I first started riding, I rode Muleshoe every Monday. It was a great place to learn (also the first place I received a real injury.) Also, tell your wife to be on the lookout for Ride Like a Girl. It should be starting some time this Spring. It is a great program for women who want to learn to mountain bike or to improve their skills.

The best I can describe it would be "hydrologic" movement. You want it to move smoothly, but it'll have some drag from the grease. Those can be serviced if you careful, but they are so cheap I usually just replace them.

some retailers like velomine, jenson , blueskycycling and what used to be bikewagon & pricepoint would buy NOS parts/bikes for pennies on the dollar and sell them at a deep discount. I've gotten 50% off frames at jenson this way. Wouldn't surprise me if this stuff from box is the same. For the money they're asking, i wouldn't really care what happens to box. Lastly, Ive owned a set of their carbon bars and never had an issue.

Word from those in the know is that it was a bit wet this weekend, so I think urban is the way to go. Anyone in central Austin who wants to join us should ping me.

tough to say but at that price dunno if any of it matters. My buddy bought the 11-50 kit to replace his M9000 XTR and took a trip to moab this weekend. said he couldn't tell the difference in shifting. It also survived him, which says a lot for box.

I really do love the guitar analogy. When you are playing an electric guitar you are NOT playing an acoustic guitar. No argument. But you ARE playing a type of guitar. Takes the same skills. But to play louder on the electric you just have to turn a switch, not hurt your fingers. You might have one of each like TheX does. If you can afford to have two. You use them for different things. But you enjoy them both. Do all guitar companies make both? Do they have different divisions if they do? And finally, it doesn't matter which one you are playing, you are still making music.

eat f@ck tubby. nobody was talking to you

I don't think they're going away. They're just going to find their segment and live there. Ebikes are not the new 29er, they're the new fat bike.

It took me a few times rolling up to that one before I finally went for it. It’s not as bad as it looks but it took me a few times before I could really match the landing angle. Landing rear wheel first will really snap you forward. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Their 9 Volt triple is pretty good.

Venom on ice with a twist of Benadryl 👹🤘🤘.

Can now say that eagle 12spd chains shifts smooth as buttah on 11spd sram👍

Cable porn and power washing porn are two of the best subreddits.

Cool to see the boys together again and killing it way into their 40s. Peaty heckling Warner was priceless. .....and still fast AF too (turn on the youtube subtitles for the lolz)

18 years ago today.

For those of you not on Facebook and the MTB group where I posted these yesterday, here are some clips from the stages I was at for the Cat Mountain race. Keep in mind I was using an Iphone and this was my first time editing videos together. Enjoy. Stage 1 Stage 3 Stage 7 Stage 8

And tonight’s, live from Lake Whitney SP.

Tonight’s poison as I prep a little beef roast and gravy.

Traded my neighbor a bottle of wine for this one. Thinking i came out ahead on the deal😎