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I bought a Santa Cruz Heckler a couple of weeks ago. Here are my reasons for doing so: -I've wanted to get one for my wife so that we can ride together at my speed with me on my Giant Trance Pro. She doesn't want one. So my devious plan is to have her ride this one to realize how much fun it is so that she'll let me get her one. BUT the reality is that me riding this one TURNED OFF accomplishes the same goal. So instead of speeding her up, it slows me down. But not by much. Last week at Crank and Drank I took off and forgot to turn it on. I was two miles into the ride before I realized it. This should be an example to people that are reluctant to buy one because, "Yeah, but then you run out of battery and you have to ride the huge thing home." Ha! This is not an impossible task. This is a fun mountain bike turned off. -It acts as a life preserver. On my few rides so far I have had it on the lowest possible setting. It is not much different than riding with it turned off. It barely offsets the added 20 pounds of the bike. BUT I know the power is there if I need it. A friend, that's even older than me (yes, I know, hard to believe) with one told me about this. On a Crank and Drank once he bonked "out there" before he got his ebike. He was scared about getting back. No more. -I've been "having" to ride the four routes for the SATN SOCIAL to get good Strava routes in the bag to post up. I didn't really feel like riding one day but I knew that the bike would "save" me if needed. Turns out I never used more than the minimum, but the comfort of knowing the reserve was there was enough to get me out. I got a ride in whereas before I would not have. -This will allow me to go on group rides that I wouldn't be so comfortable with before. I went out to Lajitas with a group last month. They were very accommodating with me. They would ride a segment and then wait at the next intersection for me. That was very nice but I don't want to feel like a burden. Nor am I willing to give up the fun and camaraderie of participating in that type of activity yet. I told the guys at ATX Bikes, where I bought this, that everyone gave me shit about getting one at the Crank and Drank last week. Even though about 15 people gave it a spin, and laughed out loud when they did, of course. The bike guy said, "yes, but they'll all have one eventually." I think that is mostly true and this debate about ebikes yes or no will be looked on in the future as, "why did we even fight that?" I'm sure the hardcore skiers in the past looked at chair lifts with disdain. "Pussies. How can they enjoy the skiing experience if they don't earn it with the hike up the hill?" "This will ruin skiing. The mountain will be full of people now." In reality they just built more ski areas. A win. So there you have it. You know what side of the debate I'm on now! But saying all that I doubt it will be my primary bike. Yet. ps, On my first battery charge, I went 150 miles before it died. And that included the test ride session where everyone used a lot of battery because they had it set to Boost. lol. I personally have yet to use it on Boost power. I can't imagine ever using it.

More front brake?

Ha! My wife had a similar idea. She made this and gave it to me for my birthday a while back. This is Pisgah:

I wouldn't ride BG during rush hour or on weekends. We were riding through it late morning on a Friday. And I do understand needing to ride on sidewalks from time to time, but, I don't want to spend a lot of time on them b/c they don't provide the experience I am seeking and cars consistently block them and are not looking for cyclists. Also, if there are any pedestrians, our disparate speed is a concern for me. Lastly, I stopped riding Parmer unless it's absolutely necessary.

But thats my point if it is snugged up against the frame, I see absolutely ZERO way for that side of the sliders to move fwd. Thus it would point to the other side being the sliding culprit, which means braking forces. I had a dropout doing this exact think on one of our TF bikes that were running 'experimental slider' DO's. It was very unintuitive until the clues all lined up.

This is similar to the issue that I ran into with my MonoCog Flight that I owned. The frame deformed on the disk brake side in the carrier area that holds the slider allowing it to have vertical twisting play. I sure this was due to to many rock ledge drops with the rear brake applied, got to love CTX riding. This was allowing the brake side to move fore, aft, and slightly vertically no matter how tight the bolts were. Would have required cutting the frame and adding back in a new carrier portion on the rear triangle. My issue was due to metal fatigue from repeated bashing.... Was hoping my old post had a detailed picture of the deformed slider portion of the frame, but it does not.

Just making sure... are you snugging this bolt up against the frame and locking the lock nut?

I suspect its this. Not slipping due to pedaling torque, but due to braking forces. With the tensioner screws on the end, it simply could not move fwd (but rather only rearward). Its not a super intuitive problem to solve. But I'd start by taking it apart and filling down the paint (& black anodizing) so that you can have some purchase between the two surfaces. Than as @AntonioGG suggested, maybe getting higher quality bolts and increasing torque to them a good bit. But I suspect your culprit is the (lack of) friction between the two surfaces with allow it to slip FORWARD under (disc) braking loads. Later, CJB

I have some more ideas: "congrats on your new car! this is the blinker switch on your car, Use it BEFORE you are making a turn. It doesn't mean you are going, it means you intend to go, ensure you are clear to turn" "congrats on your new puppy! The city has a list of parks where your puppy can roam leash-free. Elsewhere, including the streets and sidewalk please keep your puppy on a 6ft leash" ....I could go on...

What grade are those bolts? Using recommended torque did not work for me with my Ritchey with Paragon style slider. I had to torque them a lot harder.

That’s called a chain tensioner aka chain tug in the old bmx world. So even with the screw well snugged against the end of the frame it’s sliding? Is the screw slipping above/below the end of frame or is it loosening up? That screw on the end is “supposed to” keep it from sliding forward without having to tighten the crap out of the slider bolts. All the chain tugs I’ve used on track end bikes have stayed put so not sure what’s up. If the screw is loosening a lock washer on it between nut and end of chain tug (black piece) should help. On the actual slider I’ve seen star washers used but they bite into the frame a bit. There’s lots of replacements available. Maybe look more in the bmx realm. Example below: https://www.danscomp.com/box-two-chain-tensioner-black-3-8-10mm-bx-ct182x10m-bk/p1272129?v=721268&gclid=CjwKCAjw9LSSBhBsEiwAKtf0n7FBz_KMokKmlz5bNBDHWIJoa6qzAs8OLUuTYW3F0AkNUwVX0tp75xoC8SsQAvD_BwE

There’s enough flatlandia around here to kick your ass on an all day ride, but I wouldn’t want to do it on an e-bike.

Nope. I could certainly try that, though. It's a bit of a pain getting the wheel lined up and chain properly tensioned while trying to adjust these bolts on both sides of the bike. Do not like. I'd rather pay someone else to do it, someone who knows what they are doing! I'd like to get another singlespeed soon to replace this bike, but I'd like to get this issue resolved before I sell it to someone else.

I'm a boomer and can't disagree. When I was a kid, we only got to go to Dairy Queen if we won the damn game. Nowadays, everybody goes, and they get parfaits and banana splits instead of an f'n cone. Geez!

I get all of the arguments for the various use cases that make good sense for eMTB, but show me one ad where the manufacturer is actually targeting the old and decrepit. No, instead they are appealing to the masses simply to increase profits - not to extend MTBing to those who otherwise couldn't enjoy it. They don't give two shits about those people. To me personally, eMTB is an insult to the sport itself, coming directly from the same bike builders who helped make the sport so enjoyable for those of us who like to keep pushing harder to advance our game (even at 63). Advancements in equipment over the years have lifted the limits in MTB just like they have in other sports. Deploying a motor to make a sport easier though has crossed a line IMO. What's next, an escalator to the top of Mt. Everest?

Yes, and that has been the case for decades in the MTB world, hasn't it? People upset over an encounter that threatened trail access for everyone? Same song, different verse. The solution is a matter of education, then putting the knowledge into one's own behavior modification stragegy, just as it has always been. The best thing that happened to MTB was it becoming more mainstream. As more people became involved in the MTB community, spreading the word on how we are each an ambassador to the sport, sharing the rules for who yields to who, coming together to make more trails, etc., the acceptance of MTBs has risen substantially. E-MTB is an extension of this existing MTB movement and must go through the same process. Ego has to be set aside and good behavior encouraged. There isn't really any better approach. Anyone can yell "Get off my lawn!" till the cows come home, with little result to show for their effort. The only constant is change.

Obligatory staged photo for my desktop background.

Put some lipstick on the wall of beige that is my home. Going to remove 40+ years of coaxial and phone cables and do some painting next

Some maps deserve more than to just be thrown out after a ride.

Madrone and Mountain Laurel.

Made some more progress on project GTFO, and got the front patio stained this week. Going to have the guy back out for some touch up issues and cleaning, but happy overall.