AustinBike

Wellllllll, that turned out to be a little chilly at the end. Great ride but that cold front that was supposed to be there "overnight" got there like a friend showing up to your house early for a party and you haven't even showered yet.

Pretty sure that the bike probably does not support internal routing. That spec at that price probably precludes such fanciness. The best way to find out is to check for cable ports near the head tube that go inside the frame. If you have no internal routing for anything, you'll need an externally routed dropper. External routing is not a bad thing - they are cheaper and easier to work on.

Yeah, the brake bleeding article is done. http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/repairs/370-shimano-bleed

We did both of the blues (one twice) and the green. Those were plenty for me. I think if we had gone there for the whole day we would have done the blacks as well, but I am not sure anyone in our group would have done the double black unless we knew that all of the gaps had options on them. I don't mind riding steep and sketchy as long as I can take my time; I stayed off the blacks because a.) I did not want to slow down other riders and b.) I was already worn out from Passion Play. Oh, plus, I'm a wuss.

OK, finally had enough free time to finish out my reviews (some as late as last year). Here's the latest: Lake leatherwood - http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/united-states/369-leatherwood Passion Play - http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/united-states/368-passionplay Suburban Ninja - http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/north-of-austin/366-ninja Brushy Creek (updated) - http://www.austinbike.com/index.php/north-of-austin/15-brushy Trying to get out to a new trail southwest of here next week, we'll see how that goes. Going to spend the rest of today trying to finish up my bleeding brakes article before heading out to ride.

Based on her weight, I'd go with a dropper first. Antonio is right, PNW is definitely the best bang for the buck and awesome service. Basically a dropper will do as much for a bike (or more) than a fork will do, so if I could only do one upgrade, I'd go dropper because it is cheaper. I would not be putting any money into a 1-1/8" steerer fork because whatever you get in the future will have a 1.5" (which is muuuuuuch better.)

That sucks, my father in law ended up in the ER because of those. Hope they don't put you on blood thinners, that can be a real mess.

Check your PMs

Tomorrow it will be between 78 and 81F for the beginning of the ride and "jacket cool" for post riding activity. I plan to get an early lap in and definitely think that the conditions will be primo, both on the ground and in the air. Get it while you can, the weather changes pretty crazily late Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

The one I saw was on the greenbelt. I had gotten to something that I could not climb (too technical) and had dismounted. This idiot came barreling through right past me. Pretty sure that if he didn't have the engine he'd be walking it as well. No warning, just pushed through and almost knocked me over.

Removed the tree gate. The drop goes up slightly to the left then drops down between the stump and a root. They are building a ramp around it to the right. Hopefully we'll figure it out when they are the first to claim that as a Strava KOM.

If they get people off their couches, that is a good thing. It's getting them onto the trails that might not be a good thing. I've been passed by ebikes in places that I was not expecting it.

Exactly. My biggest fear is that things like this ultimately risk our sport. "Bringing in non-bikers to the sport" is not always the best thing for the sport. If they help bikers who have lost the capability return to the sport, that is great. But if it brings in a bunch of hummer heads that think they can now crush everything, we're all gonna lose some access over time...

Yeah, GM is going to bring out an electric hummer. And then this: https://www.engadget.com/2020/02/02/jeep-e-bike-super-bowl-ad-teaser/ How many bad car brands are going to try to create a mountain bike, only to have them implode in a spectacular bonfire of excess? I once saw a BMW mountain bike in Taipei and tried to take a picture of it and actually got yelled at. Stop the madness.

A particular spot with a small technical drop (18” with a stump and a root to navigate) followed by a challenging 3-tree treegate. As a mediocre rider I could clear it 100% of the time. It added challenge. You removed it. You suck. I hope you flat on every ride. Multiple times.

First cars are backing into walnut, now whole houses? That situation is out of control.

I tried converting from 11-speed to 12-speed on my King wheels and found that there was an incompatibility. My 135mm through axle wheels would accept a 12-speed cassette, but my 142mm wheel would not. The spider was rubbing on the spokes, causing both the spider to get worn down and causing a broken spoke. I have no idea how I did not hear it when I did the installation, but after I replaced the broken spoke I could hear the rubbing and hand to go back to 11-speed. Check with i9 on compatibility, don't just assume that it will fit because the cassette fits on the freehub, there could be an incompatibility. I9 *may* be better off because I believe they use straight-pull spokes and my Kings were J spokes.

New wheel on the way. Can’t decide whether to drop the old one off for a re-tension or just buy the tool and do it myself. for those of you with the tool, do you really use it enough or was it a one time thing? Not looking to borrow one because if I am going to take the time to really learn how to use it, I’ll want my own tool. Just want to know bang for the buck on actually buying one.

Still working on the real reviews of passion play and lake leatherwood, just pics now. Maybe this week, depending on how much beer I have left after Sunday’s game.

Shit! I used the old cover sheet. I am betting this goes down in my permanent record.

The folks at AustinBike World Headquarters finally approved my TPS reports and some updates are starting to creep out. The Brushy Creek review has been updated with some more current information and the Suburban Ninja review is now posted (checked first to make sure it was cool to have online.) Does not cover the church area because that is not really for public consumption; none of the FR512 stuff is online.

After replacing practically every goddamn piece of this bike, I finally, definitively, located the creak today. Rear wheel. The hub had been rebuilt and a new freehub body put on so my guess is that it was spoke tension. Regardless, I am done messing with it. Ordered a new wheel, didn't want to mess around with the old one any longer. Might take the old one to a shop and have it restrung some day as a backup, but for all practical intents a Shimano/WTB wheel is going on that bike next week. Thanks to Antonio for loaning me his wheel. And let this be a lesson to you when you are trying to track down squeaks - don't overlook the rear wheel.

Then you'll love this. Friend's (late) brother is on bass (black and white Jazz Bass to the right of Joe.) He played with everyone, lots of big names.

Yeah, that is pretty much it. The issue I always have with the rock gardens is that I ride it so infrequently that I forget the lines. The second lap is always better than the first because there aren't as many dabs along the way.

Caps for Schraeder, never presta. Schraeder can get dirt and gunk in them, presta is fairly immune to that in my experience.