AustinBike

Sorry, missed your post. PM sent.

Welcome to 2019. Let's hope 2020 is better.

According to https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0061/0022/2050/files/Niner_Frame_History_v11-18-2019.pdf?11439349641774761740 the shock should be 200mm x 50mm with 117mm of travel.

Was doing a lap today and Austin Energy was out there doing work. .6 was closed off on both ends. Don’t know how long they will be there.

I’ll basically take anyone’s blogs, they would get credited, of course. You’ve posted enough on topics that you could probably write on a variety of topics. Any topics, from anyone, would be welcome. Just write something up and send it over, I’ll have the folks at the world headquarters do the formatting.

This is why I don't don't big group rides any more. I used to lead regular BCGB rides every weekend, 10-20 people. And then it got to be a pain. Someone was always too slow. Someone always forgot to pack tools, someone always forgot to bring nutrition for a long ride, someone always got lost. When 19 people are waiting on the 1, over and over, it becomes untenable. I prefer a smaller group of my friends who all ride at my pace and actually prepare for rides.

Will be interested in a review once you have used it for a while

If you are looking for an outlet for your creative writing, I can host your blog on austinbike.com.

In the age of Facebook, nextdoor and craigslist, the idea of printed classifieds is insane. All of that content would be fine in an online environment. I could put classifieds on my site. But then I would need to monitor and provide editorial control. That is why I won't even host forums on my site, I don't want the hassle. On top of that, why would you ever put anything on my site with 200 people a day when the other options give you 200,000+ per day? Hell, even Pinkbike, which is Canadian (I think), would be a better option. Online classifieds are driven by the site traffic, not the specificity to the niche.

As someone that creates content (and drives ~200+ users to Austin mountain biking content daily) I can tell you that it is a lot of work. And then you have to sell it. Which is even more work, and the main reason that I fund the whole thing myself and don't use advertisers. I spent years as a designer/typesetter and used to deal with printers and publications all the time - lots of work, not really cost-effective, which is why I no longer do that. Imagine that you want to have a print magazine available on the streets June 1st. What do your deadlines look like? Physical copies distributed May 24th. Physical copies received from the printer (quality check) May 7th. Files to the printer April 1st (remember you are the smallest guy in the queue.) Proofs from the typesetter by March 15th (you need time to review proofs and potentially change things if they screw up) Content to the typesetter by February 15th. Content creation begins January 1st. So, if you have an editorial calendar ready now and you have content creators ready to go, then you *might* be able to put something on the streets by June 1st. Realistically the lead time on physically published magazines is so long and the industry moves so fast that there is little opportunity. This is why all of the existing print magazines are either dying or dead. Oh, and this is a pretty expensive proposition, especially in the startup phase because you don't have the economies of scale/pipelines that your competitors have. Who will advertise? Nobody for the first 2-3 issues. You'll end up giving away all of the placement hoping that you can extract money from them in 2021. Who will pay for it at the distribution site? Probably nobody when they can get all of that info online. And current. Everything in your magazine will be ~4-6 months out of date. Your competition has the advantage of having previews of new products so that they can cut that lead time to 30-60 days. This is a TON of work and probably not realistic, but have at it. Everyone should follow their dream. I'll take the under on that bet because you'd be better off trying to revive the dying fax machine industry at this point.

I like the idea, but in reality, I never touch my shock and fork settings once they are dialed in. I don't even touch the lockouts for climbing because too often at the end of the climb a descent begins and halfway down I am thinking "wow, this is really rough." That is the wrong time to stop and turn a knob. Realistically speaking, when people get things like this, how often do they actually adjust them?

Yeah, there is lots of stuff out there. Ever do the R&I on Tuesdays? If not, ping me, I am suitably underemployed and can ride most weekdays.

That is down along the creek. Take the south route from the pool parking lot, and instead of doing the climb all the way back up, you stay straight and head down the the creek. Ends at the main creek crossing.

It is a thankless job.

If you want to borrow it to see whether it will work for you just let me know, you can try it for a few weeks, it's not doing much here right now.

From a Niner RIP9, circa 2012 or so. Fox Float Factory, Kashima, remote lockout (I do not have the remote any more). I could sell it on eBay for $100-150 or so, but that would entail me getting off my butt, which is why it has been sitting for years. Name your price, I can be very reasonable at this point.

Not sure that they think they are cutting new trail, they are just “fixing” existing trail would be my guess of what runs through their head. If they even think about it at all.

Again, not to get too specific, but what is this saying to the person doing the cutting? Trail closure? For a weekend? For a month? For motos? For bikes? All the trail? Part of the trail? Still too nebulous in my mind. Think about the message (I'm in marketing, it's my job): 1. Identify the bonewipe here (i.e. the person doing the cutting) 2. Specify EXACTLY what is wrong (i.e. cutting cheater lines, not "new trail") 3. Explain what happens if they don't stop (i.e. WE lose access, forever.) "Altering trails will get bikes permanently banned from this park. " City park does get closed from time to time for Moto races or other things. Saying trail closure does not really specify what is at stake. Just my 2 cents.

"Altering trail" is probably better. Some people will think cheater lines are "existing trail". And getting kicked out sounds like a one time thing (yeah, we've all been kicked out of a bar and then went back in the future, right?) Altering trails will get bikes permanently banned from this park. Don't do it!

Not to nit pick (but this is the internet after all) but I think you're focusing in the wrong direction. The bonewipe that is doing this a.) probably doesn't believe that what they are doing is "unauthorized trail" and b.) doesn't really grasp what "prohibited" means. For instance they might think that if they are caught they'll have to go put the branches back up. I'm a fan of: "Hey, you, the guy cutting cheater lines. This type of trail modification may result in bikes being banned on the trails. Stop it now. <ARR logo>" Somehow you need to get the point across that this is not about them getting caught doing something unauthorized and that the punishment hits the whole community. Right now my guess is that they view it as a "victimless crime" and that nothing will come of their work. We need to help them understand the ramifications. The APR and BCP logos actually detract and may have the opposite effect for you. This should be bikers telling bikers to cut it out.

Most importantly on the logo, it comes across to everyone that this is the MTB community and not some random person. I think we all remember the "notices" posted on the GB a few years ago. They were professionally done, but by some crackpot individual, not an organization. They were full of incorrect information that people probably took as legit because of the look.

I like this idea. The same idiots who are cutting the cheater lines probably see them being blocked off and just assume that some other idiot who does not know what they are doing is responsible. There needs to be an indication of why this is being blocked off.

Yeah, this is my urban commuter bike so, while I put significantly more miles on this than any of my other bikes, I don't want to sink a lot of money into it. The $14 Shimano BB is working for now. The next BB will be an FSA. Long term I may ditch the cranks altogether, but the bike *might* have a couple of cranks in the frame that would necessitate a Kona warranty replacement, so I'd really wait until that time before I headed down the path of putting more money into the bike. For $450 (used) it has been a hell of a workhorse.

Just rode CP for the first time in a long time today. Hard to know who is doing what.

That is why a shop is appealing. If I take it to them it is their problem. And if the hub is toast and I need a new one, I don’t have to mess with it. Tomorrow I should know for sure.