AustinBike

Just remembered that you helped me out with the bottom bracket, don’t worry about bringing beer 😉

The cold kind. Check your PMs.

Ok, a bunch of stuff that is NBR but valuable to someone. Bring me a 6-pack of nice IPA and take home either of these: Yamaha RX V992 AV receiver. Not HDMI. Synology DS 213J 2-drive NAS (no drives). Drives are screw-mounted, not pluggable. Runs NAS, VPN, DHCP and lots of other stuff. Can be used as a Plex server, cloud server, photo or video server, etc.) Just come and take this other stuff from me: Business card scanner Hunter ceiling fan remote, turns any ceiling fan into a remotely controlled fan iHome iPod speaker - has remote, uses a 30-pin apple connection, like you find on older iPhones and iPods. Great for the garage workbench. Ping me if you want any of this stuff, pickup is in Central Austin.

Yeah, I've checked them out before. Normally I'd be worried about buying used suspension products but they seem legit.

If you come to Austin proper I can give you a greenbelt tour with all of the good stuff that you won't find if you are just meandering around on your own. If you are renting a bike I can meet you at the shop and shuttle you to the trailhead as well. Should be in town around that time. And yes, my site has plenty of info for both Austin and San Antonio.

And once you get it squared away, you can probably elicit free labor on boards like this. As long as we get to ride it we'll be happy to help with building it.

Cue the Spicoli voice "I know that dude." Sadly the kids don't know what I mean. A right of passage.

Eh, looks nice but once it gets all dirty it will just be like any other bike 😉

I buy a ton of stuff from the UK, never have a problem with shipping.

It lived. 5 or 6 of us were there. Despite the light rain the trails were perfect.

Father of the year.

I will be there as well. Not 100% on an early lap but definitely a social lap

Everyone has a different experience. That is why I pointed out early on that this is more about the bike, the rider and the trail conditions. I happen to like ardents, never had a real problem with them. They're affordable and they wear well for me. The other one that I ride a lot is the On-One Chunky Monkey. But, again, these are personal preferences. The only thing for sure out of this thread is that whatever the OP chooses, there is a 95% chance that he picked wrong because of the points I laid out early on. It's like saying your hungry, what should I have for dinner.

Rode during the last cold snap here, was on the bike in the low 30's. To me it is all about the top half of the body (other than feet). I can wear shorts most of the time in Austin. Wool socks, heavy gloves and a liner under my helmet cover the extremities. I wear a sleeveless base, a long sleeved base and a jersey. Between 45 and 55 I also wear a sleeveless windbreaker vest with a vented back. Between 30 and 45 I wear a windbreaker (sleeved). If the weather is really cold (i.e. lower 30's) I will switch to ski gloves and a balaclava on my head. It is never too cold to ride in Austin. I used to ride to work in Chicago when it was below zero, we have it good here and we should not use weather as an excuse not to ride. Best of all, you have the trails to yourself!

I recommend running bass strings instead. Try those, you won't break them as often.

will do

Yeah, judging from Google Maps, parking at Northern Gateway Park is the optimal starting point. We had started from the Redwood shelter which was on the opposite side of the park.

There is a reason for this.

Shows how little I know about the truck market. Most of the truck people I know aren't work truck folks I guess.

The Venn diagram for "pickup truck buyers" and "Tesla buyers" really does not cross much. The best evidence is the shatterproof windows. Is this REALLY an issue for pickups? Made no sense to me to tout that (or even design it in.) The live demo proved my point.

We did not find issues with slick rocks, but there were a ton of leaves on the trails. Apparently the leafkiller was at work!

Tires are personal, specific to both the rider and the bike. Good luck getting a straight answer on this. It is more likely that you will end up more confused than enlightened. I would argue that it is going to be less about the actual tire (i.e. tread pattern) and more about the width. For the most part people are running 2.3" - 2.4" tires on their bikes. A 2.2" or even a 2.25" tire probably won't give you what you are looking for here. I ride 2.4s and find them to be a significant upgrade from the 2.25's that I used to run. Personally I believe that moving beyond 2.4" to 2.5" (or larger) does give you an even better experience, but the cost is significantly higher. This makes 2.4" the price performer for today's rider. 10 years ago 2.2" was the price performer and 2.4's were too expensive to justify for most. Tires are a moving target and highly specific. But not knowing what bike it is on and the rider (along with the true issues you are facing now), it will be impossible to hone in on the single best tire for your needs.

We were there on a Saturday and saw only a handful of riders. Although it was pretty cold. Might be doing a midweek ride up there in early December if anyone is interested in tagging along.

It was on my list but I ruled it out for a bunch of reasons. After riding an Orbea I fell in love with it. But I am more of a 130mm guy, didn't need the longer travel of the Hightower. On the upside it has a threaded bottom bracket, I am not a fan of the press fit models. Also the SRAM brakes were a no-go with me. Hightower is a good bike. If you are interested in shaving 10mm of the front travel and saving a few hundred, you're welcome to borrow my Orbea Occam. I think Wes might still have some 2019's available at killer prices. He does have a demo of the 2020 as well.

Pearl Izumi toe covers. Have cutouts on the bottom for clips, but I think these are more for roadies, I didn't like clipping and unclipping on MTB rides. L/XL size.