AustinBike

This entire discussion would make more sense with an outer diameter discussion. How different is a 27.5 w/2.8 vs. a 29 with 2.4? Not sure anyone has ever done that apples to oranges compare. Typically I see 27.5 v 29 using the same approximate tire. And that defeats the purpose of the comparison in my mind.

I became a fan of the Shimano XT's. I still have SRAM on my hardtail but rarely ride it. Every time I do I ask myself why I have not put Shimano on that bike. The difference is night and day. Especially when it comes to bleeding. Had to bleed an XT about 2 weeks ago before a ride. Took the bike off the wall, the lever felt squishy. I bled it in under 4 minutes and went off on my ride. Rarely do I trust myself with a critical repair so close to the start of a ride, but with those brakes I never think twice.

To me, having 2 different sized wheels is always a dumb idea. 2 different tubes to carry, can't swap tires to even out wear. I believe that 27.5 brings the "bigger wheel" benefits to those people who are shorter. I have ridden 27.5 and 29 and don't really see a dramatic difference between them. But when people ask, I tend to recommend 27.5 for small bike riders and 29 for large bikes. Medium could go either way, based on whether they are a "large medium" or a "small medium". Seems to me that someone would really do the industry a great service by measuring height and inseam to figure out where the 27.5/29 crossover point happens. Long term in the industry I think that we will have both options, but I believe that the industry is best served to address wheel size as a function of bike fit and not a function of performance/handling. It just feels like they are creating the artificial argument today to try to sell people on owning more bikes. The 26/29 gap was pretty large but with 27.5/29 it gets a lot smaller.

Wife's family is Alsacian (she gets pissed when I tell her that makes her German.) Who would ever forget ham??

We'll primarily be in the north (Normandy area) and my assumption was this was more of a mountain food and that we wouldn't see it in the north. Paris was probably the best bet as you can find everything there.

Had to google that one, never had one before. Will check it out in May and report back. Where in Paris? I will primarily be in the north and that sounds like a mountain food so Paris may be my only option.

My wife is the opposite as well. My wife will instruct me to get on a bike if I go more than a day or two with no saddle time because she says it makes me cranky. Bike time is an important part of overall mental health.

Technically you can make that trek with only one metro change at Charles de Gaulle Etolle, but even then you're probably looking at a 15-20 minute trip in non-peak time. However, I will say that there is a good crepe place in La Defense that I know. If you have a banana-nutella crepe, all is right with the world.

Most of the long stairway shots were clearly not in Paris.

That was kind of a douche move to cut across the grass at Sacré-Cœur. At 5:02 he ran right past my favorite cafe, spent plenty of time sitting there drinking wine, usually that is one of the first stops for me, after getting my morning coffee.

OK, I will bring it to the R&I next week.

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!