AustinBike

My two hardtails have 130mm forks. The pike on my geared bike is a 35mm, the Fox factory on my singlespeed is a 34. Personally the 34 is fine for the hardtail, and would also be fine on my full suspension based on the way I ride. Considering your size, I'd say a 34 is more than enough. Take a look at some of the take off options. If you get a new enough model the probability of abuse is greatly diminished. I bought a used fork from Seth, so you'd expect a high abuse factor but it was fine 😉

As a strongly biased Mac guy (after being a strong PC advocate for 30+ years) I have to say buy what you are comfortable with. Your OS should be a tool that is invisible to you. FIRST pick the apps that you want to run, THEN choose the platform/OS. Starting with the apps is like deciding which trail you want to ride before you start shopping for bikes.

Eh, born in Chicago in February. My thermostat has changed a lot since being down here. Can't handle the cold weather anymore.

Yep, I totally get this. Some people spend a disproportionate amount of time trying to share trail knowledge with others. It is a thankless task.

Borrowed a 3rd 1Up Rack and was able to easily shuttle bikes back and forth downtown to town lake. But, yeah, the bike wobbled a lot. 2" hitch ordered. 2" replacement for the 1Up is on its way. Guess I should have done the smart thing from the beginning and not been cheap about the cost. I'll be more comfortable with the 3 bikes on a stronger rack.

That is part of my point. A podcast encourages it. I like Antonio's version - go out and get lost. When I learn trails it is typically by riding with someone else that knows the trails. Otherwise I try to look at maps to see the general direction, but with those trails that is impossible. I like Antonio's plan of just wandering. But I'm an old man and cranky.

I still do this but now it is a drop ride. Buyer beware 😉

My thought would be that you watch the video before you ride, (or after to see where you should have turned). Definitely not while you ride. That is my other issue with a podcast - people trying to pay attention to where they should be by podcast vs. having the situational awareness that there are other riders, obstacles and snakes to watch for.

Shouldn't be an issue, the trails are pretty tame 😉

Yeah, I think I know him (front yard looks familiar). Ping me tonight and I will share my guess.

Most of you probably don't know Jay (853) but he busted his collarbone at Muleshoe back in the day. He told me the biggest challenge he had working through the injury was 25 years of always wiping his ass with his right hand. As a precautionary measure, I might start trying to alternate.

I believe the video would work better for 2 reasons. First the podcast is great, but there is a reference point issue. Much like a museum narration, it requires you to start and stop a lot, which is not ideal. You will move at a different speed than the listener, creating a timing/sequence issue. Second, the real learning for most people will be visual. "when you get to the place where the trail veers to the left" sounds easy, but on a twisty trail, was it that spot or this spot? Being able to SEE the transitions would be a big help. Just my 2 cents.

Really? I had always run SLX on the shifter and XT on the derailleur because I figured the smoothness came from the back, not the front. Upgrading the Niner this week but it is XT end-to-end so I guess I will not know. In the past shops had told me to use the SLX shifter because it was essentially the same as the XT at a lower price.

The biggest mistake I made in our last remodel was not getting an outlet installed behind the toilet. I wanted a Japanese toilet, wife said no. If I had the outlet I'd have the ability to easily do it in the future once I wore her down a bit.

When it rains, if I do an weekend urban ride it ends with beer. Hops and Grain, Lazarus and Zilker are all close. Blue Owl is as well, but I don't like sours.

looking like tomorrow will be fine. Who is riding?

Yeah I went through a few rear triangles on a bike. If both of those are in the same spot it probably means manufacturing flaw on a stress point.

OK, we were reading some article that was talking about economic distribution (long story, don't ask, it will kill the mood.) Anyway, in that article they said that since ~2014 or so 33 new breweries opened in the Austin area. My wife refused to believe that there were that many breweries in the area. So I checked, and here is my list (which stands at 50+ right now): 4th Tap 512 Brewing ABGB Acopon Adelberts Austin Beerworks Blue Owl Bluebonnet Brewer's Table Brewtorium Celis Central District Circle Brewing Compadre Draught House Family Business Flying Man Brewing Friends and Allies Frontyard Brewing Ghost Note Guns and Oil Hi Sign Hops and Grain Independence Brewing Infamous Jester King Lazarus Live Oak Middleton Nomadic Beerworks North by Northwest Oasis Brewing Oddwood Orf Brewing Oskar Blues Pinthouse Burnet Pinthouse Lamar Pinthouse Round Rock Red Horn Brewing Rentsch Rusty Barrel Skull Mechanix Southern Heights St. Elmo Strange Land Suds Monkey Thirsty Planet Treaty Oak Twisted X Uncle Billy's Vista Brewing Zilker Our plan is to start making a weekly pilgrimage to somewhere neither of us has been - pretty sure I have been to half of them. And the brewery needs to have a both on-site brewing AND a taproom. I left some off that looked like brewing only. What am I missing from my list?

Focus on fixing the leg first. The worst thing you could do is ignore it and end up in surgery for something that could have been prevented. You may want to get a knee brace for your trip, even if the doctor does not recommend it. Just an extra level of protection to keep you in the right position. But, if you ask, the doctor would probably say it can't hurt, even if they don't recommend it. I have some cheap knee braces from skiing if you want to borrow one. It's not the robocop looking one with the metal braces, just the softer flexible ones.

Depending on schedule I might be available to help out as well. I can't work weekends but if you do something on a weekday I might be able to lend a hand.

Never on a fork, those are expensive. Drive train components (individual) are relatively cheap and don't all need to match beyond vendor (Shimano XT derailleur works fine with an SLX shifter...) Brakes are a tough one, but if you have experience and a bleed kit you can usually upgrade cheaply.

Rode WC on Thursday AM (7/11) Trail was fine. One wet spot on Mark's but not bad at all.

I'd look like a real bonewipe with those on my legs 😉

Walnut was perfect this morning. Other than the poison ivy I brought back with me.

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