AustinBike

Absolutely. I don't tell people to wear a helmet because if you are stupid enough to ride without one you are probably unlikely to listen to me. But, if I see someone without a helmet who is lost and needs directions or has a bike problem and needs a tool, I just tell them that I have a hard rule - if you are not going to help yourself by wearing a helmet then I am under no obligation to help you either. Generally I catch shit for saying that, but once some guy (with a broken chain) had his girlfriend (also without a helmet) say "see, I told you."

Except that we, as a society, bear the brunt of the cost of their years of vegetative paralysis. I think that we should have some type of DNR scenario. It is the law to ride with a helmet. You can opt out but you have to wear a visible bracelet or something like that (think of it as an "un-medic alert"). If you crash and we find you unconscious, we get to keep riding without guilt. If you get taken to a hospital, it is all on you. Insurance does not need to pay - like if you get in an accident while drunk your auto insurance does not need to pay out. The problem with people that don't wear helmets is that they don't clean the gene pool, they all become a burden on us, boosting our insurance and wasting our money. What really gets me are the guys without a helmet that have pads, gloves and a camelback. I see them all the time at Walnut. WTF?

That is what I did, but getting the last bit of air out of the system was necessary. May need to take another inch off, so we'll see how that goes.

Was doing my regular lunch ride the other day and spotted this. No good can come of it.

I've been riding a ~2011 Niner with 10-speed and old Hope brakes. With all of the deals going on these days I managed to pick up a new 11-speed XT and some new XT brakes. Let me just say two things: 1. If you have never cut your own brake lines because you were afraid of screwing it up, it is WAY easier than you think. The front brakes come pre-cut (and close to the perfect length) and the rear takes about 2 minutes to do it right. A quick bleed and you are ready to go. I love the bleed system on Shimano, never thought I would say that, but they really do make great brakes. 2. 11-speed is dirt cheap these days, if you are not running it, take a look at it. I had a 42T on my 10-speed and going to 11-speed allowed me to get more range. I put a 32T on the front, getting me a little more top end vs. my 30T and the total gear range is better than the old 10-speed. The weird gap is between the 46T and the 37T. I rarely ride in the granny on the back (with my 42T most of my climbing was in the middle 36T) so it feels like the other options are more evenly spaced. A few hundred bucks and two hours of time were well worth it to bring this bike into the current decade. And the old bits can transition to my HT eventually so that I can get rid of the damn Elixr brakes...

To the first, no. I share the trail with a lot of people now, as defined by the city. If they tell me that ebikes are allowed I will not have an issue (but I will not ride with those people, not my thing.) To the second, yes, if you allow them it will result in more use. That, sir, is a double edged sword. If an ebike runs over a hiker or runner, will they try to paint the brush that all bikes should be banned from the trails? There is a subtlety between bikes and ebikes that bikers understand but the general public does not. It will be a sad day for us. We've already been locked out of places (literally) and there are those always willing to throw us under the ebus.

Switched to a 2" receiver, have my old 1-1/4" available. $40 or best offer.

Yeah, heading to Chicago for 2 weeks, getting set to drop my full suspension bike off to have the bearings replaced. Rather have that done at their pace then be anxious that it is supposed to be done by Friday (for the weekend) only to find that something came up and now it is Monday...

I didn't. I bought the bike from Cycle Progression and had them build it up. I specified a Fox Factory 34 as the fork and they put everything together. Never specified the travel. I have a Pike 130 on my Verhauen geared hardtail if you ever want to borrow it to see how an extra 10mm performs.

Eh, those were not climbs, they were barely inclines. I believe that an integral part of riding is the climbing. Climbing is the vegetable, descending is the dessert. If all you ever eat is dessert, well, you can figure that one out for yourself. There are a ton features added to today's bikes to help make it easier to climb, including 50T cassettes, smaller front cogs, triple chain rings, lockouts, the list goes on and on. But, all of these things, while they make it easier to climb, still require you to climb. So there is still some degree of effort on your end. I can climb, but I suck at descents, I don't do big drops, I am not a fan of jumps. How would the market feel about a new mountain bike was created that allowed people to do big drops without ever crashing? It would be called heresy. Nobody would advocate these. They'd tell you how they are ruining the sport. That is how I feel about ebikes. I believe they do have their place, primarily for commuting or for getting someone who does not ride out onto the trails, but eventually you need to take over, they are just training wheels for the trails. I know I sound like a cranky old man, but I am. How can we all sit here and rail on the people who create cheater lines and then say oh, yeah, but e-bikes are cool?

Yep, gonna be nice weather today. Got sausages and a few tortillas. Early lap at 4, social lap at 5.

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.