AustinBike

Based on the way that supply chains are these days, having a backup bike is a good thing. I have a garage full of bike. I have three that get ridden every week, pretty evenly. But I also have a geared hardtail bike that I keep in the garage. When a friend is over and we want to take a ride out to get a beer, it's fine for them. When I broke my singlespeed frame, I moved the wheel set over for couple months while they re-welded the broken frame.

There is utility in just about any bike as long as you can build a use case around it. Each of my bikes is different from the others. I would never have 2 identical bikes. Two of my four have identical frames, but one is a singlespeed and the other is geared, so totally different use cases. If they were both geared identically, I would get rid of one of them.

Anyone need Avid or Magira (older) brake pads?

If you are a technology, networking and security junkie, the Zero Days on Amazon Prime Video is really compelling:

https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Days-Colonel-Gary-Brown/dp/B01I2EJOW0/ref=sr_1_1?crid=38Y12H4WXYZQH&keywords=zero+days&qid=1664545243&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIxLjgxIiwicXNhIjoiMS40NyIsInFzcCI6IjAuMTgifQ%3D%3D&s=instant-video&sprefix=zero%2Cinstant-video%2C159&sr=1-1

I had always been fascinated by this particular project and this is the first good dissection of what happened and how it happened. 

If you think that shooting a satellite into space to deflect an asteroid is an amazing feat of science then check this one out. It was akin to using a bullet to take out an oncoming bullet.

15 hours ago, Chief said:

The Cinq Cents is a light amber ale that's fairly carbonated. The Blue is my favorite as a Belgian beer drinker, dark, malty and a bit more sweet. The Red I'm not very familiar with I've had it once and that was enough for me not my favorite. Chimay is good but the price is a bit much, there are better Belgians and Belgian styles out there. So to answer your question, for you probably the Cinq Cents.

Thanks, ended up drinking the blue last night. Not as "wheaty" as the typical Belgian so pretty good. I will try the Cinq next.

Help!

A vendor sent me this:

I am not a Chimay guy and not a fan of Belgian beers at all. We have a virtual happy our this afternoon, which one should I hit first if I am not a fan of Belgians and prefer German beer or craft beers?

See, that is where the singlespeed pays off at Walnut - shorter chain, less noise 🙂 

that is awesome!

5 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

Sometimes it's just cheaper/easier to buy a cassette than replacing hub body.

Yeah, this is a good point as well. Especially if it is for 10 speed, there will be choices out there that retailers may be interested in getting rid of.

13 hours ago, Ridenfool said:

Anyone who comes out and can work for at least a couple of hours will have free access that day for play, as well as receive a pass for a future date to play at RHR. Work both days, get two passes for future visits.

This is awesome. I like the change in approach towards work days. Sadly I am booked up but I hope you get a good turnout.

Check out the XD wheelsets in depth before you mark them off the list.

I had someone give me an XD wheelset and I needed a Shimano 10-speed for that particular bike. I had to spend ~$80 for a new HG driver, but the wheel set was free so it made sense. Most decent wheelsets have replaceable drivers so you can swap out the XD with an HG.

But make sure that you can make the switch first AND that the appropriate freehub body is in stock and available to ship right away. The supply chain situation these days can be an issue, so don't pull the trigger on wheel unless you are 100% sure that you can make the change.  

It may vary by wheel set. As I recall, the DT Swiss 240's were replaceable and some of the other models (like the 1900 I have) are not. It becomes very wheel specific.

My old company used to sell the specialized memory (non-volatile) for companies that make the systems. The design in cycle is really long and so many of the platforms are highly specific to the different auto models. We also did the black box memory for airbus, but I digress.

The reason that so many of these are terrible is that the car platform refreshes are long cycle, typically 4-5 years. So, Imagine you are buying a 2022 Nissan Rogue. the platform refreshed in 2021. The design cycle on the NAV was probably 3 years, so the bulk of the design work started in 2018. Right now you are sitting on 4 year old technology. That *might* not seem too bad. But the 2017 was the previous platform and that one was designed ~2014. If you bought your Rogue in 2020, you were buying 6-year old tech. Now consider that you are going to hold the car 5-6 years and by the time you get rid of it you're sitting on ~11 or 12-year-old technology.

Compare that to the phone that you carry in your pocket that you refresh every few years and you can see how the gaps can widen.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are a really big deal for auto manufacturers because they allow them to move away from a business that they have generally performed poorly in over time. As evidenced by the huge aftermarket that exists for in-dash entertainment systems. 10 years from now the default option will be wireless connection to your phone and having your phone do all of the heavy lifting, they are just waiting on smartphone penetration. Someone will come up with a smartphone analog, some type of 3rd party device for maps, music, etc. that can be plugged in. The idea of in-dash NAV and entertainment is going to go away as soon as they can get a semi-standard figured out.

Last night at the R&I an engineer and master bike guy both chimed in that the bolt should have Loctite.

This morning I removed the bolt and found that my answer was there all along:

Cleaned it off and added fresh loctite.

Adding to this, their markets are going to be shrinking in the future. 

Cell phones today are starting to employ low earth orbit satellite connectivity. This will be limited only to sending small text messages, not surfing the web, but it will provide the "always connected" experience for people that they currently get from things like Spot. The tracking capability won't necessarily be there (at least not officially or immediately) but it will eventually get there.  But for a sizable chunk of their user base, the "connect to help in an emergency" is far more important - they will lose these people soon enough.

These guys are the equivalent of the companies designing the proprietary in-vehicle navigation systems. When everyone carries a smartphone, nobody uses the in-vehicle nav very often because it has shitty usability and relies on out of date technology. 

Their days are numbered.

I have a 2019 Orbea Occam and the rear shock fits into a mounting directly. I am assuming that this is aluminum because you would not screw a shock into carbon, right?

This comes loose after a few rides and the whole back of the bike gets "loud". I re-torque it down to the 6nm spec and it is great for 2-3 rides. Then it starts getting loose again.

I did a little research and it looks like people are mixed with some saying that you should not use loctite on anything that you are going to want to remove.

What is the collective wisdom here?

If you have Peacock, The Undeclared War is interesting. It is a bit too long on the personal interaction, but overall an interesting look at cyber warfare.

14 hours ago, bear said:

IMO people really need to keep the paper-thin tires to the XC races, but maybe i'm biased by past tire trauma.

I have fresh Ardents that I have been waiting to put on. Gonna go all in about a week before we leave, get 2-3 rides on them just seat them perfectly, then let loose on mostly fresh rubber

It wasn't technical per se, the issue with Ledges was that the rock (shale, I believe) was chewing up sidewalls.

I have never ridden Ledges. From what I hear, it shreds tires. Everyone I ride with refuses to ride it now because of that. Buyer beware. As for back 40 I cannot remember if we did it counterclockwise but we might have.

17 minutes ago, cpope said:

@AustinBike nailed it.

The AirBnB we stayed at in May had the Coler and Slaughter Pen maps hanging on the wall 

 

Probably stayed at those

Tunnel Vision is a section, and Little Sugar is the system, as I understand it. But, Tunnel Vision is the bulk of the trail in the system.

You may also want to post something on MTBR in the region's local form. I find that if a biker is in town and reaches out for help, someone local tries to lend a hand.

Looks like your loop is ~17-18 miles when you take off the to and from. That is the perfect distance for a solo afternoon ride where there are stops to take pictures.

Check with your local library, sometimes they can be helpful in these situations.

Normally they should have all of the USB ports disabled for security, but it is highly likely that libraries in small towns are poor with security.

Also, a bike shop might be able to help you. A 6-pack goes a long way in that regard.

I am going to study the little sugar. My plan is fluid at this point. Monday arrive mid day and hit Fayetteville. Either Kessler or Fitzgerald depending on the plan for when the other guys arrive. Tuesday AM is railyard, followed by little sugar, then over to the house to wait for the other guys to show up. 

That was my biggest issue with the early droppers.

If I am hitting something that requires a dropper I want my hands on the bars, not fumbling around between my legs. Especially if it is on an unfamiliar trail.