AustinBike

I’m only good for one a day. Tip your waitress, I’m outta here.

On 3/27/2019 at 11:20 AM, mack_turtle said:

Just skip to about 7:50 to see him ride the thing.

 

Designed by and approved by dentists the world over.

1 hour ago, csmceuen said:

To clarify it is not the chainring, but the crank arm that is coming loose. Its only that single bolt that holds everything on and it jut backs out on my harder rides at the GB.

I had that happen a lot on my single speeds. Literally had a crank arm come off and throw me to the ground.

Loctite took care of the problem. 

I can do a more laid-back GB ride, but there will still be some technical features that need to be dealt with.

What is your skill level on technical?

On Monday - Wednesday I have no commitments and can ride anytime. Thursday I have my annual physical so I could be ready to ride from ~11:00 onward.

If you want a flow good time I would not recommend the Greenbelt as it is more technical and can easily overwhelm a person. Walnut Creek is the flowy place in town.

I can pick you up at the shop and we can drive to the trailhead so you don't have to muck with a rental bike on a rental car.

Ping me if you want to ride and we can work out the details. BSS is the best place to rent in town.

That is a good tip. The fact that I don't need to re-dish the wheel is a huge benefit.

Looks like on eBay a Fox is ~$450 and a Pike is ~$350. It is looking like it might Pike in the upcoming months, gotta write a few more articles and build up some fun money so I can start shopping. But if a local option showed up I would be interested in pulling the trigger now.

I have basically addressed creaks by checking the following:

1. Make sure skewers are tightened. Especially the rear.

2. Check your seat. Pedal hard standing up. If the creak is in the seat it can either be in the seat rails (connection to saddle) or in the rail connection to the seat post. Or it could be in the seat post connection to the frame (pull the post out, wipe it clean inside and also the post, then reinsert.

3. Check your front crank ring bolts.

4. Check your cassette.

5. Check your pedals and also your shoe connection. Pedal without your shoes clipped in.

6. Check your headset and handlebars.

7. Check your pivots. I put this near the end because it can be a real PITA. First make sure they are all tight. If they are you may need to take the frame apart and clean them out if there is dust/dirt in there. 

8. Check your bottom bracket. Everyone always blames this one first, but it is typically the last thing that I check on.

Running through this list will help you familiarize yourself with the bike. Then, when you take it into the shop (for most likely #8) you've eliminated all of the typical first check items and they'll do a better job because it will be narrowed down to a few places. The worst thing (I am guessing) for a wrench is to have someone drop a bike off with "it creaks" and know they are going to spend way too much time and make way too little money on the job. It's like dropping a car off at a dealer with "it is making a weird noise sometimes."

29. Unfortunately everything from Fox that is available is 110mm (boost), I am thinking eBay is going to be the best option but was hoping to find someone local.

1 hour ago, Anita Handle said:

a) It seems that you agree that it is a complex topic, not easily resolved.

b) I'd ride and have a beer/mimosa with you any time. I cannot imagine the experience of feeling that my body is such a mismatch for who I feel I am that the challenges of a transition would be better than the status quo. Welcome to the forum and community!

Ed, you may remember an old mojo that we used to ride with that went mtf but moved to Oregon before the process started. Planning to look her up when I get out that way again. I think you hit the nail on the head with "mismatch". A lot of people think that these issues are so cut and dried, but it's really a million shades of grey and lots of in-between situations. So many of us take these things for granted.

4 minutes ago, Ridenfool said:

The effects of the flexy bits on telescopic fork operation do bolster the advantages linkage forks like the Trust and Motion products offer.

Telescopic fork operation does provide (financial) advantages over linkage forks. Pretty sure the $1300 linkage fork would be more than the cost of my hardtail, all in.

Looking for a non-boost (100mm width) Fox Factory 34 or Rockshox Pike. 130mm with 15mm axle. 

Yeah, still rocking the old stuff and loving it. 

I agreed to go to an event tonight back when the weather was crap. Regretting it.

But I got my lap in this afternoon. Beautiful weather. Perfect trails. Get some!

14 hours ago, throet said:

Too much paddling man! What kind of hand job did you get? 

Probably the "Robert Kraft special"

Put a notice up on my site, hope we can drive some volunteers for this year's race.

I thought millennials ruined everything.

And you damn kids keep off my lawn.

68mm shell and 73mm BB. Should have required 2 spacers, but with 2 installed the crank would not turn. With none it was loose and shifted from side to side. With one installed it was mama bear.

9 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

Looking at current model geo, seems like it's rated at 67.5* HTA with a 140mm fork. Gotta be close to 70-71 sagged out with a 100-120 fork. A little steep for my taste but to each his own.

FWIW, that Reba is pretty flexy and you'd probably notice better results finding a good deal on a pike rct3 or fox equivalent. 

Actually I have 3 forks, the Reba RL Ti, a Fox Factory 34 and a Pike. The Reba (with a 20mm axle where the other 2 are 15mm) is too stiff for me. This might be because the fork could use some service, but overall I have found the Reba to be the least favorite of the group. The Fox and Pike do a great job of eating up the rough stuff but when I get done with a lap on the Reba my back and shoulders are stiff.

Just let me know. Available any week day but I use it on the weekends.

So you know how to add a spacer to a Reba? I have a 140mm with a cane creek crown race. If you want to add a 10mm spacer to it to drop it to 130mm it would actually work out better for me. Only downside is you’d have to try it with my front wheel too because I am guessing ou don’t have a 20mm wheel. 

Mission accomplished, TXN had a GXP. That, with a spacer did the job. 

Now on to the next crisis, which looks like it might be brake related. 

2 hours ago, Big_papa_nuts said:

Someone wanna lend Mack a fork? 

 

Come to think of it doesn't Suntour have a demo program where they will ship a fork right to your house?

If you have a king headset you can borrow my Fox Factory 34 for a day.

Damn, Amazon is faster than you, a new one is headed here on Monday or so.

I will take it anyway, but let me see whether this one that is showing up fits, good to have a backup plan.

Most of it depends on the geometry of the frame. My HT takes a 130mm Fox and the pike I am putting on the new HT I am building should work as well. But I would think anything over 130 will chopper the bike. I might even have some spacers put in to drop the fork to 120mm someday.

I have the spacers, if I add 2 spacers to the ND side it would probably fit. But I am thinking a GXP BB might be a more logical solution. 

Long term I will probably swap out the cranks but I am trying to get this bike up and running right now. $300 worth of parts are showing up today (dropper and then some) so digging out another $110 on cranks is not in the cards for me today. 

That is what I was trying to get to - sounds like my crank is too big. Guessing I need a RF crank?