AustinBike

Here is a picture for reference:

Building up my hard tail. Spec says a 68/73mm BB. Check. BB says to put one spacer on the drive side, just like on my singlespeed (same frame). but when I put the crank (SRAM) on the bike, it has a pretty big gap. Do I add extra spacers (which means the cup in the center won’t fit) or do I have to get a different crank?

Not really. Most of the women I ride with can kick my ass on the trails.

If you think that someone switches genders only to gain a competitive advantage in a sport then I think you are misguided. Seriously. I won't take a position on what is fair in racing as I am not a racer, but the idea that someone decides to swap genders to gain an advantage is disingenuous at best.

Did a greenbelt ride yesterday, on a climb up to a former retail store I stopped to catch my breath, leaning onto a tree to steady myself. Put my hand into a whole bunch of it. That is all. Ride safe.

You had me at German....

I plan to get there a little early but still circle back for the 4:30 social group. Gonna be a beautiful day.

Yep, no conflicts for this week, I intend to potentially even spend some extra time on the trails on Tuesday.

It looks like the dropper industry has finally started to coalesce around a handful of models that are all equally good. This is a very good thing. Yesterday Chuck and I was talking about how an Ibis Ripley rode and the general consensus was "about like any other >$2500 bike." At this point, if you are spending over $2500, everything rides fairly similarly and it is hard to choose a bad one. Life is good.

We probably passed you somewhere out there, clocked in 23 miles from YMCA to ninja and back.

As a follow up to this, I was trying to grease the stanchion and ended up breaking the dropper. Took it to the shop and $20 later, plus a 6-pack, we were running again. And then that broke. Reached out to PNW and they not only replaced it, but they sent it second day air so I had it in time for the death march. Awesome service, great people to work with. Will be buying another one for my hardtail now

Monday afternoon and Wednesday morning would also be good for a greenbelt ride for me.

If you are going to install a concrete filled steel pipe, you should put a metal sign on it explaining why it is there and telling people not to sanitize the trails or this is what will happen.

Depending on the other ride options for Sunday, I could possibly do a Sunday GB ride too, but about the same time.

I have some Time XC2's that I was going to put on my urban bar bike. If you want to give them a try for a couple of rides you're welcome to borrow them, but I need 'em back pretty soon because the ones on that bike are about 10 years old and really need to be replaced. They're the cheap ones that I would not recommend them for hard core mountain biking.

Cleats are different. Even though they look the same, I do not believe they are interchangeable. When you buy pedals you get the cleats, don't cheap out on trying to save a few pennies in a situation that could land you in the emergency room. Even if it only a couple of millimeters off, that could be all the difference in the world. I have seen too many eggbeaters break mid-ride to ever trust them. And the really basic model has zero platform, so if you ever do come loose, you're really screwed.

I am planning to do a GB ride on Saturday but my ride would be in the morning, either 9 or 10. It will end at a brewery if that helps.

I have been using Times for years and love them. Solid. They don't break like Eggbeaters (although I have crunched quite a few over the years.) The best bet are to stay away from the cheap ones. I run XC8's one my primary bikes, just picked up some cheap XC2's for my urban bar bike but I would never put those on my mountain bikes. The XC8's are carbon whereas the XC6 and below are composite, which I believe is French for plastic. I have not used the M's at all, never needed the platform but those look interesting. I put Time pedals in the same category as Thomson products - yeah, they are expensive, but over time you realize why. Plus, as a bonus for old men, they are great on the knees.

Married a floozy? I've known Jay for more than 20 years, he married up 😉

I might be out. Sounds like weather is iffy, knee deep in bike repairs.

This has been an ongoing issue. Started last fall. Cranked it down on a road trip. Then again in December. Then January. Now this month. Not a one time occurrence, there is a pattern here.

Nope, using the one that came with the cassette. Let me dig into that, good to know.

Looking online right now and wondered if anyone pulled a new bar off their bike to go to something wider ('cause all the cool kids run 800). I need something new or maybe used once or twice, carbon, 31.8, flat, etc. Looking for name brand, will pay appropriate value. Ping me if you have something interesting that is gathering dust.

It was a pretty new cassette, less than 6 months old, but a cheap brand (Sun Race).

I am going to try the loctite tomorrow. No spacers missing. Need to see if my torque wrench has an adapter to go that large, I have a smaller wrench.