AustinBike

Yeah, both of these are better options than a tile because they hide in the bike and provide GPS. The biggest holdback on tile is that you have to be nearby another tile device and because they are not as prevalent, it could be months before that happens (or if it happens at all). $150 seems like a cheap price if you lived in a city and were worried about having your bike nicked. For me, I use a $300 urban single speed for all of my city riding, that seems to be a slightly more expensive option, but id greatly decreases the probability of theft. On the car I use a big lock or two that would be obvious. Mine are locked as well at home, but if you break into a garage, you're going to have unlimited access to bikes with all of the tools in the garage, so my locks are lighter, mostly to keep people from easily wheeling it away. A determined thief will have it, no questions asked. If insurance covers it, I might be more interested in a new one anyway 😉

Yeah, I tried the mini-bleed. It worked for a bit. I have a big bottle of oil coming this weekend and I am going to try all of the tricks together.

Found this on our bookshelf. Circa 1995 or so.

After last night's R&I my brakes were squishy again. Part of the problem (I am guessing) is that when I got the bleed kit it had a small bottle of oil so I have been very careful in how much I pump in. Went on Amazon last night after the ride and bought a liter of the stuff. Will be here this weekend. Gonna totally over pump the fluid through and see if there is something in my process or in my tubes that was creating the problem. If that does not work it may be time to take it to a professional. But I am so far down the rabbit hole on this that I want to leave that for the last resort.

Some of the reports were based on riding it fully yesterday 😉

Looks like the rain is staying away until later in the evening (if at all). Please steer clear of Mark's Art, the down and up just north of it, Windy loop and the main creek crossing.

Do you seal it back up when you zip tie the lever? Assuming so....

This is why I posted it - looking for people's input

Good suggestions on the XTR, since I hang my bikes vertically anyway, maybe I will try that this afternoon. The good news is that it was totally rideable vs. last week when I had to pump it 9-10 times before it would hold.

...my brakes. I have XTR brakes on my singlespeed and I decided that now is the time to learn to bleed them myself. The good news is that the process is relatively simple for Shimano (SLX, XT and XTR) branches, but there are still a couple lingering questions that I need help on. First, after I did it the first time, everything felt great when I finished the job, but 20 minutes later it felt squishy again. I believe that this was because I did not pump them enough before closing them up. When I opened them and put the cup back on (with a little fluid) I pumped about 100 times and I saw a few small bubbles come out. After that they were more consistent but still a little soft. Totally rideable now, but not as tight as the front (which did not need bleeding.) I was wondering, because of the bend in the hydraulic cable, do I need to take the brake off of the handlebar and straighten out the cable? Do I have some air trapped somewhere down the tube? Second, the Shimano fluid seems pretty expensive. I'm willing to pay more for a better solution, but come on, it's oil. Is there a cost-effective alternative? If I do go with an alternative, should I flush all of the Shimano fluid out first? I'll post up a pictorial of how to flush the brakes on my site later this week.

And we have a route that bypasses the few spots that need a little more rest.

Also from someone else:

And an innovation for dealing with scooters: https://www.scootscoop.com Bet this comes to Austin soon.

Based on the weather and the impending R&I, I did a ride out at WC to assess the trail conditions. There were over 100 bikes out there today (MLK holiday) and the trails were packed. I found the trails to be ~98% good to go. Exceptions: Mark's Art is still too wet, creeks are not helping, steer clear. Windy Loop is too wet, leave it for another week, it is taking a lot of time to dry out. Main creek crossing is too muddy on the south side, use the concrete trail to get between north and south trails. Trails that are in much better shape this week: Church climb is good Fence line along the church is good Point 6 still has some mud on the bottoms of the berms but because 99% of the people ride on the tops of the berms (as they are built for that) there should be no issue. I was able to piece together everything, leaving out Mark's, Windy and the main creek crossing and it was fine. No mud on my tires. I'll be out there tomorrow night, another day of sunshine is always welcome to improve conditions.

I would assume that. Since I ride it almost every day, I can say that my speed rarely gets over 10MPH for any length of time because of all of the walkers/joggers.

Yes, and based on the size of the device you'd need a huge seat tube. Mine is 30.9, not sure I have seen a bike with a seat tube larger than 100mm, but maybe they exist 😉

Yes, I found that out the hard way one time on a rental bike. WAY too much front brake going over a ledge. Let's just say it was the longest I have ever held a nose wheelie in my life.

That thing is pretty big, where would you put it, under the seat?

I have added proximity sensors on the garage lights, one in the main area and one in the bike workshop. This is primarily because every time I go in the garage I turn on the lights and half the time my hands are full. Especially when taking my bike into the back area to lock it up after riding in the evening. Both hands are on the handlebar as I wheel it on the back tire into the back of the garage. Nice to have lights turn on automatically so I can see what I am doing. I am not aware of any that have temperature sensors, but if your system supports IfTTT then you should be able to create a routine.

OK, after asking about the wall fans I had an epiphany and fixed the problem myself by using a large hook to mount the floor fan on the wall. Then I bought a remote control outlet so that I can turn the fan on and off without having to get on a ladder. (Also I have 3 bikes that will be in the way.) 15 minutes of work and everything was mounted and ready to go:

Yes, I was just down there today. I rode down the shoal creek greenbelt and saw the scooter/e-bike signs. When I got to town lake the signs changed:

I would echo this, but I would add that point 6 is actually rideable. There are berms and as long as you stay on the berms (as you should be) then it is fine. The only real messy spots on point 6 were at the bottoms of the berms, where you should not be riding anyway. We were able to stitch together a good loop that only hit one spot that I would say was widened by riding (but this had been widened a long time ago, it is not new.) Yes, if you have the choice, I would opt for not riding it, but if you are there and you are smart/adaptable, you will be ok. The biggest problem is not the riders who know what to do. We saw instances of people with fat bikes (3"+ tire tracks) that were riding in the mud at the bottom of the berms - this is just stupid. Oscar Blues had $2 canned beer and starting there puts an extra 4 miles on your ride, which offsets the place at WC that we skipped.

That is a pretty good set of rules. Typically I don't have to deal with this because I'd rather ride urban than pack everything up, drive over there and find out it is too wet. I am lazy that way. When I said to stay away from Church Climb it is the way up that is the problem. The areas right before the last ledge were muddy. I was able to get off, pick up my bike and get around it without widening the trail or causing any damage. Windy and BMX were different, in both cases I hit a wide mud patch and just turned around. I was going backwards on Windy; the limestone climb at the beginning was a mess when I passed by as well, but there is a trail section that lets you avoid it.

That is a pretty cool demo service. Don't forget that you'll have to deal with the crown race for your headset, hopefully they are taking that into consideration.

If there was an 18-24" secondary path alongside the puddle they'd probably tell you to ride on that.