AustinBike

I feel wealthy just looking at them. So I am in.

Anyone have a goo line on wall-mounted fans? I have a spot that I would like to mount a fan and it is a bit out of the way (above the bikes), so a remote on the fan, one way or another, would be good.

Got a nice singlespeed ride today, should be in primo shape for Tuesday. In. Heavily. 

My guess is that this is not an issue of cars vs. bikes, but an insurance issue with people that have a reason to be there vs. people who do not have a reason to be there. Churches are harder to sue, and UT has deep pockets that makes them a target.

A route through the pickle already exists. What we need are unlocked gates. I go through there all the time on weekdays, but on weekends it is usually locked.

9 hours ago, Bamwa said:

Man that is a Grateful Dead quote for sure. Have you heard 5/7/77? Jerry was so on. All the boys were.

I'll have to look for that one. First one was in 82, Poplar Creek in the suburbs of Chicago. Most of my dozen or so shows were Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI. And tapers did tape.

7 hours ago, surfingfaith said:

What are your all's thoughts on riding City Park in these conditions?  Interested to hear everyone's opinion as it is the only place to really ride when wet in Austin and I encounter moto guys out there every time I ride it.

Years ago City Park was my go-to spot in wet weather. It was good 24 hours after a rain. I even rode it in the rain once (caught halfway through a ride). But a lot has changed since then. The motos tear it up (it is their trail) and it now ends up with more water on the trail and wet spots than before. These days CP drains about as well as WC. I would not ride it unless it has 3+ days of sunshine based on the conditions that we have had over the past month. 

Haters gonna hate and tapers gonna tape. I can't believe you missed out on that one man, you're slipping.

Muddy Martha

18 hours ago, TheX said:

I'm so glad I bought the Kona when I did. Not my favorite type of ride, but it's riding.

I have a Kona unit that is my new urban bike. Perfect single speed at 36:14. Did 40miles yesterday and plan to do some more today as I patiently wait for the trails to dry. Get some pavement today because the rain is coming back tomorrow.

On 10/19/2018 at 9:45 PM, Ridenfool said:

It seems that RHR must be rideable as the 24 hour race crowd is setting up camp. 

The fact that this event has always gone on rain or shine is significant in determining just what might be considered acceptable riding conditions for those who enjoy this particular form of torture. My guess is that there will be a lot of grit destroyed components replaced after this race.

Actually, over the years I have found that RHR values money over trails. They always tell me "trails are fine, come on out" and then it turns into a muddy slog. I think they would tell people to come out in the middle of the flood if they thought they could make money. I'll pass.

There was work happening on a Saturday morning.

Man, it needs to stop raining. Look what we have resorted to....

This is the creek crossing just south of 38th on Shoal Creek. Turn around, don't drown. While I could have ridden through it, all it takes is a little hydroplaning and I am sitting on the rocks.

I think pickle connector is a sex move. Afraid to google it.

I was in Bentonville last week and I'm not saying I was busy this week, but because of the weather outlook I have only halfway assembled my bike, even though I was home on Sunday night. Might actually finish it up this weekend. No rush since there is nowhere to ride it. I just had it in the shop for brakes/suspension and did the drivetrain myself. May bring it back to the shop for the dropper. Mack Turtle, do you kids service droppers? What's the typical price. Mine drops well but does not go back up easily, typically need to grab it with my crotch (the anti-trump move) and pull it back up.

16 hours ago, notyal said:

I've always loved the raw aluminum look.

It only works if it has a clearcoat on top. My Hammerhead (Titus) did not and looked awesome for the first week, then never again. My current Niner has the clearcoat and it looks better - when I bother to wash it. Which is rare, only after I ride really muddy trails 😉

15 hours ago, Jessica said:

WTH is wrong with ear buds? It seems super neurotic to have opinions on how others choose to ride that has an occasional minimal impact on your experience.
 

Just got back from a trip where 8 people rode for 4 days straight. 7 without earbuds and one with.

What is wrong with earbuds? Good god I do not have enough time to outline all of it, including not being able to communicate with that person and also having that person get lost (and blowing ~45mins of our time on the ride looking for/waiting for him) because he was licking around with his phone.

If wearing earbuds has minimal impact it would be fine, but as someone else pointed out, when you can't hear those around you, the problem moves from "your problem" to "our problem" and that is where it all breaks down. It's like saying what's wrong with swinging my arms indiscriminately? It's fine if you are by yourself in your living and nobody else is around, but it becomes problematic when you are in an elevator or coffee shop with other people around. Earbuds are great for immersing into your own world, I love them for buses, airplanes and other situations. But if you are in an environment where you will need to interact and communicate with others - often quickly - then they are best left behind. There are few consequences of earbuds on a bus (other than probably missing your stop) but the penalty of earbuds on a trail can be high - not only for you, but for the rest of us.

Biking on public trails is a group activity, even if you are riding alone. None of us has our own private trails, we need to be cognizant of others.

2 hours ago, notyal said:

I don't feel that we've mastered the mousetrap as society. The standard mousetrap snaps once, then needs immediate attention to be a viable trap again. They are tricky to set and painful if you do it wrong. Even if the trap is set and deployed perfectly, you end up with a dead mouse stuck in a spring that you then have to deal with and a free meal for the next mouse that happens along. 

What were we talking about again?

Yeah, but catch a squirrel in one and it is more fun than a frog in a glass of milk.

And as long as we are talking about the weight of the bike, ponder this: if you are a couple of pounds over yourself, dropping the weight on you is both more cost effective and healthier for you in the long run.

I used to weigh ~195 and at my peak, after the typical 2 week overseas business trip, I could get as high as 210. Then I did something about it. I now weigh ~160, so I dropped the equivalent of two slick carbon hardtails. 

The weight you have to push on your bike is not the weight of the bike, it is the bike, your equipment and you. You might be able to shave a pound or a pound and a half off the bike, but that gets pretty expensive. Way easier to work at dropping 5-10. The overall net benefit is much greater and the cost is a lot lower.

6 minutes ago, tomreece said:

 

I don't need the front gears. The rear provides me with enough range.

Get a narrow-wide chainring (~$35) and drop the other rings, front derailleur and front shifter. I did that years ago and swapped a 3X9 for a 1x9. Rode that for a couple years then jumped to a 1x10. 1x9 will cover 90-95% of what you ride here. 

And I believe that anyone that did not take driver's ed in Chicago in the winter also has poor driving skills 😉

The reality is that it is all about being open to learn, and that was my point on the FS - if you never had to ride a HT (especially in places like city park) you missed out on some important life lessons.

14 hours ago, Ridenfool said:

"Being forced to" on the unsuspended frames sounds a lot like the stereotypical Catholic School nun who is always ready to whack you across the fingers with the ruler in order to teach you something. 😱

 

Yeah, I was stuck going to catholic school and Sister Anne Stephanie was my high school English teacher. And she hammered home grammar and diagramming sentences. I thought I was going to die and that it was the worst thing to spend my time doing. 

Fast forward 35 years into the future and I was in marketing. I was an industry analyst. I was writing articles in national technology and business publications. When I submitted something to my editor he would always comment on my work vs. the other analysts. Because I understood how grammar worked.

Apply that to riding and a HT SS is like a nun, helping reinforce how things should work and keeping you from being lazy. This is why I appreciate having multiple bikes to ride. You learn from all of these.

1 hour ago, throet said:

But what skills specifically are you using on your hard tail when you aren't "motoring" through something or when you're cranking hard to get up a climb? More specifically, what "poor bike handling skills" are developed if you learn those same skills on a FS? That is the point I was challenging. As Cafeend mentioned, maybe you pay more attention to line choice. I can accept that, but I don't agree that you won't learn proper line choice by progressing your skills on an FS. You should choose different lines based on the bike you're on and based on your own skill level, but what's wrong with that? I'm always seeking out more challenging lines on my rides to help build more skills.

When I look across the spectrum of what are considered essential skills - balance, body position, trackstanding, cornering, braking, looking ahead / line choice, descending, climbing, ratcheting, pumping, punching, manualing, bunny hopping, rear wheel lift and pivot,  etc, - I'm just not getting where any of these would be developed poorly because you're learning on an FS vs HT. I believe that probably 80% of the amateurs who believe they are skilled mountain bikers probably aren't, and instead use various methods of compensating for poor skills, whether they learned on an HT or a FS. I'm only 4 years into progressing my skills, and I'm doing it almost exclusively on an FS. When I do decide to ride my HT, I use those same skills and am amazed by the stuff I can do in tech terrain on an XC HT with steep head angle. I've got a long way to go in my progression, but I'm absolutely confident that I'm not developing bad habits solely because I choose to progress on an FS.  

On my FS I can be sloppy, not pay attention to the line. Not pay attention to my feet, my body, not have to move my body. I can be sitting down vs. standing. On my SS I have to pay attention, read the environment and "become one with the trail". Otherwise you spend all day off the bike.

2 hours ago, The Tip said:

Please stop having fun while riding. I am offended. We all know that the reason we ride is to suffer.

But seriously, this "my hard tail makes me get better" mantra I don't understand. I guess I don't understand because I don't race in competitions. I want to get better of course, just so I can ride a more varied assortment of trail, but I'll work on getting better on my FS so that I can have "fun" while doing so.

Pretty much every summer I end up traveling to Europe, and when I rent a car it almost always has a standard transmission. It makes me more aware of how I am driving. When I get home I realize what a slug I am, paying far less attention to my driving.

I don't race, I don't have it in me. But I find that when I got my latest FS bike, my skills basically flattened out or even regressed (I was more skilled on a 26" FS than a 29" FS.) I am not opposed to people having fun. Fun to me is being able to better clear a feature using my own skills and body vs. using the bike. I will ride the greenbelt for a few weeks on the SS, then hit it on the FS and it is like a shot of meth (I am assuming) because things I was just...about...to...clear on the SS get plowed over. There is fun to that. Variety is the spice of life. When your bike overrules all of the trails, where is the fun. At that point it is like being a drone pilot in a trailer 2000 miles away vs. being a pilot "in" the battle. FS mails it in. SS makes you work for it. Both are rewarding.