AustinBike

3 hours ago, throet said:

Could you elaborate on this? I've often heard people say that you should learn to manual and bunny hop on a hardtail because it is easier to learn on, which has been my experience as well. I often lock out my rear sus when practicing these skills. However, I've never heard anybody claim that riding an FS leads to "poor bike handling skills". Are you referring to cornering? Braking? Body position and balance? My belief is that each individual rider chooses whether they want to learn proper skills or not, regardless of whether their bike is FS or HT.  

Let me try:

A FS bike, especially one with lots of travel, allows you to just motor through anything. Add a 50T cassette on the back so you never have to crank hard to get up a climb or feature and you are pretty much assured that you are not building your skills. I have a FS but I spend most of my time on a steel SS hardtail and that SS kicks my ass. It reminds me of how much more I have to learn. On the FS I can just plow through anything, it is fun to ride, but there is little skill involved. When you have a 32x18 hardtail you learn a lot more about HOW to ride the bike because you are required to use some real skills.

Always wanted a Varsity, Schwinn was the hometown bike for those of us in Chicago. Saw one at a Frankenbike not too long ago and thought about buying it, but stupidly decided against it. Would love to have one. Ended up with a Ross back in the day because I could not afford the Schwinn. And I am sure I paid ~$100 for it in the early 80's. Schwinns were $150+ at the time.

Yeah, I have ridden every trail in Austin on a hardtail (with the exception of a couple of unmentionables). Get your skills, eclipse the bike and move on to the next.

1x is good if you find yourself messing with your gears a lot (for adjustment) but don't tend to shift that much for really high or really low ratios.

A dropper is an investment that you might want to consider instead of a FS bike. But it is a luxury, not a necessity. 

Focus on your skills, not your bike.

Yeah, $1000 hammer to solve a $30 problem.

We were hit with some rain in central Austin in the middle of the night. I don't know how much, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw rain. Got back home and there were 12' bamboo stalks in my backyard so I can assume that we had a lot of rain in the past 2 weeks.

I typically use the frame, but have been known to be lazy and just hang the seat off the stand. It really comes down to what I am working on and how much movement I can withstand during the work.  For anything complicated I will clip to the frame, but for simple derailleur adjustments just hanging by the seat is about what I would normally do out on the trail from a tree branch. I am adverse to clamping onto the stanchion simply because I am a crappy mechanic and that is something I do not want to mess up.

Typhoons sent me back to Austin a couple days early. Might try to get some training in before departing to Bentonville next week. Apparently everything here is wet, so will probably be hitting the streets with 40 pounds of pressure in my MTB tires. Maybe I'll put a brick or two in my camelbak.

14 hours ago, Anita Handle said:

Nicolai has been integrating Pinion gearboxes into their full suspension frames for a while now. Expensive, but a lot of nice things are expensive. One of our friends has a hardtail Nicolai with the Pinion gearbox. I think he likes it but not as much as his multiple bikes with Rohloff hubs on them.

 

https://en.nicolai-bicycles.com/gearbox-ride/

3-4,000EUR for a frame?

This helps make my point that the technology is overly expensive, this is an $800 hammer.

Fair point.

The key for me is "what problem are you trying to solve"? If the problem you are trying to solve is the fragility of a derailleur, then there are already internal gears available that fit in a rear hub. These can be retrofitted onto almost any existing bike frame with little trouble (like Rohloff). 

Any change to gearing that limits the frame, geometry or suspension is a no-go in my book. This is not a better mousetrap, it is simply a different mousetrap. And if we are already catching mice today, it is hard to convince me that the extra cost and hassle of one of these is going to bring additional mouse carcasses to the game.

1X drive trains were a real game changer. 11-speed (and 12-speed) were significant evolutions - (just like 9-speed and 10-speed in the past). This is just different for the sake of being different, I don't see the problem that it is solving. Find me hydraulic brakes that never need adjusting/bleeding, and I will jump on that in a second, but adjusting a derailleur is something that is easy to do and  only needs to be done once or twice a year. All of this work and cost to save me a few dollars? I have better uses for my money.

I find that 90% of the helmet sizing/comfort is tied to the strap placement/adjustment. This, to me, is why going to a shop is the way to go. I would never buy a helmet online unless I knew that it was the same model that I was currently wearing.

Yep, the bottom bracket is the most accused and the least convicted.

"unique designs to minimize maintenance" - as long as you have their special tools. What makes today's drivetrains valuable is that they are (relatively) simple to service with a few standard tools. Because they all generally work the same way users can do their own repairs. 

When you start building "better mousetraps" you are increasing the learning curve for both individuals and shops.

Not everything needs to be revolutionary. In fact the best inventions are evolutionary as they improve the experience without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I still don’t think you are getting it. You’ve gone from posting a random link to posting a random link with a “disclosure”. Why not post and make a statement about your thoughts. From Planes Trains and Automobiles: “Here’s an idea, when you tell a story have a point, it makes it so much better for the listener.”  

I ride trails 3-4 times a week and ride the streets (singlespeed) on other days to maintain my fitness.

And I do a LOT of yard work, typically 1 hour a day, sometimes 2 hours depending on the season.

I am now retired so I have plenty of time. I take my bikes to the shop for suspension and hydraulic brake work (always trust the pros over myself), but all the other stuff I do myself. Way more fun in the fall/winter/spring. Doing bike repairs in a 100F garage is no fun, even with fans.

I started mine early and got in ~4 long training rides. Right now I am in the middle of a 2 week vacation and have been eating like there is no tomorrow (not drinking that much, but making up for it in food.)

I will have an extra 10 pounds to shed and hope to be on the bike every day between my return and the EB.

And, finally, from yesterday’s walk, apparently there is a no car bomb zone:

An interesting way to deal with the problem of inflatable tires on bike share cycles. Does anyone know if Austin’s bikes have solid tires?

And I think I have your new Apple eBike, Brian:

Very nice pic, how does it ride?

And, lest you think that our bikeshare program (B Cycle) is a success, here's a view of the bikes lined up outside of Tiantandongmen station. I took this picture after we had walked past about 80% of them. Probably close to 800-1000 bikes outside the station in all.

And, also, while we are at it, the e-bike battle lines have been drawn and now the other side is gearing up already. 

OK, and to un-derail this thread, I give you (some type of) BIKE ALCOHOL!!!

8 hours ago, Teamsloan said:

I mean, it's Helvetica. How do you screw that up??

 

 

This is what graphic designers do for fun... Kerning Game

AWESOME game. As a former desktop publisher/designer I am ashamed to have scored a 67. Especially considering that I nailed two 100's. F'ing Baskerville always gets me.

Yeah, check your seat post. Also try pedaling unclipped. Often the creaking problem is in your cleats.

Then get off the bike and push up and down on the suspension. Sometimes that is the culprit. The bottom bracket always gets the blame and it is typically not the problem. When you pedal every part of the bike moves.