Seths Pool

They literally are the best you can buy. Anyone who chooses one of the equivalently priced kuat or yakima racks, (which are all covered in plastic) over a 1up, made a bad buying decision. Glad you got your new rack you are going to love it!

well, id say we need more information to come to an educated conclusion. if we were talking strictly statistics, aluminum would probably show higher failures because its been around much longer and had more people riding aluminum. simple numbers game. that may be changing now that carbon is so popular. ive broken 1 aluminum frame, and multiple carbon frames. and just to compare apples to apple (frames to frames) and not apple to oranges (frames to handlebars), although same material, they are different. if a frame breaks, the consequence is going to be much different more than likely over breaking a carbon handlebar mid ride. ive broken 3 pairs of carbon bars, never broke an aluminum handlebar. and ive broken 1 aluminum frame and multiple carbon frames. my conclusion is opposite of yours but I guess just ride whatever you prefer. my evidence and experiences dont apply to everyone 🙂

I cant tell if thats a serious question or not. it reads almost like you made some type of weird grade-school-math-book riddle out of it or something. lol. "if a train is going 75mph headed north on train tracks 13 miles long, how long does it take for XXXXXX" and when your aluminums frames snapped, did the failure all in itself cause you to loose control of your bike and crash like you would if your handlebars snapped?

so, Dennis at C6 Carbon repair is actually the one who initially repaired the top tube crack on the evil wreckoning. it unintentionally became a collaboration repair between C6 and Cracked, and it all kind of perfectly ties together on how I ended up finding someone else to finish the job so I'll give my review and short story - when I first started talking to Dennis, it was actually before I had any immediate carbon repair work needed. I had just heard about his local company, and wanted to reach out and ask a few general questions and what not via facebook messenger. Dennis seemed nice and polite, and was enthusiastic about carbon fiber repair. He started talking about pricing and said that he likes to keep his repair jobs affordable, and it would almost always be under $200 for most jobs, and that he warranties his work, etc etc. it was a good conversation and I looked forward to using his services if/when I ever needed in the future. well surprise, surprise, fast forward I dunno, 6-8 months maybe? I had broken the evil wreckoning a second time after the initial front triangle debacle, which Evil finally replaced under warranty. I contacted Dennis, and brought him the bike to his home in south Austin. he assured me it was an easy fix, and not to worry, and he would start to do the sanding and assessment and basically get the repair job on its way. like a week later or something he messaged me through facebook messenger and says the Job would be $300, and that he had also found an additional crack in the rear triangle, which he offered to fix for an additional $100. Even though his quote to fix the top tube was 50% higher than the expectation of >$200, he already had the bike and I said go ahead and fix it and agreed to pay the $300. I told him to hold off on the additional $100 rear triangle repair because I wanted to send it into evil for warranty repair/assessment which they had requested once I reported the crack. one other thing I'll mention - so he offered to take the rear triangle off of the frame for me and box it up in preparation to ship it to evil for an additional fee of $30, which I declined and said I was happy to do myself (because the whole point of me repairing the carbon instead of crash replacement was to save money, and the job was already costing $100 more than anticipated). once I told him that, he said that well, he had already done it, which made a little bit of an awkward situation after I told him I didnt want to pay it. I thanked him for boxing it up and offered to tip him or something on a future job or whatever. so ya'll already know the story with evil - I sent in the rear triangle, they gave me another empty-ass explanation of why they were denying the warranty, then fell back on the excuse that it was painted thus voiding the warranty even though they already knew it was painted before I sent it in and instructed me to send it in for warranty review anyway. dealing with that dumpster fire I paid for shipping both ways, basically just flushing $50-60 down the toilet, and I got my cracked rear triangle back. Per my and Dennis' conversation about him fixing the rear triangle for the additional $100 before I decided to send it into evil for warranty replacement, I messaged Dennis on Facebook messenger and let him know I received the rear triangle back and would like to take him up on his offer to fix it for the additional $100. Then he told me that that offer no longer stood, and that he wanted $400 (YES FOUR HUNDRED) to fix what he originally quoted me $100 for. like what in the actual fuck? Crash replacement was only $450 for a brand new rear triangle, and I had already paid him $300 for the front triangle. That wouldve put me at $750 for a single frame being repaired. and then I had already wasted the $60 on shipping with the rear triangle. that wouldve put me at $810 spent. Had I known it was going to lead up to this, I probably wouldnt have ever agreed to pay the $300 for the front triangle. at this point I had already spent $360 and still had a broken, unrideable bike. Im assuming he was salty about me not wanting to pay him the $30 for boxing up the rear triangle, so decided to just out-price me with the additional $400 quote and not have to work with me anymore or something. that or greed actually made him want $400 for an additional carbon repair job on the same bike. I declined, and he actually dropped off the bike unassembled (minus the rear triangle) in multiple pieces at a bike shop in north Austin where I picked it all up, after we agreed that would be a convenient option for both of us. some time after, after already being buddies with Krys Brown, I learned that Krys had extensive experience with carbon repair and was wanting to start offering the repair service. I had no idea one of my riding buddies was already involved in that. of course that was great news for me, lol. he repaired my rear triangle in no time and has since done numerous repair jobs for various friends. all with great success. so dont get the wrong idea, im not just wanting to bash this guy and his company and not tell the good stuff too. I will tell/show anyone that Dennis does nice clean quality work. the finished carbon repair jobs from him are super smooth and look fantastic. with paint you would never be able to tell the bike was repaired, and his repair jobs match perfectly the original contour lines of the frame as it came from the factory. very impressive work. my main complaints were his repeated inconsistencies and surprises with pricing, which ultimately lead to a shitty experience for me after I had paid almost $400 and the bike still had a long way to go. If I had to put a label on it, I'd probably say a little money hungry or something. And for whatever its worth, for those of you who dont know, the overhead on a carbon repair job is probably about $5-$10. The materials cost next to nothing. The profit margins are huge. Its all about the knowledge, not materials. Not trying to be ole Cathy Complainer over here, but I just call it like I see it and give honest, forthcoming reviews. great quality work, but bad pricing and setting customer expectation

while I am a GG brand ambassador, I made it clear to them in the beginning that I have a small fleet of bikes, and until I have a stable of GG bikes to fit my needs, I would be using the bikes I already had. and yes, I will be/am representing Cracked Carbon Repair.. Seems like a pretty good fit if you ask me. haha

New Mexico for sure. but dont know where exactly yet. lots of ideas. im trying to jump through the hoops here at apple to become and at-home-advisor which will allow me to work anywhere from home with phone line and internet connection. id only be required to stay stationary per location for 1 year at a time. one Idea im really liking would be to buy a cheap condo in angelfire, live in it and renovate it all winter, then start to AirBnB/homeaway it out and make it pay for itself and move somewhere else if I wanted. descent houses in New Mexico range from 80k-200k. I could easily live by myself up there and be comfortable. im born and raised in Austin, but the way things have changed, I cant really afford to comfortably live here independently without changing my lifestyle. its so overpriced, and congested with people, im ready to leave home nest. my mortgage for a condo or descent house in New Mexico is equivalent to HALF of my rent to live in a shitty little tiny duplex in round rock. I would miss my family and local riding community, but I feel like if I never move and stay in this little Austin bubble my entire life I will regret it when I get older

I know man. im trying to get things sorted out now to make that a reality in a few months

pfffff! yeah right! but I ma seriously contemplating moving to the mountains so who knows if id get faster living up there. Im already wondering if my bike destruction percentage would go up or down with the change of environment and landscape. haha

slow clap..... frames only.. maybe rims too, but im just gonna say frames.. carbon bars are retarded anyway!

I just wanted to stop by and give a shoutout and big thank you to my good friend Krys Brown, owner of Cracked Carbon Repair in Austin, Texas for fixing the multiple carbon failures on my evil wreckoning before the the angel fire 5 race, and the Pajarito DH Race happened last weekend. If any of you other guys have been left high and dry with a broken frame like I was, or happened to smash it into something on accident, save yourselves lots of headache and cash and contact Krys Brown directly, or through me, and we can get your broken carbon fixed for great pricing and awesome quality work. My wreckoning had 3 cracks, (one in top tube and 2 in rear triangle) and 2 chips. All fixed and holding up great after a rowdy DH race in Angelfire two weekends ago, immediately followed by the party in pajarito DH race this last weekend! This is the real evil undead. Brought back from the grave. I got a kick winning my class and showing off my Carbon patched up P.O.S wreckoning. 🤣 thanks evil 🤘💩🤘🤘💩🤘

I put 4 bikes on it to literally drive 1.5 miles at about 15mph for a single shuttle run at cat. but speaking of all this - I just got back from pajarito last night. and I now have the 2" hitch bar, and heavy duty side plates, and with 4 bikes on the rack, going down the highway and hitting dips/humps in the road was yet again flexing the rack enough to keep me concerned. im gonna call 1 up and ask them how much flex is expected. I understand that 4 enduro/dh bikes on top of the 60+lb rack is a lot of weight and leverage when bouncing up and down, but im a little traumatized from the first rack breaking. the thought of a 4 bike rack with $20k+ of bikes on it snapping off again but this time going down the highway makes me cringe and drive in fear of it happening again

I carry not only a quick link or two, but also a small section (about 3-5 links) of 11 speed chain. sometimes when you break/damage a chain, you loose multiple links (bent or whatever) thus loose low end gears for the rest of the ride. I keep a small section of chain to patch the damaged one if needed

I would just say get a giro switchblade helmet, or fox pro form, etc. these are "enduro" full face/convertible helmets which are a little lighter than full blown DH full face helmets. but still offer great protection..knees pads are an absolute must though

whoops! forgot about this thread and me needing to reply as I promised. if you plan on even semi regularly carrying more than 2 bikes, get the heavy duty for sure. I had the 1 1/4" one up rack and with 3 bikes it flexed like crazy and was scary to watch. going down the highway and hitting humps/dips in the road would make the rack flex about 6-8" vertically, maybe more. it was crazy.. then at one point for a shuttle run at cat mtn, I very briefly put 4 bikes on it (its only rated for up to 3) and the entire rack snapped off with $20k worth of bikes on it and skid down the street like a sled. thank god it didn't tip over and all the bikes were completely unharmed. so 1-2 bikes, the 1 1/4" hitch one up rack is great but if you think you may ever exceed 2 bikes, get the 2" heavy duty one up

sounds like you and your wife need to spice shit up! 😛

speaking of grips. the best grips on EARTH are the Ergon GS1 grips. it gives your hand/palm/wrist so much support, it feels like you're riding with a relaxed, open hands, rather than a death grip on a rubber coated pencil, basically makes hand fatigue completely disappear. I have them on all my bikes, including DH. basically everyone who ive gotten to try them has never gone back and now swears by them. especially for any bigger or older guys will probably see the most drastic difference in reduction of hand fatigue, but I recommend them to anyone.

I think im just gonna stick with aluminum from now on and not have to worry about a bunch of potential tiny oversights that may directly result in my serious bodily injury or death. 🙂

no, I cranked the clamp screws down as tight as my hands could turn them and then I used an old seat post as a cheater bar to really get them tightened down....

I will also mention, to fair- that in the beginning or World Cup is a nasty rock garden, into an open area, then two nasty sections of rocks and the last one has a 90 degree left turn immediately after smashing down and through a section of rocks. On this run, I was definitely pushing the bike really hard, a 160/160 trail bike and I would say I was treating it more like a DH bike. on the rock section into 90degree turn, I cornered really hard and tons of weight on the front wheel to the point where I almost collapsed my chest into the stem. Borderline crash turn status but I kept control of the bike and held it. I didn’t hear and noises but i know for sure it was probably maximum body pressure possible into handlebar without crashing. I’m about 210 before gear. If anything fatigued it on that ride, it was that. .....buuttt STILLLLLLLLL!!! Cmon!

theres been discussion about that. but that dropper lever tightens with a 3mm allen wrench. its gonna pre pretty hard in my opinion to he-man torque a 3mm allen wrench so hard it crushes carbon underneath it to the point it snaps of under the weight of me riding on it. and for whatever its worth, it took about zero torque to loosen it off of the broken piece of handlebar

👆 since about may of last year

Just took this picture right now 🙂 my 2017 intense recluse came with the race face bars new, then i bought 2 pairs of the chroma BZA at the same time for two different bike builds. after the first pair of BZAs broke i replaced them with aluminum and said if/when the last pair of BZAs broke i would never buy carbon bars again. and here we are

sorry, let me be clear. i wasn't saying that in a condescending "you people weekend warriors" kind of way. i meant it in that - in reality, nobody but the real deal pros really justify carbon parts. and to be more specific- choosing one of the most essential parts of your bicycle (handlebars) to be made of carbon fiber with all these delicate conditions (very sensitive torque specs) that can be extremely dangerous to your health if not followed perfectly, or even if they are followed correctly, maybe the handlebars have invisible damage and fatigue that like in my video, snaps with zero warning and sends you into oblivion. i literally could've had life changing injuries or even death if that happened to me on any of countless other places on that mountain. if you wanna pimp out your bike- get a badass carbon frame, get carbon cranks, even get carbon wheels, whatever.. if the carbon suddenly snaps or fails on any off those places (maybe other than cranks), more than likely you will hear a cracking noise or something, pull your bike over to the side of the trail, discover the broken part, bitch and moan, and walk back to the car. but if your handlebar(s) suddenly snaps off, you're basically guaranteed to eat total shit. otb, faceplant, loose all control, chest/face smashes into stem, body smash into whatever you are close to. I'm just saying if theres any part that probably should NOT be carbon, its your handlebars. because they have the highest consequence for failure. i apologize if i sounded like a dick. but also, vibration shouldn't be the reason why you buy carbon bars. if you're having vibration problems, its probably a suspension tuning problem (too much air pressure/spring rate, or too much dampening), or too much tire pressure. you shouldn't be trying to control how smooth your bike rides with the rigid components. I'm never riding carbon bars again, and will usually choose aluminum frames over carbon now too. my angle on this is that there are plenty of videos out there of carbon bars snapping all over the internet. and now, one of your local fellow riders (ME) just posted a video of them snapping out of nowhere on saturday and me almost getting really hurt. these were name brand carbon bars. no ali express china bars here.. and you still question how safe they are or aren't. so rock on dudes, get carbon bars, but after the evidence I've provided, don't expect sympathy from me if the same thing happens to you after reading this. hopefully it doesn't but you had your warning. that is all

Well if you watch my video, those were name brand chromag bars bought brand new

Oh yeah, carbon bars are a greeat idea. Since we all need to shave those precious grams for your weekend warrior 12 mile trail rides! Right? or you could just buy aluminum, save yourself some money, and prevent what happened to ME on Saturday-