Chief

11 minutes ago, Teamsloan said:

One other area to wrap that I wouldn't have thought of before, but I'm glad I have it...a strip along the top tube. It doesn't get hit by rocks, but I sit on it a lot and I have my tube and battery (in the winter) strapped to it. That section has probably seen more abuse than all the others.

Top tube also gets scuffed by your foot when you step over.

I have an XT 96BCD but it's 175 arms. Any specific reason you want 170-172.5?

48 minutes ago, throet said:

@WLemke How's your Ride Wrap holding up?

I'm looking at Ride Wrap's generic "covered" package, but wondering if I would be better off just getting a roll of heli-tape to cover those areas that I believe are most vulnerable. Anybody used heli-tape for frame protection, and if so, what thickness works best? Suppose you could vary the thickness, e.g. 18mil strip on the bottom of the downtube and around the chainstays with something thinner around the seatstays and top tube.  

If you're gonna wrap it get the kit for your bike. When done properly it's basically invisible. I had an Invisiframe kit on my Following.

I just figured out what size and what I needed. Yes glued and screwed. Used it for last six years until I sold the vehicle. Pretty easy to make.

Something like this? I know you can't see the whole thing but you can get the idea.

3 hours ago, Austin Smithey said:

This summer I will be working full-time ($$$) and seeing as I just got a gravel bike I would like to build up a 700c wheelset. Where do I even start trying to do something like this?? Any tips or info would be great!

 

I have a set that came off my bike if you're interested. Stock wheel set. 12x142 rear 12 x100 front thru axle. I'll let them go cheap. Alex wheels.

I'd also build you a set if that's what you're looking for. Be forewarned not easy getting parts.

I'm rebuilding the wheels on my FS took three weeks to get spokes standard size nothing custom and I'm still waiting for the hoops to arrive their stuck in Germany somewhere for the last three weeks.

If you plan to hacksaw it make sure you wear gloves and a respirator/dust mask. Carbon dust is not good for you.

Everyone has and is entitled to their own opinions this is part of what makes us who we are. How we respond to these opinions is part of what determines our character as people. Being able to discuss these opinions civilly is the test of our character. 

Your ability to post this shows the quality of your character. 

Thanks.

16 minutes ago, ATXZJ said:

Anyone else have sago palms?

Had three that got hit pretty hard. Dug one out but the roots looked really good so I left the other two hoping theyd come back to life.

There's a short paragraph about Sago palms. 

https://www.statesman.com/story/lifestyle/home-garden/2021/02/23/texas-winter-snow-storms-survive-plants-trees-garden-dead-dormant/4548153001/

On 4/2/2021 at 8:55 AM, TheX said:

Wishful thinking

15 hours ago, throet said:

That makes my back hurt just thinking about it! 

Then this will really make your back hurt. Did this a couple years back 57 at the time. Two days by myself. Had to dig out and set five posts. 

2 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

The "Honey Do"  keeps getting longer. I just want to ride my damn bike!

• scrape all the popcorn ceiling crap off the house and repaint. we watched a dozen YouTube videos for advice, bought a bunch of tools, and started doing this last weekend. We're almost done getting all that horrible crap off the ceiling in the first 10x10 guest bedroom. we still have a ton of sanding, repairing, texturing, and painting to do. wife doesn't want to pay a pro $10k to do the whole house, so this is my life now.
• modernize the kitchen. demo some walls and replace cabinets. move plumbing fixtures around. tile backsplash behind the stove. remove the "bar" from the countertop. granite or something for countertops. doing it right will cost $50K but I can do this myself with a hammer, right?
• replace the rotting wood fence. I feel like I can handle this, especially if the neighbors who share the fenceline will help with materials and some labor.
• floors: the whole house is a drab grid of 12x12 cream-colored tiles. the mess from demolition alone means we need to basically pack up our whole house and move out for a week.
• fireplace: build a hearth around the fireplace that we never use to make fires.
• roof: it's old and the shingles are on borrowed time. yeah, that's not a DIY job. $10–30K.

I am trying to convince her to save our money for our next trip to Ireland instead.

Best way to remove ceiling popcorn is with a pressurized sprayer full of water and a 10" spackle blade. Soak the popcorn with the water and then start scraping, comes right off nice and clean with no dust just be sure to put down a tarp to catch it all. Another note about ceiling popcorn, it can contain asbestos depending on how old the house is and when the popcorn was done. So be careful and research it before just scraping down. 

1 hour ago, mack_turtle said:

Interesting that you bring that up.

https://youtu.be/xMXlKED32uo

That's how he got started down the rabbit hole😂

6 minutes ago, throet said:

I was going to bring this up as well - quite telling. While it is a testament to mask wearing, social distancing, etc, it shouldn't be viewed as a substitute for getting an annual flu vaccine. The reality is that less than half of Americans get a flu vaccine each year, and they are likely the ones who spread it when not forced to wear masks and social distance.   

^100%^

^100%^

Humans suck.

I got covid not because of some asshat not wearing a mask or because I wasn't wearing a mask. How I got covid was from my wife who works in a rehabilitation hospital. She entered a patients room, she was wearing her mask but the patient had no mask and had not been tested for covid. Turns out the patient was positive and infected my wife even though she had a mask on.

The idea that we live in the society that we can't hurt peoples feelings by the things we say but yet continue to try and assert our perceived civil rights is insane.

My point to this being that wearing a mask doesn't protect you it protects the people around you if you're walking around with asymptomatic/undiagnosed COVID. 

These assholes that are trying to assert their perceived civil rights are the same assholes that are crying about getting their feelings hurt by something someone said or posted to social media.

We think that all this PC bullshit is making us a more civil society but it's not.

Fuck the human race! Bring on the asteroid!

P.S. The common flu has been non existent this year. Can anyone guess why? Because of wearing masks.

18 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

 

 

I've become less and less of a "kindness is everything" person. humans are gross.

Everyday I live I find another reason to hate the human species.

9 hours ago, throet said:

New replacement frame just arrived - sitting comfortably in my study. Those orange accents really pop nice against the primary red frame color. New Fox Factory Fork in shiny orange will pair up nicely once it arrives. 

Good looking frame!

I've never been fitted for an MTB but have had multiple fit sessions for road bikes years ago. Most of them didn't produce much benefit for me except for small tweaks. What would happen for me is I'd get fit and set the bike up according to the numbers for the fit but eventually would go back to my original set up because it just felt better. The best fit I had gotten was from Dave at Music City Cycles. He determined that my frame size was correct and made a few small adjustments according to my saddle position and my flexibility.  Dave changed my saddle position and my handlebar rise, I rode the bike like that for about two weeks. The saddle position was the only benefit I really noticed, the handle bar height I didn't like or feel comfortable with so I went back to my original bar height. I understand that road and MTB fit differently due to the fact that on a road bike you spend most of your time in the saddle and on an MTB you need to be more dynamic on the bike being able to control the bike in multiple riding positions. This is just my opinion but I think people tend to overthink bike fit and get too consumed by numbers. What I have learned over the years of riding bikes is that if it feels good to you it's probably the right fit. Your body can tell you much more than a bunch of numbers can.

The wife and I went to Durango a couple of years ago I didn't bring my bike because she doesn't ride and didn't want to make the trip seem like it was about me going riding. I did however get to rent a bike and ride for a day while I was there. I went to one of the bike shops that rented good bikes that was recommended by someone there. This shop was an Ibis dealer and rented bikes for the day. When I went the shop I explained to him what my daily ride was which at the time was a large V1 Following. I narrowed my choices down to a Ripley or Ripmo. They only had a large Ripmo for rent but had a med and large Ripley. The Ripmo was a bit too much bike for the trails I was going to ride but I tested it in the parking lot and it felt huge especially in the top tube length so that one was a no go for me. I tried both the large and med Ripley thinking that because I was riding a large Following I should try the large Ripley and that one also felt huge to me and made me feel like was too stretched out which would make the handling a bit squirrely, the med fit almost exactly like my Following.

 Recently sold the following and bought a Rascal. I fell between sizes on the Rascal and could have gotten a large or a medium. I spoke with Revel about which one might be a better choice and decided on the medium. My Rascal surprisingly fit exactly like my Following after building it. The only difference being the medium Rascal has a longer reach and a longer front center than my Following did. I don't like a bike that's too long in the wheel base especially for the trails around her it becomes a bit cumbersome. 

Don't get too hung up on numbers. If you're riding a bike that feels good to you when you're considering a new bike try to keep all of the cockpit dimensions as close as possible. A bit more reach or longer front center on a bike that has the same cockpit dimensions can be an improvement. As can HA and fork offset. JMHO.

In all fairness the berm after the rollers on Peddlers is a bit blown out and really needs to be taller to be able to maintain the speed after the rollers.

9 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

 

Brakes suck

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brakes are for sissies😂

I had a pretty nice hardtail as my backup, but really didn't ride it as much as my FS. The FS was just much easier on my aging body. I do have a gravel bike that gets ridden to get miles and works really well on trails like SN. I was up to five bikes at on point. You can only ride one at at time so figured I should thin the herd. Used that money to build my current FS which I really like a lot. 

I'm with @throet on the newer geo being a little too long for the trails here. I think for the tight twisty technical trails we have here a bike with a sub 1200mm wheelbase works best. When the bike starts to get too long it's like trying to maneuver an 18 wheeler through the local trails.

16 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Dude, seriously, your doctor recommended having COVID? OK, I'm no doctor but I would have gotten a second opinion on that one 😉

Could have worded that better😆. I had COVID and recently went for a follow up. What I meant to say was that because I've had COVID my doctor said that all I would need is the first shot and that the second shot wouldn't boost my immune response any further. He didn't recommend anyone getting COVID. 

His entire office including himself got infected by one patient that was asymptomatic. He said he was only getting the first shot also. 

Zombie thread resurrection. Just read this article and found it very interesting. I figured posting it here would be better than starting a new thread.

https://www.pinkbike.com/news/interview-chris-leatt-on-mtb-injury-research-and-protective-gear.html

5 minutes ago, AustinBike said:

There is not enough data on this. The conventional wisdom is that if you can't get it, you can't spread it. Generally the belief is that there are a couple phases, including clean, infected but not asymptomatic, asymptomatic, and symptomatic. From what I have seen, in the first two cases you can't spread it, in the third case you *could* spread it and in the fourth case you are spreading it.

But, what do I know, I'm just a mediocre biker who spends a lot of time reading about this, I'm not an epidemiologist.

 

My understanding is that the vaccine prevents severe illness and hospitalization it does not prevent the illness itself. I will be getting my shots as soon as I can hopefully at the 90 day timeline after having had COVID that my doctor recommended. From what I've heard even though you have been fully immunized you can still get, carry and spread the virus. It's basically a higher transmissible version of the flu. My doctor recommended that I get only one shot because he said having had the virus is your first dose and that the first shot for me would be my second dose and boost my immunity significantly and that the second dose doesn't really do anything more. Like it's been mentioned an MTB forum may not be the best place to get information.