Kyle

I've done the chain wax thing for years with wax from HEB.  Recently with the last batch I went hog wild and added molybdenum and PTFE powder, but I can't say it's revolutionarily better than just plain wax.

The best things about it are that it lasts a long time and the whole drivetrain stays super clean.

I use a tiny crockpot too.  I microwave it for 3 minutes to give it a head start and it hasn't blown up yet.

Mountain bike with aero bars and a kickstand.  I'm sure anything else bolted to this bike could be relevant to me.

31 minutes ago, WLemke said:

Looks like you’ll also need a vice, soft jaws, 22mm chamferless socket, heat gun, and DVO’s special oil catch can. 
 

Reading the instructions, it does looks fairly simple compared to other damper services, but it does require a number of tools that you’re average home mechanic doesn’t have. 

I was about to offhand post something like "You mean vise grips and a t-shirt?" but then I looked at the instructions.  That ground down socket is obnoxious.

Wait, so which is it?  Do you eat a salad and then go riding for hours the next day on just that?

Or do you "4. Energy for riding can still come from carbs because you are burning them as you go"

In my experience I need carbs/glycogen to exercise at a heart rate greater than ~140bpm or it's bonk city after 45 minutes.  My preferred ride is 2-3 hours of constantly bouncing off max heart rate...

On 4/28/2019 at 12:12 AM, CBaron said:

I did the Dragon Slayer while being on Keto this past year.  Takes quite a bit of "energy" to finish that ride...

-CJB

I'm guessing you're super fit compared to most people and were cruising at a low heart rate for this.  What were you eating during the ride?

11 hours ago, Trailrider said:

I'm done with using Shimano's thin grease on their derailleur clutches. Been using a thick grease for about a year now and the clutch just works better for a longer maint interval.

I had no idea this was a thing you could do.  My strategy has always been to just gradually increase the tension over time.  Thanks!

I miss threads like this.

I guess I'm not riding enough anymore.  I feel like I haven't had one of these old school bike repair adventures where it turns into 50% medieval blacksmithing in a while.

Just get a pump that seats tubeless tires.  

- no compressor storage

- Lasts forever

- Lightning proof

- Quieter

- Fits in your car trunk for road trips

I wonder what they were trying to say by "non-wrinkle shaped."

I'm surprised there's not a more mature consultant industry to un-engrish this kind of thing.  With all the time they spent shooting this they could've paid someone $100 to have it make sense.

I think rear hub standards change faster than I can wear out a freehub.  Has anyone ever had pawls wear out?

19 minutes ago, avines said:

So I used Lee's two RAD measurement calcs and am getting wildly different values. I am 5'10" and have short legs and pretty short arms.

Backstory: I dropped enough weight during covid to gift myself a new FS bike. I am coming from a 18" 2014 hardtail with 120mm RS Revelation fork. I demo'd a Revel Rascal from from Velorangutan about a month ago and while I liked it ok, I didn't love it and had some lower back pain. Two weeks ago I tried a medium Ripley and really liked it. Set a bunch of PRs on a 18 mile ride along the SATN and everything about the bike felt really good. It made me want to push and I felt solid on the bike The only issues I had with it was that maybe my sit bones were at the end of the seat, but I didn't have any discomfort, and that the cranks seemed shorter than what I am used to which made it seem harder on climbs when I got out of the saddle. Harder in the sense that I was pedaling quicker revolutions which kinda tired me out.

This weekend, I tried the large Ripley and went on the same ride. I had stayed up too late the night before the ride and was almost 1mph slower. The bike felt ok but again, I didn't love it. Swapped it out for a large Occam with the big Fox 36 up front (150mm?). It was a big bike that I liked, but didn't love.

I then saw this thread and used my height to calculate my RAD from my height, and ended up with a 445 RAD. This made perfect sense since I felt really good on the medium Ripley which has a 450mm reach and the large has a 475mm. The large Occam is 474. I dived a bit deeper with the Level II RAD calculation by measuring my "knuckle height" and the "neutral" RAD came in at 480, which makes the large bikes the "better" fit. I am not sure whether I should go with my gut or that since I have been on bikes that are too small for me for so long, I do not know how "right" should feel.

Any ideas?

 

 

I feel awkward giving specific fit advise, but when I bought my last bike I let the numbers dictate that I should buy a size larger frame than I initially thought.  There was definitely an acclimation phase, but now I'm glad I did.

4 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

This is very a propos for me.  I was actually going to come back and post here.  Several things going on for me:

1. Shopping for a new F/S and saw Rich Drew's long term review of the Transition Spur.  I posted a question about tweener sizing b/c he talked about he's also between M and L.  What you ride makes a difference.  based on his answer I think for me M is right.
2. I rode my back-up SS bike yesterday. It feels cramped but I seem to ride OK in it.  My knees kinda hurt for a bit but my saddle is closer to road heigh than MTB height.  I definitely need a dropper on it.
3. I rode my gravel bike on SN and felt faster cornering on it (on 40mm gravel tires) while on the drops than with my FS bike.  What does this say about my setup/geometry/skills?

As I rode my SS on 1/4 yesterday, I was thinking of all this.  My bikes are setup for 12 and 24 hour races with the body of a desk jokey 40+ old person, not fun riding or XC riding or downhill/enduro riding.  I wondered if I slam my bars would I be able to corner faster?  I think I would.  I'm also going to take another look at mack_turtle's spreadsheet.

The gravel bike with drop bars probably got more of your weight over the front tire.

On my first hardtail years ago I replaced the 100+mm stem with a 50mm.  Suddenly (as a newbie) I could get the wheel up and onto ledges, but equally suddenly I started washing out on corners until I learned to consciously shift my weight forwards.

It really wasn't too bad.  Took maybe 90 minutes total?  The nurse said she took the medicine out of the refrigerator as soon as I called, so it didn't particularly hurt. Everyone at the ARC far west was extremely nice.  She said rabies shots are body weight dependent, and a guy recently needed 12. 

The moral of the story is if you get bit, stop to check damage and then if the dog has an up to date rabies tag.

2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Wow, that sucks. Any close contact with a dog makes me stop immediately. If nothing else I want to express my displeasure to the owners. Had a close call today, dog almost came off the leash on the street.

do you have to come back for a follow up or is it one and done?

3 more shots after 3,7,14 days. Total of 6 shots today lol.

Irony.

I thought it just scratched me. Then I got back to my car and saw puncture marks.

Also, it turns out it's rabies shots plural.

...getting a rabies shot.  I ❤️ off-leash dogs on the greenbelt.

Try gently lifting the rear of the bike by the back of the seat and see if you can perceive any slop.

I walked a random mile of 1/4 notch at lunch.  It's a little too wet to fully enjoyably ride, but it would be possible.  I didn't see any giant dangerous trees on the trail, there were plenty of little limbs to be cleared that could be taken care of with a hand saw.  Someone has already been at work clearing quite a bit of stuff, I appreciated the tasteful light touch they have.

My schedule makes it hard to attend work days.  Is vigilante trail clearing welcome?  

I never got around to expanding the pandemic playscape in the back yard, now all the 4x4s I bought are holding up cantilevered live oak branches.  A cedar was more brittle and got absolutely splattered. 

I'll second the G-forms.  They're pretty decent to pedal in and they're enough to take the edge off a crash.

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=fox+spacer&type=things&sort=relevant

On 1/15/2021 at 2:40 PM, Chief said:

You can also use a toe clip strap to keep the tire place.

Years ago I watched a video of an old guy doing this with a notoriously hard to install commuter tire using zero hand strength.  I can't find the video for anything now, but it's been my go-to method since.  I don't own a tire lever.

.

How is it your mistake?  I wouldn't hesitate to return them.  Amazon is so full of crap these days.

This year when I was online Christmas shopping I avoided Amazon so purchases wouldn't show up on our shared account.  I ventured out into the wide world of random e-commerce websites, and was surprised to discover that pretty much everybody has fast shipping now, and the price is often significantly less than Amazon.