mack_turtle

Austin Ridge Riders and Austin Yellow Bike Project is hosting a class for mountain bikers on Saturday, Aug. 3. There are 12 slots for students available. All ages and abilities welcome. Bring your bike and learn basics to keep your bike running safely and smoothly. https://austinyellowbike.org/events/modern-mountain-bike-basics/ background: after a break-in and theft of about $10K in inventory at Yellow Bike earlier this year, Austin Ridge Riders stepped up and offered to help Yellow Bike with a fundraiser. ARR has been behind the scenes helping YBP set this up, so please thank them for their tireless work!

I'm shopping around for a smart trainer. I'm glad some people can ride in this heat, but after nearly 20 years of trying different things, nothing makes riding in a Texas summer fun, let alone safe for me. no amount of hydration helps when my brain is boiling inside my skull.

Sorry to hear someone is having more fun than you, mister grumpy-pants.

E-bike hate is still around but most people have gotten over it. It's mostly just weird old retrogrouches who don't like seeing other people having fun.

It's safe to say that any natural park is going to get hiking trails if it's open to the public. That's a given. We will need to advocate to mtb trails. A connection to Reimers would be AMAZING. I'll post here if I hear anything about public meetings.

Travis County is buying RGK Ranch, which is close to Reimers. Maybe another mtb trail system that close would be redundant, but has anyone here heard if that might be included in the plan? Too early to say? https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2024/05/15/rgk-ranch-austin-park.html

Who has navigated around Roy Guerrero Park lately? I rode down there on Sunday after all the rain, when singletrack was too wet, and found that much of the trails were fenced off. I gave up and crossed the river on Pleasant Valley and wiggled my way up to Walnut Creek South. It looks like there's currently no point in entering the park, but crossing into the main trail from Lakeshore Blvd. to get to the Montopolis Bridge is still doable.

I had a good time. What was the head count?

Forecast for Saturday looks wet.

when I worked at REI, every Diamondback bike we assembled came with a "fork direction" sticker, but it was not affixed to anything. I started collecting them and now I have a decent stack. I like to keep one in my pocket and stick it to forks at Target, Walmart, Academy, etc. There was a fat bike at Target with a backwards fork to which I adhered one of these stickers, and I came back to check on it every few months. it was still there, with the backwards fork, for several months.

Singlespeeds are stupid. I'm going to buy a FS e-mtb and be done with it. What should I get? See ya on the trails next week! Or rather, you'll see the back of me as a brap away. [Edit: happy April 2.]

I've been off the bike since January 1 this year with a shoulder injury. Riding any bike in any configuration is agony... until now. As I'm working my way through rehab, this is my new ride. Built around a Univega beach cruiser I found at Yellow Bike, I ditched most of the parts and started over. I had to buy the bottom bracket adapter cups and a shim for the handlebar, so I've spent less than $25 on it.

notes.

I agree that the trend does lean toward standards of one sort or another. there are often a few different standards, but you don't see every single bike company making its own specific size seatpost, bottom bracket, hub sizes, etc. new standards arise, but they are few and far between. the same could be done for mounting batteries and motors. IIRC, boost spacing was a collaboration with Trek and ... SRAM? the UHD is another example. If a heavy-hitter like Shimano or Bosch worked with Specialized, Giant, or Trek, the others would follow suit and we would have something that more closely resembles a "standard" within a few short years. I don't know why bike manufacturers keep shooting themselves in the foot.

That's crazy-talk!