mack_turtle

I used to assemble a lot of Diamondback bikes at REI. Each one came with a "fork direction" sticker, with a diagram showing how to orient the fork. I have a few dozen of those stickers in my collection now. I usually have one with me. Costco on the south side has some bikes on display that at least got the fork right, but they're otherwise horrible looking.

If nothing else, keeping it as a secondary bike is worth it. Think of your FS bike as your main ride, but make the hardtail enjoyable for days you want to challenge yourself more, when your FS bike is out of commission for service, or when the trails are wet and you want a gravel path/ urban adventure bike. Tubeless tires would be a good start, but keep the spending reasonable on the secondary bike.

Incoming HBO series based on The Last of Us. https://youtu.be/rBRRDpQ0yc0

Ilse? 🔥

a few among the ASS crew ride rigid bikes with big tires, but most of them have adopted dropper posts over time. simple bikes are great but you ca do so much more with the saddle "out of the way." if you want that simple feel, there's the KS ExaForm that has a lever under the saddle instead of a handlebar lever.

I really enjoy Mike Ferrentino's writing in general, but this is pretty spot-on. https://nsmb.com/articles/the-luxury-of-hypocrisy/

Not sure why this is a problem, but I take my bike into park bathrooms with me all the time. seriously, I'm not leaving it sitting there where someone can grab it unless I have a posse with me.

I'll be sure to bring my skateboard when I get around to visiting. I should go on a school day in the morning to avoid the crowding too.

look out, it's a killer. hiding out in this sidewalk crack.

yeah, everyone I know who uses a lumbar pack uses something like that. I don't trust magnets—work of the devil! it would be nice if they had a magnet and a clip of some kind, but most people seem to have a few of those bouncy lanyards in a drawer somewhere. I also don't find the need to tighten the belt. just blow into the tube to replace the volume of water you just drank with air and the pack stays tight. I don't think that the pack getting looser is a design flaw, it's inevitable that when you reduce the volume of something, it gets smaller.

I read about the San Gabriel wildfire yesterday. Many homes were evacuated but people later returned home. The trail around LG is CLOSED until further notice. https://public.tfswildfires.com/ should be the best place for updates. unrelated: I saw there was a fire near Bear Lake/ Greyrock from a blown transformer the other day. SATN region known as Baldwin West Trail on Trailforks. be careful where you throw your butts when you smoke yer cigarettes while riding, folks!

I was hoping that photo of me would never surface again.

Most bike shops just crush and recycle several bike boxes every day. I'd ask them to put a few aside for you and you'll have more than enough of those. If have have another spare box, you can smuggle me out of Texas and I'll disappear into the woods.

Palo Pinto County is currently on fire. https://www.instagram.com/p/CgM5ITXFlVu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I'm finding alcohol to be less and less fun lately. I still enjoy the taste, especially on a hot day, but I'm turning to NA drinks to scratch that itch. bouncing between Costco Kombucha and Karbach Free & Easy NA IPA right now. Some of the NA drinks are more expensive than the real thing, which seems weird. Athletic Brewing is doing really cool things for trails, though, so I don't mind spending a little more of my money with them right now.

ha! I typed my reply at the same time that you typed this. great minds, right?

I feel like it could totally be done if Shimano would just tell us what kind of seals to buy. I'd be very surprised a replacement seal is not available from some industrial source. I wish things like this would fall under incoming "right to repair" mentality.

Shimano absolutely does not make spare parts available to rebuild their levers. I checked and I had a friend who has access to the information that Shimano only makes available to bike shops: master cylinder rebuilds and stuff like that is not a thing. I have successfully disassembled and reassembled a pair of SLX levers, mostly because I was told it could not be done. It did not make them any better because you can't buy rebuild kits. however, if somehow you could find exactly the right seals size for them, that would help.

The Bear is streaming on Hulu. So good! The dialogue, characters, the TENSION. Blue collar drama with bite. Synopsis: Talented chef leaves his fancy career to take over the family hole-in-the-wall restaurant full of interesting charcters.

I've been using RF Aeffect cranks and I am confused about Cinch. The chainring interface is a "Cinch" direct-mount variety, but it seems like the threaded preload feature is also called Cinch. my crankset does not have this bearing preload feature and I don't see the need for it if the frame and BB are correctly installed. That means facong the BB shell so it's exactly the correct width.

I prefer the Shimano BB design with 24mm ID bearing on both sides but the hard stop when properly cranked down on SRAM is also nice. Raceface is a best of both. No goofy floating spindle in the drive side bearing and no fussy bearing preload. It helps to make sure your BB shell is faced. The Cinch-type direct mount rings are easy to source. I've been using Aeffect cranks with a Shimano BB for a few years.

to me, 75° at 99% humidity feels slightly worse.

old thread, but I am considering getting some sort of indoor trainer so I can pedal somewhere — er, I mean nowhere — while I find a way to escape from Texas. I have a dumb trainer but I guess I need a tire or wheel that will be suitable for that. anything else I need to consider? I guess a 700c wheel with a 142x12 axle for my gravel bike, with a trainer tire, would do the job. I don't want to mess around with removing and installing tubeless tires too often if I can avoid it.

now the question is: what trail should we just nickname "Air Fryer" now? I don't think I am capable of creating enough "air flow" to make a different. maybe that's why road rides feel slightly less horrible, especially if you avoid the hilly routes that involve slowly grinding up the climbs.

in case it was not plain enough to me that heat + humidity was a bad combination: https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/humans-cant-endure-temperatures-and-humidities-high-previously-thought/ it gets worse with age.