mack_turtle

Universal axles are on eBay for about $20 if you don't find one locally. There are some hub-specific ones too. What hub?

Links to geometry of each of the models he is considering? Effective top tube length can be a red herring. I look at reach and stack as well.

This pisses me off to no end. It's a park/ facility designed specifically for bicycles, yet there is only one legitimate way to get there on a bicycle, and that one is blocked with no good alternatives. I bugged TXDOT about this via Twitter and they told me to ride my road bike ON MOPAC to get there, or take the trail under the bridge. I'd like to see a rider in a skinsuit ride their TT bike under that bridge. Someone is gonna die on MOPAC because if their short-sighted plans. https://twitter.com/TxDOTAustin/status/1111766270054158342?s=20

This is not worth the (likely) potential of failure and a hard fall when it does. A new KMC Missing Link is less than $5.

I did that once on my BMX bike when I was a kid. It snapped a few feet in front of a wood jump I was approaching at speed and threw me onto my head on the frozen ground. I only had to learn that lesson once. You know how they say "a chain is only as strong as its weakest like"? That applies here.

Beside Shimano connecting pins, chain pins are installed once at the factory. Never push a pin "back in." I am not afraid to use more than one "quick link" or disconnect one a few times. I should replace mine though as it's been reused two dozen times.

I want to know more about that hand-trike thing!

You're going to need to be very specific about what size cup, bearing, and race you need. What's the SHIS? https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/standardized-headset-identification-system

That sounds like a liability in that it might make me want a new bike.

I keep coming back to this: http://www.handbuiltbicyclenews.com/c23-bicycles/328-nakeds-framebuilder-notes-on-a-prototype

Interesting experience from last night: rode the Merdian trails in far-south Austin and took one of the "ledge" lines. I have ridden that area at least a dozen times but I somehow missed the line with the biggest ledge at the end so far. I took that line and was not prepared for that last ledge, thinking it would be one of the smaller ledges that I have rolled a dozen times. I kind of panicked at the last second as my front tire hit the landing at a too-steep angle and I nose-wheelied for a second, anticipating an OTB. I somehow landed straddling the bike while my shoes slid on the grass for a second and walked away with only a pedal scrape on my leg. I think that would have ended badly if I had a shorter fork (and even on rigid!) and probably would have been smoother if my effective head tube angle was more relaxed or had a longer fork. that does not mean that I want a slacked out enduro bro bike because of ONE instance over the course of a 15-mile ride, but it illustrates the point of where the longer front end comes in handy. A better solution is not to ride lines that are new to me blindly and take ledge drops with more speed!

https://patch.com/texas/downtownaustin/la-crosse-avenue-mopac-close-long-term-starting-march-29 LaCrosse @ MOPAC will be closed for a while. Good luck getting to the Veloway. It always annoys me that a public course made specifically for bicycles is nearly impossible to get to by bicycle.

Yikes. I think that bolt is supposed to be cranked to 45 foot-pounds, aka a ton of torque.

I just shipped a frame to Georgia for under $30 using Bike Flights a few weeks ago. I dropped it off at a FedEx store. When did that change?

I have to wonder if the thickness of the chainring you are using is slightly out of spec. You can also get the threads CLEAN and dab some Loctite 242 in there. It's really hard to break 242 loose once it's installed correctly.

My drivetrain was creaking the other day. I pulled my crank arm off and found that the lockring that holds the chainring in place (Raceface Cinch) was only finger-tight! I had tightened the bejeesus out of that when I put it on, too. Cleaned it up really well and reinstalled with a few drops of Loctite 242 for good measure.

Chasing down creaks is hard work. You'd be surprised at the places they can be found though. It's worth sleuthing out the truth though because a creak could be an indication of something wrong that will get worse with time. Any place where metal touches metal usually should be treated in some way with grease, oil, threadlocker, or antisieze. Spokes, bottom bracket cups, pedal threads, seatposts, chainrings, and every single little bolt on your bike should be checked. Time and use will do it to your bike, but if your bike has seen any sort of moisture, creaks start to show up.

Just skip to about 7:50 to see him ride the thing.

This guy's video illustrates the point well: That is basically what I wanted to film. Next I want to see a RS 32mm fork compared to a 34mm fork. Or just put a fat tire on my rigid fork and call it a day!

I can see my Reba 120 with 32mm stanchions flex like mad when I tap the front brake. It also has a fair amount of stiction no matter how carefully lubed up it is. I wonder if to what degree the flex and stiction are due to: A. The design of the fork squishy bits, B. The structure of the fork crown, stanchions, etc. C. The head tube angle of the frame, since the closer the angle is to 90°, the more horizontal the force put on it by impacts. (I tried to make a video of this for grins just now, but it turns out that slow-motion video in the dark with only LED driveway lights creates a crazy strobe effect!)

Every time a Boomer buys an e-mtb, a millennial adds a year of to his/her target retirement age.

I was into Stache before they went mainstream. Back when you could only get a vinyl Stache or a bootleg tape. Not it's all commercial and they sold out. You squares ruin everything.

On SRAM cranks, there is usually a space on the drive side where the spindle is exposed.

Interesting data point. I am 40 pounds lighter than you and I'd like to think I am somewhat graceful on the bike. Maybe that's why I have not killed my Reba in the four years I have had it. There's a bit of FOMO in my question. You never know what you're missing sometimes. For example, I borrowed someone's Salsa Timberjack the other day for a spin around Walnut. I immediately noticed that the fork had NO rebound damping. It was a pogo stick! I suspect the seal under the damper had failed and the damper oil was just sloshing around in the lowers. It was a newish bike and he later got it fixed, but he had been riding it like that for months because he didn't know what a good should feel like.

When you say "stiff" do you mean the way the air springs and damper work, or the way the fork flexes? I was amazed one day while when, riding pavement and tapping my front brake at how much the fork bends under me like it's trying to bend, not telescope. I'll bet it looks like a wet noodle in slow-motion. This is why I would want a fork with a stiffer chassis (34mm stachions might have this affect) for anything over 120 or even 100mm.