mack_turtle

My laptop is on it's last leg. Looking for recommendations. I mostly need it for the freelance writing I do. I write articles using Google Docs and WordPress, so I really need something that won't bog down while using a browser. I'm not playing games or editing feature-length movies on it. I see some simple laptops online for under $300. Any reason why something that cheap is going to let me down?

As a person with a nerdy obsession with language and bicycles, how have I never read that?

Is that really a thing? I've built dozens of wheels and never gave that a second thought. Sounds like tin foil hat stuff.

JK. Use an online spoke calculator with your ERD measurement. Sheldon Brown has on in Excel format that has not let me down.

End of the spoke to the same on the opposite side of the wheel. You need two spokes with nipples and a rubber band to do this. https://www.bikeforums.net/13202085-post2.html Lefty hubs are tricky. Best too look up dimensions on that hub from Cannondale. Then use this zippy formula!

I learned how to build wheels from George French's guide on his old G-Sport site. I've built dozens of wheels over the years and it is not any more difficult than knitting or making pasta. That video makes it sound more complex than it is. Spend some time studying a wheel on your bike and the pattern that the spokes creates and it will come to you. Sheldon Brown has a great guide, and I have a copy of Jobst Brandt's book on the topic, in case anyone wants to borrow it. 1. Do not trust manufacturers' published ERD. Measure it yourself. 2. Get the spoke length correct within 1mm. Trying to build a wheel with spokes that are +/-2 mm wrong SUCKS. 3. Take your time. 4. A little lube on spoke ends goes a long way.

YouTuber Seth "Bike Hacks" is at Spider MTN now. Blame him for the graupel.

Make the discussion regionally relevant. If someone cites an erosion study that was done in a place with totally different geology. Challenge them to conduct a local study. Look at City Park. Years and years of motorcycle use should have leveled the whole place by now, but that limestone is tenacious stuff.

So Californians are to blame for all the chaos along Shoal Creek?

Like most things in life, what makes mountain biking fun is the subjective experience.

When you consider sag on a hardtail, the head and seat tube angles get steeper, the BB drops, the stack goes down and the reach increases. It can be drastic with a long fork.

No wireless brakes yet? I am sure they'll be as reliable and confidence-inspiring as any other SRAM stoppers.

hot!

I can see a lot of reasons why wireless actuation of mechanical bike bits is awesome. For 99% of riders, it will just make bikes more expensive and needlessly complex with disposable parts.

I, for one, would like to welcome our robot overlords.

That's different for everyone, I suppose. For my riding ability and the terrain I ride, I ride a very simple bike. I have adopted several modern technologies but rejected others. I also use sophisticated versions of simple things. I take the Amish approach- does a technology really add to my experience, or just make it more complicated and expensive? For my purposes, plush suspension, electric bits, space-age polymers, etc don't make riding more fun, so I don't waste my money on them. A steel frame that fits me, hassle-free hydraulic brakes, tubeless tires, a singlespeed drivetrain, a well-made rear hub, and a suspension fork that I can service at home are worthwhile. I am still on the fence about dropper posts.

I always hear about demos, and it seems like those are very few and far between. Or are they more often than I think? Bicycle World is hosting a Rocky Mtn Bikes one soon, I think. http://www.bikes.com/en/dealers

Interesting- I've never ridden a motorcycle, on or off road, and don't have a desire to do so. So much of "progress" in bicycle design is pushing them toward handling more like motorbikes, sometimes not stopping at putting a motor on it. But pedal powered bikes are still often becoming more Moto. This works for some people, especially those with a Moto background. As I spent 20 years riding BMX, this is the opposite of what I want in a bike. I don't want a bike that inspires me to plow over everything but a bicycle that handles like an extension of myself. It's hard to explain, but the way people talk about riding the new generation of bikes just sounds boring to me. I read on some forum a while back someone who was complaining that the new LLS bikes he had ridden felt like he could not throw them around, and it was hard to lift the front tire, to which someone replied ( I kid you not) "you don't have to." I read on and he implyed that newer bikes are so advanced and plush that you don't need skill, strength, technique, or finesse to ride a technical trail, just sit and pedal and let all the suspension do all the work. I know that's hyperbolic but I almost choked when I read that. Impudent strumpet! How f-ing BORING to engage in activity where the challenge is being engineered out by the equipment! I ride because it is challenging, so there's a threshold at which a more capable bike just feels like cheating. Combine that with dumbed-down trails and you might as well push for a Zwift trail VR "experience" sans mosquitoes and actual effort. Is that what's driving us? Get off my lawn!

Also very subjective. I ride with a lot of singlespeeder dudes who are on Chumba Stella's, which have short-reach, long chainstays, steep angles, and high bottom brackets/ small BB drop. Others are on Vassago, Honzo, Unit, or Nimble 9 options, which have geo that's all over the map. I plan to replace my Jabberwocky (low BB, steep-ish HA, long reach) with a Karate Monkey, which has middle of the road geo.

I think the pendulum will swing some time soon. The LLS idea works for some highly skilled riders in certain situations. It's not for everyone, everywhere.

It's very subjective. For some, LLS bikes make everything awesome. I am under the impression that most of these style of bike were developed in trails that are not what you find in the Barton Creek Greenbelt, though. Personally not a fan of "long" bikes. I know my body dimensions have not changed in decades and probably never will. tacking a ton of extra reach only sounds like a good way to lose control over the bike. Low BB in height puts your pedals close to rocks. Nope. If a low BB can be achieved without dragging your pedals on the ground, it makes the bike "stable" which can be good until it compromises your ability to vault the bike over stuff. That said, my bike has a lot of BB drop and a low BB hieght. I think it makes the bike too "stable" for my riding style. I don't hit rocks with my pedals often, but I find myself riding more conservatively thank I'd like to avoid that.

Please don't use my posts to score point in your pissing match.

All this talk about not riding muddy trails is preaching to the choir. How can we relate this message to the unwashed masses of ignorant a-holes who don't interact with the larger mountain biking population?

did two of these rides this weekend on a singlespeed cross bike with 32/35mm tires. minimal singletrack but lots of gravel walking paths of grassy trails.

I have to wonder what's really going on. Either these people are making stuff up to validate their NIMBY stance or they have a legitimate problem with rowdy teenagers / vagrants throwing parties in the woods because loud music and killing wildlife are incompatible with mountain biking.