mack_turtle

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.

SATN un-trail trails: Starting at the opposite corner from the Sunset Valley Best Buy described above (SW corner of MOPAC and 290/71), ride around Target and take up the Archstone Greenbelt to Monterey Oaks. Follow the trail around the track at Small Middle School to Brush Country Rd. Do a lap around Arbor Trails (Costco, Kerby Lane, etc.) if you dare and take up the VCT toward Dick Nichols Park. From DNP, take Latta Creek Greenbelt gravel path or the far-right singletrack if it's dry to Davis Lane. The hill at the far west terminus of Davis is rocky and dry. Follow it to the top and turn left before Gorzycki Middle School. Either proceed left and go to Circle C Metro gravel trails or ride up the hills along 1826 to Spruce Canyon. There's a trail along the east side of 1826 that leads all the way to SH45 but IME the useful "dry" surface on a soggy day ends at Spruce. Take Spruce Canyon to La Crosse. There is a gravel loop in Circle C west of Escarpment and a gravel trail that leads from the Escarpment spillway to MOPAC. From there, you can go alone MOPAC to LaCrosse and do laps around the Veloway. The main trail that leads to Idalia Drive and then to Bauerle Ranch is surprisingly dry, but stay away from trails that parallel the creek. There are also endless possibilities of low-traffic neighborhood street with good hills and views in the area.

Curious to see what a similar video about Austin/ central Texas would say. Maybe it's best if that video is never made.

Yes, I have done a few big loops around the city using WCSouth, and getting from Ladybird Lake to Govalle Park is always sketchy.i have been doing it from Longhorn Dam (Pleasant Valley Bridge) but I'll go through Roy G first and try Shady Lane next time.

Adjustable reach is a cool idea. I can't work with modern frames and their super stretched geometry. 450mm of reach for a medium means I am not riding the bike but just hanging off the the back while the bike (hopefully) plows over everything. I guess I prefer a compact fit where I can control the bike. The option of taming that reach without putting my stem on backwards or riding a bike that's a size "too small" with a flagpole worth of seatpost is appealing. When is the carbon singlespeed Pedal head coming out?

Bikegeo.net Plug in ya numbers and stuff and this doohicky makes a stick figure version of yer bike for visual reference and gives you some numbers to compare. Not sure how accurate is is to real life but comparing two bikes is useful.

I am surprised they are emphasizing carbon fiber so much. Still a skeptic, but if I trust anyone to make a bombproof CF frame, it's GG. They might even make a Seth-proof bike! Otherwise, Make Bikes Metal Again. Stoked on what GG is doing though! If they made a SS XC type bike that I would want to ride, I might buy one.

I got that from a discussion of comparing and duplicating saddle setback. More relevant to road bikes, but if you find a saddle you love and want to put the saddle at exactly the same distance from the BB every time, measure from the wall to the BB and from the wall to the saddle nose. The difference is your saddle setback or offset or buttback or whatever you want to call it. What do you want to call buttback from now on?

D'oh! It's been on the Facebook and the List of Craig for at least a month. I just lowered the price. I paid $170 for it and CR dropped (pun, har har) the price to just above what I was asking.

Put your hand on the top tube and try to fit two fingers in your butt.

$100. You buy now!

Measurement comparing to saddle height from the ground, if that's what you mean, is a red herring. It does not take BB hieght I to account. Throw sag in there and you're chasing your tail. Now put a dropper post in the equation and you're just wasting time. Your seated pedalling position has nothing to do with wrangling the bike. Effective reach and stack start with the BB isolated in space and determine your range of motion. This is the gold standard to start fitting a mountain bike. if you're fitting a road bike, where your seated pedalling position is important, that's a different story.

You're starting with a flawed premise- that comparing measurements from the ground- is a useful baseline, them comparing apples and oranges. Those are different bikes different geometries. My description sounded complex, but it boils down to this: your ability to wrangle the bike depends on where your hands and feet are. Find a distance that works for you and use that as a baseline. You might end up raising and lowering the grips but that distance remains about the same because - geometry. It might not work on every bike, but it's a good starting point. Raising the handlebar to avoid hitting your top tube or trying to make the height from the ground match another bike is going to compromise handling in the end.

Yeah, that sounds like a terrible idea. Mine is just a large, flat, neoprene fanny pack with two pockets that zip closed. https://www.amazon.com/YesGear-Ultimate-Neoprene-Fanny-Travel/dp/B07CG686D6

I was going to jump in with the same thing. There are too many variables involving BB drop, BB height, frame angles, wheel sizes, suspension sag, etc to make your measurements meaningful. measuring the height of your grips from the ground is meaningless because you're not standing on the ground when you ride the bike. You're standing on your pedals, I hope. How far are your grips from the BB? In a straight line? Vertical/ horizontal? For a visual reference, look at what Lee McCormack and Lenz call "RAD" Rider Area Distance- http://lenzsport.com/bicycle-fit/ Take saddle position out of the equation. Don't even think about saddle position until you know exactly where your hands are relative to your feet. Optimize that so you can wrangle the bike while standing up, then work on your seated pedalling position. With your bike upright and propped up with your back tire against a wall, measure from the ground to the center of the BB. Then measure from the ground to the grip. Subtract the from from the latter. That's your effective stack. Now measure, as best you can, from the wall to the BB, and from the wall to the midpoint between your grips. That's your effective reach. Measure the direct distance from the center of the BB to the midpoint between the grips. That's your RAD. It does not change because the front triangle of your bike is static. Are those measurements different between the two bikes? If they are, should they be the same based on how and where you ride them? Otherwise, unless you have Go Go Gadget limbs, your body proportions don't change, so there's no reason to have different measurements from one bike to another for the same rider.

Thanks! I have ridden some similar routes. Connectingnthe end of Southern Walnut over to WC metro sucks, and getting back across Research going south to get to Shoal Creek looks much better now.

Nice! Map of this route? Are we Strava buddies yet?

For short rides and on cool days when I don't have to gulp water the whole time, I started using a "runner's belt". It does not hold water, but it is padded, disappears under my jersey, and holds my phone, ID, a multi-tool, tire repair and chain bits. I can carry to water bottles on my frame and a Back Bottle in my jersey pocket. Pump is strapped to the frame. Or I put all that in a Jandd frame bag. If it's hot or a longer ride, I go to my Osprey 3L backpack.

I didn't want one, then I saw this:

Hawk Hill 1 looks like a solid starter bike for someone who is serious about having fun and has the $$.

I would get that handlebar position within 10mm of what is ideal for you. If the head tube is too long and the top tube too tall, I would deal with the possibility of hitting the top tube e or get a new frame. Sucks, but handling and fit are my priority. I have my handlebar quite low and I made a slight compromise with bar rotation and lever angle so the lever does not hit the top tube. It's close. I feel your pain but don't "chopper" your bike over this. Seriously, why does no one use a limiting headset?

I like the experimental attititude, but can you achieve the same effect with a little more stem rise? I would want to set up my bike so the grip position is optimal for riding. If that means something hits the top tube, I'd rather that than putting my handlebar too far away from my feet. The other option is to keep your handlebar controls bolted on just loose enough that they will give in the event of a crash. Are rotation-limiting headsets a thing that mtbers use? I've seen them on touring bikes.

Get to Performance Bike on South Lamar before it closes in week or two. For a new rider, at that price point, just about any bike will do the job and be fine for him for at least a year until he starts wearing stuff out or upgrading a lot. A deal at Performance (if they still have anything) will get more bike for the buck but he loses dealer support. A good local shop will help him set up the bike and stick by him with maintenance issues.

Buy this stuff before I start eating it instead: https://austin.craigslist.org/bop/d/austin-bmx-bits-and-bobs/6789838617.html