mack_turtle

Stand and mash! What front/rear combo, and tire size, are you riding? It's likely that the combo that works best in the long run is lower than you expect. Most mortals @ 32/20 with 29" tires. The ratio might be slightly different if you're riding 27.5" tires. Because math—gear inches. Some of the ridiculously strong riders I know use a lower gear than that. If the bike is dropping chains, I'd consider getting a different ring, or maybe the cog. Beefy cogs help a lot when flimsy ones might allow enough flex to drop the chain under torque. Hardtails flex under load, so if the loose spot on your chain becomes looser, it could drop it. Quick link: there must be some that fit this chain perfectly. You might need to measure the width of an inner link to see how many "speeds" is the appropriate one. Most likely, 8-speed links will do it, if not a "narrow" master link.

edit: found one! Looking for a SRAM 9-speed rear derailer, medium or long cage would work. Before I dive into the bins at Yellow bike, does anyone have one lying around?

I need to move the EBB on my gravel bike or the sliders on my mtb, and I always wonder if it's the chain wearing out, or the adjustment slipping. Those Paragon sliders are beefy!

tension: tight enough that it does not drop the chain is all that really matters. I like to get it just tight enough that I can't feel the chain bouncing around annoyingly. anything tighter than that will cause additional wear on your whole system that doesn't occur with a derailer. I've always found AB rings to have pretty consistent tension all the way around the ring. The owner posted a video some time back claiming that there's no reason you can't use singlespeed with their oval rings. It's really annoying that he used a bike with a bolt-on tensioner to demonstrate, though. if you have an oval ring that has significant tight/loose spots, there's something wrong with the way it was made IMO. no chainring is perfectly round, even so-called round ones. oval chainrings should be ... is cocentric the right word?. they all have tight spots. find the tight spot and make the chain the tightest at that point, but not excessively tight.

long-time singlespeeder here to help! put as many spacers on your hub as you need to take out the slack when you crank down that lock ring. I've never measured, but I measure the chainline on the chainring and space the rear cog so it's within 2mm of the front. (1/2 of your seat tube diameter + distance from side of seat tube = your chainline. 1/2 of your axle OLD – chainline = distance your cog teeth should be from the end of the axle. adjust the orientation of the spacers accordingly.) I've used oval and round rings with a singlespeed setup using some sort of sliding dropouts, track ends, and EBBs. all of those work fine because and oval ring that's made right does not experience any more chain tension change than a decent round ring to drop a chain. with a springy chain tensioner, though, that might work differently—I have not tried it with an external tensioner. I had this Rotor crankset and oval ring on my bike recently, and the Rotor ovality is very aggressive. no problems. if your oval ring changes tension enough to drop the chain, I'd consider replacing it with one that's not defective. I don't bother with oval rings any more. I just don't feel the difference.

Almost all of the mountain shoes are now gone. That made a lot of space for storing other stuff. We still have a lot of road shoes though so if anyone needs those let me know.

They said it could not happen here, but this video has millions of views. The e-bike zealots have declared holy war and they are armed, ready to make you swear allegiance to lithium-ion batteries with their machetes! Hug your children, kiss you spouse, grease your hub pawls—lest they hear you—and hope that they reach the end of their assisted range before they catch you. https://www.bikemag.com/news/machete-fork-fitment

Too many breweries! I'm not beer-sensitive enough to tell the difference among juicy IPAs and saisons, so if I'm going to visit a taproom, I go for ambiance and food. Currently, I enjoy: Beerburg out on Fitzhugh great for a post-ride meal and drinks after riding Pedernales, Reimers, etc. Fast Friends on the south side next to I-35. Giant pizzas and a huge space for gatherings. It's also close to the far-east segments of SATN, so it could become a hub for rides there. Koko's Bavarian on the east side. They have been "Temporarily closed" for quite a while, which has me concerned. I hope they reopen. Central Machine Works is right next door and also a great spot.

I've been wrenching on bikes since I was 12 and just now learned how to ACTUALLY use Vernier calipers. https://youtu.be/vkPlzmalvN4?si=7bVuu4sb9hg39pdn

Yay, rain! Go ride some bike paths. It's wet but warm.

I admit, those Yamaha bikes look like a blast. Two wheel drive? Yes.

Behold! the form of your destroyer! https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/event/japan-mobilityshow-2023/ypj/

Where can I refill water in between routes? I am pedaling from home and I guzzle a TON of water when I ride—more than I can carry from the start.

the group of people who ride EB and the people who ride SATN Social is most likely a Venn diagram with very little overlap.

Something about the Hummingbird makes me so happy. That, and riding in temperatures in the 70s.

I don't think the South route linked on the website above is correct. around mile 13, the school construction has blocked that segment along Danz Creek. There is a reroute, but I don't know if it's been shared: https://www.strava.com/routes/3144342713275975688

I gathered all the mtn shoes and we're going to donate them to a NICA student athlete gear swap. I'm going to find all the similar items that might be useful.to young athletes and donate those as well. If anyone has items they'd like to donate to young racers, I can help collect those, too (Sorry, I can't seem to remove the blank GFisher quote.)

I was there the other night and a homeless man came in looking for lights because the cops were hassling him for not having any (the cops have a point), so cheap lights to keep people safe are always welcome. Jerseys don't take up much space, so those are fine. I'm sure they will find a way to use just about anything so long as it's not broken, bent or damaged. I'm there once sometimes twice a week so I'm always open to bringing stuff for people who can't make the trip to East Austin.

How fat? 26x4" true fat bike-fat?I don't think it happens often, but there are at least two trailers STUFFED with donated bikes. I haven't looked in there for a while to find out. It would be worth visiting. They always seems swamped and probably won't be able to help you over the phone.

In 2013, I moved to Austin and pedaled into Barton Creek from Zilker on my rigid, singlespeed, undersized Karate Monkey. I just followed random trails on a hot, cloudless day. I sucked down all my 3L backpack and got lost. Good times.

The generous cycling community of Austin keeps donating shoes and pedals to Yellow Bike Co-op, which is fantastic! However, very few of the customers who come in are looking for anything like that. 99% of the customers want a simple commuter bike with a flat pedals. The result is a shortage of good flat pedals and a huge glut of used shoes and pedals for "clipping in." If you know someone who is clipless-curious, Yellow Bike would love to get these off their shelves and under someone's feet. I can't begin to catalog the styles and sizes, but I promise you they have a massive range of sizes and types for mountain, road, spin class, etc. I almost took home a really nice pair of Specialized shoes with Boa dials, but they were a half-size too big for me.

Seasonally relevant

Emerging from summer hibernation today but trails were muddy. Put together a 15-mile "gravel" route to kick off the non-suck weather.

Specialized Recon 2.0 shoes, size 11/44.5. I picked these up at Yellow Bike this week and concluded that they're just too big for me. Large volume with generous, wide toe space and a bit of flex.

@AustinBike fwiw, I want to try one, but I wouldn't buy such a thing for reasons like that.