mack_turtle

Little update- I tried that Sofirn light last night. Holy hell it's bright! I love how well it works but I think it's too heavy on my helmet for comfort. It gave me a bit of a headache after a while and there is no way to adjust the angle. I noticed last night that a lot of riders use a small light on the helmet that uses an external battery pack strapped elsewhere and now I see why. Both of my lights are set on low or medium and are enough light to see the trail ahead, so I am going to have to put the heavier one on the bike and the external battery pack (MiNewt) on the helmet.

I doubt you're going to fit anything bigger than 28mm tires in that bike. Maybe even only 25. After riding several gravel routes and races around Texas, that's not going to cut it. It's going to be miserable.

I saw that bike in the Goodwill on S. Lamar last weekend and immediately noticed the crack in the headtube. It's on the back, right above the headset cup. Looks like someone rammed it into a solid object. The wheels looked pretty borked too. All I could think was that I feel sorry for the unlucky soul who buys it. Might be worthwhile for the drivetrain parts, but I'd scrap that frame. Remove that fork and take a good look at the crown and legs first too.

It looks like Cogburn bikes is gone, but they had some rad hunting specific bikes.

Pro tip: bring a headlight. Not for night riding, but the sudden contrast between riding in bright sunlight and riding through dark tunnel with unpredictable surfaces could make it worthwhile to bring some light.

?

Serious note: to whom are they marketing this product?

Not a fan of grips with "wings." Purely personal preference. I feel that a round grip should be comfortable if the bike and body are set up right.

Good thing you had that bottle in your pack to use for scale, Tip! I find that a Tempranillo pairs better with the terrain though. White wine is for anything further west.

No, the path is still there. A few people have veered off the path in that spot and plowed into that culvert instead of going around it. You have to stay right, closer to the street to avoid it. The culvert is nothing new. It's probably been there for years before more than a few people started using it as a mtb route. It's not hard to avoid at all if you know it's coming. In fact, if you know it's there, you'd have to intensionally veer into it to hit it. The problem is that it's at the bottom of a hill that allows you to hit that spot going pretty fast, so if you don't know to dodge it as it is hidden in the weeds, you might not have time to avoid it when it becomes visible.

The rim-killer is here. I know of two riders who have destroyed rear rims on this. You can ride through the creek bed right before the Slaughter Creek preserve easily if it has not rained in a while.

Also, someone with heavy equipment cleared out the creek bed next to Reproductive Cycle. The bridges are gone but that area and the route to Poke Eye Man is much clearer now! Maybe that happened a while ago but I just noticed it this weekend.

I love exploring. That's how I got into mtb in the first place. About the SATN route: Where exactly am I supposed to pass the carwash on Brodie? Does the Latta Creek Greenbelt bypass Chunk Truck? I think I followed the route 99% on Saturday but missed the truck. No Meridian? That might be for the best to have that volume of riders in there day-of, but was that intensional? The diagonal bypass at 1826/Slaughter is nice. That intersection was terrifying. I would like to see if the downhill leading to 1826 behind Gozycki MS is back open, or ever will be. The culvert at the bottom of the hill leading to SCNP might still be a hazard. I keep putting large rocks in front of it to warn people of the rim-killer right there.

None of those clowns understand just how bad litter in the creeks is because they don't get out in the woods. The creek downstream from WC is absolutely full of crap but no one see it but me, apparently. Always looking for snakes back there because it's fun.

I don't have to carry much in my Dakine pack: One water bottle in the stretchy sleeve ID and a credit card One or two snacks Spare 29" tube, rolled up CO2 and Genuine Innovations head Muli-tool and some chain links Tire lever, bacons and poker taped to it Phone Plastic zip bag with some TP and adhesive bandages Radial patch Lezyne pump and larger water bottle on my frame. Baggie shorts with pockets if I need anything else. Not sure what else you need.

Yeah, mine supposedly does that. I doubt I will need the high beam often. Medium is supposedly 900 lumens so I'll use that most of the time.

My helmet strap is a fat o-ring. Loop the ring around the light at the front, pass the ring through two vent holes in the helmet, stretch it back onto the back of the light. Use two for a backup or if one is not snug enough. A rubber wrist band works well too. I have a Livestrong yellow band (for some reason) that I use sometimes. It happens to work really well on my Giro Hex because of the way the vent holes are designed, but might not on other helmets.

Got the Sofirn SD05 mentioned earlier. Have not had a chance to ride with it yet, but it's impressive. Under $50 on Amazon, comes with a battery and charger. Features I like: Massive 21700, 4000 mAh battery. Most lights use a single or pair of 18650 cells, and many are not easily replaceable. The 21700 has a longer run time. It also comes with a plastic spacer tube so you can use a more common 18650 cell. Magnetic ring on the head for changing settings. No rubber buttons to mash. This was designed for diving (so it's quite waterproof) and probably designed with thick gloves in mind. Just drag your fingers in the general direction and it'll click on. Holy ffffff it's bright! I'll probably never use the high beam mode. The emitter is actually four tiny emitters in a group. Fits on my helmet with a rubber strap. Does not get much simpler than that.

I have a few mounts that should work, it that looks like a good option too. A diving light is a diving light if you use it for diving. If you strap it on your bike, it's now a bike light. Bonus feature: no need to worry about it if you fall in a Creek or get caught in a downpour.

Read more carefully. That's a photo of the Shimano version, but the details say it's a XD hub. They probably sold out of the Shimano version and only have the XD ones left.

Just ordered a Sofirn SD05 from Amazon. Under $50 with a big li-ion cell and charger. Really just a big flashlight. Spec are over-stated, of course, I have have no reason to doubt that it will be anything less than a monster next to my current lights. Will report back after a ride.

Beware- looks like XD driver only for that price. How much does a proper Shimano cost? Might still be worth it.

That all makes sense. Thanks for all the perspectives, folks. I can easily amount the brighter light on my head and use the XL cable to put the battery in my jersey pocket or something. I have mounted the battery on my helmet before and didn't care for the extra weight up there. The last issue is that my lights are just not that bright. The Lumina 550 is fine for road riding but not so much for night trail riding. The Lumina 750 was pretty darn bright when I bought it 6+ years ago, but I am sure I can afford something more advanced now.

I see what you're saying and it inspired me to try something: I have my helmet light, which is less powerful, pointed more upward and use it to look down the trail. I have my more powerful handlebar light pointed more directly in front of my tire. I'll try reversing those. I do feel the need to have as much light directly in front of me for navigating ledges and loose stuff so I can make micro adjustments. The segment where this posed the biggest problem was a narrow, ledgy, twisty, overgrown downhill segment near HOL, and it's possible that nothing would have made that part less sketchy other than slowing down. But who's got time for slowing down?

I have tried a few iterations of lights lately. mostly SATN rides, but last night riding BCGB was a much harier experience. I used to be terrified of BCGB but nothing about it scares me now. what does bug me is mandatory hike-bike routes and loose terrain downhills with insufficient lighting and line-of-sight in the dark. but that sketchiness is part of what made it fun! I started with the MiNewt 750 on the handlebar but the off-center position and shadows from the brake hoses always bugged me: then I figured out how to mount the same light on the front of the stem: finally, I bought a bracket on ebay for under $10, it gets the light higher and further forward, but the front tire still casts a shadow on the trail in in front of me: I think I am going about this wrong. a light on my head and on my handlebar still produces a very flat light. what I probably need is another light on my handlebar, and space them out a few inches from the center. that would create a binocular kind of vision and the two lights would cancel out the shadows that each creates. thinking out loud: two self-contained lights (how bright?), single battery pack with two heads on it, or just throw whatever extra light on the bar? anyone using two handlebar lights for this reason?