ebflo

TLDR: depends on reach

"Modern" geometry (slack HTA, long reach, steep STA) is for going up and down. The long wheelbase of slack HTA long-reach bikes gives great pitch stability for steep descents, but they have to steepen the STA or the top tube will be too long for size. This puts your COG farther forward, which counters the rearward COG shift from an incline so it's good for climbing too. The trade-off is it's bad on flat ground because it puts your COG in front of the bottom bracket which puts too much weight on your arms/hands.

2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

I would guess that their challenge is the the amount of expansion that they did, and then the pandemic came down.

From the Statesman article:

Quote

“COVID changed that in an enormous way, and our business has exploded this year,” he said. “It's been absolutely phenomenal, which allowed us to pay down all of our debt and to actually pay our people more. So it’s been a really good year for the biking industry if you’re a decent operator.”

Sounds like they had been struggling due to rise of online shopping and took the opportunity to cash out in the recent upswing knowing it would be short-lived.

5 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

gearboxes integrated in the bottom bracket area. put a Nuvinci CVT gearbox in a bike and call it a day.

Light, strong, cheap. Pick two one (except light or cheap).

1 hour ago, AntonioGG said:

If BSS Research goes away, then I essentially will have no LBS.

Seriously, we'll be left with nothing but REI. I've nothing against them but they're no LBS and that shows in the service dept. even more than on the showroom floor.

32 minutes ago, circuitbreaker said:

i've always liked BSS, And have had only good experiences with service at the Research branch. Have also rented from the downtown location, and that's a nice big store where Trek can clearly setup shop. wouldn't be suprised to see them sell off the other locations, but who knows.

Will be interesting to see what they do. I was thinking the larger stores are a lot of floor space for a single brand. Either way it's disappointing that the Research shop will be Trek only even if it stays open, I also really like that location.

15 minutes ago, TheX said:

The same would have been said about 8 speed versus 10, back when 8 was normal.

Sure, and it was true because we had front derailleurs (may they burn in hell).

No doubt I would be happy with a 10-speed if it had the 10 I want, but everyone would want a different 10. Modern 12-speeds allow bikes to come off the shelf with all the gears I want as well as all the gears most other people want.

Dropper post, Bontrager Drop Line 31.6mm with 150mm travel (445mm total length) available for porch pickup in NW Austin. Works but needs frequent maintenance for it to consistently return fully without extra encouragement.

Agree, $70 sounds like a lot for a lever that pulls a cable; no indexing, no precision pull ratio, literally just a lever that pulls a cable. Smoothness of operation seems to depend much more on the dropper actuation mechanism than the lever. I'm sure the expensive ones are more ergonomic and look nicer, but both of the cheap OEM ones on my bikes work fine. I would have no hesitation over trying a random cheapie from amazon, as long as it's clear it clamps the cable.

1 hour ago, Cafeend said:

I think I'd ask Karen what the fuck?

I'd have said good morning, but each to their own.

1 hour ago, Barry said:

I can also confirm there was no kiosks or ticket collector at the Zilker trailhead as of last weekend.

None on Travis Country Cir either, but I'm not sure if there ever were.

4 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

 

• lower pressure. 15 psi seems crazy-low already. I have a 29mm internal rim, if that matters the sidewall of the tire is awfully thick and stiff, so I can probably get away with it lower.
• lower handlebar. the bigger tire does make the front of the bike stand up a bit higher than the old one. it's probably less than 1/4" but I think I can feel it. I like my handlebar pretty low. I can flip my stem over and get it nearly slammed.

I would try more psi first not less. At that pressure the tread may roll enough to disengage the cornering blocks.

Geometry change is a long shot. Are you that precise with how much you bend your arms that you would notice +/- 1/4"?

My aluminum Topstone has the internal routing for it. Would be fun, but I could see dropping the post, forgetting it's just a gravel bike, and doing really stupid shit.

Where do you mount the trigger? Inside of drops behind the brifter levers? In any case I'll have to re-learn how to tape bars.

Trails are good this morning, I couldn't even tell it had rained. Maybe they were a bit less dusty.

Hmm. I was there from about 8-10:15 and it seemed slightly less crowded than normal for a nice Saturday morning. No masks, but plenty of space to distance. All the hikers I encountered cleared the trail when they saw/heard me and seemed friendly. Canine concentration and behavior seemed ordinary. Fewer bikers out than normal. Looks like it missed the shower yesterday, trails are in good shape but dusty and creek crossings about as dry a they get. Had a good ride (fitness not withstanding), would recommend.

It's no mystery that these two bikes handle very differently. Two degree slacker head angle plus shorter fork offset combine to give bike 2 way more trail. Also, equal rear center but 7.5cm longer front center for bike 2 will distribute the riders weight much more toward the rear. The mystery to me is why these differences combine to make cornering on bike 2 easier to initiate. I would have expected the exact opposite.

6 hours ago, pjs32000 said:

Just after initiating a corner, bike 2 wanted to lean over the rest of the way very naturally into the corner with very little effort.  This was the most noticeable difference.  Bike 2 also felt a bit more planted and confident throughout the entire corner once leaned over.

The front tire and its pressure can make a big difference with this too.

Gravel bike = road bike.

The common nominal size of a road bike tire is 700c which, according to the old French sizing system, has an outside diameter of 700mm and a bead seat diameter of 622mm. From this, we can infer that the height of an actual 700c tire was (700 - 622) / 2 = 39mm. Assuming the tire width was comparable to it's height, a traditional general purpose road bike tire was about 39mm wide, which today would be marketed as a gravel bike tire.

Somewhere along the line roads got smoother or cyclists just chose the smoother roads where they could roll a bit faster on skinnier tires. But here in CenTex where every gutter (AKA bike lane) is strewn with excess chip-and-seal chips, I think those old French people were on to something. I'm pretty happy riding shitty roads on 40mm Nano's, but even though they're up for an occasional lap around Point6 or Inner Log, it's still very much a road bike.

Try taking a right about 20yds along creekside from where it splits off from the new concrete trail, then an immediate left. It's a good steep sorta techy climb if you want something more challenging than the paved routes.

No way I would use that. Aside from the fact it's 12 years old from a bike that was ridden hard enough to crack the head tube and who knows if the previous owner used a torque wrench on the stem clamp bolts, it has caliper brake mounts which make it useless for a gravel bike. Even long-reach calipers will only clear up to maybe 30mm tires.

1 hour ago, Barry said:

Seems I underestimated this lots interest in nekkid dudes.

What tires are they running and are they tubeless?

17 minutes ago, notyal said:

 

Bike jousting? Surely someone has done that.

 

Google image search confirms.

Edit: Still skeptical though, could not find porn of it.

52 minutes ago, Shinerider said:

Wait,  there are rules to this riding thing?  Shit. 

Don't worry, The Rules are for roadies.

1 hour ago, WatersPark said:

Fortunately, the neighborhood got a grant to replace the eroded sections of the "Creekside Trail" that provides an alternate route

Are their any plans for the persistent flooding? One section of that was under water to BB depth for most of last spring. Probably just a creek blockage issue.

1 hour ago, WatersPark said:

I for one can't wait until this is done so I can get working on restoring the connections to single track (there isn't a lot of single track in Balcones, but there are some nice side trails that get you off the shared use path for a little off-road enjoyment.

Are these ok to talk about here? I don't have much spare time, but I'd like to help with this if I can.