WLemke

Beautiful Day in Vail. My hands are killing me after 35 miles of down hill madness.

If there is anything you don’t feel comfortable handling, I run a bike repair business on the side and will happily give you a “Austin Mountain Biking Forum” discount. Typical turn around time is 24 hours once you drop off the bike.

Carbon paste isn’t technically needed in many applications but it certainly is great for when you you have a component that is very sensitive to being over-torqued. The grit in the paste really helps keep the component from moving with minimal torque necessary.

Demoed your Ripmo AF this week. Took it out to Emma Long before I returned it today. Wow. That bike is a beast. The climbing efficiency really blew me away. So, how do I go about speaking for that Medium Ripmo you’ll be getting in September? I’d like to buy one!

I'm assuming you are Wes. Howdy! I'm 5'8" so I typically fit a medium frame. I was originally planning on going with the Ripmo SLX build but I think the XT build would be a better choice in the long run. I'll reach out to you today to schedule a demo.

Suspension Fork Parts $65 is a great deal. Refresh kit and new dust seals was $90 shipped from SFP in NM.

Got a blast from the past for y’all. A customer brought in an early 90s Gary Fisher ProCaliber. The fork did not work at all. Did some research on the fork and determined that it was a Manitou 1. I also discovered this fork uses elastomers, something I’ve never even heard of before. Any-who, found a company in NM that makes refresh kits for ancient suspension. Started to take this fork apart and noticed that there were no elastomers! Very strange. Well, turns out the elastomers were indeed in the fork, just in goo form at the bottom of the lowers. 30 years in the Texas heat is not an ideal climate for them. After a liter of acetone, an hour of scrubbing and a few curse words, I finally got all the goo formerly known as elastomers out. Everything from there was smooth sailing. Installed the new elastomers and dust seals and slapped the fork back together. well, that was fun. With that said, I don’t think I’m going to take on this type of work again. The elastomer goo was just too frustrating.

Not an option unfortunately. My current bike is a 27.5 and I really want a 29er for my next bike. My first bike was a POS GT hardtail 29er. Not a great bike overall, but I loved the rollover of the 29s. Looking forward to getting that back with a much better bike. My plan is to sell my current bike and get an aggressive hardtail in its place. Of course right now is a great time to sell a bike, but I would potentially be bikeless for a little while which is not worth the extra couple hundred dollars I may get by selling during the summer.

Thanks for the additional recs. I'm leaning towards the Hightower right now simply due to ascetics, but I think that the Ripmo is probably the most logical choice of the three I listed. I see that Velorangutan has revels. I'll be sure to demo one if possible. Wow. That druid has some serious value for the price. XT components. Fox performance elite fork and shock. DT Swiss 350 hubs. Seems to have a similar geometry to the Hightower as well. The chain guide is a bit interesting. I'm going to have to research that a bit more.

I've seen the name Wes over at Velo/Motorangutan mentioned quite a few times on this fourm. As soon as I've gotten back from my Tahoe trip I'll be sure to give him a call, credit card in hand. 🙂

Hope everyone had a safe and relatively fun holiday weekend. So I'm slowing narrowing in on a new bike. I'm currently riding a 2016 Diamondback Catch 2 (Fox 34, RS Monarch R, GX 11spd that I upgraded to a GX 12spd, Guide R brakes - $2,000). It's an ok bike. Definitely punches above its weight in relation to what I paid for it. We've had a good 3,500 miles, 2 EBs and 1 dragon slayer together but I think its time to move onto something a little nicer. I've got three bikes in mind for my new ride. I've got my heart set on a medium travel full suspension with a carbon frame and 29ers. My budget is in the $5,000-$6,000 range but I'm trying to stay closer to the lower end. Well, without further ado, here are my top three (not in a particular order): Yeti SB130 C1 (Fox 36 & DPX2, GX groupo, Guide R brakes) - $5,399 Pros: Great climber Fairly light weight for its price class Love the signature Yeti Turquoise color Cons: Yetis are not the best value. You are definitely paying extra for the switch infinity as a trade off for some lesser components Not crazy about Guide R brakes. DT Swiss M-1900 wheelset isn't bad but isn't great. Do I really want to be a part of the "Tribe"? Other notes: I've demoed the predecessor to the SB130, the SB5, in Colorado. It was an amazing bike. Climbed like a mountain goat, was a monster on the descents and was comfortable over 30 miles. I'd imagine that the SB130 is no different. Ibis Ripmo SLX (Fox 36 & DPX2, SLX groupo, SLX 4 pot brakes) - $5,199 Pros: Another great climber Also light weight for its price class Solid component line-up Cons: IDK. I guess I don't like the placement of the water bottle mounts Other notes: I've demoved a V1 ripmo in Idaho. Another amazing and comfortable bike. Santa Cruz Hightower C S (RS Lyrik & Super Deluxe, GX groupo, Code R brakes) - $5,199 Pros: Can't go wrong with the VPP platform Best component line-up of the three Love the highland blue color Great water bottle mount placement Cons: A bit on the heavier side DT Swiss 370 hubs are the weak point of this bike Other notes: Have not demoed this bike yet but I've got one reserved for my trip to Tahoe in late August. So there you have it. What would you pick? I'm open to other options but I'm weary of buying a bike without being able to ride it out on the trails first. I did that with my current diamondback and have found that after 20 miles my lower back starts to hurt. Did not have that issue when I demoed the Yeti and Ibis, and hopefully the highetower will be the same when I demo it in August!

I got bad news. 😞

Did it rain over there this morning? I’m at 620 and Anderson Mill and we just got 15 mins of light rain.

Bike comes with a free vasectomy.

Now that I think about it, I’m not really too sure where I’m putting my weight. I’m looking at a picture taken recently of me in a turn and it looks like my butt is over the rear but my upper body is leaned more towards the front. IDK. I’m not having traction issues so I guess I’ll not worry about it too much. not sure what’s up with my facial expression in the attached pic. Lol.

I’ve always been under the impression that you should keep the front light when turning to not over burden the front tire. In your opinion, what is the proper form? edit: more specifically, keeping your weight over the pedals. Not necessarily weighting the back or front.

Maxxis Minions. They might not always be the right tires but they are never the wrong tires. 😜

This is a long shot but I'm looking for one of those little cylindrical dropper post lock nuts that are used to actuate the dropper. If you happen to have one laying around I'd happily buy it from you.

20wt according to the service manual. I’m a “by the book” kind of guy when it comes to things like that but I’ve heard of people using 15wt before. Not 10wt though.

So what you are whacking with the mallet is the air and damper shafts. Its like an iceberg. The bolts you see sticking out of the bottom of the fork continue via a shaft into the uppers. Since they are pressure fitted, you need a decent amount of force to get them to separate, which is why the service manual has you tap them with a mallet with the removal tool. The Fox 34 has a 10mm nut on the air side and a 15mm nut on the damper side, so you need two different removal tools. (Damper Removal Tools 398-00-681 and 398-00-682) YMMV, but I will thread the nut and crush washer back on until I can see two threads coming out the top of the nut. I'll place the corresponding 10mm and 15mm socket back on top of the nut and give each a good whack. Have not damaged the threads yet.

I personally just thread the nut back on, stick a socket on top and whack it with a mallet to separate the uppers from the lower. Never had an issue. Just gotta make sure you have decent thread contact. also, if you have a Fox34, I’ve got the seal driver if you’d like to borrow it.

So I started an underground bike repair service out of my backyard workshop last Friday. Few interesting things I've learned so far: Many adults are unable to change an inner tube. Chain lubrication is optional Front forks and rear shock stanchions covered in a dirt/oil mixture must currently be in style Front derailleurs should be illegal More is better, especially when it comes to air pressure in the front fork Anyways. Been having a lot of fun so far. Interestingly enough, all 12 bikes I've worked on are MTBs. I guess all roadies do their own maintenance. I've worked on everything from the rustiest BSO from walmart to a Santa Cruz Megatower. Currently at $420 in revenue. Only $5,580 till my new bike!

When was that stone staircase added to root drop? Have not been to Walnut in quite some time.

A perfect practice ride for when its 104 in a few months.

Going to be heading out to Brushy at about 3:30pm after work. Yall are getting me excited.