WLemke

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

6 hours ago, Kobra Kai MTB Guy said:

After being told there's an 8 1/2 week wait on repairs at Peddler's (good for them, but it's a little upsetting given the loyalty I've had to them), I finally decided to start doing repairs myself.  I'm relatively handy when it comes to working with wood and around the house, but a novice as it relates to mechanical issues.  I came up with the below list of tools that I'll need.  I'm planning to do basically every repair if I'm going to drop this kind of investment in tools.  Can you guys take a look and let me know if/what I'm missing?  If there's anything here you don't think is necessary, I'd be happy to know that too.

 

Wheel truing stand

Bike stand

Chain whip

Grease

Carbon paste

Digital caliper

Brake bleed kit

Lockring remover

Screw drivers, allen keys, wrenches etc (already have)

 

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. 

2 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

I've always been confused with the carbon paste. I read it isnt needed but also it is

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

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. 

On 7/15/2020 at 9:21 AM, xl_cheese said:

I have one Medium Ripmo AF (Aluminum Frame) Demo available to try.  Demos are free, I just require a credit card preauthorization to take it for a few days.  

The next unspoken for Ripmo V2 in Medium I have booked with Ibis is scheduled for September. 

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!

7 hours ago, xl_cheese said:

Thanks for the plugs guys!  

I have a fleet of demo bikes you're welcome to take out.  The Ripmos are hard to come by.  I think I have like 30 on order so depending on your size I can see when the next batch is scheduled.

Other great bikes to look at are the Orbea Occam.  I knew this would be a hit when the new model was introduced last year.  It is finally getting a lot of attention by the reviewers.  

https://jeffkendallweed.com/oldest-bike-brand-of-all-time-the-story-of-orbea/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8av86gBVBtE

I just picked up Revel bikes and have the Medium Demo up and running.  I should have the large by the end of the month

Nukeproof and Scott are other brands I have available to demo.  However, both companies are completely sold out and bikes won't be available for a couple more months at least.  I'm selling the Nukeproof demos and will replace this fall.  

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.

1 hour ago, Big_papa_nuts said:

Risse Racing will do a full overhaul on most of those older fork for $65. What's the place in NM selling the elastomers?

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. 

39 minutes ago, Txduc said:

Have you considered picking up a frame/fork and building it up how you want it possibly using some of your existing parts?  I went that direction because every stock build I looked at ended with a list of upgrades so I finally elected to build exactly what I wanted.

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. 

2 hours ago, ATXZJ said:

X2 on the ripmo out the ones listed.

Will throw a couple into the mix that might be an option. Canfield suspension platforms are pretty freaking dialed.

https://www.revelbikes.com/our-bikes/rascal/

Currently have a high pivot bike and can say it's the fastest thing ive owned. The hype is real.

https://us.forbiddenbike.com/products/druid-xt-complete

 

 

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.

2 hours ago, AustinBike said:

I think you need to talk to Wes at Motorangutan and see what he has in your size to demo.

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!

2 minutes ago, Kobra Kai MTB Guy said:

Light sprinkling at Brushy made 1/4 and DD pretty much unrideable.  If it doesn't rain more, it will probably be good to go in an hour or two.

I got bad news. 😞

4 minutes ago, GreenMTBrider said:

Rode a bit at Brushy this morning. Deception was g2g, east 1/4 notch entrance is a little damp but rest of trail is fine. Picnic is actually still a tad soft. Got some dirt pickup on tires. This afternoon will be better. 
 

Didn’t have time to check anything else because I had to log in for work, but I imagine rim is g2g, snail may need til this afternoon and peddlers is probably just behind picnic in terms of being g2g. 

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. 

11 minutes ago, Barry said:

Yes. One of those suggestions is definitely wrong.

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. 

10 hours ago, Michael Bevilacqua said:

I use 29er Maxxis Minions (DHR and DHF) 2.3's and they are overkill in all the right ways.

 

 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.

30 minutes ago, notyal said:

 

Thanks. The oil in that kit looks to be 10w. I was just about to buy some Fox branded 20w off Amazon. Anyone have any input on that?

 

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. 

1 minute ago, taco_junkie said:

Yup it's a 34. I've got a kit coming with all the seals and oil and stuff but it was back ordered 2 weeks so it's gonna be a while. Does tapping it just free it from the crush washers? Is that all that's holding it on at that point? Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to finesse off without the tool but who knows. I'll let you know when the kit shows up.

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.

21 minutes ago, taco_junkie said:

Shop quoted me 8+ weeks to do a lower service. This is one of those things I've been wanting to learn to do anyway and I've really upped my mechanic-ing this year. Any tips I should know? For a Fox there is a tool whose only purpose is to separate the upper and lower after taking the bolts off. I've read that not using it can damage the threads. OTOH that tool alone costs like $50 and is sold out most places. Thoughts? On the RockShox "yah just whack it" (thanks Hank Hill voice) after undoing the bolt a few turns. Yeah I'm doing one of each. Maybe start with my older RockShox fork if I have to wait on that "whackin part".

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:

1. Many adults are unable to change an inner tube.
2. Chain lubrication is optional
3. Front forks and rear shock stanchions covered in a dirt/oil mixture must currently be in style
4. Front derailleurs should be illegal
5. 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!

6 minutes ago, rugger said:

RPR and Root at Walnut. 

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

1 minute ago, throet said:

That excitement may wilt in a hurry! 

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.