WLemke

"Price negotiable" Better be very negotiable.

Ok. First ride with cush core is completed and the verdict is in....I have no freaking idea if it made any difference. Problem is in addition to the cush core install, I also threw on a set of tires I have never used before. Went with the tried and true Minion DHF 2.5/DHRII 2.4 combo. I was previously running a Schwalbe Nobbie Nic 2.6 front and rear. Quick aside...NN makes an awesome rear tire from cradle to grave. NN is a decent front tire when new and a below average front tire with a 1,000 miles on the clock. The DHF/DHRII set up has grip for days. Also lowered both the front and rear pressure down to 16PSI halfway in the ride. Very little tire slip on 1/4 in places i typically loose traction. Not sure whether to attribute that to the minions or the lower pressure afforded by cush core. Anyways, I bought cush core not to improve the performance of the ride but to protect my poor wheel set against rim strikes...which I have done many a time. See pic for the carnage. I have a total of 5 dings on the rear rim and 1 ding on the front rim. All have been straightened out using a crescent wrench. I am amazed this wheel set is still holding air and has not imploded on me.

Removed the tire this morning to reinstall the cush core after leaving the tire in a state of "vanilla" tubeless last night. In my haste, I reinstalled the tire in the wrong rotation direction...oof. Another round of uninstalling and reinstalling made me late for my morning coffee. Silver lining, I've now got a lot of experience installing and uninstalling a tire with cush core. Now that I've done it a few times, I have to say that the cush core insert almost makes installing a tire easier since the inserts really holds the bead into the rim trough when you stuff them down to get that last 12 inches of tire into the rim. Anyways, holding air well. Got the rear tire at 18psi and the front at 16psi. My normal is 20rear/19front. Looking forwarding to testing them out after work today. Will report on my thoughts.

32mm inner width and the tape does indeed reach from rim wall to rim wall. I actually just went out to my workshop and after sitting over night, both tires are hard as a rock. I’m guessing the sealant must have plugged anything up.

Finally got around to installing cush core. Installation was a breeze. It’s all about pushing the bead into the center channel. Took about 10 min per tire. Annoying issue though. I filled both tires up to 40psi to allow the bead to set properly. Came back an hour later and the rear was at 18psi. Set it back to 40 and same deal. Half the pressure was lost after an hour. Took the wheel off the bike and started spraying it with soapy water. Air was leaking out of the spoke nipples. Uninstalled the tire and Cush core which, by the way, is a bit more involved but not too bad. Definitely not something you can easily do trail side. I removed the gorilla tape and throughly cleaned the rim before laying down a new strip of gorilla tape. Reinstalled the tire without Cush core. Same issue. Air leaking from the nipples. After some googling, it may be that the valve is not seated well, allowing air to leak into the second chamber. Going to try laying down a second strip of tape over the valve hole to make a better seal. I’ve never had this issue before so I’m hoping it’s just a quick fix with the valve core. I’d really like to ride this week and test out the new Cush core inserts!

Great looking bike! You're going to love all the new technology that bad boy has compared to your old hard tail. It too took me a few rides to get used to how "alive" a full suspension feels to a hard tail.

I'm new to Cedar Park and considering I'm riding 50+ miles at Brushy every week, I'd love to help out. My company gave everyone a "Mental Health" day off tomorrow and I'm mostly wide open this weekend.

Just got back from sessioning DD. I was able to utilize “the punch“ to clean every step up but some I had to try a few times to get it. Now just need to work on consistency. The only one I was having a hard time cleaning was the step up that has the loose climb just before it. Hard to get enough speed to punch up. Ended up having to brute force it. IMG_1849.MOV

Thanks. I realize now that I’m kind of humble bragging. My pace falls the shit once I hit DD though. Those large steps up are a bit above my pay grade. Those videos above that were just posted were helpful. I’m actually about to head out there now to practice.

Riding 1/4 this afternoon. Was pushing it to the max as there was a guy behind me who started at the same time and was actually keeping up. In the first twisty tree covered section i rounded one of the tight turns and clipped my shoulder on a tree. Managed to keep the bike up and was rewarded with a new PR of 16 mins flat. Worth it I guess. Shoulder will not be happy tomorrow. 🤷‍♂️

I noticed this on Monday. At the time, there were a bunch of branches piled up on the B line. Have they already been removed?

In the account settings you can add an “ignored user”. it gives you an option to ignore that user’s posts and any mentions from that user. It doesn’t completely erase all the BS but cleans up threads like this quite a bit.

I wipe off my chain after every ride to get surface grime off. I use dry lube and will reapply once every 100 miles or so if riding in dry conditions. I clean the chain and reapply lube after every wet ride. Don’t know if that’s necessary but it doesn’t hurt.

Purchased a new set of tires this morning and decided this would be as good of time as any to get some inserts. Ended up ordering a set of cush core inserts. I've been going back and forth for a while now on which inserts to get. I'm not crazy about how annoying cush core is going to be to install and uninstall but the consensus on the internet seems to be that they have the best performance.

Holy shit. I rode snail yesterday around 5pm and this was not there then. I don't see why anyone would change what was already there. it was a fun jump.

I rode by you as well. I was the guy on the blue FS bike and was wearing the 2019 EB jersey. Sorry for riding on the dirt you were working on! Also, you ruined my strava PR by forcing me to slow down. 😝

Yep. 3 volume spacers. I’m very happy with my current set up. Just concerned that I may not be leaving enough extra travel, “just in case”. from the replies I’ve gotten so far, it sounds like I’m fine. May have to reassess once I start hit that mega drop on snail!

Been getting a bit sendier over the last few months and noticed I’m pushing my stanchions lower into the fork body than I ever had before. Am I not leaving enough room for error? See picture and video for reference. As you can see, I’m not bottoming out but not sure if I’m cutting it too close with my current Air pressure. This is from the 3-4 foot drop on the west end of picnic at brushy. I’ve been very happy with the feel of my fork and am reluctant to start messing with the PSI, rebound and compression settings as I’ve got it in a good place. for reference my fork is a Fox 34 performance elite with 130mm of travel. FullSizeRender.mov

so people on $200 Walmart bikes can say they cleaned it.

@GreenMTBrider How are the trails at Brushy looking this morning?

Nice! I was there back in 2018. first time riding lift assisted. Was a blast.

Is this at Winter Park? I feel like I recognize that name.

Video worked for me on my phone. Not on the computer. I have not even tried this part of snail yet. I keep going to the right to the smaller drop. I would imagine that if I can do the smaller drop, this one wouldn't be any more difficult. I guess its just a mental thing.

Just Strava on iOS.

Same. My ride today gave me the 4.0 segment.