WLemke

Upper rim. GTG

Rim to DD connector. Just barely Rideable and needs more time.


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Hopefully you can drop a quick note here por favor. I don’t have a Twitter account and don’t think I can see comments. Hoping to leave in 45min...but if not, guess I’ll find out either way. 

Anyone been out there this morning? 

1 minute ago, Bamwa said:

My welding shop would give you ptsd then. This Barry guy is insane tho. 4 laps? how believable is that even?

I’ll make sure not to ride my bike there. Thanks for the warning!
 

Yeah, this Barry guy is a total Fred. Dude only rode a measly 7K miles this year. 🥱

1 hour ago, Barry said:

I can and have cleaned every feature out there except for the stair steps (going CW) immediately after Crockett Garden Falls. 

Geeze. While going down those steps isn't really too much of a challenge in a technical sense, I always get off my bike and walk down simply because of the rebar sticking out of the logs. Growing up dirt biking, I saw a guy get his leg impaled by rebar out on a trail and that really put the fear in me of pointy metal objects. While I don't think I could clean the steps going up, I don't even try for the same reason. 

I thought everyone just used lockon grips now, seemed like a no-brainer game changer to me. [emoji848]

 
I've always used compressed air with great results.  There's definitely a little technique involved but once you get that cushion of air going into the grip, it simply glides right off the bar (or back on).  I'm an ESI guy and go through about 1.5 pair per year.  Run the hand-me-downs on my kids bikes too after the tattered edges have been cut off.
Later,
CJB

I usually order from ESI direct. Last time I ordered they included a 30% code: ESI30RACERS.  I love the grips but I wish they were a little easier to remove. I have burned through a few pairs replacing brakes, shifters, etc.

How is it your mistake?  I wouldn't hesitate to return them.  Amazon is so full of crap these days.
This year when I was online Christmas shopping I avoided Amazon so purchases wouldn't show up on our shared account.  I ventured out into the wide world of random e-commerce websites, and was surprised to discover that pretty much everybody has fast shipping now, and the price is often significantly less than Amazon.

Ordered a set of ESI extra chunky grips on Amazon. Here is what I got. 

Here is the product page I ordered from: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AOVWA8K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_Ic.6FbK9BTA5J?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Partly my mistake as I overlooked who the seller was. I typically don’t have issues with marketplace sellers on Amazon but there is a first time for everything I guess. 

Cush core also comes with special valve stems but they are a shade of “lose your lunch” green that didn’t vibe with my bike. 
 

I picked up a black pair on amazon and have held up well. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NJ5DSNB/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_SDn3Fb1JGDJA9?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I'm not so sure this was a mistake on the part of whoever assembled this bike. Older dropper posts often attached the cut end of the cable with a pinch bolt at the bottom of the post and attached the cable to the lever with the head of the cable. As mack_turtle mentioned, this made it difficult to get proper tension on the cable (without the use of a barrel adjuster at the lever) and made it more likely to have a failure due to the pinch bolt/cable connection failing for some reason. Most newer posts attach the cable to the post using the cable head and then have a pinch bolt at the lever for the cut end of the cable. It's WAY easier to get the cable tension correct with this setup.

My friend just got his hands on a Ripmo AF. He brought it over to my place wanting me to give it an inspection to make sure everything was built correctly. In my head I’m thinking, “dude. I think a bike shop knows how to set up a bike”, but I said “sure, I’ll look it over”. So I run though all the basics and sure enough everything seems good to go. On a whim I dropped the post and when I went to raise it back up the dropper lever had absolutely no resistance and the post wouldn’t rise. Weird.

Well I take the post out of the frame and the post was no longer connected to cable. Super weird. The bike came with a KS dropper which uses a little cylindrical cable clamp to actuate the dropper.

https://www.worldwidecyclery.com/products/ks-lev-dx-int-272-cable-clamp?variant=16886165897338&gclid=CjwKCAiAzNj9BRBDEiwAPsL0d9usxUx3yqNZJuXXsXw7zpLwcNqaRxTHKUQUtZ3e8b7GsI2HzF167hoC9KYQAvD_BwE

I notice that the cable clamp is no where to be seen. Ah crap. Maybe it’s in the frame? I pick the bike up and turn it upside down to see if I can shake it out. Nothing. I can’t even hear anything rattling in the frame. It was then that I had an “ah-ha” moment. The cable clamp was never installed.


The bike shop used the cable end to actuate the dropper. I’m no master mechanic but this seems really sloppy to me. KS provides the correct cable clamp with their droppers. Why the heck would you not use it? Anyways, I happened to have a spare KS cable clamp so I installed it and now all is right with the world.

It always amazes me when a bike shop does something like this. Maybe I’m reaching a bit but this could potentially be dangerous. Let’s say someone is about to hit a drop. Right as they approach the point of no return they try to drop the post. Nothing happens because the cable is disconnected. The rider is now heading over the edge with their post at full height, potentially bucking them OTB.


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57 minutes ago, Cafeend said:

@WLemke

I was wondering what that big black thing was but the last picture cleared that up.  Are the lights plug in or hard wired? Costco sells real nice ones but they are plug in.

In my previous house I had hardwired fluorescent lights in the garage but swapped the bulbs for LEDs , made a nice difference and way cheaper

Hard wired. 
 

That’s a great idea. Didn’t realize you could buy LED tube lights. Nice. That makes this a “I’ll do it this weekend” kind of thing. 

Finally starting to get my home workshop set up in a state I’m happy with. 

 

future projects: 

-Replace the fluorescent lights with LEDs (they get hot in the summer)

-Replace the POS floor

-Properly route the wiring done by the previous owner of my house

This week’s project: Cleaning up and organizing my bench tops. 

@throet being the guinea pig. 
 

Got here early. I’m going to walk in and I’ll meet

you at the spot. 

Awesome thanks! Just need one more person. Please bring some sort of face covering since we’ll all be in each other’s face lifting this thing. 

8 minutes ago, Yosmithy said:

Just saw this today, if this is what you're talking about. I stuffed some smaller rocks under it, but it definitely needs some work.

 

That’s the one! It was moved off to the left. @throet and I had a hard time picking it up together so someone must have went to a lot of effort to move it. 

2 minutes ago, throet said:

Looks like I'm clear for tomorrow early AM if anybody else is interested. @WLemke @skinned elbows @Cafeend @Chief @Morris how about 7:30am? 

In

Need to switch out my spring on my 36 which needs a special socket...ok not so special, but I don’t have even a non-special 32 mm socket.  Anyone have one they want to sell, or...

I’ve got one you can borrow. DM me.

Edit: Didn’t read the full thread. I see now that you found a solution.

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If it was the black EB jersey and the rider was on a light blue bike, that was me. 
 

Yeah, a surprising amount of people out today. My company gave us the day off to vote (jokes on them, I voted early). I wonder if a lot of people had the day off as well. 

1 hour ago, RedRider3141 said:

Working on my daughters 24" Hotrock. It *had* these rollers above and below the front cog. As I was cleaning up the bottom one because it wasn't rolling the top one exploded. I removed what was left and was able to crush it with my hands, very brittle. Are these just a cooler way of appeasing the layers in lieu of a chain cover? Is there any reason I shouldn't just remove them both? 

I can’t see the chain ring but I would bet it is not a narrow wide. Those are used as a cheap chain retention device. I’m also taking an educated guess that the bike has a non-clutched derailleur. Removing them will lead to a higher chance of dropping the chain off the front chain ring. If your daughter is just riding around the neighborhood or is only riding easy trails, I wouldn’t worry about it. If she is a little shredder, you’ll want to look into replacing them. You can most likely (hopefully) visit your nearest specialized dealer and they can get you some new ones. 
 

If you do just take the other one off, I do see that the roller is bending the chain. With them removed, you’ll also want to remove an inner and outer link to shorten the chain to prevent chain slack when in the smallest rear cog. 

2 minutes ago, throet said:

Not sure if anyone is getting out in the morning but I unfortunately have a work conflict. 

Work less. Ride More. 
 

Im down to ride at 8am if anyone else is. 

1 hour ago, TheX said:

When my wife had her fall walking the dogs, her Apple Watch sent me a text and dialed 911. It was a life saver.

That’s awesome! Hope she has healed well. 
 

That reminds me that I need to turn this feature back on. I had to turn it off when skiing in February. I fell a few times and it was a mad dash to rip my gloves off and peel back my jacket/base layer to cancel the 911 call.