pjs32000

You piqued my curiosity so I had to look it up. It seems they say not to do this because you don't want any time to elapse while you wait for the tick to detach. In my experience, albeit from 30+ year ago, ticks would detach in seconds after nail polish remover was applied. I could understand not waiting to find some polish remover if you don't have any of it readily available, but unless there's some other risk I'm not sure why the CDC would advise against it.

It's been ages since I've done it, but as a kid my family always used nail polish remover. It would cause the ticks to back out on their own and then they could be easily removed.

I'll add that Smith has a solid reputation in skiing helmets and to my untrained eye cycling and skiing helmets seem fairly similar.

Thanks for additional info. I was eyeing the Smith Mainline lightweight full face. I've tried on a few in this category and just haven't found the right fit yet. The Mainline features aren't my perfect unicorn, but if it fits well that's probably the one I'll get. The TLD Stage also seemed nice but has annoying pads that cover half of the ear and that pressure on a long ride would quickly turn to pain for me.

As someone considering a Smith lid that's encouraging. What was the reason for them making an exception and giving you a larger credit? Because they didn't respond timely?

Amen. Motorcycling history usually has me in an ATGATT mindset. There's no reason that mountain bikers wearing lots of protective gear should be judged. Better safe than sorry and risk tolerance is a personal choice. I'd rather see someone excessively geared up than not wearing anything.

Is that the stuff about halfway up the side of the hill/cliff?

It was on my initial list, but I've seen several reports online of the chin bar on the ProFrame breaking off which caused me to rule it out. I realize that this may be rare and that negative reports generally outweigh the positive when it comes to online reviews, but when it comes to my brain I tend to not take chances. Thanks for your offer though. A large likely wouldn't fit me regardless, I'm usually in a medium.

Has anyone seen any Smith Mainline lids around town? I'm in the market for a lightweight full face and this is the next one on my list to try. I've already tried the Troy Lee Stage and didn't like how the liner covered and put pressure on the lower half of my ears. I also tried the Leatt DBX 4.0 and while it seemed to fit comfortably, I was able to slide the helmet around too much on my head (not enough friction in the liner?), it just didn't stay put for me to be comfortable it wouldn't move in a crash. Perhaps as a motorcyclist my expectations are too high for a full face, I'm used to a helmet not being able to move around much at all and if it does that means it's not the right fit.

Probably a coyote, there are a lot of them in the WC area and surrounding neighborhoods.

My likelihood of breaking or losing them is directly proportional to the purchase price.

I also have a pair of Tifosi glasses. Not what I'd call cheap, but not too expensive either, I think they were about $50-ish and came with 3 lenses and a hard case. I like them a lot. With the flexible rubber nose and ear pieces they stay put when I'm sweating and changing the lenses is very easy.

This is a timely post as I'm in the market for a lightweight full face as I start to progress my riding into more challenging features but am not near a level where I'd need a full on downhill lid. These helmets are also so light I might just wear them daily, despite the dumb looks I'm sure to get. More protection is almost always a good thing. I've narrowed my options to the TLD Stage, 100% Trajecta, IXS Trigger and Leatt DBX 4.0. All of these are in the lightweight and breathable category but many are still downhill certified. The Leatt is a bit heavier than the others but looks like has a bit more of a downhill flavor, hence the weight tradeoff. I'm leaning Leatt since I think an extra half pound or so is a small price to pay for more protection. The Stage is very popular, I just got back from Bentonville and it was obviously the full face of choice there. But it has a weird pad design where it contacts the lower half of the ears and I found that quite uncomfortable and in my opinion when it comes to helmets fit is everything. The Fox Proframe seems to be the 2nd most popular but there are some pretty mixed reviews on it out there, with some saying the that helmet breaks too easily on impact. I partially attribute this to the fact that negative reviews are usually more prevalent online, and that these helmets are likely designed to break on impact and then be replaced, but there was still enough chatter about it for me to look elsewhere. The Proframe shell also appears to have a break right where the chinbar meets the rest of the helmet which makes me question if that's a possible structural weak point, but I'll admit the shell design may not match the structural design underneath on any helmet so it's hard to tell. Now I'm trying to find stores with generous return shipping options to try on the 3 I haven't found in stores yet. I also immediately ruled out any lid with a removeable chin bar. This is purely a personal decision but is based on my thought that anything removeable can't possibly be as strong as a permanently affixed chinbar, and the fact that I witnessed a motorcycle accident by someone wearing one of those flip up chinbar helmets and the chinbar completely separated from the rest of the helmet immediately upon impact.

I've only been to Snail once and got very confused on the best paths for practicing beginner / intermediate friendly features. Care to elaborate? Is there a "safe-ish" way down the feature lines that allows for bypassing the gnarly stuff, that still allows for hitting moderate features and keeps one off the big lines and out of the way of anyone that might be going full send?

REI runs sales on Darn Tough 1-2x per year. I think they do the same on Smartwool socks, but usually staggered with the Darn Tough sales. I have some Smartwool skiing socks that have lasted me forever and basically still look brand new. I only recently got some Darn Toughs for hiking and biking. So far I really like them, but one has developed a hole near the top so I plan to test their warranty. If all goes well I'll likely start buying more of them in slow phases to spread out the high cost a bit.

Just got back from Bentonville and encountered a number of deer that showed little concern for humans or bikes. These guys wouldn't move until you were more or less within arms reach of them, and even then they'd only go a few feet away and resume their foraging.

Holy cow, mind sharing your light setup?

Thanks. We'll be staying on the west side of Tristan from this location and I don't think our property is going to back right up to it like this one does, so we'd have to cross private property (we won't) in order to drop in right on the trail. We'll have to ride around to a nearby trailhead which still isn't bad, it's only a half mile. Since that's the only trailhead nearby we're likely to begin every day on the N. Bentonville trail near the dog park and kids bike playground and go from there.

I'm staying in a rental in that area soon, off Oakwood/Almand, it will be my first trip to Bentonville. From looking at the maps I'm not seeing any direct public access to Tristan from there, it looks like the closest is off of N. Walton to the north. Were you able to find a public access point there or were you just in a property that had private access?

I have read good things about the POC pads in general, the VPD system knee in particular but it's very expensive. I think them being comfortable is going to be very important because if they aren't I likely won't wear them as you also found. https://www.pocsports.com/us/products/joint-vpd-system-knee/20377.html?dwvar_20377_color=Uranium Black&cgid=mountain-biking-armor#start=1

For my typical riding, I've never worn pads. The most challenging local trail I ride is probably 1/4 notch and most of my riding is at Walnut or Brushy. I'm also not much of a jumper but would like to progress into some smaller jumps and drops. I'm old, and unlikely to ever be hucking the big stuff. That said, I'm considering trips to Spider Mtn in my future as well as a trip to Bentonville. This has me thinking of getting some pads. I'm was thinking of lightweight pads (Leatt Airflex Pro caught my eye) because they should be comfortable during my usual riding given the heat and amount of pedaling. I am worried about the lack of plastic on these style pads and getting caught and pulled off when sliding though, so I thought the Leatt 6.0 might be a good compromise with the split in the hard armor possibly allowing for better pedaling. On the flip side since I may only wear these on days when I decide to push my limits or go to Spider perhaps a more burly pad makes sense and I make sacrifices with airflow and comfort. Thoughts from those of you that own pads? I've read that fit on pads is supremely important. Are there any shops in town with a good amount of inventory to try on, specifically a Leatt dealer since that's one I've been eyeing?

That's interesting. I'm probably at a low intermediate skill level and almost never use my dropper at Walnut or Brushy except for downhills. I'd think that using it for every corner with all of the tight switchbacks would be more cumbersome than anything (perhaps your subsequent lever recommendation helps), but droppers are relatively new to me so it's more likely I'm just not doing a good job of using it properly.

That's interesting about the front center, I will have to look more into that. When on bike 1 the front tire feels like it wants to wash out a bit which causes me to scrub a little speed in turns. The front can feel more squirrely in loose over hard flat turns which I ride often (Walnut Creek moondust for example). This could also be simply because the bike is more agile and reacts to steering inputs more quickly than bike 2. I didn't get that losing the front feeling as much on bike 2 but to be fair I haven't had as much time in the saddle on bike 2 either. I had guessed that may be my weight is more forward on bike 2 and keeps the front wheel more planted, which is the opposite of your suggestion based on the front center specs. For reference bike one is running a Maxxis DHF tire and bike 2 a Maxxis High Roller II. After the comments about fork offset above I read a couple of articles which stated that bike 2 with the shorter offset and more slack head angle has more trail which generally means "greater stability and lazier, slower steering" and longer offset or steeper head angle means "quicker steering response" (their words). Bike 1 is definitely more twitchy and agile in steering inputs, the difference is that bike just doesn't lay over as effortlessly after the initial cornering input like bike 2 does. I'm almost thinking that the offset might be causing the steering agility difference but the head tube angle might be making bike 1 a little less stable through the entire corner. I also read that the longer trail generally pulls the tire back under the rider resulting in more rider weight over the front wheel. Based on this I was relatively convinced that's what's driving the difference but I hadn't thought the front center or that bike 2 has more fork travel. I'm not looking to buy a new bike right now, this is just something I wanted to understand better because (1) I see lots of online comments about bikes having a "good geometry" with little explanation of what that means and what makes it good and (2) if I can pinpoint some of the things causing bike 2 to be a little more stable in turns I may look into how to upgrade bike 1 to get a similar feel.

Here are the answers to many of the questions above. Bike 1 handlebars are 760, bike 2 are 780. Bike 1 used to be 780 but were cut down, even at 780 it didn't feel like bike 2. Bike 1 tires are 29 x 2.3. Bike 2 tires are 29 x 2.4. Both inflated to about the same psi, ~19-20 front and slightly more in back. Rode both bikes on 0.6 loop at Walnut, an easy trail that I've ridden a lot and know well. I noted the difference on flat corners. I mostly ride intermediate stuff in town... WC, Brushy, SN, SATN, etc. Fork details are quite different. Bike 1 is 120mm travel 51mm offset. Bike 2 is 150mm travel 42mm offset. Bike 1 stem is 45mm, bike 2 stem is 50mm.

I swapped bikes with a friend the other day and noticed a couple of handling differences that stood out. I'm a relative noob with this geometry stuff and being an engineer my brain is desperately trying to understand which geometry variables are resulting in the output differences I noticed. I've excluded the models of the bikes to remove any possible biases. These bikes are different sizes and price points so it's not a true apples to apples compare but I'm hopeful that those with a better understanding of geometry can help to educate me a bit which will go a long way when it's time for my next bike purchase. The complete geometry specs that were available for each bike are attached. Both are 29" full squish running tubeless. Riding characteristics... bike 2 was slightly easier to initiate cornering. 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.