gotdurt

This thread strikes a chord with me, especially lately. Starting on BMX/freestyle in the 80's, then moving to mtb in '88, I've had the luxury of experiencing all of the riding disciplines, trends, fads, tech, etc; all of "the emporer's new clothes"... I've also become very tuned to my own "style" and riding preferences over that time. I'm always open to trying new things (within reason, some things are clearly gimmicks or just aren't aimed at me); some I adopt, some don't make it beyond a test ride. In my earlier years, I preferred bikes to be as playful as possible, as I was like a pinball, bouncing from side to side down a trail, turning every hump, log, root etc into a feature, bunnyhopping "all the things", etc, so as a result, I trended toward smaller frames, usually a size or two "too small" for me (at 5-10 I've owned several 16" frames). I liked things simple and easy, and I steered away from suspension for a long time because I felt it dulled the ride, input and feedback. Little by little though, my frames grew, suspension travel got longer, and I got sucked into the wormhole of complexity and tuning, as well as the LLS trend... FWIW, I also rode dirt bikes during much of this time... Long, Low, Slack... One thing that has changed for me over the years is free time and physical condition; it has shown me what I enjoy most in a ride, which is descending and tech. I'd rather not be bothered with too much pointless pedaling, other than what is needed to reach the beginning of a fun descent (although if I do have to climb, I prefer it to be technical). I don't care about comfort or efficiency on the climb, as long as I make it to the top. For pure descending speed, I've found the longer, lower, and slacker I go, the "better", but speed is only a small part of what I enjoyed, and I only spend a few days a year on extended, fast downhills, the rest was making the most of trails around here. Longer bikes, while stable at speed, tend to feel like a handful; the longer they are (combined with low and slack), the more they fight your input (the same trait that makes them stable at speed), are pigs in tight turns and maneuvers, and they exaggerate the low bottom brackets that tend to come with them with pedal strikes and gouged chains (if you like ledges and rock gardens, like me). Likewise, slack head angles also add to the stability, make the steeps less puckering and soften input mistakes... however, it also increases your wheelbase which, combined with "long and low", makes slower, tighter, technical trails even more of a challenge... The low BB adds to stability as well, and low COG makes cornering at speed more fun, but things like wheelies, manuals and bunnyhops require more energy and input. Another new trend is steep seat tube angles; while many claim to love it, I hated it, so much so that I sold what I thought was my dream frame (Nukeproof Mega) in only 8 months of owning it. The climbing advantage was minimal, and I didn't like the seat location in relation to the BB while standing; it always felt in the way, whether up or down, and I found myself dropping the seat more often. So, for my personal preferences and the riding I do most, I've backed off the LLS trend a little, and settled on a medium (17-18") frame, long-ish, low-ish, but still pretty slack (at 5-10, I like 425-430mm stays, 435-445 reach, 64.5-66* HA ("effective"/sagged for a hardtail), and BB drop depends on a few factors. With this reach range, I'll run a 32-45mm stem and 780-790 bars. I've found this geo mild/small enough at my height to be maneuverable, fun and "poppy" enough around here, while still being a blast when I head to the mountains and bike parks. Simplicity vs... not Now I'm finding myself at a stage in life where I'm craving a reset; I miss the days of simplicity, when the ride mattered more than what I rode, and I find myself frustrated with constantly having to mess with shocks, linkage, tuning, hydraulics, maintenance, repair, etc... I'm tired of playing musical frames/musical shocks, getting the tuning right, etc, and am finding that I enjoy my smaller, all-mountain SS hardtail (although it isn't a SS at the moment) with BB7 mech brakes more and more, and I'm even considering switching to BB7s on my 6" FS (gasp, I know). The HT is always ready to go, always right, never a headache, and in many ways, more fun... I manipulate the trail more, I have to work to keep things smooth and graceful, and while this does require more effort and energy, it's also what makes riding fun, as I'm more involved in the ride as opposed to plowing over everything in a straight line, letting the suspension to all the work. This epiphany has recently come to a head, and I'm currently working on a new experiment: a custom steel hardtail, taking what I love most about both of my bikes, and merging it into a simple, low maintenance, do-it-all hardtail that I can ride more than I wrench...

Like a few others said (and maybe everyone else, I didn't read everyone's posts), but stack height from the BB is everything, and from the ground means nothing. I go by feel, starting by basing it roughly on BB drop and head tube length of a previous frame that I had it right on (compensating for any differences in the new frame), then go out on a ride and tweak it by 5mm increments (I always keep at least 2 or 3 5mm spacers in my stack).

When I was in college, I lived in a small complex of duplexes and single unit "houses" (the 90's equivalent to "tiny homes"). We had a little gravel parking lot that we all parked in a row on... at the time, I had my daily car, as well as a '61 Ford F100 with a super-torquey straight-six, extra-low gearing and limited slip diff (they called them "stump pullers" back then, topped out about 65 on the freeway, rev'd out). One day, I came out to find some idiot parked his S10 behind my car (much like the pic above, except worse), so I hooked my tow strap onto it with the 61 it and dragged it across the lot, over the curb, and onto the street (still partially on the curb). Good times 😄

Oh, and don't be this jackass:

So, I needed to test a new shock and start the dial-in process, so I decided to go see how wet Brushy was... 1/4 isn't ready yet... about 70%, but the lower parts still have a lot of slop, it was even hard to walk some of it. There was no shortage of ruts... Surprisingly, The Hollows/DD was GTG. PX isn't bad, but I'd skip Picnic. What's interesting is that the "usual spots" are changing... many of what we've known as the "usual spots" are dry, but a lot of new spots are worse than the old ones ever were. Also, the drain at Rainy Day seems to be clogged.

Behind the scenes... It was pretty cool to watch the process of his new format.

I hope so, because I'm heading that way at an alarming rate...

Excellent, thanks for the info 😁

Dad gum, people... enough with the sign semantics and yada-yada. Trails are gtg, go ride ya'damn bikes.

We're trying to find ways to convince them not to ride muddy trails, not give them solutions to reasons...

Not to mention that it'll make you look like you had an accident in your pants, and on your car seat after your ride.

Anyone happen to check on conditions today? I was out on some job sites and was surprised at how good of condition the ground was in after last night...

Additives are really the only difference, from what I gather. This is what I'm using (Febi/Bilstein Nr 06161, aka M6162), based on a thread or 3 that I found elsewhere (mtbr? Pinkbike?); it's supposed to be about the closest you can get to the Shimano oil. You can get it at NAPA, I think I paid about $10 at the one in Round Rock. There's also a synthetic version, and they say to avoid that... One thing I do not like about Shimano brakes is the on/off switch feel (lack of modulation), and this seems to help with that... I first bled just the rear so I could compare with the front and see if I could tell a difference... and IMO there seems to be slightly more feel/modulation, with the same full bite power. Maybe a slightly higher viscosity? I don't know, but I dig it.

The one in the pic was a little bigger than a quarter, I figure they'll only get smaller. Unless you can hide it, preferably in the frame, they're kinda pointless. If I were a thief and I saw something like that stuck to the outside of the bike, it would be removed without 2nd thought. And, as these become more common, thieves are going to know to look for them before taking it far. Someone needs to come up with a bolt-on device that looks like it could be part of a bike component, or even make it a bike component (headset cap, crank arm bolt, etc).

I would have to find a way to attach it to the frame; I'd be pretty pissed if I tracked it down only to find the seat on some other bike parked outside a convenience store... Maybe find a way to attach a loop to it so that it can be fished out of a seat tube with a coat hanger...

Yea, there will always be those people, but even if we cut the mud traffic in 1/2, it would be well worth the effort, and as for those coming from elsewhere, signs would help with that. It might also be helpful to have QR codes of this thread (to get more people involved in the community, or at least aware of it) and maybe an informational web page (explaining the purpose behind not riding wet trails in our region) printed on the signs.

And make the caked-tire offenders pay for it.

Same here... I have so much sitting on my computer right now with so many unfinished editing projects... ain't nobody got time f'dat! And I even keep clips and editing to a minimum... it was eye-opening to see his process that day; that culling/editing had to be tedious... he earns his Youtube $, that's for sure.

Same where I grew up riding in the Houston area, like Sam Houston NF, Ho Chi (Memorial Park), Cypresswood, etc. Of course, like Brushy, there were multiple ways to access any of those that wouldn't be signed, but the vast majority of riders accessed them only from a couple of official trail heads/parking areas (the parking lots remained open, as they were multi-use, like ours). I would think that a sign at each end of the sports park parking areas and maybe one at the 183A bridge would suffice... just make them reversible; "the mountain bike trails are open"/ "the mountain bike trails are closed". The problem would be that in Brushy's case, unlike those mentioned above, since the parks employees have nothing to do with the trails, it would be our responsibility to stay on top of it.

Since we can't ride, maybe we should take turns using our normal riding time policing the trails...

My apologies, I'm still waiting on a 'tongue-in-cheek' specific tag or font... but I also kinda figured my last line would provide insight to my poking...

But... if we're honest, fall line trails are the most fun, hands down... and what's more, there really isn't much "building" involved; you just ride the earth-wave as it is... it's the mtb equivalent of surfing or skiing. There, that should get this thread crackin'.

Anywhere there are creeks, there are arrowheads (and other points).

Barbara Eden. man... not even close!

I would agree, but if one is more effiecient than the other, it's not enough that any of us would really benefit from it, no more than shaving legs, IMO.