schoolie

On 9/16/2019 at 4:17 PM, TheX said:

They seem to be 10 bucks more now.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HBD92VG

Bummer. Tried my luck and just got MX6s. You win 🙂

9 minutes ago, TheX said:

Well, thanks Amazon! I ordered the MX6 pedals for just under 70 bucks. They sent me Speciale8's with titanium shafts.

 

Nice upgrade!

Sooo.... wanna share a link?

Another happy Time user here. I've got a couple pairs of the older Aliums, which have been bulletproof, and a newer version with the square rails (also no problems). I love the float, engagement, etc. I'm thinking about getting a pair of the platform pedals they released recently as well.

The only issue is it's harder to swap bikes with your buddy since no one else runs Time's, but that may not actually be an issue... lol.

1 hour ago, radiantm3 said:

Well just looked everywhere and no wrench for me. Maybe you need to be a paid member or something. 

Ah, my bad. It's not a wrench, it's three dots, and only in the web version, not mobile:

7 minutes ago, radiantm3 said:

Ive driven home a few times forgetting to end my Strava session and got a few KOM’s in my car. Spent 5 minutes trying to figure out how to remove those segments and didn’t seem possible so I just let it be. 

There's an option to crop your ride. Click on the wrench, then crop.

Was it with an owner? If not I bet someone would really like to know you saw it!

Cool bird!

53 minutes ago, Tree Magnet said:

I totally understand the frustration that HB is feeling here but I think we need to be careful with these types of interactions.  The dude was obviously an entitled douche bag but he was riding a public trail on public land and we're not the boss of him.  Just imagine the fun KXAN would have with a story "...Teenage son of Cedar Park mayor assaulted by mountain biker in public park."  You just don't know who you're dealing with and going 'Bartman' on someone doesn't seem like the best way to protect our trail access.  There will always be people like that who don't think about the thousands of hours that went into building something that they are destroying.  Does anyone really think that someone who responds to a request with "This is AMURICA" is going to listen to reason when you explain why his actions are destroying the trail??  

 My advice here is that if he won't listen to you to accept the fact that he's not the person you spent all those hours trying to reach.  Everyone that rides that trail smiling from ear to ear and making that left turn at the end to ride it again really appreciate what you've built.  Every family that takes their kid out there for their first REAL ride on a REAL mountain bike trail appreciates what you've built.  We fix what they mess up and we ride on.  

Well said!

Just confirming, can this rack break down to carry just a single bike? Based on the ad I'm guessing not, but just wanted to make sure...

11 hours ago, csmceuen said:

Take that tire off and use a vice grip with some electrical tape on it. Bend that baby back and keep on riding. It will not have the same structural integrity if you hit it again in the exact same spot, but it will ride normally. I cannot count the number of times I have just bent my wheels back into shape. Yay aluminum! 

+1. I've got a wheel that I've done this to at least 3 times. It takes a little longer for the sealant to stop seeping from a new tire install, but other than that no issues.

26 minutes ago, Albert said:

That looks like the motorcycle I saw at the recent BCGB Death March ride...

That's cause it is :)

This thread definitely need more bikes carrying things:

43 minutes ago, First-Blood said:

I think that new alt line has to possibility of being an up as well as a down. Anyone try it yet?

Yep! Rode DD W-E on Tuesday. It works pretty well as an up. Probably a little easier (at least more consistent) than the original line with the erosion as it is now. My first impression was that it flows better too.

Haven't gone E-W to try it as a down yet.

5 minutes ago, mack_turtle said:

It's worth sleuthing out the truth though because a creak could be an indication of something wrong that will get worse with time.

+1

I had a creak "somewhere up front" a couple years ago. Every time I'd ride the bike I'd think "better check that out when I get home, my stem's probably loose or something."

Of course, I'd forget about it until the next ride.

Then this happened:

I'm more diligent about chasing down creaks now!

13 minutes ago, McRibs said:

I am not sure that that is so much of  a drop-in as it is a way out. If you are riding E2W and coming FROM the picnicX drops, not towards, then when you come down into the ditch, you can pedal real hard and make it out of there without having to do the Gs and go up the root drop or b-line out 

I'll definitely admit to riding it both ways, and it's fun in either direction. Definitely more dangerous as an entrance though, I always ease up and watch a bit before hitting it so I know there's no one coming from under the bridge, but there's not a great way to tell if anyone's coming from the left on the lower Picnic X line towards the bridge.

1 minute ago, Chief said:

I like going up the root drop.

Same 🙂

11 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

I can see my Reba 120 with 32mm stanchions flex like mad when I tap the front brake.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I'd say fork deflection under braking is even more noticeable on the rigid fork on my Karate Monkey, since there's no telescoping motion to confuse your eyes about what's really happening. It's pretty crazy how much things move around under load on a bike.

I wonder if to what degree the flex and stiction are due to:

A. The design of the fork squishy bits,

B. The structure of the fork crown, stanchions, etc.

C. The head tube angle of the frame, since the closer the angle is to 90°, the more horizontal the force put on it by impacts.

I'd say it's mostly B. Bushing fit/alignment to the stanchions is important, and any clearance or misalignment due to bending causes the bushings to "stick" to the stanchions more than when things are perfectly lined up. There's definitely a bit of A too, since seal design in the air spring (and damper to a lesser extent) has an impact on initial breakaway force of the fork.

Higher end forks often have tighter tolerances on the bushings, so there's less room for things to move around. Rebuild services like Push Industries also offer to replace your bushings with ones selected to fit your stanchions exactly, instead of the random distribution that come from the factory (at least used to, haven't paid attention in a while). This gets the "undeflected" alignment as good as it can be.

Once things get loaded up and start bending, the bushings are forced against the stanchions, making it harder for the fork to slide. Imagine compressing the fork with a load directly inline with the fork's travel - there's theoretically no load on the bushings, so you're only overcoming the friction of the seals. Now twist the front wheel real hard and do it again - the bushings are loaded up by the flex of the fork, so the fork feels stiffer.

11 hours ago, mack_turtle said:

Or just put a fat tire on my rigid fork and call it a day! 

This is a very valid answer, depending on how/where you like to ride. I run a 2.6 rekon on i35 rims on my KM, and it's a pretty good option if you're not trying to be the fastest guy through the rough stuff.

Yes, it changes the geometry. but that's not necessarily bad, it's just different than the manufacturer's design.

Generally speaking when you increase travel (axle-crown distance is what really matters, but they're closely related), you slacken the head angle and raise the BB. Reach goes down a bit, and stack goes up a bit, but that can easily be compensated by swapping stem/spacers, etc. Slacker head angle is generally more stable at speed, but can be "floppy" at low speed.

Eventually, if you add enough travel you'll void the frame warranty. I'm pretty sure that's because the increased HTA applies a bigger bending moment to the head tube, potentially overloading it.

Speaking of blocking/unblocking, the cheater lines at this spot were cleared back out again, on both sides this time. I've reblocked this one twice now, but left it today because I wasn't sure I remembered all the places @First-Blood said he modified today. I'm guessing this wasn't one of them, but thought I'd be safe. Just say the word and I'll move all the stuff back next time I'm out there. If anyone's got any suggestions for a more permanent solution or a different approach, I'm all ears.

On 3/23/2019 at 1:25 PM, mack_turtle said:

140 seems like overkill for my riding, would chopper out the bike like whoa, and that would mean buying a new $$$ fork anyways. My approach to riding is to get away with the "least amount of bike" possible. I rode it rigid a few times lately and I am finding that's just no longer fun. 

Just throwing in my 2 cents here, since we seem to have similar preferences/experiences. I've ridden hardtails exclusively other than rentals and borrowing bikes here and there. I've got thousands of miles on an older Karate Monkey (the 72deg HTA version), set up rigid, and with an 80mm and 100mm Reba with a QR axle. More recently, I've been riding a Trek Stache, with a 120mm and now a 150mm fork.

Also, while I love understanding the minutiae of bike geo, suspension kinematics, etc. (I'm a hard core mechanical engineer), I'm laughably bad at noticing differences when it comes to actually riding the bike, so take my thoughts for what they're worth (maybe not much, lol). I'll pretty much ride whatever you put me on and have a good time as long as it's not breaking or requiring too much maintenance. 

Weight / riding style: 185 lbs. I ride hard, but would like to say I've got some finesse from all the miles riding rigid. I love tech and the big trialsy power moves you have to do to get through trails like Double Down at Brushy, but going fast downhill is pretty fun too :).

My thoughts on the KM: I started out rigid, then was installed the Reba in 80mm config. After a rebuild I lengthened it to 100mm. My main driver for putting the fork on was the Dragonslayer. I did one lap out there rigid and didn't think I'd survive 3, and I was probably right :). I ended up switching back to rigid after I got the Stache, and won't be going back. For me, the flexiness of the Reba was noticeable enough to make it not even worth having on my normal 1-2 hour rides. I've since converted the Monkey to SS and LOVE it. That bike gets better and better the more I take away. However, I'm not tough enough to have that be my only ride, it would not be fun on something like the Dragonslayer or any other all day event, at least that's what I'd say right now.

Thoughts on the Stache: I can't say enough good things about this bike, at least for a guy like me. The last few weeks have been especially positive. I switched from the stock chupacabra's (lots of small knobs) to some heavier tires with more aggressive knobs, and have loved the additional traction. I also switched from the stock 120mm Manitou Magnum to a 150mm Revelation. I was worried the bike would feel weird adding that much travel, but I haven't noticed anything negative yet. I installed the stem one spacer lower to keep the handlebars closer to the same height. So far, the higher quality fork has definitely outweighed any negative geometry changes. For reference, in the last two weeks on the Stache I've done 80+ miles in the greenbelt, kept up with my brother from CO on his long low slack mountain shredder at Spider Mtn, and had a blast the whole time :).

I guess long story short, I've found there's a bit of a dead zone on fork effectiveness, at least for me. The flexy, shorter travel Reba wasn't worth having, and the lower quality 120mm Magnum was meh. Rigid on the Monkey, and longer better fork on the Stache were both positive changes IMO.

5 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

Where did you cross the creek?

 

I think it's called the HOL dam? Between mulch hill and HOL. I rode through about six inches of flowing water in the first half, and rock hopped the rest of the way.

We ended up getting a great ride in at the greenbelt today. Only took a few wrong turns, and hit pretty much everything we were aiming for. 30 miles of fun, started at HOL, went all the way to Zilker and along town lake for a bit, then back to Travis country to hit sidewinder/jedi/mulch. Crossed the creek (kept our feet dry!) and climbed HOL backside back to the car.

@CBaron thanks for the sidewinder suggestion, that was a fun tough little bit of trail. I know we rode it during the Death March, but I didn't remember where it was or what it was called. Glad I could show him that.

22 hours ago, AustinBike said:

Depending on the other ride options for Sunday, I could possibly do a Sunday GB ride too, but about the same time.

Looks like Sunday's firming up, gonna be at Spider/RPR. Thanks again for the offer!!

22 hours ago, CBaron said:

Sounds like you've got a plan formulating.  But if you are wanting some more data points, here is the "normal" BCGB ride I do when I go visit my southie buds.  Its a super nice loop hitting some quality trail.  That said, it doesn't cover some of the nastier stuff (for better or worse).

https://www.strava.com/activities/943694033

Later,
CJB

Sweet, thanks Cody! I'm riffing off this ride a bit, thanks for the ideas :).

6 minutes ago, First-Blood said:

You are right. I didn't look close enough at that. One of the lines IS OVER and should stay that way

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Aah, my bad. I don't think I've ever gone over that rock. I'll have to try that next time I'm out there!

If you get there before me, move the branches a bit. I probably won't be back out there until Monday.

7 minutes ago, First-Blood said:

Ha. Was that you I questioned on what you were doing. If so thanks for blocking that up. May need to do a more permanent block there too. I'm thinking big boulder.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 

Sure was, lol. I was the guy in the blue helmet :)

We rolled a decent sized rock up the hill to help, but it could definitely stand to be beefed up a bit.

1 minute ago, jcarneytx said:

...right foot left pedal...

That's your problem, you're supposed to put your right foot on your right pedal.

But seriously, sucks about the wreck and injury.