Words by Dave Tolnai

"I could spend 5 minutes with nothing more than a mini tool and some imagination and make any full suspension bike ride like shit..."

"That’s not to suggest that we should all stop mountain biking and entertain ourselves by constructing sculptures out of found materials..."

Putting Ratboy's signature bar to good use (as well as a few other Burgtec control bits)

"Literally overnight, evening rides go from a race against the clock or a juggling of lights to a leisurely thing you do whenever the hell you want..."

I’ve decided that there is such a thing as bad weather, and the best we can hope is to find a piece of clothing that eases our suffering without costing a fortune.

Or more accurately - How do I explain to people that it might take a little while to get here?

"It's definitely not carbon. It most certainly doesn't have 29 inch wheels. And you probably won't see it at an Enduro or DH race..."

"This is such a baffling statement to make for somebody supposedly looking to keep those same suckers coming through the doors..."

"I accept that some people will not be personally offended by any of this, but I think it's important to listen to the opinions of those who might be..."

Helping you avoid alligator tears in the future with a mini-review of some lock options from ABUS and Hiplok

Hold on to your butts: Uncle Dave Rides the New Giant Reign E+ Pro 0

It scoots in and out of corners so quickly, and it handles steeps so well that you forget you're on a bike with only 120mm...

Uncle Dave tackles OEM tires and digs into the decision making product managers face when they spec your bike...

Uncle Dave goes down a nerdy rabbit hole and tackles bike geometry head on. Not so simple, is it?

"You could take the crappiest, city bike gruppo off a WalMart bike, and it will most likely out-perform the top of the line stuff..."

"As our sport has grown and our influence has gained, our attitude has changed. Somewhere along the line we've moved from a place of privilege to a place of entitlement..."

Uncle Dave ""haaaates" writing these sorts of things - but it turns out he wants some shiny crap just like the rest of us...

"Only a psychopath would assume that a US$1499 (CAD$1899) bike is going to keep up with a $9000 bike (in either dollar)..."

" I've hopped back and forth onto a few different forks in the last couple of months, and I feel like the best thing I can say about it is..."

" I'd hit swoopy sections of trail and cackle with glee, amazed at how much fun I was having..."

My wife has compared me to our dog in the sense that I need some sort of activity every day or I get all fidgety, at least I hope that's what she meant...

"Riding my motorcycle from Nanaimo to Tofino in a monsoon proved that these pants can easily take on anything that a measly bicycle could throw at them..."

"Some scoundrel, maybe even the Industry, had taken that rock and skinny filled monstrosity and replaced it with a baby-bottomed smooth “flow trail” that required zero skill to navigate...'

"The last thing I want is to travel 4hrs by kangaroo to the nearest town, only to be scrwed over by the bike shop charging double what it costs online..."