First, thank you. Much.
My first thought when I’m writing anything is I’d like it to interest and entertain. I like to hope that whether it’s a piece about night riding, single speeding, or something a reader may never choose to pursue, or a review of a product they would never be interested in, maybe there’s enough extra value that they’ll enjoy what I’ve assembled anyways?
In general terms, this is both a reflection of what I’m hearing and seeing and some food for thought. I think of it as one side of a discussion maybe we’d have over a beer and the other side is in the comment section. Actually, I was reading Perry’s response and picturing us sitting at Beere talking with our hands a bunch about Ti bolts.
In personal terms I have a few things that have come up. I have some repetitive/awkward motion issues from my part time gig wrenching that I’m managing. The most obvious result being you’ll rarely see me on a rigid fork these days. Not that I don’t still love “ripping” down Pipeline on my rigid, or that rigid isn’t \#1 in my heart, I just have to pick my battles if I need to turn wrenches tomorrow. Without the rigid fork I don’t _need_ a 2.8” tire anymore so I’ve been playing with narrower options.
I’ve also been doing a bunch of much longer rides this summer with lots of gravel and pavement AND gnarly trails and then more gravel and pavement home. It’s had me thinking a lot about min-maxing my setup. I’m not running Aspens on i23 carbon race rims or anything crazy. But, with a narrower tire and a smaller insert taking up a similar percent volume maybe I can make those less aggressive miles easier and stay fresher for the trails? I’m certainly not inviting equipment failures into my life (I hope), just doing some thoughtful experimenting with my favourite ride and I figured it might make for interesting reading.
I do absolutely believe that there will be more stuff written in the next two years about counting grams than the last ten, and I’ll exclude myself from the tally since I know I have a few more pieces in the pipe. Bikes are so good and geo changes have slowed so I think we’ll start seeing weight as a selling feature again a lot.
Cheers!
July 28, 2021, 11:22 p.m. - Andrew Major
First, thank you. Much. My first thought when I’m writing anything is I’d like it to interest and entertain. I like to hope that whether it’s a piece about night riding, single speeding, or something a reader may never choose to pursue, or a review of a product they would never be interested in, maybe there’s enough extra value that they’ll enjoy what I’ve assembled anyways? In general terms, this is both a reflection of what I’m hearing and seeing and some food for thought. I think of it as one side of a discussion maybe we’d have over a beer and the other side is in the comment section. Actually, I was reading Perry’s response and picturing us sitting at Beere talking with our hands a bunch about Ti bolts. In personal terms I have a few things that have come up. I have some repetitive/awkward motion issues from my part time gig wrenching that I’m managing. The most obvious result being you’ll rarely see me on a rigid fork these days. Not that I don’t still love “ripping” down Pipeline on my rigid, or that rigid isn’t \#1 in my heart, I just have to pick my battles if I need to turn wrenches tomorrow. Without the rigid fork I don’t _need_ a 2.8” tire anymore so I’ve been playing with narrower options. I’ve also been doing a bunch of much longer rides this summer with lots of gravel and pavement AND gnarly trails and then more gravel and pavement home. It’s had me thinking a lot about min-maxing my setup. I’m not running Aspens on i23 carbon race rims or anything crazy. But, with a narrower tire and a smaller insert taking up a similar percent volume maybe I can make those less aggressive miles easier and stay fresher for the trails? I’m certainly not inviting equipment failures into my life (I hope), just doing some thoughtful experimenting with my favourite ride and I figured it might make for interesting reading. I do absolutely believe that there will be more stuff written in the next two years about counting grams than the last ten, and I’ll exclude myself from the tally since I know I have a few more pieces in the pipe. Bikes are so good and geo changes have slowed so I think we’ll start seeing weight as a selling feature again a lot. Cheers!