MEATengines 2022...

Posted by: fartymarty

Also while i'm having a brain dump - does anyone else soften their suspension for winter?

Well, I have air suspension so the frigid temps automatically reduce my the spring rates. I'm partly joking, but yeah I speed up comp and rebound. But below ~10 F (-12C) suspension feels pretty wooden no mater what you do. Riding in the cold has enough challenges/discomforts that poor suspension performance is not much of a concern for me. Maybe if I had my cold weather mtb clothing more dialed I'd have the leisure to care about subtleties of suspension. Dressing for cold hiking is super easy in comparison to mtb.

Posted by: Blofeld

Posted by: snowsnake

They aren't mentioned much as some other options, but my Race Face vault hubs are on their third bike, one of which was killed by a dump truck, and are going strong on the original bearings. I guess we're only on the fifth year of the hub's existence, but I will be interested to see how they hold up long term.

I started thinking about hub reliability again after reading about the I9 1/1 failure on the Juliana review. Definitely a good response by that company and a model of what should be done when a new product fails. It’s always a nagging question whether a reviewer gets preferential treatment, though I didn’t get that impression in this case.

Anyway, the hub led me back here and I was derailed again by the comment above. Can we please hear the “killed by a dump truck” story?

So, long story short, the bike was on the back of my buddies truck on the way to a bikepark, and then got rear ended by a dump truck going too fast. The front wheel was on the non-impacted end of the bike, but the back wheel (and the frame) was shattered. Not being one to waste parts, I pulled the rear hub out of the wheel to find that the cassette had taken the brunt of the impact. I took it to my favorite mechanic, who pulled it apart and confirmed it was A-ok. Probably have 1-2000 miles on them since then.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Posted by: fartymarty

Another "oddity"... does anyone else use schraders?  I've been on them for over 10 years now an wouldn't go

No. But I see the advantages for adding fluid / cleaning out gunk. 

Have you found rims pre drilled, or are you embiggening the holes?

I drill out the holes with an 8mm bit.  I only run Al rims, not sure I would try it on carbon.

Thanks all for the suspension comments - all makes sense.  Maybe this is the one and only down side of coils.

Posted by: fartymarty

Also while i'm having a brain dump - does anyone else soften their suspension for winter?

I was out riding last night and it was particularly slippery and slow and I was thinking that I should drop in my softer springs into my forks and rear shock. I figure you're going a lot slower than summer and are less likely to bottom so you may as well run more sag to get more grip. Damping will need to be adjusted to suit - quicken everything up because it's all moving slower anyway (slower impacts).

I make sure to air up both ends after the bike has reached outside temp, then reduce compression and rebound damping a little bit. I've found if it's around zero or below freezing outside (pressure set inside 20C house), the fork can be around 10psi lower, shock about the same, and then my shock bladder is ridiculously low. So I run regular pressure (acclimatized), or else I'm bottoming out and/or wallowing without support, and then just adjust damping accordingly.

The Tough Kids piece got me in the feels. I think your 1:1 ratio is perfect for the learning offspring (at least, it's my excuse for not pushing the off-road riding as much), but I plan to get some bigger dirt days into my pair of hooligans this summer.

Our long school holiday starts in a few weeks, and at this point they're both excited about riding in the bush. All I have to do is pack all the snacks, and not fuck it up.

Posted by: snowsnake

So, long story short, the bike was on the back of my buddies truck on the way to a bikepark, and then got rear ended by a dump truck going too fast. The front wheel was on the non-impacted end of the bike, but the back wheel (and the frame) was shattered. Not being one to waste parts, I pulled the rear hub out of the wheel to find that the cassette had taken the brunt of the impact. I took it to my favorite mechanic, who pulled it apart and confirmed it was A-ok. Probably have 1-2000 miles on them since then.

Thanks for the story. That’s a good testimonial to the Vaults (and maybe to your own luck that there was truck around you when the dump hit your bike!) I had a peek at the 2018 teardown article and it sounds like AM was impressed enough to recommend fancier bearings when the originals die.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

The Tough Kids piece got me in the feels. I think your 1:1 ratio is perfect for the learning offspring (at least, it's my excuse for not pushing the off-road riding as much), but I plan to get some bigger dirt days into my pair of hooligans this summer.

Our long school holiday starts in a few weeks, and at this point they're both excited about riding in the bush. All I have to do is pack all the snacks, and not fuck it up.

I get asked all the time about riding with kids and I'll I can say that's universally applicable is to remember it's for them not for you. With that mindset, it's unnecessary to say things like "be patient" and "limit how much constructive feedback you provide" because it's about them. You'll probably end up riding the same trails until you start noticing that a particular pebble moved recently but as long as they're loving it and improving who cares?

"All I have to do is pack all the snacks, and not fuck it up."

And make sure the bikes are solid. I know multiple dads who've had to put their family mountain bike dreams on hold for dumb stuff like (actually) leaking hydraulic brakes, drivetrains that won't stay in gear, bald tires that couldn't find traction on flat pavement, and even a case of a pedal body falling off. 

If the shit's not tight enough for you, it's not tight enough for them. This ABSOLUTELY isn't me saying that your kid can't be on a twenty-year-old drivetrain, or hydraulic brakes so old all the paint has peeled, or cheap BMX flat pedals - bikes are f*cking expensive - but make sure whatever you're running is tight. 

...

Which, for any non-parents out there who have friends with kids is a great merge point to remind you to give the gift of Guides - or whatever other good stuff you have kicking around you won't use. Claire's bars, brakes, shifter, derailleur, cassette, rotors (160mm), and helmet all came from friends (and here 2012 26" F32 Fox fork was her mom's old one) and that made a huge difference in terms of the budget to build up her San Quentin 24".

Fuck, glad you're ok Andrew.

https://meatengines.com/f/i-was-hit-by-a-car-tonight

Posted by: Endurimil

Fuck, glad you're ok Andrew.

https://meatengines.com/f/i-was-hit-by-a-car-tonight

Yes, happy to hear you are ok and in good hands Andrew. Sadly it seems it's not a case of if but when. I saw some Fuckwit in a jeep just about smoke a car stopped at a red light on LV road the other morning. Jeep avoided crashing by swerving into the bike lane at the last second. Fortunately nobody was riding there at the time. Hope you and your bike are back on the road soon.

Posted by: Endurimil

Fuck, glad you're ok Andrew.

https://meatengines.com/f/i-was-hit-by-a-car-tonight

Shitty. That people can be so careless. Hoping things all work out.

Posted by: Endurimil

Fuck, glad you're ok Andrew.

https://meatengines.com/f/i-was-hit-by-a-car-tonight

AM - hope you're OK.  Hopefully the driver is a good person and pays to sort your bike.

I'm now running 3 rear lights (bike, backpack and helmet) and up to 2 front (helmet and bike) on my commuter.  

I almost got side swiped by a van a few weeks back.  Caught him up at the lights and told him what I thought of his driving.  A roadie behind saw it all as well.

Heal up and keep us updated.

Well I received a reply:

Hi Gary,

Are you and some buddies teaming up on me? I’ve had three guys ask for this in the last two weeks…but haven’t otherwise heard this request for years.

Anyway…thanks. I do appreciate the feedback. We’ll need to do a little research and I can tell you that we wouldn’t be able to put out something like this any time soon, but we’ll discuss further in our next product meetings!

Feel free to get in touch any time!

Cheers,

Ian

Posted by: grcgrc

Well I received a reply:

Hi Gary,

Are you and some buddies teaming up on me? I’ve had three guys ask for this in the last two weeks…but haven’t otherwise heard this request for years.

Anyway…thanks. I do appreciate the feedback. We’ll need to do a little research and I can tell you that we wouldn’t be able to put out something like this any time soon, but we’ll discuss further in our next product meetings!

Feel free to get in touch any time!

Cheers,

Ian

At least they're thinking about it.  There is a massive hole in the market for larger backsweep bars.