AndrewMajor profile

Always have had the hardest time with this re. lights v. cars. As I noted I turn off my headlamp and I usually turn down my bar light but even when I don't, in a world of seen-versus-dead my headlamp is no higher and no brighter than the headlamps of every other pickup truck driving around North Vancouver?

Definitely a good starting setup! If you decide you need more juice on the bar then you have a spare and if you decide you need more run-time all around then they'll make a great gateway to introduce friends to riding at night. 

Cheers!

What glasses did you settle on? I feel I’ve tried a healthy cross section and most the year they’re either dogged out or my face sweats double.

I also like to ride in them (usually clear lenses) but find it takes a lot of management (on/off)

I run pretty hot (hence taking the cheek pads out where many don't) and the 7iDP is pretty breathable but I hear you because my brother, Crash Test, is that guy who is comfortable in shorts and a light jersey at 5 degrees and never needs more than an emotional support jacket on wet rides (and therefore dying as soon as it's above ~15°c). He has a removal chin bar full-face (Leatt DBX 3.0) and I think it would be easy enough to side mount a light onto that chin bar if it was a priority.

Back in the days of lead-acid powered 2.5w-5w lights, there were a couple of times on the trail I can remember everyone in the group firing off their backpacks with great urgency to try and figure out who was on fire. 

I used to always charge my lights in a baking sheet and now that I think about it I should probably come up with a less complacent plan than just having them on my workbench. 

Cheers!

Self-contained lights are so good now in terms of performance. I see a future of longer run times, lighter weights, and lower prices but that will strictly come down to battery technology. 

Definitely notice the difference between L&M's Vis Pro 1000 and the Day Blazer in run time on high and also weight on the helmet. Weight matters even mounted to a full face and I think blazing double black trails trying to beat Strava is the only place riders are still going to need to spring for 'systems' with separate battery and lamp at this point in time. 

If L&M can find a way to get the Seca Comp (previous Taz) down closer to the weight of the Vis Pro then I can't see myself buying anything other than that looking at what's on the market today.

I've collected coloured Ti bolts from a few places over the years. I feel the need to note that I replace them every couple of years by moving the high-stress / high-risk bolts (stem faceplate) to lower stress applications. 

I used to only run Overlord stems (but NSB doesn't do a ~30mm for 31.8) so I had a bunch of M5 bolts for them. The purple ones in these photos, I believe, came from Racebolt UK: https://raceboltuk.com/technical-information/anodised-range/

The place I used to get washers from (and aluminum bolts for water bottles) doesn't exist anymore.

I always turn off my helmet light riding home on the road. Nothing like waving 1000+ lumens around at driver eye level.

Plus, if some asshole passes me with <1cm of breathing space it’s just a quick double tap to flash him (always a him) in the face at the next red light (there’s ~ always another red light).

In addition to the Ohlins M2 and the Manitou Mezzer, I should have more clearly shouted out the Suntour Durolux (in case anyone missed the Brett Tippie reference).

I've seen forks on their third owner that originated from Tippie, Garrett Buehler, and James Doerfling that are dead silent. In the spirit that everything pressfit will creak eventually, I've seen a Tippie fork that made some noise but I'd call it a quiet "click" compared to a lot of the forks I've seen.

The Durolux comes in multiple price points and even the top-end model is really reasonable. How do they do it? All things being equal (SR Suntour makes lots of other fork chassis) they weigh a bit more. I'd also put them up against any fork on the market for stiffness and they're easy to service. 

I'm testing out the new EQ air spring and I'll have first impressions in soon.

Sanesh, there is a fairly accepted logic that - ridden hard in our locale - all single crown forks will eventually develop creaking pressfit interfaces.

A lot has changed since 2010 that conspires against CSUs. First off, the riding that the average person is doing on a single crown bike these days has progressed massively (speed and ruggedness). Headangles are much, much slacker, and larger wheels have an effect as well. Plus, stiffness has gone up-up-up: carbon wheels, stiffer frames, shorter stems, stiffer bars, etc.

There are two proven ways that some brands have eliminated (or at least very consistently reduced) issues with creaking CSUs at least within a more reasonable time frame. One is adding a tonne of material - more steerer overlap, beefier crowns, thicker stanchions. A couple or a few hundred extra grams in a CSU and even Brett Tippie can get a season out of a fork without creaking (and sell it on with a clear conscience). But at their heart, pretty much all mountain bikers are weight-weenies and suspension brands are all aware of this.

The other way is QC/QA engineering - making certain the interfaces are perfectly toleranced and using products to prevent any future corrosion of interfaces. This will add to a price of a product and with the exception of truly boutique objects (like that EXT ERA fork AJ wrote up) most companies recognize there's a certain price point range they need to hit with their top-end forks. Not that they haven't had other, well documented, issues but Ohlins is an excellent example of a brand that seems to have sorted out creaking single crown CSUs for the most part. I also have communicated with a fair number of riders on the Manitou Mezzer and none of us have had a creaking CSU to date - the fork does have generous stanchion and steerer overlap.

---

TL/DR: There are a lot of different good fork options on the market today both on a budget and at the top end that are less likely to develop creaking than others (or at least are more likely to run creak-free for longer).

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There's certainly an argument to be made though that instead of the Fox 38 and the Zeb that Fox & Shox could have (should have?) focussed their energies on making lightweight dual crown editions of the 36 and Lyrik.

Both brands probably have a lot of consumer data to back up sticking with single crown forks (for one, DC forks are a lot more expensive to produce) for the Enduro market.

Posted by: Kenny

After noticing a major difference in arm pump between my FS and HT and not having much luck improving it via setup related changes, I've ordered some revgrips to try. Bit of an expensive experiment, but conceptually I can really see how they'd help in a hardtail especially. 

Shipping from US to Canada is a disaster these days, I guess they all have covid? So who knows when they'll actually turn up, but I'll follow up after some testing.

Any local shop can bring them in. ALBA in Whistler is the distributor. I’ve been riding a pair for a few weeks.

Posted by: RAHrider

I've put in almost 400km on it and I like it 90% of the time but every time I take it on steep tech I wish I wasn't riding it.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried raising the bar 20mm (bar or headset spacers) for the steep tech? 

Or otherwise changing the weight balance - narrower bar, running the shock softer, or fork firmer, or dropping the seat more (mechanically after your dropper is bottomed)?

It just reads like you’re fighting your bike but there’s nothing in your build that stands out as an Achilles’ heel.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Wow. Badarse.

Gonna read the piece, but first a guess about how many responses came through about the oval of the Thomson being 90° wrong?

It gives you more compliance that way! Hahahahaha.

I was digging through some old NSMB material tonight and came upon Perry's piece on his PDC circa 2013 and I thought we should all take a second to appreciate #HotSanta's OG commitment to steepening STAs. 2013!

Just think of the potential fore-aft adjustment (especially if the main post had M5 hardware). 

The article is here for more photos.

Posted by: RAHrider

Our day to day admissions for non-covid illness are way down. My hospital is under capacity for the first time since it was opened! 

This is awesome news; hopefully a B.C.-wide trend. 

Thank you for being there!

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

1992 Giant ATX 660 Bought it new , had a 50mm RST fork.

Did you buy it at High Gear??

It seems to me like there are so many (old) Woodlot / Bear Mtn / Red Mtn / Burke and etc mountain bikers around and yet Floyd / High Gear are all but forgotten, which is sad to me. Basically, all the bike shops from out that way that I frequented as a kid are gone: Cyclepath/BlackDog, High Gear, The Ridge, AKA The Bike Shop, Overtime hell even Cap's Westwood. I ran into the Dan Sedlacek, previously of OnTop, the other day and it's easy to forget how many genuine folks have simply moved on to other things, even here on the Shore.

Anyways, before I start crying into my beer, I didn't know Floyd at High Gear as a person (separate from the High Gear experience), but I wrote a little something about him on my personal blog if you're interested.

- - - - - -

So I'm not being a thread-ruiner.

If you ask me today, my first real mountain bike was a 1995 Iron Horse, fully rigid in metallic blue and sporting a full Shimano STX-RC build. BUT, if you'd asked my at the time my first mountain bike was a neon-green-and-black hi-ten steel Raleigh with SIS friction shifting, and steel rims. Perception right?

Dealt with all those shops. Made many friends through them as well. Floyd was the best. Great guy he is missed. Troy at Maple Ridge Cycle is there still. Hes just behind the old store.

For whatever reason I never really clicked with that shop. Have a great Troy experience though:

I was sitting at the top of Switchback/Eric Dunning (Sp?) at Mike Lake in Golden Ears when it was it very new and he comes pedalling up the fire road on an orange Norco Bomber leading a shop ride.

Looks at me.

T: “Did you already ride upper Incline? Was it greasy?”

A: “Upper Incline?!”

T: ~ “Just keep going up, you can’t miss it. The best trail around here!”

After they passed I sat for a bit and then finally convinced myself to ride up and see if I could find it. Easily the nastiest, greasiest, rooted jank I had ridden to date. Walked half of it. Crashed hard twice. Went back for more the next time I was up.

LOL

Yay the incline was a nut kicker in spots. Had a couple bad crashes on it.

Troy still has that Bomber , and the yellow one.

Oh my 2nd bike was a Kona Kileau? , the burgundy color yr 93?94? I also had a Marin Zig Zag Trail at the same time. Think it was a 94.

I totally remember being a 14 year old and riding my bike from Pitt Meadows to High Gear all the time to be an annoying shop rat. Floyd was one patient man lol! AKA was where I really cut my teeth with biking though, I still talk to Ian almost daily and go on an annual guys trip with him and some buds.

Amazing. So many questions but I’ll keep it to: Ian was involved in Local Ride after AKA? I worked on the sales desk at Orange when they opened. Tell him I said hi!

Bought my first pair of Profile Racing cranks from him and Dave when the shop was in Pitt Meadows.

I have this memory that around the time the shop was broken into when some ne’er-do-wells broke through the wall of the neighbouring business?!

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

1992 Giant ATX 660 Bought it new , had a 50mm RST fork.

Did you buy it at High Gear??

It seems to me like there are so many (old) Woodlot / Bear Mtn / Red Mtn / Burke and etc mountain bikers around and yet Floyd / High Gear are all but forgotten, which is sad to me. Basically, all the bike shops from out that way that I frequented as a kid are gone: Cyclepath/BlackDog, High Gear, The Ridge, AKA The Bike Shop, Overtime hell even Cap's Westwood. I ran into the Dan Sedlacek, previously of OnTop, the other day and it's easy to forget how many genuine folks have simply moved on to other things, even here on the Shore. 

Anyways, before I start crying into my beer, I didn't know Floyd at High Gear as a person (separate from the High Gear experience), but I wrote a little something about him on my personal blog if you're interested.

- - - - - -

So I'm not being a thread-ruiner.

If you ask me today, my first real mountain bike was a 1995 Iron Horse, fully rigid in metallic blue and sporting a full Shimano STX-RC build. BUT, if you'd asked my at the time my first mountain bike was a neon-green-and-black hi-ten steel Raleigh with SIS friction shifting, and steel rims. Perception right?

Dealt with all those shops. Made many friends through them as well. Floyd was the best. Great guy he is missed. Troy at Maple Ridge Cycle is there still. Hes just behind the old store.

For whatever reason I never really clicked with that shop. Have a great Troy experience though:

I was sitting at the top of Switchback/Eric Dunning (Sp?) at Mike Lake in Golden Ears when it was it very new and he comes pedalling up the fire road on an orange Norco Bomber leading a shop ride. 

Looks at me. 

T: “Did you already ride upper Incline? Was it greasy?”

A: “Upper Incline?!”

T: ~ “Just keep going up, you can’t miss it. The best trail around here!”

After they passed I sat for a bit and then finally convinced myself to ride up and see if I could find it. Easily the nastiest, greasiest, rooted jank I had ridden to date. Walked half of it. Crashed hard twice. Went back for more the next time I was up.

Posted by: FLATCH

Posted by: AndrewMajor

My single speed is silent but for the noise of my tires, and my the fork oil breathing... have to do something to let the hikers, cougars, and bears know I'm coming. That's why I always belt out Celine Dion's Top-10 while I'm riding.

The theme from Titanic is my favourite. I like to hang way out over my bars and proclaim I’m the king of the world.

I may have seen you riding Lower Crippler yesterday morning when my daughter and I were hiking up?!

I wasn’t sure at the time but now I think “I’M KING OF THE WORLD” is what buddy yelled as he rolled the Candi Cane (first wooden roll near the top).

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: DemonMike

1992 Giant ATX 660 Bought it new , had a 50mm RST fork.

Did you buy it at High Gear??

It seems to me like there are so many (old) Woodlot / Bear Mtn / Red Mtn / Burke and etc mountain bikers around and yet Floyd / High Gear are all but forgotten, which is sad to me. Basically, all the bike shops from out that way that I frequented as a kid are gone: Cyclepath/BlackDog, High Gear, The Ridge, AKA The Bike Shop, Overtime hell even Cap's Westwood. I ran into the Dan Sedlacek, previously of OnTop, the other day and it's easy to forget how many genuine folks have simply moved on to other things, even here on the Shore. 

Anyways, before I start crying into my beer, I didn't know Floyd at High Gear as a person (separate from the High Gear experience), but I wrote a little something about him on my personal blog if you're interested.

- - - - - -

So I'm not being a thread-ruiner.

If you ask me today, my first real mountain bike was a 1995 Iron Horse, fully rigid in metallic blue and sporting a full Shimano STX-RC build. BUT, if you'd asked my at the time my first mountain bike was a neon-green-and-black hi-ten steel Raleigh with SIS friction shifting, and steel rims. Perception right?

My single speed is silent but for the noise of my tires, and my the fork oil breathing... have to do something to let the hikers, cougars, and bears know I'm coming. That's why I always belt out Celine Dion's Top-10 while I'm riding.