dave_f profile

I think my dentist is more into sponsoring ice hockey. I can understand his reasoning.

DMR vaults on the MTB, shoe size is an average 42-43.

There is a lot to like about these, looks like they will have a long service life between rebuilds. Sadly they've decided to place them really close to the cranks, I'd probably end up with a lot of interference between cranks and shoes. Maybe they will offer a longer axle version in the future?

I was all set to convert my rear MTB hubs/dropouts over from TA 10x135 to 12x142, had all the parts lined up and envisioned the 12x142 being put out to pasture with a gravel type frame at some future date.

Then I saw that Cannondale had released an amazing new concept they called "speed release" where the axle remains in the hub and you just undo it a bit and slide it out of their proprietary dropouts to remove the wheel from the frame.

I had images in my head of the times I've been on the side of some dank and muddy spot being eaten alive by Mosquitos trying to fix a flat, in the future with a 12mm axle in my teeth to keep it getting covered with crud. I thought about it a bit and stuck with TA10.

I have one setup with 6 of 9 cogs running on a hope pro trials hub (short steel freehub, wide bracing angle), zee derailleur, and SRAM XO 9-speed shifter. The cable is spaced out around 6mm at the derailleur.

Keep your 9 speed shifter, people are paying premium prices as it seems the higher end Shimano 9-speed shifters are no longer available. Or if you don't need it yourself, find someone who needs one and will give it a good home.

Thanks for the reply, maybe it has to do with the difference in speeds and use. Looking for the formula for flop, I find flop=trail*sin(ha)*cos(ha) where ha is head angle. So the forks with short offset (the Enduro bikes) should have "floppier" steering if the head angle is the same.

It's interesting that the Enduro forks being run with similar head angles (Fox 38) are offered with 37/44 and 44/51 offsets, but the downhill forks are 48 and 52. Why do Enduro bikes need more trail than downhill bikes?

Yeah, that's what I thought as well. "This bike? Oh, I've had this bike for ages, it's not new. Don't you remember?"

On another subject, try getting on a lift this winter with an old asym snowboard. All the kids too young to know what it is will be in awe.

I can't say for sure, I didn't read a firsthand report and it was a long time ago. I remember thinking it was strange the Marshals were checking helmet closure, like who would be stupid enough to not fasten their chinstrap? This was what was circulating amongst the riders.

Shoei seems to have discontinued the snap type buckle which consisted of a pronged plate released by squeezing both sides of the buckle (similar to the Skylotec buckle).

Evidently there is a Fidlock version approved for motorcycle use. If it turns out to be 100% foolproof, maybe we will all be using them eventually. In the meantime, it's hard to beat double D for safety.

Double D-ring is about as foolproof as it gets. Years ago, a motorcycle race I was participating in was stopped after someone left the track at high speed. They found him eventually, no longer alive, helmet off. At the time, many approved helmets had a click type chin strap. Subsequently, the marshals checked everyone individually at the start for awhile to make sure their helmets were on properly. The safety instructor for the climbing equipment we use at work says SOP is you have your partner check your harness to make sure everything is closed properly and you haven't snagged your t-shirt in a latch or mistakenly don't have it completely latched, because it happens. My halfshell has one of those plastic buckles and I'm OK with that, but if your life depends on positive closure and fit of your downhill helmet's chinstrap, double D is a plus I think.

A simple way to measure reach is to stand the bike in a door frame. Place one of the edges in the vertical middle of the BB (crank), and measure from that edge horizontally to the middle of the top of the headtube (if that's the way the mfgr. specifies it).

I am still running a 135 Chris King rear hub with the 10mm bolts on each side. I use a long handle 8mm allen to tighten them down. The bearings run directly on the one piece axle. I went so far as to make a set of dropouts so I could keep running it with my current frame (Banshee). I think it's the stiffest setup I have, other than maybe the 14mm threaded one piece steel axle on the rear BMX hubs. I do swap it out for a 10mm thru axle wheel for light duty if I don't want to carry the 8mm allen.

I torque the Kabolt 15mm axle on the fork I use for DJ to 17 nm. If you look at the Fox 15mm QR axle, it actually has a 5mm rod that stretches like a classic QR.

For 20mm axles I'm a fan of designs with a thru axle like the CK (one piece axle) or OS DT 240 (end caps thread onto the axle). A lot of them have the inside bearing races running directly on the fork axle, depending on the fork design the bearings can spin the races on the axle or rattle around, especially with variation in axle diameter.