Tjaardbreeuwer profile

The one thing I wonder about is whether there might be a benefit to running a lighter casing+insert, vs heavier casing, if balancing rolling resistance with grip and pinch flat protection.

Heavier casings have more rolling resistance, because they are stiffer(harder to deform). So my hypothesis is that the more supple casing, even combined with an insert, would have lower rolling resistance than the thicker casing.

So even though the heavier casing tire was lighter than the combo, I wonder if rolling resistance might still be better.

The other thing of course, is that this depends on the exact casings and inserts compared.

For example, EXO+ with Tannus might be lighter than DD.

Looking for a semis like in a ‘trail bike’ , slightly tougher casing? 

Terravail Ehline might work for you? They come in the ‘durable’ casing. Nice volume too, at 2.5.

https://teravail.com/tires/ehline#TR7284

On one bike, running 1x10, I used a Wolftooth direct mount single ring, with bash guard mounted to it. That was made quite a few years ago, not sure if they still have it. It was a special bashguard, that mounted to spectate holes on the chainring.

The benefit of bolting the bashguard onto the chainring instead of the other way around, would seem to be that you can use a steel chainring, for some extra strength, and plastic bashguard for better sliding.

Yes, very good. If you want more protections, look at the Leatt and IXS kids models, that’s what we upgraded to from the G-Form.

Both e run small, so size up one size from the sizing chart. 

And always with pads, order multiple pairs of sizes/models, to try on. Fit is so personal on these.

One warning about kids wearing full-face helmets in general, and Bell convertible ones in particular:

My oldest borrowed my Bell Convertible a few years back. It was a M, same size she wore in het normal half shell.

She had a small crash, and ended up with a gash under her lower lip.

Upon inspection, we found the chin-bar could be pushed down below her chin quite easy. Combined with the large face opening, this left her face pretty much unprotected.

Same thing happened to a friends daughter with her full face.

It seems that even though their head circumference is adult sized, their cheeks and chin are still smaller.

So what we did was:

Got ~6 fullface helmets (regular or convertible) in the proper head size.

Tried them on. Compared how stable the chinbar felt.

Took 4 different sized balls, ranging from bigger than basket ball down to ~4” mini soccer ball, and tested if they could be made to touch her face with each helmet on.

There was a huge difference between helmets. The thickness of the helmet over the forehead matters for this, as did the height of the chinbar in front, how far it protrudes, and how snug it fit on the cheeks.

Yep, we did the elbow pads-as kids knees too.

Works great

I have a similar arm shape.

I have Dainese Trailskins (II?) they are wider in the upper forearm, and have minimal strap at too and bottom, with a gap in the material, so it doesn’t bunch he tightened upper end, and no need for V sniping at the lower end.

The Giraffes on your savanna must be really short. 

I was going to say the opposite, these bike pants pretty much only come in one inseam, and according to the review, these run short.

Anyway, the point isn’t that a certain inseam lengths are “better” than others. Just that brands need to offer multiple inseams, because we are not all the same!

As a tall rider, I have been asking for long chainstays, steep seat angle,long reach and high stack. As a rider with mostly mellow trails, I want something that pedals decently and doesn’t have a super slack head angle.

Not only did they make it, but I can still slacken it way out and have a sled for when you Canadians let us into Whistler again.

And they went to the big seat tubes, great now that seat posts are sticking so far out of the frame.

Bionicon used to do this:

Push button and fork travel dropped, rear extended and vice versa

Many years ago, a German magazine did a comparison test of plus tires vs ‘normal’ tires and normal tires with Procore inserts.

In many aspects, the Procore set up performed similar to the plus sized tire.

It sounds like @Cam is running plus-like pressures with these in skinny tires.

It would be great to see some comparative testing of 2.4, 2.6 and 2.8 inch tires with inserts (these or Cushcore) in the narrower widths.