Tjaardbreeuwer profile

You can look at it a few ways. One is: why not buy a bike that comes with a lighter travel fork to begin with? Instead of over-forking a Tallboy, get a Hightower?

On the other hand, I have done it plenty in the past, when bikes with a bit more travel up front and slack head angles were hard to find.

As a taller rider,  the problem for me with over-forking is that is worsens many geo issues that are already bad for us:

• Shortens reach even more
• Slackens the seat tube angle even more
• Lengthens front center leading to even more rear biased weight distribution

For short riders the latter is possibly a benefit, but other issues are problematic:

• Raises Bottom bracket
• Raises stack

Of course, all of these changes depend on the starting geometry. If you have a bike with low BB, steep HA and SA and long chainstays, it seems like a no brainer.

My thought is that geometry is king. A bit shorter or longer  travel is less important than having the right geometry for you. So use what ever combination of wheel size, fork travel, head angle and eccentric shock bushings works to get the geometry where you want it, and don’t sweat about a bit longer or shorter travel.

This view might be biased by being 6’5”, where it is hard to find good geo bikes. The same I am sure holds true for super short riders. People in the middle of the bell curve are more used to being able to choose a perfectly fitting and handling bike, so they probably assign more importance to the amount of travel.

I should ask, what temperature is ‘HOT’? In a washing machine labeling sense, that is something like 60C/140F

The problem with this is that most technical gear, like pads, are made with neoprene and impact hardening foam. Neither of which can be washed hot.

If the pad itself is removable, your options increase, you can then wash the ‘sleeve’ frequently (at a temperature low enough not to damage it), so it doesn’t build up the deep skin/oil/ bacterial/mold/yeast culture 

And then you can wash the pad it self with some (dish)soap, and dry it.

Maybe Crushcore will come out with a ‘take along’ version of this lever? They could easily whittle some material away to reduce bulk, and still have all of the function, it just would not be as comfy to use. 

So this one seems the way to go for home use.

Pedros are not that large. Slightly wider than the wimpy Park Tool ones, but not longer or thicker. For minimalist kit I bring one Pedro and one Park lever on my rides, also makes a good way to use up the Park Tool ones I have sitting around, since I don’t use them at home anymore.

Yep, the Pedros are good shape and pretty strong. With lightweight alloy rims and carbon rims, I figure I don’t need a metal lever(like Silca). I’d rather have my tire lever break than my rim.

I chose bolt-in rear axle with my last bike(either was an option):

Cheaper, lighter (unsprung weight, so every bit helps) and less likely to catch on something.

For the front, I like the current QR maxle, since I usually load my bike inside the car.

Pro’s and cons to each system, no perfect solution.

I put a Specialized Power saddle (another ‘crop nose’ model) on my daughter’s bike, because the long nose of a traditional saddle covered the lowest part of the toptube, greatly increasing the stand over height, and forcing her forward when dismounting.

I bought the original DH casing Assegai to put on my wife’s bike for bikepark use, on an 28mm internal Bontrager rim. Couldn’t get it on, no matter how hard I tried.

Sold it and got the Vigilante 29x2.6. Fit’s on the rim just fine, and in the first gen Fox 27.5 plus fork on that bike.

My guess would be that a big part is what casing size you like. WTB 2.6 is going to be much bigger than Maxxis 2.5, so if you like larger volume, WTB is the way to go, or vice versa.

Tire traction is also very dependent on conditions and riding style, so hard to make blanket statements about the grippiest tire.

44 is not old! I remember, thought it was a good idea...