mikeynets profile

I'm so far from the NS geographically, but so close in spirit.  Even when I lived in Portland, BC in general and the NS in particular was — and still is — the mecca. Loving this convo about gloves!

Thanks for the feedback. 

Yeah, the Hydromatic's are pretty tight for sure. Not warm or dry. Kinda damning for winter gloves!

The Fox's seem promising for moderate winter conditions where it's not too cold. They fit really well and have a nice long, stretchy cuff. But they're spendy at $70 US. 

Don't know about in Vancouver, but Leatt gear is not common around here except for moto shops.

I live in a pretty temperate part of NorCal but last week we got a few inches of snow on our highest peaks and of course I had to go ride. It was raining hard for the approach up to 1200ft elevation and then snowing and cold (for here) up to 2500ft.

3 pairs of completely soaked and decidedly not-winter gloves later, my hands were numb and shifting and braking were an adventure.

So I just bought pairs of 100% Hydromatics and Fox Defend Fire Pro. Worn in the house for sizing, but can still return. I'm wondering if you have any experience with either and how you'd rate those to these new Leatts?

Sounds like the 100% Hydromatic is similar to the SubZero and the Fox glove similar to the Windblock. 

Our winters can be pretty wet, but rarely cold. I prioritize water protection over insulation for most winter rides, but for those rare wet and very cold days, I'd like to have something in the pack for that too.

Correct, and thanks for the clarification. 

That's another gripe I have with the 12spd XT — I know it's supposed to have improved range of adjustment for shifter/brake ergonomics, but it just doesn't work for me in the I-spec configuration. Hence why I'm looking to separate them with the matchmaker clamp.

@Andrew Major re: no hinge on Shimano shifter clamp — I recently learned about this hack but haven't done it myself yet — supposedly I-spec shifters fit nearly perfectly with SRAM Matchmaker clamps. Maybe a little filing or dremmeling needed, sometimes not.

@Glenn B — same boat. I don't love my 12sp SLX/XT drivetrain. It's not as buttery smooth as I was led to believe it would be. I have a seven year old 11spd X1 shifter/derailleur I've transferred from two bikes that works flawlessly and is my gold standard. 28T chainring, Sunrace 11-46 cassette. Happy camper.

I know this article wasn't meant to be a comparison, but I'm curious how you'd rate the R7 to both the 34 and the SID. I love that the 34 can have up to 140mm of travel, but if you're pretty confident 120 is all that's needed, the SID and R7 seem pretty compelling.

Great article, even better song selection. Sudan Archives just added to my rotation. And you're 100% spot on for Panda Bear being 100% spot on about 10% of the time. Same for Animal Collective IMO.

I just did an overnight bikepacking trip on my Banshee Spitfire where 90% of the saddle time was uphill fireroad but the other 10% was descending fun singletrack. All in just shy of 40 miles RT, 6000 ft elevation gain/loss. The "right bike" time pretty much was that 10% of descending time.

Could easily have done it on my rigid, lighter, faster rolling, more efficient Cotic Solaris, but I didn't regret my bike choice at all. With that said, I'm curious about doing the same trip again soon on the other bike just to see what the qualitative difference is.

I know there's not a lot of love for trunnion mounts, but I have no complaints with it on my Spitfire. Just curious: is there a lot of evidence it leads to more rapid shock/bearing/bushing wear than traditional mount?

Also, any idea if it's an iterative thing similar to press fit BB — not so good at first, but progressively gotten better?

But a ti Chromag dually??!! I'm interested.

Yep, steel. And I also was into the idea of not painting it afterwards— but I thought it would need some kind of protection. In any case, the whole process and cost was more than I was willing to undertake. Function over form is my style b

I'm with you 100%. I recently inquired of a local framebuilder to add some bosses to a frame and it was over $300 and that did not include powder coating. I know many custom frame builders that charge ~$50 at the time of ordering — huge delta and I bet the cost of adding them to production frames would be considerably lower.

I don't begrudge custom builders making a living, but that cost just wasn't worth it to me. I'm happy with hose clamps!

And while on the B-rad soap box, I used hose clamps to attach a B-rad plate to the bottom of my downtube and then attached a Bigfoot cargo cage for big day water carry. It all goes away for daily driving.