Jimothy.benson profile

Just tried it again, apologies - as you can imagine, the guy who re-uses his kids' backpack isn't the most tech-savvy out there.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HPpVobt6HrDk74eh8

My own personal go-to bag is my now kindergarten-aged daughter's old Paw patrol backpack with velcro attachable lunch kit.

The side mesh pockets are ideal for a water bottle on one side and an old plastic olive container lives on the other side holding a multi-tool, lighter, bacon strips thing and patch kit, joints, and tire lever.

The main bag features zero compartments but will comfortably hold a pair of sandals and a mesh bag in which lives a chamois, riding shorts, jersey, socks, gloves, tuque, micro-towel (for sitting on in cars after the ride to avoid fouling upholstery), baby wipes, etc. 

The removable lunch kit feature conveniently stores - you guessed it! Lunch! or beers and an icepack.

The velcro attachments of course also hold a helmet in place.

Going on a short notice ride? Put on 5.10s, fill a bottle, put bike on roof and Go! All will be there on arrival

MSRP: Already paid for

Materials: Entirely diverted from landfill

Soooooo many yesses to this. "Bikes in the backgrounds" has been my catchphrase - I like being able to walk out of my house with zero costume changes (OK, a helmet), step over the top tube, and start pedaling, then simply put the bike back at the end without spending 25 minutes (whilst my children seek my attention) putting shit away.

On a side note, it turns out that if you ride Kona Wawa flat in SoftMocs, you should take out the leading centre pin

From one flat pedal rider to another, you have this bit in there twice:

Retention on these things is great. I never came out of the pedal by pulling up. But then again, I’m mostly a flat pedal rider, so I’m not generally putting a lot of energy into pulling my feet up while I ride. Straight pulling force is great, but it doesn’t take much roll from your foot before the magnet significantly loses pull. I never had a problem while descending, but there were a few times where I put some heavy body English in while climbing I popped out.

I hope Scott can appreciate the irony of the oh-so-clean lines on the bike with ~50mm of non-droppable seatpost exposed

In fairness to your mechanic friend, though he was wrong about carbon being a fad, the steel Rock Lobster the customer bought - if taken care of - is probably still going strong. Compared to a carbon anything from 1996...

I'm naturally left foot forward, but have been making a conscious effort over the past several years to ride "inside foot forward". There's a whole 'nother rabbit hole to go down there about half-pedal strokes, being comfortable when caught unprepared going off something, etc.

Given my "inside foot forward" preference though, I do wonder whether I'd be more likely to shear off the taller rear pins given that they will be the leading edge most likely to meet rocks half the time. Anyone with any experience there?

For context, I'm riding composite Kona Wawas on 5.10 freeriders (size 42) on a singlespeed Honzo ST

This article is such a great resource to forward to a friend who has sought one out as their 'bike-knowledgeable guy' for advice on getting a proper bike to get into the sport. Thank you!

I've been using the simple term "off-road bike" because living in Winnipeg I can't honestly call it a Mountain bike. Close runner up is the term "Manitoba bike" (soooo close to mountain bike, orthographically. So not close in most other ways)

I can say this with authority because I happen to be the reigning provincial Singlespeed fatbike senior men's champion (a category that doesn't exist on paper, but I was definitely the only fool to show up on such a bike 4 years ago and place DFL in the category UCI had next to my name) but have since wizened up and gotten a Honzo, which I'm now in the process of converting to singlespeed as a winter project. Best tool for the local terrain IMHO given the contast up and down nature of trails here (rather than long mostly climb followed by long mostly descent).

Who says wood isn't carbon!

Agreed, helluva beauty custom job.

My typical:

• Park patch kit with a spare master-link inside, along with 2 levers in a thigh pocket;

• spare tube in a jersey pocket;

• water bottle in the cage;
• mini tool in a hip pocket;
• joints and a lighter in the other hip pocket;
• mini-pump in the lycra. Seriously. I've figured an angle that I can put it behind my right thigh and it is held in place by the compression of the shorts. The pump is mostly plastic, and the angle it rests is quite splint/brace-like, so I'm not worried (too much anyway) about impaling myself.

I'm new to the tubeless thing - only set it up for the first time last week but am loving it. That said, I'm used to the PITA of changing a tire trailside and rather than finicking around with plugs and goo and CO2 in the muck I'll just throw a tube in. This might change as I learn more about how to use plugs and/or boots (or if I find myself putting a tube in every second ride...)

On the rare occasion I ride with a pack all the above goes in there, along with a couple litres in the bladder and a first aid kit, but most of my rides are  sadly short enough that a single bottle will usually do, or the longer ones consist of laps with stops back at the car to top up the bottle.