BadNudes profile

Shimano metallic pads are like the Canyon - progressive and predictable with more support (power) from 1/2 pull to full pull.

the resin like the Ibis - they are very progressive at the start, and I'd say more powerful at about 1/3 pull, but after that they don't have much more support to give so you end up 'bottoming out' (and praying that you are slowing down enough for the catch berm at the bottom)

I think Turner deserves a mention as a progenitor of not-terrible full suspension design. In the mid 90s his FTF and later Burner was one of the few FS bikes that actually had an advantage over the hardtail bikes it often competed against, it would often be re-stickered with other brand names to honour contract sponsorships. Maybe a little bit of pedal bob, but certainly worth if for the extra traction uphill and the speed carried downhill. I still love riding my 2002 Turner Burner XCE (over-forked w/ a 130mm Z1 drop-off, dropper, 1x10) for non-serious xc duties. From back when 4" was long travel and 70* HA (with a 100mm fork) was slack.

Selling a bike without letting the new owner know what it needs (brake bleed, pads, suspension, tires, etc.) definitely deserves a karmic kick in the nuts. But when the alternative is putting a deposit down to get on a waitlist for a new bike that might arrive in 8 months or longer, spending 'new bike cash' on a serviced POS that can actually get you riding makes a lot more sense. It's unlucky for those looking to get into the sport, especially because they might not know what to look for in terms of common bike maintenance, but that clapped out bike is worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

Does anyone register their bikes? When police and cycling communities start using bike registries, bike theft has dropped considerably, demonstrated in Vancouver with the 529 Garage registry. This video goes deep on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48V9Xtpgq9I (for those short on time skip to ~15 min)

I have had bikes stolen but I don't register my bikes, I just try to make mine more difficult to steal than most. We shouldn't have to just accept bike theft as an inevitable part of living in a city however. (From the video above) 7.5% of bike theft victims never replace their stolen bike, and 15% ride less often after having a bike stolen. Effectively addressing bike theft could do so much more for cycling than adding another haphazardly planned bike lane and a few more bike racks. The guys behind Vancouver's (relative) success seem to think the identifiable registration badge is key (once you've got the police actually looking at the registry of course). This sounds like a few city hall meetings away from becoming a bike licensing scheme which opens the can of worms so much wider, I'm not sure how I feel about it. But I am genuinely curious what the best comments section in mtb thinks of the subject.

I can't understand anyone who would pass judgement on the photographer. You might think it's a bit scummy to be taking secret photos from under a truck, but I'd argue MTB media has created and stoked excitement for exactly this kind of content by publishing countless stories and photos of prototypes seen at races, factories, trailheads etc. Some stories even encouraged by brands in order to get people excited ahead of a new release, and even then written with the air of revealing some secret. To expect the public to understand and respect an industry insider unwritten code when it comes to these stories is not realistic. 

John Q. Public reads PB or Vital and every day sees his community getting excited over secret photos of prototypes; of course he is going to take and post one when he sees the opportunity. I don't even see an issue with him "wanting to be paid for the next one". I get the feeling he is just being cheeky there, but professional photographers and journalists presumably get paid while making similar contributions. At most, you could say it would have been a decent thing to introduce himself before taking the photos. Maybe, but not doing a decent thing is not the same as doing an indecent thing, and you'd have to be pretty naive to expect the public to behave at a standard of always doing the decent thing.

Companies that value their secrecy need to have measures in place to protect it. Media outlets need to be clear and consistent in what they will or will not allow public to post, and in how they handle photos of prototypes in general across all brands. Some comments above me suspect that if it were a Specialized or Trek, PB would not have brought the photo to the front page out of respect or fear of retaliation, but because Devinci is a smaller brand they ran with it. I doubt that's completely true, but if so that would be pretty depressing and would throw journalistic credibility out the window. I get the stench of this kind of brand-directed journalism (as opposed to consumer driven) from PB so often that it's hard to care about most of what I see there. NSMB is top-notch in my books as articles are obviously written with the end user in mind, and journalists' personality and preferences shine through even when they don't align with current trends.

Bottom line is the industry exists because of consumer interest. The industry needs to adapt and react to the consumers' desires and behaviour in order to serve them as best they can, not the other way around.

How is it that I still haven't read the phrase "push-on for the cush-on" in one of your articles? 
Where can one buy trap wire? Any tie wire I find at the usual scumbags' seems way too thick.

As I understand it a low engagement hub might result in fewer harsh kickback moments, but will be less predictable, it will sometimes kick hard or not at all, where a high engagement hub will kick more consistently. Once coasting at higher speeds kickback becomes a non issue in either case and that's when you start to feel chain whip and other vibrations (the Ochain device might help here too)

Another way I think of kickback that I haven't seen discussed before is that if the kick is not harsh enough to upset your balance on the cranks, it actually translates from pedal kick-back to wheel kick-forward. You will feel it through the cranks, but if you're poised and strong through the compression you can get a little squirt of forward momentum from it. the Ochain would smooth this out for you, absorbing the shock at the chainring, before feeding it back to the wheel as the chainring rebounds.

I've over-forked a fork. a Fox 34 @160 feels pretty noodly, but acceptably 'compliant' @150.

Also running longer than recommended forks on all my bikes for years with great success. Personal favourite is my 2002 Turner XCE with Marzocchi Z1 Drop-offs @130mm and a fox vanilla rear shock. I hate to admit the lazy seat angle has me walking up some of the steeper climbs, but the thing is magical when up to speed.

I used the Boca press tool last fall for suspension pivot bearing replacement. It worked okay to install the bearings, but the threaded rod actually snapped when trying to remove bearings from the frame. I was using an oversized socket as a reciever, and triple checked alignment and clearance, but it still broke before the bearing even budged. I used a hammer and punch to remove the rest of the bearings, and luckily there was enough thread left to finish installing the new ones. Another thing to note about the Boca tool is the drifts are all made of soft-ish plastic, when using the smaller diameters it was obvious that the pressing force would squish the drifts and cause them to bulge in the middle. Overall it's hard for me to recommend this tool over a threaded rod, nuts, washers, and a socket set.

I broke my brake lever clamp in a crash a couple of years ago, and because I had a hard time finding an i-spec-b compatible lever (I-spec 2 was current at the time, and now we've got i-spec ex) I was looking at replacing my perfectly fine shifter as well. Was finally able to source an older compatible lever to save my shifter, but I learned my lesson and will be using non-integrated controls whenever I have the choice.