TristanC profile

The urgency makes you ride faster.

I've worn the Mission Workshop Traverse XC shorts for two years now, they still look new. To me, they're worth the hefty price tag. Light and breathable, which I find important with you're riding chamois-less.

This reminds me of a conversation we had in the Hardtails thread, about how we're so much more likely to spend money on "upgrades" when we can't ride our bikes got some reason or other. For me, sitting at my desk at work ogling parts is my Kryptonite. I think about all the cool things I could do and changes I could make that would make the bike just that much better. Electronic shifting, or super downhill brakes, or handlebars with half a degree more sweep or whatever. 

But then I actually go ride the dang bike and it's pretty good as it is, and my ideas about upgrades melt away. 

Also, insert clichéd argument re: "I could go to the bathroom before the ride and save more weight than six rotor bolts," or whatever.

@Niels it's working for me again, no additional changes except for a Firefox update. Might have been something on their end?

I'm having the same problem - click the play button and the video goes to a black screen. Firefox, Windows 10, Adblock Plus but Adblock is disabled on NSMB.

Edit: I don't think it's Adblock related. I disabled the add-on entirely and the same thing happens. Seems to be related to embedded videos.

Double edit: tried it in Firefox Troubleshooting Mode (all add-ons and themes disabled), same behavior. I tried it in Microsoft Edge and it works fine, so it seems like it's a Firefox issue.

As I've gotten older (the ancient age of 30), I have discovered that I am constantly wrong, and that is OK. The world hasn't ended yet. It also makes it a lot easier to be cool when somebody else is wrong, because I've been there, and it really doesn't matter.

More importantly, in that last picture - is that a hair scrunchie holding those two pulleys together?

Totally anecdotal, but I tried 165mm cranks for a month and they did not work for me; they caused some pain above the knee. I'm 188cm tall, with freakishly long limbs, and am totally happy with 175mm cranks. I am a masher, not a spinner.

That's very possible. The two bikes are on different continents so I can't physically compare them side by side, but I'm very interested to do that when I can.

I thought I knew what I wanted/what fit me, but then I got another bike and re-confused myself. I have a bike that I spent years tinkering with, and fits me like a glove, my Ice Cream Truck. 80mm stem. Then I bought a Stooge Scrambler, which on paper is a slightly smaller bike. I put a longer stem on it - crippling neck pain. I put a 60mm stem on it - feels great. How can the smaller bike fit better with a shorter stem???

I think all this taught me is that I should keep that bucket of stems and just iterate through, since I clearly can't reason through what fits. Thanks, big brain.

I agree, I view the GPS like my smartphone. It's nice to have, but I can live without it, and I consciously limit my use of it to enjoy the experience more. I recognize that it could be a problem - it was, for me, till I figured out the "hide the speed" idea.

I've talked to some endurance coaches, and they've told me about athletes who can't/won't ride unless they're plugged into their Garmin, so they can see instantaneous power/cadence/bagels consumed, and I'd really like to avoid that. They ask those people to go riding with the GPS in their bags or pockets, so they still collect the data and can look at it later, but are still feeling/experiencing the ride.

Posted by: Blofeld

This is very exciting! If you’re going custom you could get sliders set up for a 450-470mm chainstay range. I like the sound of that length for an XL-ish bike and a tendency to loop out. Slider options are great if you ever change fork length as well.

I think if your baseline is a 20” Stooge Scrambler the low A2C (and resultant stack) would make it fit very small (for the reach) compared to other hardtails you’d be able to test out. As V mentioned, the slack SA and (presumably) high saddle is going to put your weight pretty far back on the bike, despite the longish CS. Shortening the stem (bars rearward and a bit lower) also may make the front end feel lighter when climbing, so that’s something to consider as well.

I don’t believe that reach is a very good metric for bike sizing. If you’re going to go custom, I’m sure whomever your working with will be able to sort your cockpit dimensions out with whatever value you’d like as a reach number. In terms of steep climbs where the battle is spinning out vs looping out, the main factor should be where your saddle and centre of gravity sit relative to the rear wheel.

I'm riding two bikes regularly, a Surly Ice Cream Truck with an 80mm stem and a Stooge Scrambler with a 100mm stem. Both are susceptible to loop-outs, and with those stem lengths both are pretty close to the same size. The Ice Cream Truck has a bit higher stack with a 140mm fork, but you're right, the Stooge has a colossal spacer stack.

I was thinking sliders as well, maybe 460-480mm?

Posted by: velocipedestrian
I don't think I'll ever get a custom frame, not because I don't like the idea, but the analysis paralysis would preclude me ever committing to a set of numbers.

I'm kind of the opposite - excited to crunch numbers and come up with something original that fits me well.

I've been thinking about CS length and reach for a custom frame. The frame I'm riding right now could be 45mm longer up front (80mm stem -> 35mm stem, reach would be ~520mm). I want to do that, so I can run a shorter stem. But, I also currently have problems with keeping the front wheel down on really steep climbs. Do y'all think that lengthening the reach (moving the front wheel forwards) will already do that, or should I also take the opportunity to make the chainstays a little longer (10-20mm)? 

CS length is 450mm right now (29+/real big fat tires) - thinking 460 or 470mm.

Posted by: Vikb

I'm not saying your take is incorrect, but it's confusing given the way the Stooge models are marketed.

Agreed, I think there's a lot of overlap between the various models too, so it's hard to say what each one is intended for. For example - with drop bars on a Scrambler, isn't it just a bigger Rambler?

Not that I'm complaining that they're versatile. Especially now with one fewer bike; maybe that's a good place to stay, with a hardtail, a rigid MTB, and an upright Dutch-esque commuter/bar bike.

Posted by: Vikb

BTW - I was lamenting Stooge's move to straight forks on its bikes and then I noticed the Speedbomb that they've got in the store comes with a curved fork and room for 29 x 3.0" tires and an EBB for a clean SS setup. I'm glad to see the curved fork aesthetic is not totally gone. This way straight fork lovers have an option in the Mk6 and curvey forkers can get a Speedbomb...something for everyone. ;-)

I think I saw somewhere that Andy said the straight fork on the mk6 is because the Pinkbike article on the mk4 attracted a "rigid Enduro" crowd and he was getting a lot of bent mk4/mk5 forks (from people hucking off roofs, etc.), but he was planning to go with the curved forks on any non-mkX models.

I got hit by a car (and got off amazingly lightly - still alive, nothing broken besides my helmet and the bike) Tuesday so I'm considering swapping my road bike for a Rambler, would complement my Scrambler nicely. Or go to the dark side and get a FS. Less pavement, more dirt, in any case.

No cars on THIS road!

What do people think about slider dropouts vs. rockers? I'm thinking about getting a custom frame built, and I like the looks of the rockers, but the sliders seem like they would be more consistent/easier to align.

I was thinking about poop a lot during my ride across England. There are signs everywhere (I think it's hilarious that they say "No Fouling,") about dog poop, but then there are colossal piles of horse poop in the middle of the trail. Foul indeed.

Posted by: PKMzeta

Heading into the first winter with this new to me steel steed. What's everyone doing for rust prevention?

When I build up a bike, I spray Fluid Film (a lanolin aerosol - makes your bike smell like wet sheep for a couple weeks but it's less horribly toxic than Frame Saver) inside all the tubes & through the welding gas holes. They heavily use road salt where I'm from, so I usually give the bike a quick spray down when I get home if it's sloppy out too.

When I was choosing what to use, I found this thread where someone experimentally tested the various frame protection sprays: https://www.mtbr.com/threads/anti-corrosion-product-shootout.1073581/

Edit: and I see @Vikb posted in there, five years ago!

Successfully finished my bikepacking trip across England on my Scrambler. I'm impressed with the versatility of the bike - about 800km of riding over two weeks, roughly half pavement and half dirt. It behaved well loaded down with way too much stuff and stripped down to ride trails. Definitely an ATB. I think I've figured out why the fit is weird compared to my other hardtail too - I'm so upright on the Scrambler that the bars have to be much closer, which is why it's a shorter bike that I'm running a shorter stem on; if the bars were lower, with a more aggressive position, I'd go to a longer stem.

My Scrambler scrambling in its natural habitat - crossing the northern end of the Peak District. I just rode across England from Hull to Mold, in Wales, for a bikepacking race this weekend. 

And here I thought I had a monstrous stack of spacers on the Stooge. It's got a much longer headtube though.

I love that you can only see your cat's eyes gleaming out of the bag. My cat would never go for something like that, she hates being inside things.