DadStillRides profile

Cool placement of the tent on the toptube.

I've got a Big Agnes -20 degree bag that has kept me warm enough for winter bike packing with my summer tent. I especially like how the liner can clip right into the bag to keep tangles to a minimum.

Curious if you noticed more rear wheel drag through chonky descents? That seems like the biggest tradeoff.. also less grip on tech climbs, but that doesn't matter as much to me.

Or if you're not willing to go through the effort, just switch to 2.5 super light tubes. I was skeptical when they were recommended to me years ago, but I've very rarely flatted riding pretty hard and saved about ½ lb per wheel. I typically run 5.5 psi on a 4.6 front tire and 7.5 on a 4.0 rear for groomed trail riding. The only downside is a patch won't hold to a tube stretched that much when you do eventually flat.

Great point on the mineral oil brakes in the cold. My og salsa beargrease came with bb7s. I switched them out for a pair of Shimano xts and the performance was so incredibly poor in the coldest conditions (also when the snow rides fastest) I went back to the bb7s. When I got a hardtail with guides, I switched them to the fatty knowing the dot fluid would perform better in the cold and they've been an excellent fit. Not that anyone who doesn't already know would care, but freehub grease selection is also important for cold weather riding.

Yeah, it's so weird to ride a tech chonk trail you know very well that's turned into a flow trail by snow.

To me, fat bike trail riding makes most sense during long periods between storms when you're less interested in going skiing. Night riding on snow also just feels more right to me than my summer night rides. Sure, most of the time it doesn't compare to mountain biking in summer, but it sure beats going for a jog or especially exercising indoors.

Appreciate the no bs, honest reviews here. I think those x alps are some of the nicest looking mtb shoes on the market and have been curious about them for a while. Bummer to hear they are grip challenged.

Any comment on length of the pants? Seems like most bike specific pants are laughably short for tall folks like myself.

I've also blown through way too many 30mm bbs on my rf cranks. I recently learned that cane creek makes 30mm bbs that are supposed to last longer. Anyone have experience with them?

A little tangent on the dmr vaults: definitely my favorite feeling pedal as well, but I broke 2 on my dj the first season they came out and didn't dare try mashing then on rocks with my full squish. Have other people had durability issues with the vaults? Or what I'm hoping to hear - durability issues in the early days, but something that's since been resolved?.. Would love to justify trying them out again.

If we can all just agree that only kooks don't roll their bars to align with head angle, we can save ourselves this whole debate

Yeah, I mean I get most hg freehub bodies get some gouging eventually, but this was by far the worst I've seen in a short amount of time. My hg driven single speed cross freehubs faired better.