Ride.DMC profile

In my experience adding a -2 degree angleset to my bike shortened the reach by a noticeable amount.  Still a worthy upgrade though.

@Andrew Major I would be interested to hear why/how it would lengthen the reach on this frame?

Yeah, those pants are too short for you.  Now that we're getting warmer I'm looking for a lighter weight pant.  I may just check these out.

I think the ankle zip is so you can pull the pants on/off over shoes, or better yet put your knee pads on AFTER you put your pants on...  I really like my RaceFace Conspiracy rain pants, but the fact that I have to put my pads on before I put the pants on is a real pain in the butt.  It usually means I pad up at home - even if I have a 45 minute drive to the trailhead.

If you the zipper doesn't allow you to put knee pads on after the fact that's a swing and miss.

This is a fair point, and with some of the direct to consumer brands starting to offer the end user the ability to customize their bike order, I wonder if we will ever see this sort of customization trickle down to local bike shops?

It would be great if you could spec your tires and dropper post length before even taking the bike out the front door of the shop and not have to eat a bunch of the cost because you want to switch things up a bit.

I always get a bit of a chuckle when bike reviewers from the PNW gripe about tire compound.  Sure, if the bikes were only sold in the PNW, and were only intended to be ridden between October and March, maybe you could blame some product manager somewhere for having the audacity to choose Maxx Terra over Maxx Grip (or other brand equivalents).

Truth is MaxxTerra is going to be ample grippy for half the year here, and probably a heckuva lot more often everywhere else.

But tire preference is so personal who am I to say anything really?

Another benefit of the IXS Trigger FF is that the visor is adjustable with a wide range of motion.  For me it came down to a choice bewteen the IXS, the Smith Mainline and the Fox Proframe.  All 3 fit my head nicely, but in the end the Smith didn't have a fidlock buckle and I am personally tired of struggling with a D ring, and the Fox had a fixed visor.  The IXS happened to have a great fit and all of the little extras I was hoping to get.

I wear a full face helmet probably 60% - 75% of the time.  I have an IXS Trigger FF which is super light, breathable, and comfortable.  The times that I am not wearing it are if I'm just cruising around in the Watershed.  If I'm riding the North Shore or Off-shore mountains I usually have my FF on.

The only thing I don't like about it is having to take my helmet off to get a drink of water, but I consider that a small price to pay (and it's a problem I could probably solve if I used a water bottle with a straw or something).

Thanks for the replies.  Next ride I will put the Lumina 1200 on my helmet and see how it works out.  As for riding alone at night - I am not afraid to admit that I am somewhat weary of being alone in the woods at night!  My solution is simple - I just bring by dog with me and try to ride well within my abilities.

I've only recently started night riding.  I use a two light system (one on the bars, one on the helmet), and I have been using the lighter weight light (NiteRider Lumina 650) on my helmet, and the heavier more powerful light (NiteRider Lumina 1200) on my bars.

But honestly the weight difference is not all that much.  Would it be better to run the more powerful light on my helmet?

Based on how the lights work it appears (to me at least) that the Lumina 1200 has a wider pattern and the Lumina 650 is more of a spot light, which is mainly how I determined which should go on the bars and which should go on the helmet.

I will experiment with this but is it common to put the brighter/more powerful light on your helmet?

There is an error in the caption for the image of the Spec Sheet, which also lists the stem as being 40 metres :)

Posted by: Adam-West

I'm still on ship for another 3 weeks. I just  have to shave a minute off my time and I'm probably  not as serious about it as you guys all are haha.

Do what Syncro says and you should be golden.

Posted by: Adam-West

So we're doing a stationary bike 10k challenge on the ship, basically on a set level go as hard as you can for 10k and post up your time. 

I need to beat my watch keeping engineers time and my plan of attack is to increase the difficulty  by an extra level of resistance for a couple days and then sandbag on the lower level. That should work right?

I don't know if a couple of days/rides will do much except maybe tire you out...  I can't speak for cycling, but I know when I was training for running events (10k's, half marathon, marathon) we did a variety of different training runs - some of which included increasing resistance or intensity (like running hills, or doing track ladders or what have you), but we'd also incorporate long slow runs. And recovery runs.  But all these things are done over several weeks and we would ramp up and taper down the training so as not to do too much, too soon, or be completely worn out come race day.

How much time do you have to prepare?

That's a big rock. Well done.

Posted by: XXX_er

Knee padz with sleeves usually stay up while  knee padz with straps do not

but then you have to remember to put them on before you put your shoes on

which might be asking too much ?

You also have to remember to put them on before you put your riding pants on - at least all the modern riding pants that are trim fit with unnecessarily slim fitting cuffs.

Posted by: andy-eunson

I have the 7Mesh pants. Superb. Not cheap though. I can see wearing these into the warmer weather for sun and bug protection. Good riding gear is cut to fit while riding as oposed to some gear that’s cut to fit standing up. Regular hiking pants don’t work so well for riding because the waist will go all plumbers butt when you move back.

I just bought a pair of the 7mesh glidepath pants, and they are fantastic.  I bought them specifically for riding in warmer weather.  I have a pair of RaceFace Agent rain pants (now called Conspiracy) that are great for the winter, but anything above 10 degrees Celsius and they are too hot.  The glidepath pants seem light enough that I should be able to wear them except on the hottest days - but that is just speculation at this point...  We've had so much rain lately haven't had a chance to ride in them in nice/warm weather.

But on the topic of kneepads - for the past year and a half I have been using the Chromag 'Rift' knee guards (https://ca.chromagbikes.com/collections/protection/products/rift). Not only do they stay in place, they are comfortable enough to pedal in all day long.

I'm loving the Squirt.  I got tipped to it by this thread and I am never going back to traditional lubes.  Not having to use a flat bladed screw driver to clean the hard black gunk off the jockey wheels on my derailleur brings me a lot of joy.  My entire drivetrain also looks showroom clean all of the time now.  I love it.

Posted by: silverbansheebike

I've just mentioned this in another forum but I wonder if there's some crossover point where we can say that everything past a certain year was surely too old or out of place to ride or won't help with skills etc. or if the point of an "old" bike will always be a certain number of years back from the present.

I stepped away from the sport for about a decade.  In that time away dropper posts became a common thing, and to be honest it has been such a game changer in terms of the amount of enjoyment that I have on a ride that I will confidently say that I'm not interested in riding a bike without one.  So that's how I will determine how "old" is too old. If the frame is not dropper post compatible I'm not interested.

Keep in mind I'm not talking about niche bikes/disciplines.  My sons dirt jumper doesn't have a dropper post and I will gladly take it to the pump track and have a good time.  If I go to Whistler and I decide to rent a DH bike that doesn't have a dropper - same thing.  It will still be a good time.

I'm talking specifically about biking in the woods on trails that involve going up, down, and everything in between, over and over again.  Not having to stop and adjust seat height with an allen key or quick release has added an incredible amount of flow to every ride.  I'm pretty sure I use my dropper more often than I shift gears (yes, I should probably use my derailleur more, or just say F it and go single speed).

I don't buy what he's selling in that video.  There's too many variables.  I'm 5'10, but my wingspan is 6'3".  According to his method my ideal range for reach is 429mm - 446mm.

I'm currently riding a bike with a 450mm reach and it feels too small for me.  I'm trying (waiting) to get a new bike with a longer reach to fit me better.  Based on bikes I've had a chance to throw a leg over and ride my ideal reach is more like 465mm - 480mm.

I mean, I can ride my bike just fine, but I think slightly larger would be more comfortable for the riding I'm doing these days.

Posted by: Mic

Posted by: thaaad

The world has gone fucking mad.

I think moments like this are just a weird and crazy phase. Nero did not last long, as did that one Austrian. Ideas that are based on fear and hatred do not really work out in the end, I think.

They can do a lot of damage and kill a lot of people in a very short amount of time though.  That's what's so frightening.

Hi Mike - I pm'd you the details of what I ordered.  Just be sure to check your frames head tube length as that could change based on frame size, frame material, or even wheel size.  My frame has a 120mm long head tube so I ordered set 4, which fits frames from 120mm - 129mm.