Coarsebass profile

I've been beating the sunrise bar brutality drum for a while now... I still see so many people suggest them as a compliant bar because 22.2 and steel is real... But they're the stiffest bars I've ever owned since 90s BMX stuff. Absolute jackhammers, because they're budget steel boat anchors. I still run them on my fat bike.

Friday: Deccessorization

Monday: hand guards

PICK ONE NSMB!

In all seriousness, I ride almost exclusively tight, natural trails and have the bloody knuckles and wrecked grips to prove it. I've been handguard curious for years... Loved them on my motorcycle, when I rode motorcycles.

I've been waiting for this write up, and I'm not disappointed. I really regret going Shimano 12 speed, it's delicate, high maintenance and I don't need the range, a fact constantly drilled into my head by my two other bikes with Shimano 11s, which are just plain more enjoyable to use and ride.

What I'm REALLY excited about is that I think the Deore and XT level linkglide cassettes are the same, except for the fact that the XT has a 50t cog riveted to the 43. That means I can build a 10s XT drivetrain with an 11-43 cassette, just using the low limit screw to lock out the last click on the shifter. Lighter than the big XT cassette, durable, my ideal range...

I've got a Chamois Hagar and am an evil og... I was a hucker kid on a 26/24 mullet Imperial with Gazzaloddis back in the day... But evils current line up confuses me. 

The CH is, 3 years later, still the most progressive gravel bike out there and it's an absolute beast. Everything else seems like it's set up for a weekender that wants a cringey take on a more hardcore image, and will pay to play. I'm getting skeeved out just thinking about it.

It sucks fat bikes are so strongly associated with boomer bikes, because they're an awesome way to extend your riding season and open up your terrain. Any time of year, my Ice Cream trucks crawls, smashes and grinds through shit that is absolutely unrideable on anything else, and it does it loaded, too. In the dead of winter, it'll blaze a trail through fresh snow, and the local trails triple in size... Because instead of riding next to rivers, streams, ponds, I'm riding on, across and over them. Tons of fun... Not the same as a normal mountain bike, but getting my ICT was one of the best cycling purchases I've ever made.

It's got geo on the trailish/all rounder side of enduro, but big travel and the idler/high pivot combo that seems to fall flat on.. flatter rides. Interesting combo...

I could honestly see something like that for a race pedal coming back around, especially with the popularity of plastic flats and lower BBs... new saint single sided SPD with removable skid plate...

Sort of similar, Shimano dual sided trekking pedals are similarly weighted so they stand up vertically and you can choose your own adventure wether clipping in or running flat fairly easily... Those pedals are a guilty pleasure of mine on commuter/SUV bikes, and that feature actually works pretty well.

I'm going to be a negative nancy and harp on the paralysis part - it's driven by absolutely asinine marketing. I've been running Pirellis on my gravel bike all year with great results, which has me eyeing their MTB line. A few tread patterns, casings, compounds, a couple widths for most, and I'm just looking for 29ers. The marketing speak is impenetrable and useless.

Conti just got product of the year. On another website... So I go check them out, because as much as I've been a Maxxis guy for a decade plus, it's fun to try new things. A few treads, compounds, casings, widths AND some legacy product with entirely different language/nomenclature thrown in and a functionally useless 'periodic table's of tires... All marketing garbage.

Maxxis isn't much better, but I'm at least used to it, and I do think their literature is published at a higher standard of telling you what a 3CMG EXO+ tire actually is, and they have a PDF of their full offering you can peruse and make relatively easy comparisons between their massive, massive tire offering.

Consumers, shops, are confused, needlessly. It's unsustainable and stupid.

Shimanos last gen of 10 speed, 11-36 XT cassette, and that whole group set, really, was their best ever. I'm let down by their 12s offering, and 11s was ok.... New Deore 11s is a great value, though.

I'm a steel guy, just from a practicality, budget, value perspective, but I'm lusting after Ti right now, thinking I may give it a try next year...

At the end of the day, did you notice any real difference in ride between bikes? Lots of mythology and marketing goes with Ti... But it's also just metal. That said, tube profiles, diameters, etc, that are differentiatiors between the Ti and steel frames could definitely influence feel. I find weight is something you notice hoisting the bike off the rack or stand, feels good in the first quick sprint up to speed on the trail... Then I forget about. Wheels are different, light wheels feel great and it takes a while for that sheen to wear off, but straight bike weight... My bikes lose a pound every ride as I drink my water and I never notice.