taprider profile

^BS! are you trolling?

Ok, I'll bite.

XC racers and coaches are constantly experimenting with and researching new technologies, looking for marginal gains. It's like Formula 1, but just with less money.

You should see the boxes of different lengths of cranks, stems, handlebars etc., and various shoe modifications, measuring instruments, plus journals/records of various experiments that the coaches of the Elite racers have.

Maybe mid race season, racers are hesitant to make changes if they are doing well, but it's full on mad science in the off-season.

Plus where do you get "road bikes handle like utter crap for the speeds and terrain they are riding in". Cornering at speed is what is important, not preventing endos. I have reached 98kmph on an old school Colnago on a dowhnill corner, and there was no shimmy or anything but a solid arrow like feeling

"(he has tried everything else!)"

lol

EWS professionals ride surprisingly short bikes – for good reason https://enduro-mtb.com/en/enduro-race-bike-mtb-review/

and more in my post below

To add to your comments.  Seat tube angle (providing your can drop your seat post) is not important when standing.

Also when going downhill, your body must resist braking forces, but also be able to un-weight the front wheel (so maybe long front and short rear is still effective, but I don't think that would be good for cornering, explaining why some EWS pros like shorter bikes).

For what I would set up the bike for depends on use?  For trials or slope style, then obviously set up for the most challenging, but for racing or all-round use (such as ride to the ride) then a set up that is most efficient, comfortable or fastest overall (and just be a little bit more careful for the most challenging parts).  Or what if your chosen most challenging parts are off camber slippery corners, and not Dansitions or jumps into rough landing zones.

I disappeared down the internet rabbit hole looking for an answer

EWS professionals ride surprisingly short bikes – for good reason https://enduro-mtb.com/en/enduro-race-bike-mtb-review/, https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/ , https://www.renehersecycles.com/myth-5-an-upright-position-is-more-comfortable/

^ with sites like these for a start

some of my observations

1. The forward leaning torso angle of a road cyclist is not all about aerodynamics. Many of our muscles are used to keep us upright in a running and walking position; however, when those muscles do not have to do the work of supporting us upright, it spares energy and movement within the torso to breath deeper (such as you see when people squat over to recover their breath after running up stairs, or are having trouble because of some health problem)

2. When standing on the pedals, if the front centre is too long, your body has to do extra work to weigh the front tire adequately. Ideally, when standing on the pedals in neutral position, you can lift your hands and still be balanced over your feet and not tip forward, or use other muscles to maintain balance (partially reducing range of motion)

3. Riders have all different pedaling styles (heel droppers, toe tippers, flat footers, plus mid foot or ball over spindle variations) and seated postures (upright, leaning forward from the top of an upright pelvis, to a leaning forward pelvis with extended horizontal torso...). All these variation affect seat behind BB placement, seat angle and seat to BB length, but ideally, as with standing, you should be balanced enough to lift your hands off the bars without straining pelvic and torso muscles to maintain balance (tri-bars are an exception, but there still needs to be balance and lack of muscle strain to maintain position).

4. Road bike races can have steeper climbs than IMBA/North Shore trail standards. There are even road races that are just hill climbs, or up and over a mountain pass then plummet back down to the valley in a tuck. So mtn biking is not as much of a special case as many think.

5. As Tehllama42 already posted. There is a compromise between reducing tendency to endo vs front tire grip (for me after experimenting with an angle adjust headset, I chose front tire grip, since for an endo I can usually see it coming and anticipate; whereas, for cornering at the limit there is often no warning)

6. Road sprinters use a steeper seat tube than road tour-ers, since the sprinters need to reduce the transition between seated and standing (triathlon is even more extreme, but it is not about being dynamic on the bike).

So, even if my climb angle is 10 to 20 degrees, I don't think a 83 to 93 degree seat tube angle will be a good idea.

Yes, I should give up on the shifters and derailleurs completely

But my Fromme gearing would be 1:1

why didn't you do 3 cogs on the back too?

that way you would have 3 parallel single speed drive drains and wouldn't need any pulley for a hard tail or rigid

My Frankenbike drive train would still be  a Tringle-speed with a Shimano front pull side swing front derailleur (you should try one, they shift as well as the best rear shifters) and an old Campagnolo Record of Huret Jubilee rear derailleur with just one cog, like a Singulator encase you are running dual suspsension.

With just one friction shifter. The spring direction from the front and rear derailleurs work in opposite directions and the forces would cancel each other out.  Maybe using some kind of  Y pivot mounted just ahead of the front derailleur

Hopefully some of my old Cycle Dynamic individual Ti cogs could still be used (easily under 150 gm maybe 180 with aluminum spacers.

Purpose would be for bikepacking where you go from having to backpack your bike 38km without the tires touching the ground, 2 hour long 25%+ climbs, to hour(s) long rail grade downhills or plateau/prairie backroads with a tailwind

wow, that was cool to watch

Another cool thing I noticed, is that the thru axle/QR can be inserted left or right

I don't know.

I tried with compressed air too, but maybe you have a bigger compressor and better fittings. 

I suppose the other side piston would work for you too

I have a 985 with a stuck piston (see about page 4 of this forum)

and Dr. Seuss bikes links me to MC Escher bikes

Wikipedia says: "Outeniqua" is said to be derived from a Khoikhoi tribe that once lived in the mountains of South Africa, and means "they who bear honey"

Still can't figure how it looks like it sounds. I'm getting Winnie the Poo mixed with Dr. Seuss visions.

replace the water cannon with pressurized beer kegs and you are good to go

Your photos please

Posted by: tashi

No kidding, dancing can often lead to children, the most dangerous creatures possible.

Still waiting to hear what song/music is behind your story?

^ weird choice of definition of Dirtbag

this is what is usually meant by the term

from urban dictionary

"Dirtbag
A person who is committed to a given (usually extreme) lifestyle to the point of abandoning employment and other societal norms in order to pursue said lifestyle. Dirtbags can be distinguished from hippies by the fact that dirtbags have a specific reason for their living communaly and generally non-hygenically; dirtbags are seeking to spend all of their moments pursuing their lifestyle
The best examples of dirtbags and dirtbagging are the communities of climbers that can be found in any of the major climbing areas of North America--Squamish, BC; Yosemite, CA; Joshua Tree, CA; etc."

Yes, by that definition I was a Dirtbag in the 1980s and 1990s, but I don't think anyone around here that pays rent or towards a mortgage classifies as a Dirtbag anymore.

However, if you are couch surfing or have a secret tent site (thinking of you JF and Roberto) to ride the Shore , you may qualify

the previous definition seems to have confused dirtbag with "douche bag"

for bracketing you need something reproducible, and not dependent on your line choice or rider anticipation

I suggest the stairs around Cap College

Suntour does not make a bolt on for the new Axon-Duron-Durolux type forks. Theirs has a 20 piece complicated QR, which although works well, is just as fiddly as getting a hex key out, and looks like trouble when it gets jammed with mud in the middle of nowhere

https://r2-bike.com/SHIFT-UP-Thru-Axle-15-x-110-mm-for-SR-Suntour-BOOST

By the time you pay shipping, exchange and duty, that works out to ~$150.  and the Roberts Axle Project version has weird ends for attaching panniers and is not much cheaper.

For that amount of money, I would rather buy something locally custom made, but that would probably mean, to get the cost less than $150, would be to pay for ten or more.

Besides Andrew, who else is running Suntour around here?

I can't believe the mess of cable routing on some of those bikes, especially for catalogue or marketing photos