craw profile

That drop by Brage Vestavik looks bigger than the one Super T pulled out of a hat to win in 2002. Drops of that magnitude are now a worthwhile risk in practice.

Wow this is great. I loved BIKE. I don't know why they needed to be reconsolidated or even renamed. I guess they recognized it wouldn't quite be BIKE without Mike. Something about its rebirth fails to attract me as BIKE did.  

Welcome!

SHRINKAGE

A good reminder to always have your backup bike dialled and ready to go. That reminds me, I should dial up my backup bike.

I know three people who bought late model e-bike mountain bikes in the last two years and those bikes are now out of commission indefinitely due to unavailability of parts. They might be good machines for noobs but a strong rider can grind those little motors' internals to dust.

Amnesty for assault charges due to commuters beating up bike thieves.

Capitalism and the environment could be compatible if externalities were properly factored into the price of goods. Externalities such as poor wages and corporate welfare and the cost to the environment. Things like meat would cost a lot more and people would consume them more sparingly. The system can work if we want it to.

Accidentally adjusting a Marzocchi ATA (air travel adjust) fork from around 2008 but following the wrong order of operations and breaking the little kevlar fishing line that held the internals in place.

Friday Fails are a perfect example of what not to do: drop into a high commitment move with no warmup, no skill development to build you up gradually to the requirements of that move, limited ability to crash well. Most riders in FF have no business trying those moves. There are lots of ways to work your way up to a big move that reduce risk. Find a similar but smaller version of it to get a taste of the dynamics and ways to bail safely, that way when you do the real thing you're less nervous and can focus better.

Scintilla of a first comment! Honourable mention to that first blind ladder/a-frame-over-a-log on Bookwus which makes me suck through my teeth every time with hope that I'm properly lined up.

Posted by: bux-bux

Posted by: tungsten

Posted by: KenN

Merge from Dollarton onto the bridge southbound is so dangerous, I'm surprised there aren't more accidents. That super short merge zone and poor angle fails all current highway design codes.

Ha. Try doing it with a fully loaded transit bus.

That you at 7:30 this morning? Merged on like a rockstar. Was a mess this morning due to the new light system was flashing red so that freaked people out. Will take bit to train everybody the red lights don't apply to the thru traffic. Hope they put blinders on the lights to lessen the confusion.

So what is supposed to happen here? The diagram looks like the lights alternate.

Posted by: Kenny

I don't think so, around 490 seems to be the limit.  Longer is going to probably be a custom fabricated chromoly unit, at which point one might start to question the concept overall....

I am on a chameleon carbon with an angleset,140 fork and mullet, so my esta is crazy slack right now, probably 71 or so. Slack sta on hardtail seems a non issue for me but in my case this will bring it up and I have room to get steeper. 

My static head angle will steepen probably at least a degree, so to about 65.5 or 66, but I'm thinking that the dynamic head angle will still be slack enough for the speeds and gear levels I'll be subjecting it to as a rigid bike in winter shore conditions. 

Then with full 29 it'll be more like 67 which should be great for pseudo gravel. 

I'd agree I can't see this approach being feasible on a chromag or something with  a 75+ degree sta with a 150+mm fork.

That makes sense. I guess if I wanted my progressive HT to be a bikepacking rig or something I could get a matching ti fork made. Probably be easier to get another one built up with angles suitable to a 140mm fork with a 530mm A-C. Right? N+1!

Posted by: Kenny

Anyone on full rigid? 

For winter I'm thinking about replacing my 140mm 29er suspension fork with  a 480-490mm through axle rigid fork. 

Basically I'll run 29+/27.5+ mullet for trail, and then have another light/narrow 29er wheelset for pseudo-gravel bike excursions.

AMajor certainly has. My HT is designed around a full 160mm 29er fork so there aren't really any nice rigid carbon options at that length. This bike could definitely run a steeper head angle but the ESTA would be unreasonable. Anyone know of a ~550mm rigid carbon fork?

Posted by: RAHrider

Posted by: craw

Turner only make Ti hardtails now? And not even manufactured in the USA. As someone who had a peak RFX in 2000 this development is a little sad.

:(

I couldn't figure out where they are made. That is so sad. I can't figure out why people want to pay that much for an overseas non-custom bike. The chromag ti as well as the knolly rigid bikes all fall into that category. 

Maybe one day there will be a bigger push to bring manufacturing here.

If they were made in the US you can bet that fact would be displayed prominently. It's not like there isn't the capacity for it domestically.

I bought my custom ti frames from one of the shops those brands outsource to. The difference? I got to design every single aspect of the geometry, cable routing, tubing diameter, wall thickness, etc. For $1000 USD - at that price you could order one as a tester then order a second one perfect with all the things you learned. But then again I'm not brand loyal. I'm loyal to fit, so that makes me automatically disloyal to the brands mentioned.

The system they are implementing to handle the Dollarton-westward-to-south-on-the-bridge merge lane is going to be a huge improvement. Currently there are so many merges in such a short distance.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation-projects/highway-1-lower-lynn-improvements/highway-1-main-street-dollarton-highway-interchange

Turner only make Ti hardtails now? And not even manufactured in the USA. As someone who had a peak RFX in 2000 this development is a little sad.

Posted by: RAHrider

I hardly use any compression on any of my forks. I always try to turn up the compression as I'm over 200 lbs and ride fairly aggressively and figure that they put that adjustability in for a reason and if I'm not using it, who is? Every time I turn it up I just end up rolling it back as the fork starts to feel harsh. I suspect it also has something to do with our terrain in bc. Given the sustained steepness of our trails, we tend to ride deeper in our travel for long sections of trail. For that reason, we over fork and as well, probably run slightly stiffer springs with more progression. If I was riding in Ontario I could see myself running less spring to allow me to use more of the travel and some compression damping for support. 

This all being said, my mk1 (coil) is one of my favorite forks and I certainly wouldn't drop 300 bucks so that my compression dial is to 2 clicks instead of open.

Same for me. I'm well over 200lbs as well and I find the compression settings at 1-2 clicks more than enough. I like the fork firm and riding high and both my MK1 and MK2 accomplish this. It's nice that there is a fork that rides correctly for 200lb+ riders right out of the box. Every Fox or RS fork I've ever had seemed toyish and needed a surprising amount of customization to get it to ride right, not to mention the inevitable creaking and CSU warranty. I've had my MK1 for two seasons+ with regular service and zero issues. I got my MK2 early in 2021 and so far it's as good.

I have both and use them regularly on two bikes. I have zero intention of upgrading the damper on my MK1. It's totally good the way it is, which is a little less refined than the MK2 and that's totally fine.

I've had an MK1 and an MK2, still riding both. I still don't use much HSC or LSC on either. The MK2 damper has a slighter nicer refined vibe despite the similarities in where I set my compression.

Done