cam@nsmb.com profile

Ummmm...  Firstly, Lu Kz is definitely not stupid. Secondly, if you read the entire comments thread you'll notice that his reply is e-sarc aimed at the first poster in this thread - who is actually from Oregon. 

Just a friendly heads up!

That was 57lbs with the heaviest inserts available so closer to 55 with the 740wh battery.

Excellent insight as usual Lu Kz.

These bikes were released today which is why these articles are visible today. I think if you scroll through our content you’ll see the vast majority of our articles are dedicated to mountain bikes. 

We may be getting ridiculous, as you say, but if you pay attention I think you’ll notice the vast majority of our articles  are about, “riders, trails, gear, and ACTUAL bikes..”

Cheers!

ON TRAIL UPDATE (a drumroll please)

I dragged Luca on a ride on the only decent trail near Scotch Creek on Shuswap Lake. It's steep enough to be way out of his comfort zone but I told him to just ride the parts he felt comfortable on. On a couple of sections he opted to walk I yelled at him to leave his bike and I hiked up to ride it down. The first thing I noticed was that the Magura 4-piston caliper up front was incredibly grabby but also very powerful, which was a dangerous combo. I was able to feather enough to make things work but the bike felt a little sketchy otherwise. The short overall length and particularly the reach made it feel very small and scary for me. It fits him a little better but it'll take some getting used to.

I'll try some soap and water on the rotors in case they are contaminated but this may have just been a case of them being too new. Other thoughts include mulleting and installing an angle set, if possible. What the bike lacked in stability it partially made up for with agility. It also felt nice and solid, but I still opted to skip the nastiest line at the end of the trail on it, despite rolling it rather easily on my Yeti. The biggest sensation was that I was back to the days of being on top of the bike rather than within it like I am on a modern frame with a reach over 475mm. 

There is more work to be done but I am not completely discouraged by the preliminary results.

Interesting that you think the HA is scary with the long fork, considering it would be significantly slacker with a shorter fork! I'm thinking of both an angle set and a mullet set up to make things both lower and slacker.

Shoulda coulda... This solution is sort of dual purpose because everything aside from headset, BB, post. and rear wheel will transfer over to a modern bike. And it has cost me very little out of pocket thus far.

Fork is new and rear shock was indeed rebuilt but thanks very much for the offer.

That sounds like such fun!

Thanks Skeen!

Excellent tips! If we end up keeping this for longer (and it works out well for Luca) I may dive into that sort of exploration. A rear end from an older Stumpy (same gen) would be sweet for sure!

There certainly was a time when the throws were different but they are certainly very close at this point because the shifting is close to where I want it to be. More futzing to be done for sure.

Whoa. I've missed you guys. 

I'm on day 14 of quarantine but as of midnight tonight I can get poked. I just need to find a poker.

Insurance for a kid as primary driver is fucking absurd.

LOL. Nothing too dramatic POZ but a couple of scrapes for sure. We might have hit a stone wall with me riding shotgun. Luckily the sidewalk wasn't littered with babies and we didn't hit too hard. 

Thanks Andy. Mike is a friend of a friend so I'll get in touch with him. A good start.

Just bolted a 170 mm Fox 36 to the front of the Honzo ESD for the final chapter of the test. Looking forward to trying it but I wish more of my buddies rode hard tails. That would make it more fun, and less punishing trying to keep up. It’s pretty rewarding when I do though.

Does anybody know a keen mountain biker who owns or works at an auto body shop and is interested in contra? I currently have a lot of great stuff to trade, and a daughter who is learning to drive!

I cut grooves in a couple of regular valves and they worked just fine. But if you buy a set of Cushcore valves are included.

If you look at how easy trials motos are on trails the answer may be no Mark. Improved grip means less sliding as well.

Had my second ride on these yesterday and I’ve been blown away. I think there is a lot more going on than the Tannus PR indicates. It seems the insert acts like suspension and when there is an impact to the tire it increases pressure so air that is within the insert stays put until it is slowly released by the 4 slits. It acts a little like Procore st first and it allows outrageously low pressures to provide ample support.

I’ll have to check but I think I was under 14 psi front and rear on a top to bottom that included TNT and Cambodia yesterday. Sidewall support and grip are ridiculous. And this was with DHR2s with exo casings.

All this for 160 grams. I was on Rimpacts before this and they are very good aside from the sidewall support, but they don’t come close to the new Tannus.

I'm late to this thread but this may not have been mentioned. Tips from pro rider etc. about how to deal with a slump. 

https://nsmb.com/articles/15-tips-dump-slump/

I just did a rebuild with Jeff at Bikeroom on a set of XTR 9100 hubs and before I publish my article I wanted to hear some opinions from the big brains in here. And the small ones actually. 

Do cup and cone hubs scare you? Do you love cartridge bearings? Do you run Chris King to get the best of both worlds? 

Personally I'm a bit of a traditionalist so I appreciate them from that perspective and I like the user serviceability without special tools, aside from 22mm cone wrenches. I also like never worrying about my hubs getting destroyed because of a lack of maintenance which tilts me toward cartridge bearings. 

I'll add a poll question.

I just wanted to say thanks to those of you on the Gear board for keeping things moving so nicely. I always learn new things when I'm lurking and I appreciate the excellent group think that goes on here.

About that request...

If those of you who haven't yet filled out our survey could please give it a look we'd be eternally grateful. This not only gives us valuable info, it helps keeps the lights on around here. It only takes a few minutes.

https://nsmb.com/articles/yftc-nsmb-reader-survey/

Hope to see some of you on the trails in 2020!

Cam