delusional profile

Thanks!

Oh, are those the new Patagonia pants in the picture? I'm really interested in these. Any early feedback?

This conversation grabbed me, and I found myself thinking it about it while I was riding today. In this case, isn't everyone right to a degree? It seems like, by removing stem spacers and installing a high rise bar, Andrew was both increasing reach AND increasing effective stem length (or, at least the horizontal distance between grips and steering axis).

From what I can see, if you add or remove stem spacers without changing the bar or stem, then you are modifying the effective reach and stack. That is, if you remove stem spacers, the horizontal distance between grips and bottom bracket will increase (and the vertical decrease) but the relationship between the grips and the steering axis will remain the same. So the increase in horizontal distance is in the reach.

Similarly, if you add higher rise bars to a bike, but keep all other variables the same, you are increasing the effective stem length by moving the grips further away, horizontally, from the steering axis.

Every time I start thinking about this stuff I realize how incredibly complex bike geometry really is! There's just so many variables here I'm not taking into account (and not at all equipped to) I'm not sure that I really know anything about how to make a bike ride well.

Context really matters here. The Picts are long gone social group, with no real reverberations that can be said to be felt in the lives of people today. Indigenous peoples in the US and Canada are still very much here today, and still suffering under colonialism. Yeti are based in the US, their main market is the US, and in the US tribe is a term both legally and socially connected to Indigenous peoples.

There is a difference between something being offensive in the sense that "I am offended" and offensive in the sense of "an army going on the offensive". When we're talking about words that operate to re-inforce structural power dynamics that are literally killing people and erasing cultures we are saying something closer to the latter definition, when you don't like the word "fuck" because it upsets your delicate sensibilities you are talking about something closer to the former.

I'll probably be proved wrong, but doesn't seem that likely (or at least desirable) to me. Unlike seatposts and shifters when we just want to hit a button and have something happen, with braking the feedback through the lever is really important to balancing traction. Replicating that with electronics makes things way more complex, and is still unlikely to ever produce close to the same feeling.

I'm thinking here about cars and fly by wire stuff, that even at it's best never feels even close to as good as well engineered mechanical solutions. For instance, any car I've driven with power steering has given significantly less information through the wheel than good unpowered steering, and I've never driven a car with electric power steering that didn't feel like a (bad) computer game.

I think this is also the first peer reviewed data available on MIPS? And in what appears to be a relatively well regarded journal in the field (I'm a total outsider to the field though, so unsure about this).

Have you experimented with thermal insoles at all? I've been looking around, and they seem like a potentially really cheap option that might well mean we can chose pedals based on what we want to ride, rather than how cold our feet get.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B005ZUI7N2/?tag=insolesclarity-20

No thankfully not! I use HN as the example of about the only sort of trail surface that I don't see described as "loam" online.

I think "loam" is so overused as a hype word by anyone describing any trail that isn't packed down like Half Nelson that it's long since ceased to have any really specific meaning beyond "this trail was good".

I did this with my Explosif. Extended the fork by 20mm (to 140mm) and added a -1deg Works Components headset. It's not been on the bike that long, but seems to work really well so far; the bike feels way more aggressive and comfortable carrying speed. I did find that my first ride was pretty messy; I kept blowing out corners and understeering all over the place. I think that I was slower to adjust to the more forward body position needed when it was a change in geometry on the same bike rather than going to a new bike, and I'd find myself default to sitting too far back when things got a little wild. So, maybe take it easy first few rides and give yourself time to adjust!

Trail grading is always going to be relative to the area. BC blue trails in general are often of a level that would be black in a lot of other places. Squamish has a lot less jank than the Shore, and consequently a lot more riders in full lycra and on XC bikes, so the grading probably represents that. 

Don't forget that videos always make things look less technical than they are though!

That is not correct.

I actually replaced a bent lever blade last week on a ZEE. A friend bent his in a crash. The new lever blade was 11€ and I was able to just walk into my LBS and buy it. They are available as spare parts.

It was an easy, simple five minute repair. No special tools needed. Just loosen an little screw, push the pin/axle out. Take the bent blade out, insert the new one. Reinsert, tighten screw. Done.

Good to know, thanks. I must have got my wires crossed there then.

Question: For those who use the Solarstorm X2 lights, when ordering on Lightmalls do you just order the regular 4cell battery pack or do you get the larger/waterproof options.

I would be using the lights for 2 hour rides at most, ideally not in the rain.

Thanks!

I'd buy the waterproof. When I bought mine that wasn't available, and I spent an extra $20 on plasti-dip to waterproof the batteries myself. If you live in BC, they'll get wet.

As for capacity - I find the 4 cell is ample for my 2-3 hour rides. I generally just have the bar light on, set to low level, when climbing, and then put both lights on full for the descent. With that pattern I generally have more than enough light for most rides.

From what I understand current gen Shimano brakes are not able to be rebuilt. To the point that you bend a lever, you buy a whole new master cylinder!

That's leaning me very heavily towards picking up some Guides instead for my next set of brakes.

Interesting to read. I started experiencing the same thing on my XT's while in the Alps this summer (lots of long rough descents).

Since I came back to BC it's happened fairly often as well - mostly on longer descents. I'd been blaming sticky calipers, and actually just cleaned and lubed them the other day in an attempt to fix it. Too early to tell if that's solved it or not though.

So wanna move up the quality of my lights.
Have the magic shines, not bad but too much like a spot light.
Want something that floods better. A bar remote would be pretty pimp too.

Suggestions and experiences?
Brock

For a quick fix to get a broader beam pattern from your MagicShine you can chuck in one of these lenses: https://www.amazon.com/Angle-MagicShine-Gemini-Lights-Headlight/dp/B004WLCLQY

I've been running one of those in my bar light, with a standard spot style MagicShine on my head, very happily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8gPY66O1wg

This isn't quite a scandi flick though, that needs a much less pronounced turn to the outside than what I'm talking about (much more of a flick in fact) and as far as I understand works to un-weight the suspension as you're turning in to help encourage the slide.

It could be working in the same way though, with braking happening within the "flick".

Heavy and expensive maybe, but it is the first iteration of something new. Give it a few generations and it could get pretty interesting. With the pain in the neck chainline is on 11 speed I could definitely see the value in this.

Kind of cool info there, for instance the choice of the Guide R lever "rather than their higher end levers, because it needed to be very robust in case the bike fell over and landed on it" is good to know when buying new brakes!

The One-Up chainline is better for sure… I use a B-labs chainring which is optimized for a 47mm chainline… super smooth.

Hadn't spotted those, thanks! Got to drop to a 30t to get the 47mm, but does go down to 49mm with the 32t.

Did you manage to pick one up locally, or is it mail order only?