Vikb profile

I listen to the BC Medical Officer's daily briefing every day. As long as she keep saying it's a good idea to get out and ride your bike that's what I am going to do. If she says to stop doing that I will.

I've never had ergonomic issues with narrower bars. Going to 800mm bars...because that what was cool I had some pretty severe RSI in my forearms/elbows. Now I am back to 780mm 12/16 deg sweep bars and 760mm 8/9 deg sweep bars and my arms are happy again. After a moment to adapt I don't find any difference in ride experience vs. wider except I don't hit as many trees!

We've been riding from home avoiding driving [which is far more dangerous than MTBing or cycling in general] and hitting the less popular trails. That avoids the trailheads almost entirely and we don't see many people.

Hopefully not that sandwich I misplaced last August! ;-)

I've got a frame bag on all my bikes that got packed well the last time I did a thorough review, but like you I am always surprised how much the contents changes or time and I fail to replace items or remove stuff that got put in unexpectedly. That's a good reminder to unpack and check the contents of my "summer" bike as I get it ready this weekend. :-)

I'm still riding, but I am toning things down and not pushing my limits in terms of tech or tiredness. Last thing I want to do is end up at the ER and add to a nurse's or doctor's workload. If and when we get fully locked down I'll switch to maintenance mode and strip/rebuild my bikes one by one to kill time and be productive.

Just keep in mind SC's "lifetime" warranty is 1) only for manufacturing defects and 2) for the frame's lifetime not your lifetime nor for as long as you might keep the frame rolling.

Based on that ^^^ I pretty much consider a 3-5 year warranty and a lifetime warranty equivalent from a practical perspective.

Yup. I try and get separate brake, shifter & dropper levers so I can position them all independently.

I've ridden Conti Trail Kings [Black Chilli] through most of the last 10 Coastal BC winters and found they had great for traction and volume. Their 2.4" casing is higher volume than the 2.5" Maxxis tires I have tried.

Conti had a 2.6" TK announced and listed on their website....then they quietly pulled the listing down. I was disappointed as I would have loved even a bit more volume.

I'm trying some 2.6" Maxxis tires this winter and will try some of the Schwalbe offerings as well. So far I haven't found a better all round tire than the TK. Just wish they made it bigger.

I buy bikes planning to keep them a while. 4 years on the low side and 10 years on the top end. I buy mid to upper level parts and maintain them well. I've usually got 2 FS bikes on the go. One I ride in summer and one for winter. That means I can strip the one not being ridden down and do all the maintenance without any panic about missing out on trail time.

The only issue that's really caused me to want to sell a bike is when the geo gets out dated and I start riding something that's different enough I can't transition back to the old geo and enjoy it. I'm thinking that's not going to happen as much going forward as it did in the past simply because I am pretty much maxed out on the Reach and STA I can ride with my current go to bike [GG Smash]. So I think it will be a 10 year bike, but only time will tell.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Sometimes I feel like the last person using a crank mounted bash. I tried a taco, and liked how easy it was to clean the ring, but my frames warranty doesn't cover damage caused to the ISCG tabs by an impact.

The only real downside I can see is the 30t max chainring on a 104bcd crank.

All my cranks are splined and I run a 28T ring on my MTBs so going back to a spider crank is not appealing if the only reason is to get a bashguard. I'll just skip the Chromag Rootdown. I thought someone might have a cunning way around the PF92 BB. I've used ISCG mount bashguards for years and tagged a lot of rocks, but never damaged the frame. Whatever works though. I'm not riding a bike without a bashguard. I ride too far from home to want to do the walk of shame back.

Posted by: heathen

I saw the BSA adapter but I fear a good hit would spin it. I would hate to have a ride cut short due to that.

CHROMAG PUT ISCG05 MOUNTS ON ALL YOUR BIKES!!!!!

We've got two MRP ISBG05 threaded BB adapters on our bikes. I know mine gets one or more solid hits each ride and it hasn't moved. ISBG tabs are better, but I can live with the adapter for frames that don't have e'm.

Posted by: andy-eunson

They make an ISCG adaptor too. Shit out of luck with press fit though.

Yes that's the problem. You can use an adaptor with a  threaded BB, but I don't see a practical solution for a PF BB other than new cranks and a spider mounted chainring style bash guard.

Given the cost to get ISCG tabs welded on a frame and the frame repowdercoated it just makes sense to buy something else that doesn't need to be modded from new. I'm not sure you can weld ISCG tabs to a PF92 BB shell, but if you are going to that level of modification you can get a custom taco bash put on.

It would have been some sort of Norco rigid MTB back in 1988 or so. It was red and we were calling them ATBs I think at the time. It was fairly shit as I recall and made a better urban commuter than a trail bike due to fragile components.  Photo above is my 3rd MTB and the first decent one I owned....setup for bikepacking in like 1990 when bikepacking wasn't a thing. ;-)

Question for folks on Chromags...I've been looking at a Rootdown and I can get past the PF BB, but my one concern is that I can't figure out a way to mount a taco bash guard on the frame since there are no ISCG tabs and no threaded BB which allows you to mount a ISCG adapter. Our trails are really rocky so I have a taco bash on all my bikes. My cranks are all the splined variety so no crank mounted bashguards either.

Any solutions I am missing other than buy non-splined crank and mount a chainring style bash guard to it?

My bikes go up and down great without messing with the fork travel during the ride. I wouldn't see the point.

Posted by: UFO

When I checked last summer, superstar's shipping/tax/duty charges to Canada killed any savings... something to the tune of $100+ cdn for shipping costs alone. I ended going with Works

Works Component's standard shipping is FEDEX which is $$ plus you get dinged with a hefty brokerage fee plus the taxes you owe. They will ship Royal Mail/Canada Post if you hassle them, but they mention having lost many packages and not covering any such loses which doesn't lend you a ton of confidence in that method.

Not sure why the issues as I have rec'd many USPS and Royal Mail shipments from other companies without issue.

Posted by: Ddean

Ive found my hardtail!

Ill have it in about a month but decent spec Naked 29+ w modern geo. Im stoked.

I wouldn't normally ask a guy on the internet to post a naked picture, but in this case I'll make an exception. We need to see it. ;-)

Posted by: halfton

were can a guy get that rear fender

Best price I have found: https://www.merlincycles.com/search?w=mudhugger

If you buy a few items you'll get free shipping. I also have not paid taxes/duties on any recent shipments from the UK. You can't count on that, but it does make the purchase even lower cost when you can avoid taxes.