martyz profile

"What it doesn't seem to like as much is going slow"... reminds me of my old Transition Blindside. Felt like it only ever really woke up at bike-park speeds.

Install was a piece of cake for me. 29” Enve M6 rim, E-thirteen TRS tire. Put on the first tire bead, then the insert beads one by one. Massaged it around to get the first tire bead into the mid-rim trough, then worked the other bead in. Made sure the tire beads got under the insert and rested into the trough, and used a lever to pop the last 8” into place. Seated without drama with a standard floor pump. 

Followed the advice from the shop to use a hair dryer to restore the insert’s curve before installing (giving it the right shape after it had been stuffed into its box). I think that helped.

Curious as to your thoughts on the benefits of running Tannus on the front tire. Just installed one on the rear as that’s where the flatting issues that I want to mitigate are all happening. Also looking forward to your Enve M6 review. I have one on my rear wheel and have formed some strong opinions. Spoiler: They’re not positive.

Wish they'd engineer a different way to attach their cassettes. My XO Eagle cassette is seized to the XD driver; LBS sheared off all the splines trying to remove it (and yes, it was greased, and torqued to spec). A quick internet search tells me this happens a lot. I'd love to have seen SRAM address that before adding two more teeth. Looking quite seriously at an e-thirteen replacement at this point.

Re: bending the link wing: I did almost exactly that in almost exactly the same way to the top link of my V1 Hightower when I did a bearing swap. Whoops.

I found last week that my riding was as good as it's ever been for early season. I think it's because I've been extra careful and mindful on each move, making sure a moment's inattention didn't throw me off my bike. Nothing like a public health crisis to keep you in the moment.

EGBC membership is good for employment opportunities and even better for enhanced home insurance coverage limits on bikes. Despite that, I'm now a bit more paranoid and lot more callous toward bike thieves. And am spending my retirement on bike locks for everywhere.

My bike was lifted off my north shore rack a month ago or so. Similar story: stopped by somewhere briefly, had forgotten my lock, thought I had a good sight line. Checked the view a few times and it was still there. Except when I was leaving. Gone.

However - my insurance company was solid and paid me out. Which was good. Except that I was more or less rewarded for my own stupidity.

Moral of the story: agree with Dave. It's not if, it's when. I've come to accept that humanity is the worst and everything needs to be secured like you live in Fort Knox.

I’m 80%(ish) sure I have a 36 mm headset wrench lying around. It served a Rocky Mountain Sherpa I owned 2 decades ago and has stuck around. All yours. Social media acknowledgement here we come.

The 2013 Santa Cruz Blur TR we picked up for the lady came stock with Maxxis Crossmark pinners. It might as well have come with road slicks. I called a friend who was working for SCB at the time; his diplomatic response was along the lines of "our old product manager made a few weird calls". They've dramatically improved since. The Hightower I picked up three years ago came stock with nice Minions, which I'd guess ought to make 9 out of 10 riders pretty happy. Worked for me.

This climb trail is great and keeps getting better. More than anything else, it’s opened up the place to a whole new kind of rider: one who likes a good singletrack climb too. Love the work and am looking forward to more.

Soquel demo forest. Otherwise there's not much reasonable downhill-ish riding that's legal.