andrewfif profile

I'm really excited about what Danica and the others here are doing. Each of them is an awesome role model and is living what they love

I’ve had this post for several weeks and don’t have a bad thing to say about it. Love the clamp setup on the saddle rails. I don’t think a low stack saddle would be an issue at all. MUSA is sweet and I love what they did with this post. I’d love to see a 225 or 240, but really impressed.

I use Freerider Pro, RC TNT, but lately am enjoying the Spec 2FO Roost. I am 103 KG and prefer long pins on everything. I remove center axle pins though and that is enough to make me feel 'sunk in.' The Daggas wore holes through my last freerider pros in one month, literally. For better or worse, I always put my feet in the exact same position. Interesting about the pin swap, but I'm all about more grip all of the time.

Oh this gets me excited. I ride really midfoot and wear 11-12 us shoes. Right now I’m loving the pedaling innovations, but have spent the last few years enjoying the chromag daggas and the deity tmacs and deftraps. I haven’t tried a convex pedal in forever, and won’t unless it’s at least a little longer fore-aft. I love trying new things, and haven’t tried a pedal that’s ‘perfect.’ The deity deftrap would be if it were ever so slightly longer. Chamfers limit the length on the PI catalyst for how long it appears. I shattered my tibia plateau 3 weeks ago and have a rapidly diminishing calf and quad. Im really curious how that will affect me 4 months from now when I am supposed to be better. Good article and considerations. You shift your COM forward, and I like that on longer and slacker bikes. Keep it up and I’m curious if you’ll change as you heal. Or heel haha. If you want to borrow some near new catalyst pedals, I can get them to you.

I have ridden the crap out of union rims for almost a year and never broken one. Live in bellingham and was in bootleg canyon for 4 months of winter. I weigh 225 and ride fast and often. Also run stupid low tire pressures because I’m a delicate flower. Short version you can’t lose with those rims. They aren’t light

Hi Andrew,

I owned a titan for about a year. Ran a couple of diff 210 droppers. At first I had to shim it to 190 or 200 clipped in as I was saddened by the linkage getting in the way. Some dude online pointed out a life changer lol. You can use a 30.9 (v1 is what I got) and shim it to 31.6 and you get just enough clearance from the taper on the seat tube to get almost an inch of insertion.

Super true about the huck. That bike only has one mode-full on. Enjoy

Hi there! I'm hoping to get some evo's this week and also a drivetain. What did you use? I prefer controls that come off without removing grips (push ons for life)

Cool article Sanesh. I think you captured a lot of important points in the this piece. One thing I’d like to hear more about is the active inclusivity and its relation to your important discussion of qualifications. I don’t go about promoting biking to everyone I know because while I love it and encourage anyone to try it and I’m all about making it cheaper and more accessible culturally, I don’t think everyone should mtb. I will not go out of my way to find underprivileged people at this point in my life and try to bring them to riding. The idea that we love something and it’s brought joy to our lives doesn’t mean it will to everyone. I know you know that, but the logical fallacy that not actively seeking to ‘fix racism or inclusivity’ is racist is rampant and suggested in your article. The main issue with it is that in this scenario you define the terms of equality or the ideal operating society. Which is the same power that others may feel they have. Thumbs are tired, but my point is great article and I am worried that people often get caught in savior syndrome when while there certainly are socioeconomic, cultural, and historical factors at play, often it’s a statistical problem. More women ride bikes now. And more will in the near future. I have exactly one black friend that rides locally to me. But statistically he’s possibly over- representing the population where I live. But his kids, his family, his black friends all add to the riding pop as time goes on. Mtb is such a young sport. I think that we should totally market (it’s a business) to those groups less often seen if you’re trying to make money and share the love. But mtb is just a fun sport. Over time I think it will naturally become diverse. But it would be an absolute shame in my mind that someone would get more opportunity because of the color of your skin regardless of what your pigment is. Sometimes I think that it may be more important for humans to focus on feeding ourselves and providing shelter and love than getting them into an elite sport. Of course not mutually exclusive, but priorities. Thanks for your thoughts and good writing.

Thanks for looking. After a long chat on the phone with rev I went ahead and ordered a pro set (black because it’s softest by a tiny bit) in the rg5 size. Super curious but nervous about the bar width reduction as I’m on 780 sw lab 12 deg bars. Clamp width is 8.7mm so I’ll be on 760 pretty much. They told me try them and return it if I can’t handle the bar reduction. Really impressed already with the customer service. Thanks for your review as it finally got me curious enough.