metacomet profile

I agree with you here Andrew.   I think this type of helmet is realistically probably much safer than your typical bike helmet for the majority of impacts for a few reasons.  

The rounded shell, the lack of vents, and the deeper fit and increased coverage.    And we are talking about certified helmets here.  Not the soft foam/non-cert skate helmets like a cheaper pro-tec or 888.

It's passing the same certifications and then some.  And beyond that, it doesn't take much to deduce that these characteristics make a safer helmet than one full of holes with shallow coverage and odd peaks and points and a plastic visor hanging off the front. 

I've seen kids smack their heads at the skatepark and be fine, and I've done it myself as well.  The round shape is great at glancing off of objects and sliding, and the deep coverage is great at distributing the force over a much larger area of both head and ground rather than concentrating it to a narrow ring around your head circumference or a single point of contact like any of those peaks and points found on "bike" helmets.  I can think of a lot of skate crashes where I would have hated to be in a bike helmet as they are so hard and don't extend very far down your head, and those points probably would have ripped the helmet off the side of my head as they grab the ground.    From my own experience, crashes and falls happen a lot more frequently in park/pool/DH skateboarding than they ever have on the bike.  

Seems like in an environment full of rocks and sticks and all kinds of pointy branches, we wouldn't want a helmet that's full of holes and barely covers more than the top of our head if safety was the biggest concern, but somehow that's the norm. 

Maybe we'll all end up in moto-trials style helmets for trail riding in a few years.  More coverage than a traditional half shell, smooth and rounded shell that could still be ventilated, flexy visor that shouldn't snag.   Might not look half bad without a visor either.  Like the Pro-Tec full cut.

Are you sure that was a live tree?  Were you there?  Everything I saw from the clip showed that the tree was dead and no longer growing.  The look up the tree showed no living branches except on the trees behind it.  The look down the tree showed no live branches.  Now, I am assuming the tree must be recently deceased or it would not be suitable to build on.

https://ridegg.com/thesmash   

This in the XL would be a great option for you.  I have a friend that is 6'7" and he loves the thing.  First bike that's ever actually fit him properly.

Have you tried a set of the new Chromag rims yet?   I've been running a set of the BA30's this season on my Nomad and have been loving them.  The thicker bead wall has made a big difference in pinch damage and resisting dents.  They're not as light as a carbon rim obviously, but they are not disgustingly heavy at all for the durability and the thick bead wall, and they hit a nice price point.

But wait a second. Now you've got bicycles with motors in them to assist in speed and range. WTF? Isn't that motorized recreation? Isn't that motorized transportation? Sure as shit sounds like it to me. Why do they keep calling them Bikes!? Can't they see they have a motor in them? How can they think it's OK to just slide these motorized vehicles into areas that the land owners and land managers designated for things without motors? It's like they want to completely ignore the fact that there is a motor in there! Hello! I can see you little motor! How the hell do you expect me to ignore you!?
When deciding trail access for this forest and lake, bikes and canoes and kayaks were given access to this area on the single premise that it is passive, non-motorized recreation. You know. Because they don't have a motor. Now that there is a motor in it, that has to be considered. Now there are many places where using a motor is FIIINE. But not in the area we said no motors. You have to look at them separately. They are not the same. Stop calling it a bike. Stop associating it with a bicycle. It is fundamentally no longer a simple bicycle. It is, and should be recognized as a completely different activity all together.
Now if you want to keep calling it a bike for whatever reason motor or not, well then hell, that's your own demise. Because you know. We are going to have to consider that when determining whether or not bikes should have access to a certain area. It just seems silly when you don't hear bullshit like eKayak or eCanoe. If it has a motor, thats cool. Say it has a motor in it. Just don't try to call it something its not by putting a sneaky little 'e' in front of it and then expect to slide into all the areas where we specifically said no motors.
If it's on your own private land and you can distinguish and control all the different merits and various capabilities of these motorized things, then that's awesome. You can enjoy the f'ing piss out of them and you're new groundbreaking low speed, low impact motorized sport then! In fact I might even come try it! But don't say its the same as my bike over here. Because it's not. You are enjoying something different now. You play over there and I can come join you and try your game. And in the mean time I'll play over here and you can come join me and try my game. But lets not f-up two perfectly good games by trying to play both at the same time while pretending we are only playing my game and keeping my name. Make sense?

Loved the articles, and love Uncle Dave.
Now about these electropeds/electrocycles... I think we are all missing the whole damn point here. We are getting so caught up in the particulars and the merits, and in all the details that we (as an industry) is missing (perhaps deliberately) what really matters. Is there anything inherently wrong with electropeds/electrocycles? No!  Of course not!  It would be incredibly blindly hypocritical to say so when we prance around every day every hour in our horseless carriages and electrified homes and workplaces. What the hell would be wrong with a two wheeled device with an electric motor attached to it? Nothing at all. In fact that sounds fun as hell and very similar to other things I enjoy, and I bet I would love most everything about it!

Now we have rules of course to say maybe we shouldn't bring motorized vehicles anywhere and everywhere we damn well please, because you know, some natural places worth protecting are better protected by keeping things with motors out of them. Things like certain forests and trails that have been given the OK for many different forms of passive recreation. Things like certain rivers and streams and lakes that are better protected by not allowing motorized boats. And that's great. Actually that works really well. We've got bikers and hikers and bird watchers and rollerbladers and skateboarders and dog walkers and hunters and fishermen and kayaks and families in canoes. Big kids, little kids, old kids. All kinds of different shit going on and none of them with a motor for these selected places.

Something interesting that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere yet, is that the new XTR derailleur does not use their own direct mount standard.  I wonder if they moved away from it because very few brands supported it and made a separate hanger?   I liked the standard myself, and found it made a much more robust design than the often too-easily bent hangers found on a lot of bikes.  But without an available direct mount hanger, the little link piece looks unrefined and maybe had a negative effect on shifting performance or durability. 

Did Shimano ever mention why they did this in their tour or press releases and I just missed it in the recap?

These videos are purely brilliant.  Cathro. If you're out there... Thank you.

I think he meant more on how/if he removes the cleaning solution residue from the pads and rotors before re-installing them. Or is he really installing a brand new set after every wash?

I love this topic.   Something I have thought about in the back of my mind for years actually and shared with people about skiing and riding.  

Here's my big dumb theory.   The most "fun" you can have when doing an activity like biking, skiing, basketball, Whatever, is largely dependent upon what is, or more definitively 'is not' rambling around in your head.  In that the highest, most simple, and most pure form of "fun" comes when there is no concern, no stress, and no internal or external expectations to fall short of, and making no comparisons to yourself or anyone else during these experiences.  I really think beginners or relative newcomers have some of the most raw fun of anyone on the mountain/court/ice or whatever.   Whatever gets you closest to that child-like naivety to the world around you and away from your own nagging thoughts.  Anyone at whatever skill level can achieve that mindset in the moment, but it becomes more and more dependent on an increasing number of variables.   The more better/fitter/skilled you are or rather the older and more experienced you get, the more complicated achieving that mindset can become.  We go through cycles, but a lot boils down to expectations, comparisons, and self consciousness.  If you've ever stepped away from something for a while or had a setback in your fitness, you know what I mean.  You want to be RIGHT back where you were, and that comparison is front and center in your mind.  Going from fit to un-fit is Not fun.  Being self conscious and trying to compare your own progress to someone else's can lead to major frustration and burn out.  

I think as you become more experienced, that feeling of just raw simple fun comes when things are just clicking and your mind is free.  You are riding as well as you know how, your fitness feels your best, and you are with friends that do not complicate things.  That can happen to anyone from Semenuk or your's truly.  The "people" that you mentioned who seem to always be having the most fun (Ratboy, LooseDog, MacDuff, McGarry, Andreu, etc. all come to mind) are just really good at being in that uncomplicated child-like state of mind where the fun flows like pizza and pop at a kids birthday party.  

When a kid is out skiing with his friends in ski club just messing around , or young and exploring the neighborhood woods on your bike with a friend or two, there are zero comparisons and zero expectations.  Everything is new and everything is an adventure.  The experience is Completely uncomplicated.  And that is about as fun as it can get.  Skill and fitness are relative to the rider, but our own expectations are what controls the experience.