andy-eunson profile

Welcome Mr Ferrentino. Over the many years I’ve read your columns I found that more often than not you spoke my mind.

Mine is in the midst of its fourth season.  I bled the remote I think the first month I had it because the shop didn’t do it well enough. Zero service since. Still functions like new.

I had the exact same issue. Assegai 2.5 on a 29 mm rim. I put it down to the tires though because I found the Kevlar bead was loose in the rubber. I was wiping sealant off and I could see the sidewall of the tire bunching up. I found that they mounted OK. All I can think of is maybe my rim and the plastic Bontrager rim strip didn’t allow enough room for the insert. But the tell tale line on the tire was equidistant from the rim all the way around.

I allowed myself to be suckered by those carbon brake rotors about ten or twelve years ago. Truly frightening on any north shore trail. “Same power but more modulation” they said. Then you realize the way the achieved that was with less grip. Reminded me of wet rim brakes but in this case, they never dried and started to work. 

Hope Tech X2 brakes were similar. Perfectly suited for XC they said. Between the lines “if xc equals gravel paths in the prairies”. 

These are all valuable lessons though. We learn to be sceptical and questioning of claims made by someone trying to sell us something.

The reference I think is to a place like Marin County where the horse lobby and miserable old hikers control how trails are built and used and have no good reason to not allow mountain bike trails. There are reasons why speed limits are what they are. Legitimate reasons. As I understand Marin, some folks just don’t like mountain bikes.

Typically around here there is no sign or if there is it’s well down the trail where it can’t be seen from the hidden entrance. Often enough the sign will also tell you that it’s not a sanctioned trail and outline the no Strava, no wet riding, keep the trail on the down low. Other unsanctioned trails around here, if you ride from the bottom up, are a challenging uphill. That keeps a lot of squids away. That’s a good way for builders to keep the numbers of riders low.

Too steep for my liking. That leads to a more upright and relaxed fit which is less aggressive.

At 63 I’m not about going bigger or faster. I’m about going better. Injuries when you get older are easier to get, are worse for a given incident and take longer to recover from. Case in point, I got a little squirrelly on a trail a few weeks back and hauled the bike back in line. Then my neck was stiff for a week or so even after physio. My foot has been off and on painful from getting stuck like a leg hold trap in a frozen stiff ski boot last season. So my riding and skiing goals are more refinement rather than bigger jumps steeper stuff etc.  Now I want to clean things and ride smoothly. Plus I ride alone most of the time so there is no one to impress or pressure me into doing something I shouldn’t.

I only weigh about 143 these days but I think compliance of frames is mostly in marketing and peoples heads. Compliance is a sum of all components in a bike and tires are the most important aspect by far if not the only aspect. Certainly frame design can come into play but we are talking how much actual frame flex? 0.1 mm? 1.0mm? Until some manufacturer actually tests flex and can express how much a triangulated frame actually moves I call bull shit. Ive had frames made from nearly every material out there. I can’t say I’ve really noticed any real difference. I think often we convince ourselves that the new unobtanium wonder bike we spent a pay check on is far better.

Yeah. Full zip, tail flap, three pockets with drain holes and a couple zip vents at the chest. When they first came out half the pro peloton bought their own and blacked out the logos with a sharpie . They only came in black at first. As a joke Castelli sold a “Pro” version of the jersey. Same black one but it came in a box with a black sharpie included.

Posted by: DanLees1978

I set my suspension up so it feels "right". 

Normal rides I'll have 15% left in the tank, smashier rides I might bottom out/nearly bottom but if I have bottomed it out hard it generally means I have gotten something wrong!

Pretty much. If one sets the sag correctly and you only get 50% of your available travel ever, you’re over forked. Conversely if you bottom out all the time, you may need more suspension or air volume spacers. If a person runs no  or minimal sag and bottoms out regularly something is wrong.  I find that I bottom out on certain drops with sudden transitions or the odd drop to flat jump I might do but I’m no jumper.

Careful with low stack seats on a Oneup. I resolved a clicking issue on mine caused by the seat shell contacting the top of the clamp head. That was with a Trek seat that came on my Remedy.

Posted by: grambo

Posted by: FlipFantasia

contrary to the popular narrative coming from Grizzly bear recovery people in the area, grizzly bear population has been expanding pretty consistently for the past 20 years...even with the development of the Olympic park and other recreation in the Callaghan and Whistler area. In the early 2000's I understand they had hair samples in the upper Callaghan from 2 GB's, last year it was apparently 22. Once we stopped shooting them, they started to recover, and we'll likely continue to see that recovery and subsequent spread into more populated areas I expect. We've had regular sightings in the populated areas of Squamish near the Squamish River the past few falls as well, so I think it's safe to say they are a growing population.

I think they have a pretty good protocol in place at this point to try and mitigate human-bear interactions in the Sproatt area, especially given the number of people likely not bear experienced or smart that use the trails up there.

Have heard the same thing anecdotally. Not sure what those grizzly recovery people are on about, shouldn't they be happy enough? Or they are just against any kind of trail use/development for humans in any area.

Report said the grizzly stood its ground, not surprisingly. Was planning on my annual LOTS on Sept 13 when a buddy is in town for a wedding but doubt it will happen. No worries, probably go ride in Pemberton instead, trails should be good with occasional rain in the forecast.

Just speculation, but the Sproat alpine is really popular. Last time I went up I swear there were about 50 - 60 people in various groups milling about at the top of Lord of the Squirrels. I don’t think you see those sorts of numbers other places. But I did wonder about that reasoning. I mean I visit in Fernie and grizzlies are seen a fair bit right down to the residential areas and I don’t think anything gets shut down there. I mean there was a grizzly in our back yard last summer there and signs went up. That’s all. Everyone there seems to carry bear spray.

Posted by: ReductiMat

Posted by: heathen

Posted by: andy-eunson

Sometimes black spokes make a noise from the crossing. The coating is a bit rough I guess and until it rubs smooth the spokes can make a noise. Pinging on a newly built wheel can be from spokes unwinding. If the wheel isn’t “stress relieved” after building riding will cause the tension to decrease which allows the spokes to unwind and ping. There are various valid methods to stress relieve. Squeezing spokes, flexing the rim sideways, walking on the rim in socks. They all do the same thing. Momentarily removing tension from a spoke to allow it to unwind itself. With bladed spokes you can see the wind up and take it out while building with a spoke tool. With round spokes you can feel the spokes wind up if you put your fingers on the spoke while tightening or loosening a nipple, then go the opposite way to take out that wind up but that isn’t very accurate so you still want to stress relieve. 

I’ve noticed on my own carbon rimmed wheels that spokes will ping after a season or two even when tension is still up to spec. No idea what causes that but I’ve rebuilt wheels like that with new spokes and the noise goes away. 

I always build with something to lock the nipple threads. Just oil will allow the nipple to unwind when I get a bit squirrelly and side load a wheel. Some builders say that just oil is fine and that a properly tensioned wheel can’t lose tension when riding normally. I say, define normally? Mountain biking is way more harsh than road riding. I say lock those threads with something.

I think you maybe onto something with the black spokes being rougher. 

I was at the shop today and spoke with the tech that built my wheel. The wheel was de-stressed and retention. 

The tech stood still and I pedaled in a circle around him. This gave him some great insight. The noise is definitely coming from where the spoke crosses. After 8 months and way over 800km I would have thought the spokes would have smoothed out and stopped clicking.... But oh no. It's magic bike wind chime while I pedal up every climb.

I've been building black-spoked bikes for half a decade now... mine don't sing..

I think I’ve been building with black spokes over 20 years and it is rare for my wheels to make noises but it may have been a really light build I had with super light DT spokes. They were the only wheels I built myself where I broke spokes after a season of racing and training. Too light. I think they were noisy at first. But that was a long time ago. I remember greasing spoke crossing at some point on a wheel of mine to test the theory my friend came up with. He weighed 240. His bike was noisy.

Posted by: tashi

Man, sounds like that wheel needs to be tied and soldered!

Might help with noise if, IF, the crossings are the source. But Jobst Brandt says no point. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tied-soldered.html

Besides that it’s 2021. We all want compliance now don’t we?

Posted by: heathen

Posted by: andy-eunson

Sometimes black spokes make a noise from the crossing. The coating is a bit rough I guess and until it rubs smooth the spokes can make a noise. Pinging on a newly built wheel can be from spokes unwinding. If the wheel isn’t “stress relieved” after building riding will cause the tension to decrease which allows the spokes to unwind and ping. There are various valid methods to stress relieve. Squeezing spokes, flexing the rim sideways, walking on the rim in socks. They all do the same thing. Momentarily removing tension from a spoke to allow it to unwind itself. With bladed spokes you can see the wind up and take it out while building with a spoke tool. With round spokes you can feel the spokes wind up if you put your fingers on the spoke while tightening or loosening a nipple, then go the opposite way to take out that wind up but that isn’t very accurate so you still want to stress relieve. 

I’ve noticed on my own carbon rimmed wheels that spokes will ping after a season or two even when tension is still up to spec. No idea what causes that but I’ve rebuilt wheels like that with new spokes and the noise goes away. 

I always build with something to lock the nipple threads. Just oil will allow the nipple to unwind when I get a bit squirrelly and side load a wheel. Some builders say that just oil is fine and that a properly tensioned wheel can’t lose tension when riding normally. I say, define normally? Mountain biking is way more harsh than road riding. I say lock those threads with something.

I think you maybe onto something with the black spokes being rougher. 

I was at the shop today and spoke with the tech that built my wheel. The wheel was de-stressed and retention. 

The tech stood still and I pedaled in a circle around him. This gave him some great insight. The noise is definitely coming from where the spoke crosses. After 8 months and way over 800km I would have thought the spokes would have smoothed out and stopped clicking.... But oh no. It's magic bike wind chime while I pedal up every climb.

Try greasing the crossings all the way round both sides and see what happens.

Sometimes black spokes make a noise from the crossing. The coating is a bit rough I guess and until it rubs smooth the spokes can make a noise. Pinging on a newly built wheel can be from spokes unwinding. If the wheel isn’t “stress relieved” after building riding will cause the tension to decrease which allows the spokes to unwind and ping. There are various valid methods to stress relieve. Squeezing spokes, flexing the rim sideways, walking on the rim in socks. They all do the same thing. Momentarily removing tension from a spoke to allow it to unwind itself. With bladed spokes you can see the wind up and take it out while building with a spoke tool. With round spokes you can feel the spokes wind up if you put your fingers on the spoke while tightening or loosening a nipple, then go the opposite way to take out that wind up but that isn’t very accurate so you still want to stress relieve. 

I’ve noticed on my own carbon rimmed wheels that spokes will ping after a season or two even when tension is still up to spec. No idea what causes that but I’ve rebuilt wheels like that with new spokes and the noise goes away. 

I always build with something to lock the nipple threads. Just oil will allow the nipple to unwind when I get a bit squirrelly and side load a wheel. Some builders say that just oil is fine and that a properly tensioned wheel can’t lose tension when riding normally. I say, define normally? Mountain biking is way more harsh than road riding. I say lock those threads with something.

Grouse I think prefer the walking clients. They do just fine with those tourists and bikes in trams with tourists might be one of their issues. Cypress had a bike park for a few years before the Olympics. I don’t recall why they stopped. Perhaps being in a provincial park has some effect? I agree though, it seems like a no brainer.

A friend of mine had a squeal last year that turned out to be an aftermarket adaptor that was a touch too short. The outside of the rotor rubbed and sang when heat from braking caused it to expand radially. Years ago I had a Giant  Trance that had a howling rear brake. A layer of painters tape on the back of the pads helped but was temporary. Changing from SRAM brakes to Shimano XT cured it.

Posted by: craw

Posted by: Endur-Bro

Posted by: craw

Posted by: mammal

Posted by: craw

Posted by: Endur-Bro

That Selva DC is weird as Formula is already there with their Nero R fork.  They just lack the lower offset numbers Enduro-ists want.  I'm down with those machined crowns though.

Also; Öhlins DH38 m.1 can be had in 180mm and 46mm offset flavours.

I thought there was a whole thing where you have to compare the offsets of SC forks differently to DC forks because SC forks the legs enter the crown at a slight angle.

Correct. That was an interesting point I took from the Chris Porter podcast #2.

Riiiiight. That's where I heard it too. That was a clever angle I'd not considered.

I haven't listened to that episode yet.  I have noticed with the MORC 40 and Nero equipped G1s that something is up. Porter/MOJO even mentioned as much on IG/FB posts but more detail beyond the offset numbers of a DC don't need to be as low.  Noticed Dan Ashton is running his Boxxer crowns backwards on his Canyon DH bike last week. 

Are you saying that the stanchion is slightly angled into the crown on a SC fork?  And a DC fork is obviously clamped by the tree perpendicular to the stanchion tubes?

Either way I don't think dropping an enduro DC fork with 56mm offset is going to help sales. Especially when Aurum and Session are coming with 46mm Boxxers. And likely next Gen DH bikes will follow suit

Correct. But like everything with bikes you can't compare apples to oranges without considering their place in the system. Like those people who compare Reach numbers between bikes without considering ESTA.

If the offset numbers mean different things between SC and DC forks then does it necessarily mean that 46 is better than 56 on a DC fork and for on which wheel size?

Offset is measured from a line through the steer tube centre   to the drop out no? In which case angles at the crown aren’t really relevant.