andy-eunson's posts

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: RAHrider

When you look at the turning radius of a mullet around a corner, the rear wheel tracks inside the 29 front. Not sure exactly how that translates but maybe snappier out of corners once the front wheel has fin8shed the turn?

I've never gone Moo-Leet, but I am trying to understand why the rear wheel would track differently on a 29 x 2 vs. 29/27? In the same frame the wheel's contact patch would be in the same spot so why would the back end of the bike take a different line? Not saying it doesn't I just can't compute the reason.

Same boat. I think if a mullet allows a shorter rear centre then you will have a bike that will corner quicker because of the shorter wheelbase. But how much is that difference? Someone above said front end geometry of a bike has far more impact on a bike's handling characteristics than any other single thing and I think that’s probably true.

I traded the 29er rear wheel on my chameleon hard tail for the 27.5 wheel from my other bike. Tires are 2.5 SE5 on the small wheel and 2.5 SE6 on the big wheel. Both rims 30mm inner. Same cornering knobs. The smaller wheel does lower the back end by about 2 cm so the head and seat tube angle slacken a touch. I rode a short loop of about 20 minutes with some easy rolling to start, a short climb and intermediate flow type trail with lots of corners and small jumps. I tried to concentrate on cornering and rolling speed. If there’s a difference it’s pretty subtle to me. Based on this pretty limited test, I wouldn’t base a bike purchase on whether or not a bike is a mullet or not. I can see a mullet for extra butt clearance as I do scrub occasionally with any bike. My legs are 31 inseam in bare feet. But that’s not a big deal for me.

I tried this earlier in the season but one wheel had an old cassette which started skipping with the new chain on the Chameleon, so I couldn’t complete the trial properly. 

Has anyone else done a similar experiment and if so, what did you think?

With the prices sought for some of these ebikes, wouldn’t in be cheaper to hire a big lad to just carry you around?

Yeah it’s usually a short annoying blast of music. But that time we rode up Into The Mystic to Lord of the Squirrels and buddy played music the whole way. When I say music, I don’t count Neil Diamond as music I would ever listen to by choice. Someone invited him, I didn’t know him well so I didn’t say anything.

Posted by: Vikb

In the future you'll be special ordering any human powered bicycles and the bropeds will be on the showroom floor. No point stocking stuff that the shop can't sell.

It’ll be like what I think it’s BMW in Europe. Cars come with features already installed, like heated seats, but you need to subscribe to use them. So you’ll get the ebike but if you want the power you’ll have to sign up.

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

T in 5 yrs.  Putin in 5 yrs. Where do you think they will be?

Trump will be convicted of a number of offences at both the state and federal level but I suspect either suspended sentences or short time at "club fed" then he’ll kind of fade away.  Putin will have some kind of trip and fall "accident" from a very tall building.

Posted by: niels@nsmb.com

Posted by: andy-eunson

Posted by: Vikb

I send my forks to Vorsprung as required for damper service based on the recommended service intervals and I do my own lower service.

I’m pretty similar in that I have S4 (formerly Melius, formerly Vorsprung) and do my own lowers service.

I have a confession to make: I've never done the lowers service on any of my forks. I bring them in for a full rebuild every winter and then just ride them for the entire year (which typically ends up being roughly around 100h).

Do it son. It’s easy and every time I do one I wonder why I hadn’t done it sooner. Makes more difference than any kashima bullshit.

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: craw

You really don't want to be there when a fork decides to retire you. I've broken crowns on forks, one set back in the day tore right off the bike. I was pretty gun shy after that. I also saw an old 888 brought into the shop in Whistler in 6 pieces - obviously an extreme case of a fork that got passed from rental to hand to hand and lived through way too many cycles, but a cautionary tale nonetheless. The bigger the guy the earlier the retirement, or at least downgrade what it's used for. I'm on a 3-4 year cycle - the first 3 are active use and then another year or two sitting around or on a backup bike. After that a newer fork with all the new standards cycles through the process and takes its place because I can't have any fun on a 51mm offset crown.

I don't take any chances on the front of my bike. I send my forks to Vorsprung as required for damper service based on the recommended service intervals and I do my own lower service. If they tell me there is any safety issue or I notice anything that concerns me I would either fix or retire the fork immediately. That said I have no concerns about using a quality fork for a decade just due to age alone. As you note there have been standard changes/wheel size changes and I do sometimes sell a bike complete so typically my forks see ~4-5 years of regular use before they move on, but I'm pretty settled on 29er/110mm spacing these days and not likely to follow any new trends/standards without a lot of motivation so the current crop of forks I own should see a longer service life.

My forks are on the burly side of the set of reasonable choices for my weight/terrain/speed. I do maintain them well. I am a "light" rider vs. a "smasher". I don't have savage crashes with any frequency. I rarely destroy bike parts/frames. So this informs my choices for what is reasonable/safe. I have friends that ride the same trails and pretty similar speeds who hammer their bikes into submission and break lots of parts. If I was them I would likely use a given fork for less time. 

I don't buy used forks and I don't loan out my forks. So I do know everything that's happened to them over their lives.

I’m pretty similar in that I have S4 (formerly Melius, formerly Vorsprung) and do my own lowers service. I’m light on a 36 so less likely to suffer fatigue related issues.

Posted by: craw

Posted by: Vikb

I'm ~190lbs out of the shower and I haven't retired a suspension fork due to safety concerns to date. I just keep 'em rolling until the bike they are on is sold complete or they won't work on any of the remaining bikes in the fleet [100->110mm or 26er->275->29er]. At least from say 2009 onwards I haven't had any real performance concerns with the forks I've bought. I tend to buy middle of the road to lower top end forks mostly shopping sales due to the $$$ involved. 

I do service my forks regularly which really helps their longevity and performance.

You really don't want to be there when a fork decides to retire you. I've broken crowns on forks, one set back in the day tore right off the bike. I was pretty gun shy after that. I also saw an old 888 brought into the shop in Whistler in 6 pieces - obviously an extreme case of a fork that got passed from rental to hand to hand and lived through way too many cycles, but a cautionary tale nonetheless. The bigger the guy the earlier the retirement, or at least downgrade what it's used for. I'm on a 3-4 year cycle - the first 3 are active use and then another year or two sitting around or on a backup bike. After that a newer fork with all the new standards cycles through the process and takes its place because I can't have any fun on a 51mm offset crown.

I’ll never forget seeing a friend of mine a day or two after his fork snapped off. Fully rigid bike. Mantis I think so not a cheap one. Well over 100 stitches to his face from tearing his cheek open. I snapped a fork myself probably due to me over tightening the crown bolts on the steer tube.

Posted by: niels

36 FIT4 was pretty much top end in the Fox lineup 5 year ago, not sure why you say it wasn't.

Have forks become better since? Sure, but IMHO forks passed some kind of threshold long ago where they became more than good enough and every subsequent improvement has been marginal.

I never said it wasn’t top end. My real question was whether or not new forks are really any better than a five year old design. Way way back when we had all of 50mm of travel, fork technology was improving in leaps and bounds every year. That’s not happening any more near as I can tell although many reviewers will say otherwise. I only weigh around 145 with clothes and packs so creaking of a 36 is unlikely. Hasn’t happened yet. 

I’m also one who will retire components for safety reasons. Like bars and stems. I’ve seen forks snap off but that was in the before times. Before good suspension. 

But thanks for this Niels.  This is what I was searching for I think. Justification to run the old fork longer.

Posted by: Vikb

I had a 9 year old Fox 36 RC2 that worked great the whole time I owned it and my buddy is still riding it a few years later. So if the current fork is working well I'd just service it regularly and ride it.

Fair comment. That is a good option too. The fork I have looks more beat than it is. The lowers are totally scuffed, decals missing and a few nicks on the stanchions. The last time it was serviced it felt kind of over damped and stiff. I just did a lowers service and it’s good now. The question is more about how much better is a modern up to date fork over one that’s 5 years old and wasn’t so called top of the line when new.

last years Lyric is on sale but it would cost extra to have the travel lowered to 150 for my hardtail. The hardtail fork is a 36 elite Fit4 damper 150 travel.  Also available is a Manitou Mezzer pro with a more easily adjusted travel. A bit more cash though. I was thinking Mattoc but those aren’t available from S4. Maybe not made any more? All the reviews are old so perhaps the Mattoc is discontinued. Anyway, of the two Lyric or Mezzer would you guys chose? My 36 is working fine but it’s 5 years old and maybe there are better things out there now.

Maybe ebikes going up?

Posted by: Hepcat

So much insanity here. 5.5 gal nitro/sec, 5 psi tires. 2.7 sec quarter mile. When I was a kid I went to every race. My Dad pit crewed, we'd make a weekend of it and camp out at the track. Fastest top fuel cars were 3.75 seconds back then, and we figured that was the ceiling. Engines were and still are limited to 8 cylinders with 500 cu in blocks.

They don’t go ¼ mile anymore. Not enough room to stop on most tracks so they do 1000 feet.