extraspecialandbitter profile

Why is the bike wet?  

Were you taking pictures in the rain?  Do you not own a rag?  Was it hot and the bike was sweating from the stress of the photo shoot?  

(sorry, pet peeve of mine)

Only one solution.  You need a robot dog that lives in your truck to protect your stuff... preferably with some sort of taser system built in.

https://www.bostondynamics.com/spot 

I'm curious as to what this would actually look like in real life.  

How many spacers would you be adding to each bike?  

Where is the desired reach measured to (center of stem at steerer or at handlebar)?

It's also crazy to me that my saddle height is ~725mm to the rails and I ride a medium...  I must have the proportions of a t-rex.

This sounds a lot like some of the e-bikers I've interacted with.  I'm assuming they are ashamed of themselves and feel the need to scurry off and avoid human interaction.  

I also don't think Meister understands the Fromme road.  It's similar in appearance to the 2019 Albstadt WC XC course.  I'm assuming even though it's a wide dusy sidewalk that racers are going to be weaving from side to side.  I sure hope they don't get in the way of any e-bikes.

That roll at 1:20 is effing loose.

Nice.  Westcomb has really stepped up their game in recent years.  I too had discounted their products, but they look decent.  I'll have to stop by.  Now, if only they had a ski pant that could rival my Strafe Cham pants.

I agree, Neoshell is the shit.  My favorite ski pants are Neoshell (thanks Strafe).  Stretchy and breathable.

Also, the problem with 3D printing is it doesn't seem to be quite there yet.  We could try to make a cheap injection molded glass fiber brake lever Andrew.  Make a mold with Smooth On and then use epoxy and glass fiber / carbon fibers.  It'd be a fun and reasonably easy experiment.

ZigaK, The problem with most online printing services (like Shapeways) is that the materials they use lack structural strength.

The steel is not any good (sintered, then bronze is added to increase strength) .

The Aluminum is okay, but they only have one alloy option and I doubt it's strength. The Aluminum uses SLM (Selective Laser Melting) and it's pretty expensive. It'd be interesting to design a cassette and see how much it'd cost in aluminum. 

And for the luddite dentists in the house, we could always order you a 9 speed cassette made of PLATINUM!

Just build it all yourself.  

Stop whining and buy a fancy new ADAM (atomic diffusion additive manufacturing) 3-D printer ( https://markforged.com/metal-x/ ) and buy a Solid Works license (or Rhino if you want free flowing shapes).  And you can print yourself anything you want.  Then you don't have to be the great armchair engineer that you claim to be.  Don't want to buy a 3D printer?  Build your own CNC machine https://all3dp.com/1/best-diy-cnc-router-kit/#carbide-3d-nomad-833-pro 

In all seriousness though, 3-D printing is pretty exciting.  It's one of those things that sucked initially (FDM), but now they're getting pretty good.  Hopefully companies like Shapeways keep buying more printers that can re-produce higher strength materials... and hopefully the cost for these printed parts also keeps going down.  Then you can start an online store and people can just order parts on demand.  Keep a digital database and bam, part (we're not there yet though... yet).

Yes!  Single Speed!

Also, if you're interested.  I made a chain length calculator.  It can be helpful if you don't have a proper tensioner (or if you want to minimize chainstay length).  I used a Blackspire Stinger and it works pretty well.  https://goo.gl/forms/RfM8Wf3z6Cf3i8x72

Edit:  Here's a new and improved one with all possible gear ratios in a table: https://goo.gl/forms/ZbtFHYVk8b232mqF3

Slowest Build ever... well okay, I finished it a week ago, but still slow AF. I blame work... and riding bikes... and having to build up my old bike to get it ready for sale.

It's pretty fun, but very different from my last bike.  I'm finding that being aggressive and getting really forward helps a lot.

Posted by: heathen

My stem finally arrived..... Ordered May 8 arrived June 4. Race Face warehouse is terrible!!

On a side note to this thread, Joystick now has a local distributor to help with customer service... and I really like their stems.  I just ordered a Binary stem and it got to the shop the next day.

The One Up bar looks interesting.  I'm happy for the direct comparison to the Cutlass (which is what I'm currently on).  I find it plenty stiff, so I wonder if these would still be too stiff.  I do want to try at some point though.

I've used boostinators with pretty good success.   I don't really understand the fear of re-dishing the wheel, it's pretty easy and you could do it in your boost frame.  Assuming the wheel is nicely true and has even tension, just keep all adjustments consistent.  Wolftooth has some basic instructions:  https://www.wolftoothcomponents.com/pages/boostinator-installation

If you're tightening up a spoke make sure you spin the nipple half a turn past where you want to go, then spin it back.   This means that if the spoke winds up it'll loosen as 

The boostinator kits that require re-dishing will generally make the wheel stronger.  More even spoke tension = stronger wheel.

I just don't know how to use the internet...  I'm sorry.

I know, I know, not supposed to put buy and sell postings up. But I figured this was unique enough of a bike to warrant a link to the for sale posting. I've really enjoyed riding this bike, but it does bottom out too easily for my liking. It's probably best suited for Intermediate and Advanced riders that want a confidence inspiring ride. (again, I'm sorry).

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/2585352/

(Admin, if you want me to remove this, just send a PM - no problemo)

Posted by: luckbox

Might have to give 2.6's a chance soon... has anybody tried the Forekaster or Rekons?

I was using the 2.6 Rekons as a rear tire. They were pretty good, rolled fast. Obviously less braking traction than a Minion, but still fine. I was a fan of the 3C Max Terra because it still had grip on wet rocks, unlike the 2C or faster compounds. Although I flatted them a bunch on my hardtail. When I took them off before the Nimby I had 4 plugs in them from 8 months of use.

Posted by: earleb

I am a convert to the 29 x 2.6 for hardtailing, I can't see ever going back to anything smaller.

I agree. The larger tires just absorb all the small trail chatter and it ends up being way faster on the trail.

I liked the 2.6 Slaughters. They aren't the lightest but they were fine. My problem on race day became my dropper. It wouldn't stay up at all on NIMBY and so I wasn't really paying attention to the tires. At the top of Nimby it started only sagging down an inch and not all the way, so that was better, but I was destroyed mentally and physically by that point so I sort of gave up. I knew it was a problem a month ago, but it's seized in my frame and seemed to be working enough that I didn't want to mess with it (idiot).

The Slaughters were pretty good in Whistler and on the shore as well. I've hit rim to rock a few times and I haven't flatted them (knock on wood). The casing seems more durable than the Maxxis, but time will tell.

I am excited... Although I have a lot to do.

I still need to build wheels up for this.

Offering

Last year I raced with 2.3 Minion DHFs front and rear... but I was on a single speed so rear wheel traction while standing was important.

This year I'm mechanical doping with everyone else and I've had a 2.6" Rekon on the back (which was pretty good at first, but I've flatted 3 times this year).  On Wednesday I realized it was bald and so I panic mounted a 2.6" Slaughter last night.  I'll let you know how it goes in the Nimby.  

The Slaughter is noticeably smaller than the Rekon.  2.41" vs. 2.54"

What tire did you end up choosing D_C_?   It would be interesting to compare our impressions with the damp weather.

Posted by: pedalhound

Interesting to hear about the Ripmo, that bike is very high on my list.

It might just have been my body not feeling happy with the medium Ripmo. Or it was the different offset fork. I don't know. It's definitely worth a demo though. It might work better for others.