jonas-dodd profile

Very good thoughts, I will put them to use!

"Ok guys, I'm going to do a quick brake bleed at the trailhead before we head out. See you then."

Words actually spoken by the coworker of a friend the night before a ride, followed by the precise outcome that one would expect: massive delay and mess with not optimally functioning brakes for said amigo, plus a combo of greatly reduced stoke and simmering anger for the rest of the group.

This incident is forever etched in our memories and is now used in jest whenever a ride with a critical start time has been planned.

Hey Andrew, great bumping into you at the top of 7th today! Conditions were zesty!

What's your advice for installation and zip tie size on the MH rear?

Funny that I've heard zero discussion of the new Range other than a couple of rumors...

I've had a pair of FiveTen impact pros for 2 years and they are holding up better than AJ's, although they have about half the miles on them. My previous shoes were the impact VXi and I too kept them going for an extra season with shoe-goo.

I have yet to pick up any NF gear but my next  gear purchase will be from them. I'm really hoping they make a 3/4 sleeve version of the merino T-shirt!

This version of the Honzo sounds like an excellent update to a great bike.

One thing though, how is it for pedal strikes? The crank length isn't given and the BB height is 312.5mm. My 2017 Patrol BB height is 339mm and I have to ratchet the pedals all the time to avoid clipping projections while climbing on undulating terrain (cranks are 175mm). I would guess that anticipating potential pedal impacts would be even more of a necessity with the Honzo.

I bought my 9.8 in the spring of 2018 and it was great for the first year, then it started needing the top nut re-lube every few weeks (using their proprietary grease of course). By mid-summer it was leaking air slowly and I had to top it up every ride or so.

I ordered the rebuild kit in January this year for $100 and that brought it back to life. However, the customer service was slow to respond and shipping was expensive and no-one stocks any parts other than 9.8 themselves.

I noticed a new sound coming from somewhere related to the post / saddle area and investigated to find a crack in the eyelet on the post that the head bolts to. I contacted 9.8 and was told that they only replace that part (the stanchion) in the factory and only for original owners and that it would cost about $200.

Instead of putting more money into the post I bought a one-up 210mm and it's been flawless so far.

Having dealt with the design short-comings of the 9.8, I looked more closely at the maintenance procedures of the one-up. They seem to be easier to work on and parts are easier to get, so kudos to them.

Oh wow, thanks for digging those up despite my misspelling of their name!

I found this image as well:

I remember thinking the front and rear specific treads were what made these tires so good, but looking at them now I think the name "superheat" and even more importantly the rasta-themed label was what really sold it for me at age 20. The rasta colour scheme for me and my riding buddies was a very important symbol of what we thought was cool: biking, reggae, weed. Even though I didn't think of it that way back then, or even smoke!

Thinking back to actually riding with these tires (or any others of the the day: panaracer smoke / dart, onza porcupines, ritchey z-max), what I clearly remember was how easily they slid on even bone-dry woodwork or rock. My strategy for successfully clearing a feature was to find the right speed and trajectory in order to avoid having to pedal or brake or steer once on it. Make any correction and I would invariably slide off whatever skinny thing I was trying to ride. I'm amazed I was never seriously injured.

In those days I mainly rode in spandex shorts and jerseys too. Didn't have any armor until my return to riding in 2005.

It blows me away how good tires have gotten since then. Not to be cliche, but everything about mountain biking now is light years ahead of what it was like in the 90s. Despite being in my 40s I have way more fun now on much more difficult trails than I did back in the day.

Re. Syncros colours:

They made a run of white stems, posts and forks for an aluminum Rocky Mountain model called the Nimbus, I believe around '91 or '92. It was supposed to be a super lightweight xc race bike.

I saw one at the '92 Vedder Mountain Classic and lusted after them almost as much as I did for a RM Thunderbolt, Brodie Sovereign or Off-road Toad. In those days I had a RM Avalanche with a (black) Syncros fork, chainstay U-brake and acerbis rear fender. I loved it but due to living in Vancouver it of course was eventually stolen, as were the Brodie Romax with second gen Manitou fork and black and white splatter paint and RM Blizzard with Halson inversion elastomer fork and Suntour mircodrive that I subsequently briefly owned.

In '95 I lucked into buying a green DeKerf with matching Rock Shox Judy, Syncros stem and "pro" post (425mm), Selle Italia ti Flight saddle (of course), green ano Race Face bars and cranks and Magura John Tomac edition rim brakes (neon yellow). Also my favourite tires of the day: Matsuboshi "super-heat", front and rear. Wheels were Mavic SUP with rasta Ringle hubs and skewers and alu rasta nipples that eventually started shearing off. Topping it all off was a black Roach top-tube pad that I thought was bad-ass. That bike somehow never got stolen and despite how much I loved it I sold it around '99 and quit mountain biking (no idea what I was thinking). Thankfully I regained my senses in 2005 and have been back and deeply in love with our sport ever since. 

But I digress...