kavurider profile

Good lord that Norco is beautiful. Great lines and I love that color paired with the pistachio 38.

If there is I would love to find it!

Rockwerks!

Oh man, I still want a Stooge.  

I talked to the builder last year and was on the list for one, but build times got pushed back and I had other priorities.

Here you go.  Bombshell fork, dual 26. I have a 24" arrow racing rim ready to be built up and eBay has 3.0 Halo tires.  Just got some new brake lines for it.  If it doesn't kill me should be fun to ride!  Everything on it actually works, barn find.  

Well, I am finally able to afford a nice bike now, and I love my SB165.  i9 hydra/carbon wheelset, Eagle drivetrain, Push shock.  But I have always had a small collection of "vintage" bikes going as well.  Right now, it is a 2001 Rocky Mountain Pipeline, a 1998 Rocky Mountain Hammer and a KHS Dominatrax.  And I love riding all of them as well.  I have taken the Hammer out with my buddy who rides an eBike and had a blast with it.  It is currently running Microshift Advent 9, some old Mavic Crossmax wheels, 1.95 tires (with tubes!) and a Marzocchi EXR Pro fork.  Just a way different ride than my Yeti.  My friends shake their heads, as they are of the "XTR or bust" category.  

I bought the Hammer for $75.  Put maybe another $200 into it and I have just as big a smile on my face riding it as I do with the Yeti.

Yup my Osprey pack has a zippered pouch on the waist belt, perfect for quick access to my multitool. Just have to remember to keep it in its hard case so you don't impale yourself in a crash!

I have a Wolftooth BRad and a Blackburn frame bag. I like them a lot for my spare tube and small tools, great to get them out of my waist pack. However, they don't fit very well on any of the frames I own.

I like that most manufacturers seem to be taking this into account and designing frames with space and mounting points.

OneUp composites are my go to now as well. Cheap, feel great and easy to rebuild.

These pedals are beautiful though...

I love these articles!

Please keep them coming!

(PS, I have a singlespeed back in the stable now!)

Gym time is so important for riding. I am not a gym rat, but I spent a solid year doing an hour of free weights 3-4x week. Mostly the big moves (squat bench deadlift) with smaller stuff in between. Made a HUGE difference in how I felt and how I rode.

I have been slacking for a while and really need to get back to it. I have lost a lot of flexibility, my posture is starting to suck again and I don't have the same control/power on the bike. With all of the injuries I have racked up, combined with getting older, it is crucial to add some weight training and stretching.

2007. I believe I can use a Cane Creek adapter to run a tapered steerer. If not, it did come with a Fox 32 that I might be able to bring back to life.

You can be fit and also ride an eBike.  Those are not mutually exclusive things.  I use mine for recovery rides when I am beat from riding my regular bike.  Or when I want to do an afternoon ride in the desert heat (empty trails rock!)

But I have encountered many eBike riders who focus on trying to make everything as easy as possible.  More power, bigger batteries.  When I am on my regular bike, I do resent them for a minute when they blow past me while I am grinding up a climb.  Haha.

Posted by: Spandies

I have a radwagon; best investment ever. Hardly drive except on weekends to get places, but otherwise I live on the bike. I have a giant box on the back for groceries/gear/dog, and just in the process of designing a bike mount for it so I can ride it to the trailhead. Do it, it’s cheap and cheerful for what it is: 7spd freewheel and chain means incidentals are dirt cheap. 

I’ve had zero problems with mine and I ride the shit out of it in all weather. Only cost are the amount of brake pads I go through, but that is the caveat of riding fast on a heavy bike. Seriously it’s a no brainer, especially in light of recent and ever increasing gas prices.

Checked them out, good price. I do like my Xtracycle a lot, cargo bikes are like pickup trucks.  I used to use mine for everything. 

Is the radwagon class 1? I couldn't find the info on that.

Thank you for the suggestion!

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: kavurider

Trying to figure out the logistics for a 91km round trip commute.

I absolutely loathe sitting in traffic, the freeways here are logjam mess and gas is through the roof.

But still...thats a long way. I bike commuted for many years but I'm not sure it was that far before.

That sounds like a good scenario for an ebike. You can still get some exercise in, use more "boost" on days that you don't feel great, still get it done in a reasonable time and save money on gas. I wouldn't necessarily mind a longer distance ride, but the time becomes a factor like Vik said. A goal for me has been to keep my commutes to 30 minutes if I'm driving  and 45 if I'm pedaling.

Yes, I am leaning towards that solution.  Just because of the distance involved.

I have a Tazer eeb right now but it wouldn't be great for that kind of trip. Thinking of an urban type.

I used to use my Xtracycle for commuting and it worked pretty well. Thought about a cargo ebike but man, they are huge and so heavy.

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: kavurider

Trying to figure out the logistics for a 91km round trip commute.

I absolutely loathe sitting in traffic, the freeways here are logjam mess and gas is through the roof.

But still...thats a long way. I bike commuted for many years but I'm not sure it was that far before.

I had a 25K train + 25K bike x 2 commute for a few years that I skipped the train section and rode the whole 100K round trip occasionally. In summer with good weather and at peak bike fitness it wasn't bad, but a ~4hr/day commute wouldn't be sustainable for me as a regular thing year round.

Yeah, I used to do 60k round trip everyday in the desert heat, I was pretty wiped out at the end of the week.

I don't think I could do it everyday but even once or twice a week would be a nice break.

Trying to figure out the logistics for a 91km round trip commute.

I absolutely loathe sitting in traffic, the freeways here are logjam mess and gas is through the roof.

But still...thats a long way. I bike commuted for many years but I'm not sure it was that far before.

Posted by: syncro

• An increase of riders is a behaviour - it's people choosing to participate in an activity. An increase of riders adds to trail erosion. I've brought this issue up before and it's strange that in the context of ebikes people see no problem with the ever increasing numbers of riders on the trails but yet on a sunny day on the weekend people will definitely make a point of talking about how busy the trails were, hard to find parking, etc. From a trail erosion standpoint the increase in riders over the past 10yrs has been detrimental to the overall health of the trail network, so I find that hard to like.
• Etiquette is a huge thing, and the best way to improve that is to be welcoming and get people involved. Constantly beating a drum that ebikers are some evil spawn is not going to do that. Negatively stereotyping a group is not going to motivate them to get involved with trail orgs and learning about proper trail etiquette.
• If it's more important to keep ebikers riding with the flow and porperly integrated with other traffic then how is maligning them going to encourage that?

Agree 100%.  eBikes are here, they are not going anywhere.  At this point, it is better to try to start integrating rather than excluding.  Yes, there are going to be a-holes and yes, you are going to have bad interactions on the trail, but I am already seeing that with all of the new people on regular bikes.  Rarely a smile or wave, not yielding to climbers, dragging brakes everywhere, buzzing hikers.  

I ride with a friend who actually needs an eBike due to some health issues.  The amount of glares and evil looks he gets from people on the trail is ridiculous.  Other eBike riders in the area report the same and you know what their response is to that?  "F 'em, I am going to just do what I want then".  That is how most people react, so instead, just be nice.  Be open.  If you welcome people, they might start listening to trail etiquette tips or not ride in areas they shouldn't.

Posted by: demo7_rider

It's my first ebike so nothing to compare to, but I'm really enjoying it. I took the travel spacer off the MOD to increase stroke from 62.5 to 65, giving roughly 175mm rear travel, and fitted a 180mm air shaft to the 38. Lots of rocks where I am and the bb was super low, so no negative consequences and I can climb ridiculous things on it. Descending honestly feels so close to DH rigs I've had in the past, must be the chassis weight making it feel so planted along with the coil. I swapped the SLX brakes out for Dominion A4s 220/220 rotors, fitted DH casing tyres and a Tannus in the rear (after trashing a rim already).

No problems with the motor or headset so far at all, having done around 500km and over 20,000m climbing. The Acros headset is probably the worst single feature but I've been super careful when washing the bike and it lives indoors, so has dried out fully between rides even through the winter. I'm expecting it to be the first part to go though. I read in a forum someone recommending using Sugru to plug the port and fully seal around the cables, which I'll most likely try once the first bearing has bitten the dust.

Thank you for the detailed write-up! I appreciate it!

Bike sounds great and the headset doesn't seem like too big of an issue. I agree with velocipedestrian, maybe ditching the internal headset routing when the bearings die.

While I understand someone wanting to protect/defend their wife/significant other, I still think it was extremely childish behavior.  The joke was tasteless, but hitting someone over a joke is ridiculous.

Posted by: demo7_rider

I have a Mod on my NP Megwatt and it has the same compression 'squeak' when the climb switch is engaged. Luckily as it's on an ebike the climb switch isn't really necessary, but it's certainly put me off having a Mod on a normal bike in the future. Shame, as it's very nice to ride and super controlled with the firm 'green' CTS valve installed

How do you like your Megawatt? Any issues with the Acros headset?

This is why I learned to do all of my wrenching at home.  And I buy used equipment, so warranty claims aren't a thing.  I can't remember the last time I actually went into a shop for anything.

I just invest in the proper tools as I go and even lend them out to friends/wrench on their bikes when needed. 

The only thing I can't do is shock rebuilds/damper service, but I use Dirtlabs for that. 

I work with quite a few engineers and they bring their bikes to the shop for everything.  But they make enough money that they can't be bothered doing any wrenching themselves - they would rather just pay someone for it.  Those are the customers that the shops want, they aren't interested in me asking for Fox 20wt Gold, because they know I am doing the labor myself.  I get it and from what I have seen, there are plenty of the desired customers around, especially with eBikes taking off.