I was trying to get my back wheel strightened out after a wreck on my mid-70's peugot road bike.
A 3- Speed Sturmey Archer hub that no one else in town would touch and they all sent me to this one guy...but they all kind of warned me before hand about this guy.
He was the only guy in town who could straighten it or have the parts to help fix it.
They were all correct.
This guy turned out to be the bike-worlds version of the crusty old record shop owner who had all the good stuff but is an insufferable dick.
Had to really suck up to him to have him even look at the wheel and get me the parts i needed from his "back room".
Its funny how scenarios like this are transferable across specfic areas of interest.
I bet there is also one of these guys for the book world, model train world, computer world, etc...in every town.
All in all i did save a few hundred buck by going to this guy, so it was probably worth it. But still.
the compulsion to pose in front of the elevation sign is strong! Probably unbeatable. Maybe if you're doing it all the time, but I was setting up all sorts of configurations: bike/beer/mountain, beer/chug/mountain, bike/sign/mountain/clouds...so silly. I think there are a few mountain bike trails down there I've been at higher elevations, but they don't put numbers on em.
BIKES!
Exactly. What's the point of pushing yourself up 1000 metres if you can't brag about it later????? (and especially if you look as good as I do in lycra...)
I was trying to get my back wheel strightened out after a wreck on my mid-70's peugot road bike.
A 3- Speed Sturmey Archer hub that no one else in town would touch and they all sent me to this one guy...but they all kind of warned me before hand about this guy.
He was the only guy in town who could straighten it or have the parts to help fix it.
They were all correct.
This guy turned out to be the bike-worlds version of the crusty old record shop owner who had all the good stuff but is an insufferable dick.
Had to really suck up to him to have him even look at the wheel and get me the parts i needed from his "back room".
Its funny how scenarios like this are transferable across specfic areas of interest.
I bet there is also one of these guys for the book world, model train world, computer world, etc...in every town.
All in all i did save a few hundred buck by going to this guy, so it was probably worth it. But still.
yes!
Seattle has the SA hub expert too. Does yours have the curly mustache? After dealing a couple times with our local curmudgeon, I gave up. Dude's sun gear rebuilding expertise wasn't worth putting up with a couple public outbursts at his wife/coworkers, and just his basic "I'm the guru of this shit" mentality. I ended up buying a too-small bike off CL for the rear SA wheel alone, instead of going to this dude to fix the wheel I had.
Definite crossover in Comic Book Store Guy operations.
I was trying to get my back wheel strightened out after a wreck on my mid-70's peugot road bike.
A 3- Speed Sturmey Archer hub that no one else in town would touch and they all sent me to this one guy...but they all kind of warned me before hand about this guy.
He was the only guy in town who could straighten it or have the parts to help fix it.
They were all correct.
This guy turned out to be the bike-worlds version of the crusty old record shop owner who had all the good stuff but is an insufferable dick.
Had to really suck up to him to have him even look at the wheel and get me the parts i needed from his "back room".
Its funny how scenarios like this are transferable across specfic areas of interest.
I bet there is also one of these guys for the book world, model train world, computer world, etc...in every town.
All in all i did save a few hundred buck by going to this guy, so it was probably worth it. But still.
yes!
Seattle has the SA hub expert too. Does yours have the curly mustache? After dealing a couple times with our local curmudgeon, I gave up. Dude's sun gear rebuilding expertise wasn't worth putting up with a couple public outbursts at his wife/coworkers, and just his basic "I'm the guru of this shit" mentality. I ended up buying a too-small bike off CL for the rear SA wheel alone, instead of going to this dude to fix the wheel I had.
Definite crossover in Comic Book Store Guy operations.
I kind of love it.
No curly mustache.
He was more of a middle-aged hobbit type guy who has been in business since the early 90's and feels super superior/jaded towards all of the johnny-come-lately Fixie Bike shop types.
I also kind of love it and the best part is i am just one in a line of people in there waiting to get abused by him so we can get what we need and get out before he decides we arent worth his time.
Its almost soup-nazi-esque, to be more prescise.
oh man haha when I first saw that pic I was like "damn, you got Hova to announce the race?" and then I went to the article and saw that it was actually you, whoops. based on that casual wear I'm gonna assume you didn't ride this year ;) have you ever done the ride? I know I've said this before but your Pops was clearly one hell of a guy just from everything I've read about him and seen that he helped create. respect.
oh man haha when I first saw that pic I was like "damn, you got Hova to announce the race?" and then I went to the article and saw that it was actually you, whoops. based on that casual wear I'm gonna assume you didn't ride this year ;) have you ever done the ride? I know I've said this before but your Pops was clearly one hell of a guy just from everything I've read about him and seen that he helped create. respect.
I rode this as a kid and teen a couple of times, but never did get my biker shorts steez on for the race.
Many times i look at the bikes these dude are workin and im envious. Its another culture.
Cats ordering futuristic frames from Europe and shit.
I am getting my Trek(regular mountain bike) on this summer though, just to get my lungs, legs, and instinct back.
1. It's healed well. There is a short "WTF are you doing, clown?" numb burning sensation from there when I've just finished carrying something heavy but the range of motion is all back, if not a bit clicky.
Coincidently I was with my loved one we were trailing our way on a ballad between Basel and Schaffhausen at the end of last week, with three days of biking, visiting and wild camping along the Rhine, surprisingly nice and relaxing. Not having to wash everyday, sneaking to find and install camp places, buying cheap food, all the rituals of living outdoors while still being easy-going tourists felt real great.
then luckily we had a storm hitting upon us with lightning and all as we were crossing a forest, it was a together in the same truck if a double-decker bus situation. we went to the thermal baths too.
so I definitely had worse in terms of limited washing trip.
the first clean mod can throw me the stone and ban me.
I got a new helmet so I went for one of my juvenile moves today. I leave my old gear somewhere looking like I forgot it, and I imagine the frantic search or victorious found-it dance.
Yeah I'm an idiot.
I also got a new rear wheel. Finally went tubeless. With the phasing-out of 26" wheels, I'm trying to scoop on the lingering stock. XTR rear wheel running like 28psi with a new tire, I gotta say it's pretty rad. A pound off my heavy bike, and sticking like glue to the trail. Cool.
The only hardtail 29ers I could get with are the two or three I've ridden with a slack head tube angle--71 degrees? My friends are at Raleigh/Diamondback (and now LaPierre lol), and they have one called the Mason that's super fun. Only problem is it's like 2G's. For a hard tail. That's nuts. I rode a Specialized 29er with similar geometry and dug it too. Again though: bank.
29ers just don't turn for me. I'm bummed the 26" wheel's dying, but the 27.5" wheelers I've ridden are fast and pretty sick. Felt okay in the air and turned quickly enough for a mountain bike. I dunno. I'll definitely end up with one in a year, it's just too frustrating to try and fight the trends. My brother tried to take a stand against 10speed road groups and bought three chains and a couple deraillers and put em in the freezer. His inner bike nerd gear slut is too strong though, and I think he bought some new 11speed campy group last month. Fuckin compact triples rolling resistance 1x11 on the fly piezo chip shock yada yada you still gotta pedal them!
So yeah. I dunno. I don't like 29er mtb. 27.5 is definitely faster in a straight line. I just ride around, I don't want to have to buy new EVERYTHING just to keep riding around.
Another friend built up a rad 26" Ragley hardtail a couple years ago. Sick bike. I want something like it. Slacker front end yet still pedal-able.
My bike weighs 34.7 pounds. Weighed it last week when I put this new wheel on. I'm cool with it. I just pedal harder.
Bike shop told me the big manufacturers are all ditching 26". I have a friend who I ride with regularly, he has a Cotic 29er. I've ridden it for an hour, and after that I thought to myself, I thought - "This is an answer to a question no-one needs to ask." It wasn't noticeably any worse, but there wasn't some cherry-popping epiphany as soon as I rolled out yard one.
I still can't think, after like, 30 years of R&D, that the 26" wheel is suddenly no good. There are some trails I could ride where the BMX bandits have made a load of jumps, and 26 is too big to have fun, 22 or 24 keep the centre of gravity so much lower and rotate faster, keeping the speed. 29 will be like a p-far.
These 29ers all seem to come with 700mm super-wide bars too. WHY? At the very start of my ride, as the work car park becomes a wood, I have to hop up a kerb between two trees. They can't be much more than 700mm apart, you have to be assertive as the mud at the back of the kerb is all worn away, you need momentum. With "Cow Horn" bars, that becomes, like, a Luke Skywalker shot.
No, I am not walking it through there.
Got to retire the Bontrager for the Winter, as it's steel and the damp is going to be here for months now. My other bike is a 700c aluminium commuter on skinnies, no good for mud plugging, and after a few chest and sinus infections, I don't commute when it's 0 deg or below. I have nothing to prove. I just ride at lunch on such days, when the sun is up and it's hitting a balmy 2 or 3.
Insane money over this side of the pond. I think the cheapest was 2.5K sterlings. Mid-range runs about 4K, IIRC. I've had many good cars for less. If my livelihood depended on being 1/100th faster than the other guy, I'd think about it, but I'd rather just be out shooting the breeze/blizzard.
Yeah they're dropping 26" because 29" was an overreaction. Go in the middle with 27.5" and pretend that's what they wanted to do all along. I guess once Giant and Specialized decide to adopt something it becomes the de facto industry standard? Crazy. The 27.5" bikes I've ridden are great--the wheel feels the same to me going down, and when it's time to pedal I'm finishing trails faster. They're great, but to find out they're getting rid of 26" for everything?--even beach cruisers? You GOTSTA be kidding me! Such dicks. I cannot believe that actually. I'll believe it when I see that one.
There are some smaller MTB companies around here that are insistent they'll never get rid of the 26" wheel. Knowing that the big dudes are already working on 27.5" DH bikes, it'll be hard to stay.
The LaPierres are fantasticly French! I've taken some spins on the super carbon 6" bike, with a computer brain adjusting the rear shock 100 times a second. 1x11, 27.5" wheels, whole thing weighs like 25 pounds. It is crazy. I'd totally le ride one if one were to fall off a les truck. But I think that one's like 6 G's. Maybe an aluminum one without the shockbrainz.
Fucking bikes.
Oh and of course my new fancy wheel requires a special spoke wrench for the oversized nipple (ayo). I guess you use this little slot in the back of the wrench to turn the actual spoke at this flattened part. Of course.
And the gigantic bars are ridiculous. Another MTB overreaction. I think they just can't leave well enough alone, and just nerp the fuck out and start insisting THESE WHEELS NEED BIGGENING! If a bigger bar is more stable at speed, we'll make the biggest damn bars ever!
Little people trying to turn unturnable 29" wheels with bars a yard wide. Shit's ridiculous. You're not racing downhills, you don't need those gigantic bars. And why are they always bright orange or green?
I can feel my shoulder being weaker out there. My bars have settled in right around my shoulder width. Hmm...
I wonder if the bike trendsters say it out loud: "but--if we stick with this perfect design, we're out of jobs. Fuck something up!"
Comments
A 3- Speed Sturmey Archer hub that no one else in town would touch and they all sent me to this one guy...but they all kind of warned me before hand about this guy.
He was the only guy in town who could straighten it or have the parts to help fix it.
They were all correct.
This guy turned out to be the bike-worlds version of the crusty old record shop owner who had all the good stuff but is an insufferable dick.
Had to really suck up to him to have him even look at the wheel and get me the parts i needed from his "back room".
Its funny how scenarios like this are transferable across specfic areas of interest.
I bet there is also one of these guys for the book world, model train world, computer world, etc...in every town.
All in all i did save a few hundred buck by going to this guy, so it was probably worth it. But still.
Exactly. What's the point of pushing yourself up 1000 metres if you can't brag about it later????? (and especially if you look as good as I do in lycra...)
BIKES!
yes!
Seattle has the SA hub expert too. Does yours have the curly mustache? After dealing a couple times with our local curmudgeon, I gave up. Dude's sun gear rebuilding expertise wasn't worth putting up with a couple public outbursts at his wife/coworkers, and just his basic "I'm the guru of this shit" mentality. I ended up buying a too-small bike off CL for the rear SA wheel alone, instead of going to this dude to fix the wheel I had.
Definite crossover in Comic Book Store Guy operations.
I kind of love it.
No curly mustache.
He was more of a middle-aged hobbit type guy who has been in business since the early 90's and feels super superior/jaded towards all of the johnny-come-lately Fixie Bike shop types.
I also kind of love it and the best part is i am just one in a line of people in there waiting to get abused by him so we can get what we need and get out before he decides we arent worth his time.
Its almost soup-nazi-esque, to be more prescise.
No diggity.
I rode this as a kid and teen a couple of times, but never did get my biker shorts steez on for the race.
Many times i look at the bikes these dude are workin and im envious. Its another culture.
Cats ordering futuristic frames from Europe and shit.
I am getting my Trek(regular mountain bike) on this summer though, just to get my lungs, legs, and instinct back.
started from the garbage now we here...
:face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt: :face_melt:
:face_melt:
Good news x 2
1. It's healed well. There is a short "WTF are you doing, clown?" numb burning sensation from there when I've just finished carrying something heavy but the range of motion is all back, if not a bit clicky.
2. She's admitted liability.
I am thinking a Scott Scale 30...
BAN
I count being rained on as getting washed ;)
Euroman reinforcing stereotypes!
then luckily we had a storm hitting upon us with lightning and all as we were crossing a forest, it was a together in the same truck if a double-decker bus situation. we went to the thermal baths too.
so I definitely had worse in terms of limited washing trip.
the first clean mod can throw me the stone and ban me.
Yeah I'm an idiot.
I also got a new rear wheel. Finally went tubeless. With the phasing-out of 26" wheels, I'm trying to scoop on the lingering stock. XTR rear wheel running like 28psi with a new tire, I gotta say it's pretty rad. A pound off my heavy bike, and sticking like glue to the trail. Cool.
http://www.boardmanbikes.com/mtb/29er_pro.html
Otherwise a crabon 26er. Scott Scale 30 looks nice. What's good @ around $1500 of your dollars.
29ers just don't turn for me. I'm bummed the 26" wheel's dying, but the 27.5" wheelers I've ridden are fast and pretty sick. Felt okay in the air and turned quickly enough for a mountain bike. I dunno. I'll definitely end up with one in a year, it's just too frustrating to try and fight the trends. My brother tried to take a stand against 10speed road groups and bought three chains and a couple deraillers and put em in the freezer. His inner bike nerd gear slut is too strong though, and I think he bought some new 11speed campy group last month. Fuckin compact triples rolling resistance 1x11 on the fly piezo chip shock yada yada you still gotta pedal them!
So yeah. I dunno. I don't like 29er mtb. 27.5 is definitely faster in a straight line. I just ride around, I don't want to have to buy new EVERYTHING just to keep riding around.
Another friend built up a rad 26" Ragley hardtail a couple years ago. Sick bike. I want something like it. Slacker front end yet still pedal-able.
My bike weighs 34.7 pounds. Weighed it last week when I put this new wheel on. I'm cool with it. I just pedal harder.
Now I'm angry.
I still can't think, after like, 30 years of R&D, that the 26" wheel is suddenly no good. There are some trails I could ride where the BMX bandits have made a load of jumps, and 26 is too big to have fun, 22 or 24 keep the centre of gravity so much lower and rotate faster, keeping the speed. 29 will be like a p-far.
These 29ers all seem to come with 700mm super-wide bars too. WHY? At the very start of my ride, as the work car park becomes a wood, I have to hop up a kerb between two trees. They can't be much more than 700mm apart, you have to be assertive as the mud at the back of the kerb is all worn away, you need momentum. With "Cow Horn" bars, that becomes, like, a Luke Skywalker shot.
No, I am not walking it through there.
Got to retire the Bontrager for the Winter, as it's steel and the damp is going to be here for months now. My other bike is a 700c aluminium commuter on skinnies, no good for mud plugging, and after a few chest and sinus infections, I don't commute when it's 0 deg or below. I have nothing to prove. I just ride at lunch on such days, when the sun is up and it's hitting a balmy 2 or 3.
Insane money over this side of the pond. I think the cheapest was 2.5K sterlings. Mid-range runs about 4K, IIRC. I've had many good cars for less. If my livelihood depended on being 1/100th faster than the other guy, I'd think about it, but I'd rather just be out shooting the breeze/blizzard.
There are some smaller MTB companies around here that are insistent they'll never get rid of the 26" wheel. Knowing that the big dudes are already working on 27.5" DH bikes, it'll be hard to stay.
The LaPierres are fantasticly French! I've taken some spins on the super carbon 6" bike, with a computer brain adjusting the rear shock 100 times a second. 1x11, 27.5" wheels, whole thing weighs like 25 pounds. It is crazy. I'd totally le ride one if one were to fall off a les truck. But I think that one's like 6 G's. Maybe an aluminum one without the shockbrainz.
Fucking bikes.
Oh and of course my new fancy wheel requires a special spoke wrench for the oversized nipple (ayo). I guess you use this little slot in the back of the wrench to turn the actual spoke at this flattened part. Of course.
Little people trying to turn unturnable 29" wheels with bars a yard wide. Shit's ridiculous. You're not racing downhills, you don't need those gigantic bars. And why are they always bright orange or green?
I can feel my shoulder being weaker out there. My bars have settled in right around my shoulder width. Hmm...
I wonder if the bike trendsters say it out loud: "but--if we stick with this perfect design, we're out of jobs. Fuck something up!"
LOL I'm going to the bike park. Bye.
that is perfect.
http://road.cc/content/news/93511-trials-legend-martyn-ashton-confirmed-having-suffered-life-changing-spinal
This is dude at his finest:
Speedy recovery, chap. Man is totes ledge over here.