[jabberwocky]

Latest upgrade:

Replacement drivetrain for the big bike. Upgrading to 10-speed finally, so I decided to go 1×10. Start with an 11-36 cassette and add a one-up 42t granny ring kit (replace the 15/17 with a 16 and add a 42 behind the 36) to get a really wide spread of gearing.

On the bike. Thats a pie plate of a cog in back!

[jabberwocky]

Sidewall blowout about 1.5 miles from home necessitated an in the field dollar-bill boot, then my mini pump decided to give up the ghost (my fault, it was totally dry inside and the o-ring had cracked). I got enough air in to limp it home, swapped tires and made it to work on the second try.

On that note, I’m finished with Continental tires. I’ve had two sets of GP4000s, and out of the four, three have died premature deaths due to sidewalls failing.

[jabberwocky]

@Sunyata 119317 wrote:

I may take you up on this, too! (But it will have to be after SM100, since my weekends are now spent doing ridiculously long rides whilst thinking to myself that I am an idiot for signing up for this race…)

Anytime, Casey. Shed is perfect SM100 training! Ride the trails and then grind around on the gravel roads, or swap the MTB for the road bike and climb some mountains!

[jabberwocky]

Entirely within VA? If so, a handgun with a CHL is an option. Don’t even think about it in DC or MD. As others have said, you’ll want to get some training. I’ve known a few people who carry on the bike, most are doing some sort of fanny pack holster. Handguns oriented towards concealed carry are quite small these days. You’ll not only want to spend some time training with it, but also read up on the laws and case laws around the use of lethal force in self defense. Whatever your feelings on the NRA, their training arm is excellent and they offer several classes oriented to gun safety and self defense.

I don’t think that mace or pepper spray are really worth it. I suppose they might buy you a few seconds to get away (and obviously, fleeing any encounter is your top priority). I tend to think that any effort I’d spend on the bike getting the spray out and using it would be better spent fleeing in the first place. Also (oddly enough) the laws around its possession and use can be even more convoluted than the laws around firearms (especially in jurisdictions that heavily restrict firearm use, like DC).

Unarmed self defense would be fun to learn, but at that point you’re off the bike and at a heavy disadvantage, especially if there is more than one person attacking you.

Avoidance is always the best strategy. Situational awareness, having an escape route planned, etc. I had a friend who was attacked riding in Baltimore a few years back. A group of kids swung a bat at his head and tried to grab him as he rode by. He ducked (bat glanced off his helmet) and sprinted like hell and got away. Even if you’re carrying a firearm, using it is about the last thing you ever want to do.

[jabberwocky]

Drop me a line when you’re ready and I’ll show you around the Shed. I even have a good intro loop that won’t have you hating the rigid bike too much!

[jabberwocky]

@hozn 119228 wrote:

I think we just have different definitions of “high maintenance”. This sounds like a lot of (expensive) work for something that starts so damn expensive in the first place. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have a problem with suspension forks, I’d just rather do *nothing* every few years than spend a couple hundred bucks and be out of a bike for a couple weeks while the fork gets rebuilt. I ride my mountain bike so rarely these days, that it’s something I want to “just work” without any fuss. And it does. I’m happy to tweak my commuter or road bike constantly.

Its certainly less maintenance than drivetrains are. Suspension forks are complicated things, but modern ones use good seals and cartridge dampers and are pretty durable. I think its like hydraulic brakes, where people who are unfamiliar with them think they are scary hoodoo that mere mortals can’t hope to understand. I’ve overhauled a fork before and its really not that hard. Just changing the bath oil (which is probably the most the majority of people will ever need to do) is dead simple. I can do it on my rockshox forks in about 5 minutes.

Sure though, rigid forks are less maintenance. As long as you don’t consider arthritic joints maintenance.

@hozn 119228 wrote:

I probably should have qualified the idea of larger tire; I also don’t get the fat tire trend. My Renegade 2.3″ weighs 620g, so it’s a lot lighter than many much smaller tires. I wouldn’t want a heavier duty tire, so I suspect this is probably about as large as I’ll find before I enter downhill or fatbike territory. Running the Renegade 20-25psi is pretty comfortable for regional trails. Definitely haven’t missed having a fork riding things like Lake Fairfax — hell, the 2.3″ is dreamy soft compared to the 42mm @ 50psi (tubed) cx tires.

I know we’ve gone back and forth before, and its obvious that we fundamentally disagree on what is fun, because you enjoy Lake Fairfax on a cross bike whereas every time I’ve tried that I’ve gotten about 1/4 mile from the lot and started muttering that this is why I have a mountain bike.

Different strokes and all that! I should note that while my primary bike (Ibis Mojo HD) has a ton of suspension travel, I do also run a rigid SS sometimes as well. Its fun to switch it up. But I’d go nuts running rigid all the time, and I would never take the rigid bike to the more technical trails I love (FredShed, GW forest, etc).

[jabberwocky]

Suspension forks aren’t that much of a maintenance issue. On my trail forks I generally send them off every few years for an overhaul. The lyrik on my trail bike is a few years old and has a thousand or so miles and has never had a thing done to it and it works awesome. My old Fox TALAS (2004 vintage) went a few thousand miles over several years with a single overhaul (its on my backup and could use one now, but still works fine). The only fork I’ve ever had to mess with was the Totem on the DH bike, and it really wasn’t hard to work on.

I honestly don’t get the fat tire trend. I think its driven by ideological rigid people who are realizing just how much rigid sucks off road, but don’t want to just get a suspension fork. Its a crapload of rotational weight to get a few inches of crappy damping.

As for fork rigidity, its a huge issue when you’re riding more technical terrain. Get into a rock garden at speed and a fork that actually tracks where you point it is great. Same for hard cornering. I have zero tolerance for noodly forks. With the proliferation of thru-axles and large stanchion forks, its a solved issue.

[jabberwocky]

@Tania 119158 wrote:

*cough* JABBERWOCKY *cough*

I’ve been volunteered!

I’ll be running (er, helping run, because Tania isn’t getting totally off the hook for this ) the social ride that coincides with KB. Haven’t had time to really examine the loop, but it will likely closely track the ride Cyndi did last year. Plan on 35ish miles, some cheering, some eating of ice cream, and a lot of “I’m glad I’m not doing the whole thing”.

Post up if you’re interested, because I’d certainly like to get a rough head count.

[jabberwocky]

When I’ve had contaminated pads/squealing, I generally remove the rotors and hit each face with my 5″ random orbit sander with 220 grit paper on it, then clean them with rubbing alcohol. Then remove the pads and do the same to the face of them (minus the alcohol). Then put it back together and do a few dozen hard stops and they generally work well.

I few years back I had seals fail on my DH fork and it leaked fork oil onto the front brake. This worked to rescue the rotor and (surprisingly) the pads too.

IME, certain models of rotor squeal more than others. The polygon rotors avid used for several years are awful. I have a few sets and just regard the squeal as my brakes saying “I’m an avid brake that is braking!”.

[jabberwocky]

@Dickie 118769 wrote:

…although the Kuat NV looks pretty awesome as well…. ughh, money money money!

FWIW, I really wish I’d spent the money for the Kuat rather than the Yakima I have. The Yakima works ok but has numerous issues and annoyances. If I could go back in time I’d get the Kuat for sure.

[jabberwocky]

My two cents:

I did roof racks (Yakima King Cobras) for several years on my old Subaru WRX wagon. The King Cobra holds the bike with both wheels on. I transported everything from light road bikes to DH rigs. Advantages are that they don’t mess with the rear door at all, and the bikes are safe from rear end accidents (which I never had, but you never know). Disadvantages were that they were tough to lift bikes onto them (and the rex was a pretty short car; I’d have needed a step stool with an SUV). Gas mileage took a big hit. You needed to be careful with parking garages and drive thrus and such. The bikes are in the air stream and swayed around a lot. The Yakima racks had issues with the trays cracking (I’d take them off and hacksaw the last few inches of tray and reattach them to fix it).

My current car (Ford Explorer) I went with a hitch rack (Yakima Holdup 2). Its substantially easier to load, doesn’t hit gas mileage to a noticeable degree, and holds the bikes securely. I have transported my touring bike with fenders on it; I just clamp the wheel bar to the fender. As an unexpected benefit it also blocks the license plate when folded up, which is nice in MD. Disadvantages are that it makes the rear door harder to use (rack needs to fold down to access it), it does mess with the backup sensors (it beeps constantly whenever I’m in reverse) and I guess if I ever get rear ended with bikes on there it will be expensive.

Given the choice I’d do a nice hitch rack.

[jabberwocky]

@Powerful Pete 118634 wrote:

Good point that I had not considered. I just find it very messy (and here we are talking about a frame with mechanical discs)… but this is most probably the roadie in me coming out. Can you tell that I am not an MTB-guy?

Then again, how difficult is it to thread a cable through cable guides?

Well, it may come with mechanical discs but its pretty obvious that even road gear is moving towards hydraulic systems, so it could be seen as a bit of future proofing.

The issue with hydraulic lines is its a closed system; removing either the caliper or lever or cutting the line would require a bleed afterward. So any frame that requires threading the line through anything will make hydraulic systems a PITA. Its best if the brake lines are open and easily attached and removed without having to cut anything or detach the caliper or lever.

[jabberwocky]

Whats wrong with the zip tie? Thats very common for disc lines on MTBs actually, because they are mostly hydraulic, which are continuous and very difficult to cut and reattach. Zip ties are readily available and cut easily and quickly so changing out brakes is simple.

[jabberwocky]

I’ve not done cannonball, but I’ve done both seagull and backroads. Overall, seagull was the easier (and better supported) of the two. Attendance is ridiculously high, so its always easy to hop into a group going your speed, and the local community seems to support it enthusiastically. The scenery is nice and it is flat as a board, though the wind can be pretty brutal (the year I did it, the headwind over the last 30 miles coming back from assateague was pretty tough; fortunately I had Dirt to hide behind).

Backroads is considerably hillier (though still not too bad) and also pretty. The support was good enough, though it definitely doesn’t seem as well supported by the communities it goes through. I enjoyed it but when I finished I wasn’t too sure how enamored I was with the idea of doing it again. I’d do seagull again in a heartbeat though.

[jabberwocky]

FWIW, most of the better composite decking products strive to meet ADA compliance for traction, which specifies both a dry and wet coefficient of friction.

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