Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[Andeh]

Related to internal routing fuckery... even tube-in-tube doesn't save you some times. My Levo has plastic tubes that are routed through the frame for that stuff, and glued to the ports at the exit. But the tubes are just *barely* too tight to allow the fat Hayes Dominion brake lines to make it all the way through. Like they fit barely when you start, but over the entire length the friction builds up to the point where you can't force them through any more. So after a few hours of fighting with it, I had to rip out the guide tube, and just feed the brake hose through unguided. Which, of course, meant dropping the goddamn motor. And then after the first ride, I discovered that the naked hose rattled, so I had to slit a piece of foam tube down the side from the display hole in the top tube, and feed it down through the frame, with a wrap of tape every couple inches to keep the foam in place.

Remind me why internal brake/shifter routing is good again?

[Boissal]

My prescription riding glasses are scratched to hell. So I want to replace them. They say my prescription is expired. Can I please just buy another pair of the same? No, what if your eyes changed? Ok fine I will do (and pay for) an eye exam. Next appointment in 3 months.
So you think I am healthier going three months without corrective lens than selling me another pair of what I would still be wearing anyway if they weren't scratched?
Health care in America!
And what's cleven crazier is that eye prescription lasts one year, but health insurance pays for one exam every two years. I have "Cadillac" insurance.
So if Grandma loses her glasses after 13 months she cannot buy another pair. It's unhealthy.

Bottom line: any online places that will just let me type in my prescription? I wanted to get Roka but they aren't ok with that.

You have a PDF version of that prescription? Easy enough to edit the expiration date by 1 year. I'm not saying I've done it, and I'm not recommending you do it, but I've had the issue in the past with >4 months lead time to get an appointment and needed a temporary contact refill. Apparently nobody who works for opticontact.com is calling the provider to verify the script so...

Edit: deehubs beat me to it

fat Hayes Dominion brake lines

Curse the Hayes tubing and its extra girth!! It's been giving me all kinds of trouble with internal and external routing!

[singlesline]

Have you tried Zenni Optical?

+1 on Zenni

If I recall correctly there is zero verification of your RX.

Their frames can be hit or miss (read the reviews before you buy), but I've mostly had good luck. Their return policy will give you full value in credit, so it isn't that big of a deal to take a flyer on something and if it feels like junk or looks terrible, just send it back and order something else.

You can make almost anything they sell into sunglasses and can add color-burst mirror finishes too.

Once you've made a purchase or two, you'll have "Zenni Rewards" or whatever that let you have free shipping or additional discounts.

Getting the suglasses+polarized+lens upgrades boosts the price a bit, but $60-75 is still a pretty good range for RX sunglasses.

[jhyatt]

Y U NO COSTCO?
(For exam)

No Costco here. Within an hour or more

[jhyatt]

I just photoshop my old script, and change the year, and take that to Walmart for my contacts. Walmart must have 7 years on file of the exact same script, just with an altered date.

I was going to do this. They don't call the doctor to verify?

[jhyatt]

+1 on Zenni

If I recall correctly there is zero verification of your RX.

Their frames can be hit or miss (read the reviews before you buy), but I've mostly had good luck. Their return policy will give you full value in credit, so it isn't that big of a deal to take a flyer on something and if it feels like junk or looks terrible, just send it back and order something else.

You can make almost anything they sell into sunglasses and can add color-burst mirror finishes too.

Once you've made a purchase or two, you'll have "Zenni Rewards" or whatever that let you have free shipping or additional discounts.

Getting the suglasses+polarized+lens upgrades boosts the price a bit, but $60-75 is still a pretty good range for RX sunglasses.

Thanks I will check this!
I'm looking at it now. Any suggestions on frames for a big head that are decent for riding and running and skiing and looking super cool on my head while chugging a PBR and fist bumping my boys after a siiiiiick day? A little wrap rather than flat lenses?

And adding that I get contacts at 1800contacts and they do an "online exam" for $20. They are in SLC and always been great

[singlesline]

Thanks I will check this!
I'm looking at it now. Any suggestions on frames for a big head that are decent for riding and running and skiing and looking super cool on my head while chugging a PBR and fist bumping my boys after a siiiiiick day? A little wrap rather than flat lenses?

And adding that I get contacts at 1800contacts and they do an "online exam" for $20. They are in SLC and always been great

Sorry, I like my current pair but they appear to have been discontinued.

If your big head includes a big pupillary distance, you may be in luck. My complaint with zenni sunglasses recently is that they have a minimum PD limit on a lot of the big frames that I think would work well as riding sunglasses. I don't think my head is small or my eyes are close together, but for whatever reason, they say they can't make the bigger frames work for me (maybe they are actually gigantic and wouldn't work well anyways)

I might pick up a pair of these in the green color with a non-polarized blue mirror lens: https://www.zennioptical.com/p/aviat...?skuId=7830124 (just to have a pair of non-polarized sunglasses around). If you go non-polarized AND non-mirrored, there's no upcharge at standard RX, so you truly can get like $7 throwaround sunglasses.

Harder to find something that "wraps" though since they are just using standard optical lens blanks, but some frames have more curvature or more material that sticks back on the sides.

These could be fun too in sunglass form: https://www.zennioptical.com/p/mens-...hdelivery=true

Their virtual try-on thing works pretty well although occasionally for some frames it either gets the alignment wrong (sits too high or low on your face) or the sizing is off. I thought this setup would be fun for daily wear and maybe skiing:

They looked relatively large in the virtual try-on, but they were comically small in person.

[XXX-er]

Any suggestions on frames for a big head that are decent for riding and running and skiing and looking super cool on my head while chugging a PBR and fist bumping my boys after a siiiiiick day? A little wrap rather than flat lenses?

IME ( nearsighted astignatism ) not every prescription plays well with " a little wrap " so ask your dispensing pro, what happens is trying to put a flat lense in a curved frame the lense doesnt fit well becuz of how they have to grind it for the prescription so the lenses might fall out, mine fell out on one of those chair lifts that are 100 ft over a no-ski gorge so I gave up on any wrap long ago

I have 5 or 6 pair of rayban wayfarers which are good for my prescription/ high quality/ made in italy/ fit my face and I wear them while drinking craft brew

I just got some MEGA Wayfarers which have temple pieces twice the size of the classic Wayfarer if yer into that whole Roy Orbison look

[nickwm21]

Specialized.

There kids balance bike “Hotwalk” is on sale for $150 on their website. I need a strider for my girl. Awesome.

I get to the checkout. Options for delivery.
Shipping - $60. Expensive but ok, fine.
Specialized Delivery - $75. Sure. I assume they build it…
Pickup at Store - $50. Wtf…




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[beaterdit]

They *are* Specialized. They’ve never been cool.

[jhyatt]

Different seatpost "standards" on road bikes. Oh sorry "seatmast" on my yacht. How many are there?
Is that coming to MTB?

[hick]

Specialized.

There kids balance bike “Hotwalk” is on sale for $150 on their website. I need a strider for my girl. Awesome.

I get to the checkout. Options for delivery.
Shipping - $60. Expensive but ok, fine.
Specialized Delivery - $75. Sure. I assume they build it…
Pickup at Store - $50. Wtf…




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Ya, I learned this when I bought a stumpy Evo. Shop charged me shipping, I was like WTF?!? This was for buying a bike that was in the shop. So bizarre, why support the shop then at all? To bad I like the bike so much and I’m a sucker for a good deal, but you always pay somehow🤷♂️


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[nickwm21]

It just seems obtuse to me. Sure, charge for a home delivery. But price the bike so that “pickup at shop” is not an added fee but included. If they really wanted to be partners with the LBS, they would be incentivizing online customers to go there… I literally was 10 seconds from buying a bike from them; now I’m going to drive down to REI and pickup something comparable without the added fees…


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[skaredshtles]

Fuck Specialized.

[One (+) Sentence]

Ya, I learned this when I bought a stumpy Evo. Shop charged me shipping, I was like WTF?!? This was for buying a bike that was in the shop. So bizarre, why support the shop then at all? To bad I like the bike so much and I’m a sucker for a good deal, but you always pay somehow路♂️


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I have no idea the specifics of the Specialized click n collect or purchase online programs, but I wouldn't be surprised if you purchase through Specialized's website they may send your dealer of choice the bike regardless, either to fill your order or replenish the shop's stock. Purchasing online may have forced the dealer to receive a bike they otherwise would not have - hence they charge you that freight cost.

[rideit]

A bunch of companies have recently reduced the margins for dealers on high end bikes to 35% or less, even 30% on E-bikes, and the dealers have to pay shipping on small orders. Shops operate on a 5%-10% margin after operational expenses. It's getting brutal to sell/stock new bikes at all, IMO.

EDIT: upon reflection, I do have to say that most durable hard goods at the $10,000 level do NOT enjoy 40% margins for the retailers, as far as I know.

[jackstraw]

A bunch of companies have recently reduced the margins for dealers on high end bikes to 35% or less, even 30% on bikes, and the dealers have to pay shipping on small orders. Shops operate on a 5%-10% margin after operational expenses. It's getting brutal to sell/stock new bikes at all, IMO.

That's the corporate world. Fat n happy for the past 10-15yrs and now they're starting to get squeezed, so the suits pass it on to the little guys.

[hick]

I have no idea the specifics of the Specialized click n collect or purchase online programs, but I wouldn't be surprised if you purchase through Specialized's website they may send your dealer of choice the bike regardless, either to fill your order or replenish the shop's stock. Purchasing online may have forced the dealer to receive a bike they otherwise would not have - hence they charge you that freight cost.

But charge freight when you bought the bike directly from the shop and it’s sitting on their floor? It just didn’t make sense to me. Seems like a death sentence for shops (not that this particular specialized shop is worth saving…)


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[Canada1]

I recently went into a local shop purchased by Trek. It had more bikes, but none of the people I trusted to ask questions of.
My third hand knowledge is that if you buy a specialized online, the shop has to build it but doesn’t make the money on the sale. Guessing that is why they’ve thrown in the $50.00. You’d think they would keep that blind to the consumer, but I’m just an attorney who knows no marketing.

[Roxtar]

They *are* Specialized. They’ve never been cool.

Cool? I'd settle for decently human.

[HankScorpio]

I recently rebuilt an old steel mtb frame into a rigid gravel/mtb with mostly old parts but I decided to get a new carbon fork. I went the knock off Chinese fork route to save some cash and am regretting it. I got an "Enve style" fork from DIY Carbon based on some good reviews. It arrived after 3 weeks with the package open and no thru axle. I email them about the missing axle, it doesn't ship for 2 weeks and I once I get the axle, it is too short. I email them again they insist that it will fit and that I'm somehow installing it improperly. Still waiting for a solution.....

Don't buy cheap Chinese bike parts, you'll regret it.

[Clownshoe]

On the subject of EWS and other enduro races:

I get that racers and viewers want to race on different trails every time. However, in my opinion, the worst possible thing that can happen to a trail you love, or even worse, a trail you've built or worked on, is to have an enduro race run down it.

The number of laps that it will get through training and racing, and the way those laps are ridden, will forever alter your beloved trail. Even if the organizers give money to the local trail association to fix that trail after, it'll never be the same. You can't unring a bell. God help you if any of that training or racing is in the wet. The trail gets completely blasted, the corners get "French lines", and the trail ages a decade in a weekend.

I live in a place where these big name enduro series show up on a semi regular basis, and essentially destroy a few trails. For a couple of years they ran stages down some spectacular new builds. The racers loved it I'm sure, but the trails themselves were smashed beyond recognition. This has lead to the races being run on older beat down trails, or the sameish trails, or in the bike park where the trails are already hammered and a paid trail crew exists to fix them, instead of new trails or popular trails. I think this is the way to go. Some of the riders complain "Where are the loamers bro???" or "We raced this trail last year", but I think this is the proper solution. Essentially you rotate through a smaller set of sacraficial old trails instead of running on the latest and greatest new trails

It's hard to describe if you've never seen it happen, but there are trails near me that were raced in an EWS 5 years ago that went from a sweet new loamer to a trenched out mess in the course of a couple of days. The work required to fix them generally is beyond what the builders can do (unless they're part of a paid trail crew), and exceeds the token donation from the race organizers. Even with a substantial donation and a lot of work by the trail crew, the trail will never be the same.

[toast2266]

It seems like for big, marquee events like the EWS, if they want a loamer stage, it should be built specifically for the race (and paid for by the race organizers).

[Clownshoe]

I like this idea

[t.odd]

It seems like for big, marquee events like the EWS, if they want a loamer stage, it should be built specifically for the race (and paid for by the race organizers).

Was on WORCA (Whister mtb org) board for many years helping manage these types of requests, we definitely batted around this idea a lot, unfortunately the regulatory landscape in BC is such that the Province cannot authorize these types of proposals in a reasonable time frame which pretty much makes it impossible unless you're on a 3-5 year time line.

As Clownshoe said, this means that these types of high impact events are only suited to a limited number of trails that can handle that heavy use in all kinds of weather. Luckily we do have those types of trails, but it does mean the racing gets kinda stale. And I say that as someone who used to participate A LOT in EWS races in Whistler, but feel like the whole sport kinda jumped the shark, and frankly not sure they're worth the effort required to mitigate impacts and repair damage.