Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[evdog]

If you have hundreds of acres of undeveloped forest land, surely a couple of trails can't be a big deal. Let us kids play!

Werd!

Aside from the liability, the owner may be worried that having people use the trails may result in increased opposition to development in the future. It's happened before - people get used to using the trails and when the owner decides to develop there's an outcry, public hearings, etc.. Eventually the owner gives up and sells to the land trust for far less than the development would have been worth. (Good outcome for the community, but bad for the owner.)

I've seen that a lot.

That worked in our favor in the fight to save Trestles from the toll road extension here in Socal. The toll road would have run right through State Park land in addition to destroying the surf break. So State Parks unofficially encouraged bikers build more trails within the state park boundary to drive more traffic to the park, and thus more opposition to the toll road. That was a win/win. For now, the toll road is dead.

In SD an unsanctioned trail network was built over the last 10 yrs on land owned by a major home builder. This areas has been slated for development for 30 yrs but it alternates between development plans, lawsuits and bankruptcies every 5-10 yrs. We're now working with the land owner to incorporate as much of the existing network as possible into their community plan. They don't want bikers as an opponent because they know we can bring out hundreds of people to public meetings. They will already have a fight on their hands against the nimby crowd and the conservation crowd. We've had good success lately working directly with developers as most community plans require more open space land acreage than construction footprint. It can happen. It's just a lot easier when the trails are already there.

[californiagrown]

Up in the PNW timber companies are many times happy to allow MTB trails to be built on their land. Galbraith is a perfect example of a Timber company realizing how much good favor they can curry with the local community by allowing and encouraging active use of their land... and when the timber company does a harvest, they tell their foreman to do what they can to not completely wreck the trails. No way that an active timber harvesting operation right in hippydippy bellingham thrives without also providing a source of tourism and community recreation. Tokul is the same way. Other areas of timber land, and one mining claim i know of have a wink-wink deal with MTBers... and at least on 1 occasion i have run into a timber worker tagging trees who says he likes the trails because they help him get around easier on the land. YMMV.

Developers on the other hand are hit and miss. Some of those folks are 100% profit driven, no compromise folks that dont want the liability of trails, the opposition that allowing and then destroying trails will create, or (like evdog said) they are using that undeveloped land as a mitigation bank where if they cannot provide required environmental mitigation on a development in the area, they can say that they are "preserving" an equal (usually with a multiplier) amount of protected habitat/environment somewhere else... and that cannot have manmade builds on it (foot/deer paths are ok). My firm is currently working on a 2000bdrm community east of snoquamlie pass in WA where the developer has actually reached out to the MTB organization in the state to help design MTB trails around the new community to serve as a (public) community amenity to entice the younger MTB dentist families.

Moral of the story: you should know the risk when you build illegally, and be ok with getting stuff torn down if its on private land. And also, the quickest way to get a pirate trails shut down is to put "built" features like sculpted lips and landings, and wood features on it. Its easy enough to shave, and build up existing terrain to incorporate jumps, but if you want a legit jump trail, you gotta know the risk and keep it on the DL.

[meter-man]

Up in the PNW timber companies are many times happy to allow MTB trails to be built on their land. Galbraith is a perfect example of a Timber company realizing how much good favor they can curry with the local community by allowing and encouraging active use of their land... and when the timber company does a harvest, they tell their foreman to do what they can to not completely wreck the trails. No way that an active timber harvesting operation right in hippydippy bellingham thrives without also providing a source of tourism and community recreation. Tokul is the same way. Other areas of timber land, and one mining claim i know of have a wink-wink deal with MTBers... and at least on 1 occasion i have run into a timber worker tagging trees who says he likes the trails because they help him get around easier on the land. YMMV.

Developers on the other hand are hit and miss. Some of those folks are 100% profit driven, no compromise folks that dont want the liability of trails, the opposition that allowing and then destroying trails will create, or (like evdog said) they are using that undeveloped land as a mitigation bank where if they cannot provide required environmental mitigation on a development in the area, they can say that they are "preserving" an equal (usually with a multiplier) amount of protected habitat/environment somewhere else... and that cannot have manmade builds on it (foot/deer paths are ok). My firm is currently working on a 2000bdrm community east of snoquamlie pass in WA where the developer has actually reached out to the MTB organization in the state to help design MTB trails around the new community to serve as a (public) community amenity to entice the younger MTB dentist families.

Moral of the story: you should know the risk when you build illegally, and be ok with getting stuff torn down if its on private land. And also, the quickest way to get a pirate trails shut down is to put "built" features like sculpted lips and landings, and wood features on it. Its easy enough to shave, and build up existing terrain to incorporate jumps, but if you want a legit jump trail, you gotta know the risk and keep it on the DL.

All of this.

But I'm still sad my local jumps are gone!

[Lee Murian]

Fucking bike thieves. Stole my daughters sweet Kona Honzo which was less than 3 months old. And now due to the virus, bikes are pretty much sold out and I can't get a replacement.

She had a major breakthrough this year and this was her first adult bike. We went to Bend and she did a Girls Allride clinic, we rode Oakridge, the coast, and new trail here at home. So bummed for her.

[meter-man]

Fucking bike thieves. Stole my daughters sweet Kona Honzo which was less than 3 months old. And now due to the virus, bikes are pretty much sold out and I can't get a replacement.

She had a major breakthrough this year and this was her first adult bike. We went to Bend and she did a Girls Allride clinic, we rode Oakridge, the coast, and new trail here at home. So bummed for her.

That blows, Lee! I'll ask my bike shop owner friend if he has anything he can hook up at cost. What size?

[Lee Murian]

That blows, Lee! I'll ask my bike shop owner friend if he has anything he can hook up at cost. What size?

She's on a small frame (5'2" 100#). I've called around and have friends who own shops. Sounds like basically bikes are sold out until the 2021's start shipping. I did find a Devinci Django in a small. It's more bike than she needs at 11 years old, but may be my only option. If you're buddy has a hardtail 27.5, it's ideally what I'm looking for. Thanks!!

[EWG]

First, that sucks. Terrible - sorry. Have you checked craigslist for 26” wheeled Julianas in your area? They can go cheap because they are smaller wheels but they are fantastic. Both my daughter and wife ride them (5’2” each) and I firmly believe the 26” wheel created far better geometry and fit at that height.

On the other hand if your daughter is gonna grow 6” in the next 2 years that might not work.

Rant about how bigger wheel sizes have totally screwed smaller riders withheld to another time.

[Flyoverland Captive]

She's on a small frame (5'2" 100#). I've called around and have friends who own shops. Sounds like basically bikes are sold out until the 2021's start shipping. I did find a Devinci Django in a small. It's more bike than she needs at 11 years old, but may be my only option. If you're buddy has a hardtail 27.5, it's ideally what I'm looking for. Thanks!!

Where are you? I’m in Bend; my wife has an older Specialized hardtail 26-er you can have cheap. She’s 5-4”; bike is barely used. PM if interested.

[Andeh]

The timeless rant: guys who show up to group rides with absolutely disgusting, reeking unwashed gear.

There's a new guy that's been showing up to our TNR group rides who always wears a North Face jacket (midsummer, in NorCal) that appears to never have been washed. It's covered in dirt, and has this awful sour funk that I can smell from about 10 ft away.

You can't make this up: a couple times when some of the regulars have been chatting about anything related to our significant others, he's made comments about dating difficulties. Fuck man, if your personal hygiene off the bike is bad as on it, I'm not surprised.

[Canada1]

Plans ride with lots of stream crossings!

[Vt-Freeheel]

That anyone could say this wasn't the funniest bike video they saw today.

[EWG]

My kid is heading off to college. Primary means of locomotion will be his fixie. He’s been bitchin about his cog slipping. I keep telling him to set the cog tight and then tighten the lock ring and it’ll be fine. Stop complaining and fix it.

Finally he convinced me to take a look. Fucker has somehow stopped the threads on the hub. It’s a cheap hub. He’s really strong. Is it possible he actually stomped or stopped so hard on the damn thing it skipped the threads?! Shit. Thats like anchorman: I’m not even mad. I’m impressed.

So now I need a new hub, and it’s got to be a good one, and I need it immediately. This’ll be cheap. Plus he gets to tell me I told you so.

So I pretty much lose all around.

[klauss]

That anyone could say this wasn't the funniest bike video they saw today.

That bike will go up for sale one day with the ol gentle use descriptor

Just got shipped a bottom bracket to replace my kids shot POS powerspline BB and it's missing a part. Mainly all the bottom bracket standards piss me off. Commencal putting powerspline on my kids bike is criminal too.

[beaterdit]

That anyone could say this wasn't the funniest bike video they saw today.

Admire the effort but what exactly was the plan there?

[El Chupacabra]

My kid is heading off to college. Primary means of locomotion will be his fixie. He’s been bitchin about his cog slipping. I keep telling him to set the cog tight and then tighten the lock ring and it’ll be fine. Stop complaining and fix it.

Finally he convinced me to take a look. Fucker has somehow stopped the threads on the hub. It’s a cheap hub. He’s really strong. Is it possible he actually stomped or stopped so hard on the damn thing it skipped the threads?! Shit. Thats like anchorman: I’m not even mad. I’m impressed.

So now I need a new hub, and it’s got to be a good one, and I need it immediately. This’ll be cheap. Plus he gets to tell me I told you so.

So I pretty much lose all around.

If it's already trashed.... epoxy the cog in place?

[Vt-Freeheel]

Admire the effort but what exactly was the plan there?

Before the bar clip my only guess was, land to flat?

[Dee Hubbs]

Just got shipped a bottom bracket to replace my kids shot POS powerspline BB and it's missing a part. Mainly all the bottom bracket standards piss me off. Commencal putting powerspline on my kids bike is criminal too.

Like a kid kids bike? If so its because short cranks (sub 165mm) are hard to spec in modern BB standards.
My buddy is a product manager for a bike line and he has responsibility for a bunch of Jr. bikes that he has to spec'. He says buying Jr. cranks are one of biggest pains, and most higher end jr. bikes have cranks that are made by that brand (like Commencal make some of their own cranks).
Powerspline is an open source (even though its a SRAM product) that they don't have to pay royalties to use in their design.

[EWG]

If it's already trashed.... epoxy the cog in place?

I'm thinking about giving that a try, but the singlespeed freewheel side is still fine so maybe I'll find a use for it by flipping it over. But I really want to try it. You know, for science...

I told my kid we should do that and he was all "No way, I'm gonna explode when it lets go! Are ya tryin to kill me?!" blah blah blah

I mean, I couldn't tell him he was wrong, so oh well.

[teledad]

Whose idea was it to make the freehub width different for 11-speed road vs. mtb, even though the cog spacing is the same? Working on converting some old MTB wheels for use on a gravel bike. Decided I didn't need the 11-42 gearing and bought a 11-32 Shimano 105 cassette to replace it. Pulled off the old cassette, put on the new one, doesn't fit. Can't get the 11 cog to catch the teeth on the freehub and the lock ring won't thread in. Pulled the whole thing off and tried again, still doesn't fit. Did that about 5 more times before I gave up and figured out that since the new cassette is for road, it requires a wider freehub. So now I have a cassette I can't use and a wheel with gearing I don't need.

[Dee Hubbs]

10 speed and 11 speed mtb = 34.95mm
11 speed road = 36.75mm
In order to fit the 11th cog on a road hub they had to increase the freehub width by 1.8mm
The 11th mtb cog can fit on the the shorter freehub because the 11th cog hangs over the end of the freehub and over the dish of the spokes.
For $80 there is a 11 speed Shimano HG800 (Ultegra) 11-34 that fits on 10 speed hubs.

[gravitylover]

Internal cable rattle - aargh...

[toast2266]

Internal cable rattle - aargh...

I'm a fan of trek's system that lets you zip tie the internal cables to the downtube. Basically just 2 holes in the downtube that you can thread a zip tie through and around the cables. If you have an aluminum frame, you could probably just drill those holes and do the same thing.

[happytimefunbox]

no 27.5 DHR in the REI universe when I need new rubber and have divi plus 15% off coupon. probably gonna regret getting talked into wtb vigilante for the back I bet DHF in the rear would be better. Oh well

[klauss]

Like a kid kids bike? If so its because short cranks (sub 165mm) are hard to spec in modern BB standards.
My buddy is a product manager for a bike line and he has responsibility for a bunch of Jr. bikes that he has to spec'. He says buying Jr. cranks are one of biggest pains, and most higher end jr. bikes have cranks that are made by that brand (like Commencal make some of their own cranks).
Powerspline is an open source (even though its a SRAM product) that they don't have to pay royalties to use in their design.

Yeah it is a commencal jr hard tail but with 27.5 wheels. The spec sheet said it was to come with something different than powerspline, but is came with powerspline version of 155 mm SRAM NX cranks.

They have a different model 155 mm crank but must have been in short supply. As far as I can tell the SRAM truvativ is the only available powerspline BB with the right spec and it’s not very burly.

[toast2266]

Yeah it is a commencal jr hard tail but with 27.5 wheels. The spec sheet said it was to come with something different than powerspline, but is came with powerspline version of 155 mm SRAM NX cranks.

They have a different model 155 mm crank but must have been in short supply. As far as I can tell the SRAM truvativ is the only available powerspline BB with the right spec and it’s not very burly.

Just spit balling, but if you got a cheap / burly (i.e. not hollow) 180 mm crank, I bet you could drill and tap a new pedal hole at 155 mm and then cut off the excess.

Edit: nevermind, I see it's the bb that's your problem.