In reply to 93EXCivic :
A dab of blue can't hurt and is worth a try, it's probably better than the wear and tear from it always loosening or over tightening it.
In reply to 93EXCivic :
A dab of blue can't hurt and is worth a try, it's probably better than the wear and tear from it always loosening or over tightening it.
locked and loaded to ride after work tomorrow. Haven't been on a trail since...April? Finally far enough through hernia surgery recovery to get back on the knobby tires. I did a little over 8 miles around the neighborhood yesterday on the commuter bike and felt pretty good. Time to start getting back in real riding shape.
I finally got two of the bikes I want to sell outside for some pictures.
Vassago Verhauen steel hardtail:
And my 2012 Intense Tazer VPP (designed for dual slalom/4-cross racing):
Went for a night ride with some friends. It's funny I put all these together but only own one of them now!
Anyone rebuilt a modern suspension fork? Mine (a 2015 Fox 34 Factory) needs a rebuild and I am trying to decide if I want to do it myself or send it off. I am also going to swap the Talas air spring for a Float air spring.
I recently rebuilt a 2015ish Revelation RCT3 (or similar alphabet soup). Wasn't awful.
Best advice I can give is to make sure you read the instructions carefully and make sure you have all the oils, grease, seals beforehand. I screwed up and ran out of 5wt oil and didn't have the two prescribed greases on hand.
Be patient, have a clean environment, couple hours blocked off and plan on not riding that day.
First take a look at the Fox YouTube channel. There are a number of videos going over fork servicing and what you'll want to have on hand before starting.
I suspect your wait time right now to get it rebuilt and back to you will answer that for you.
I changed up my commuter set up again. Thought you guys might get a kick out of a balance issue I found.
here's the new setup:
original rear rack with an added Wald 137 basket. The brown bag is a Swift Industries Sugarloaf, a 12L bag made specifically to fit this basket. The spaceman lunchbox strapped to the side is an Amazon special with built in freezy packs.
now here's the interesting part. With the lunchbox strapped to the side I got pronounced front wheel shimmy on hands-free downhills. On the way home I put the lunchbox under the bag and the bike didn't shimmy.
so a difference on less than 2lbs just off center vs in line made it shimmy. Wild.
Picked up a new fat tire bike for winter the other day. Days are getting shorter, its getting to be fat season here!
2019 Specialized Fatboy Carbon Comp - was a demo bike, got it for cheap cheap. Sold my 2015 Fatboy (alloy frame, 1x10, QR axles) this summer for even money. I am pretty stoked!
In reply to 93gsxturbo :
Cool. Part of me wants a fat bike, although I'm sure if I bought one it'll never snow here again... I'm hoping my Chameleon with 3" tires will be "fattish" enough.
If I lived where it snowed I'd sure have one. Doesn't make much sense to me around here but I have friends that ride them. I run 27.5x2.8s in the gravel bike, so I guess that's lite fat?
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to 93gsxturbo :
Cool. Part of me wants a fat bike, although I'm sure if I bought one it'll never snow here again... I'm hoping my Chameleon with 3" tires will be "fattish" enough.
One of these days I'm going to find a E36 M3ty multi-speed Mongoose one on Marketplace for $100 and bring it home to see how it does on the beach.
I have a bunch of bros I fat tire with in the winter. Definitely a community thing, not so much an out n out race ride. Ride bikes, drink beers. Isn't that what its all about anyway?
The fatty is really enjoyable in snow, muck, or on the beach. One of my bros has a Salsa Bucksaw full suspension fatty and he uses it year round. Pretty neat bike but weighs 38 lbs - almost double what my full squish XC bike weighs.
Took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather yesterday (70+ degrees!) to take out the Polygon Heist X5.
I haven't been on the bike in about a month since the weather has been really bad. I mean, it snowed last weekend! But it was too nice out not to get on the bike. The bike itself is still great; it has been rock solid since I bought it. I did add a cheap Bell LED light setup recently, but I haven't been able to test it out. I also tried out a new route that's just under 5 miles, and it was awesome. I picked up some winter gear so I can try to keep this going as the weather gets colder.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Sweet. I separated my right shoulder on an XC ride a few weeks ago, so I'm probably off the bike for another month or so. I just finally got the muddy bike out of the van yesterday and washed it.
In other news... I had pretty much put away the idea of ever buying another full-on DH bike... and then I saw an IG post from a small frame builder in the UK.
Now this will probably mean nothing to most of you, but if you are familiar with vintage DH bikes from the late 90's/early 00's, then you may understand my desires... This is basically a modern interpretation of a Brooklyn Machine Works (BMW) Race Link frame. Rare and stupid expensive then. More so now.
Ca ca...
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
DId the shoulder require surgery or are you just giving it time/physio? I separated my left shoulder in a cyclocross crash a few years ago but for that particular one surgery wasn't a good option so my collar bone just pokes up in weird way now. The right one likes to dislocate and I should have surgery on it at some point so it doesn't happen anymore. I tell people cycling is a low impact sport until it isn't and shoulders seem to take the brunt of it. Heal up!
In reply to Tony Sestito :
It's amazing how good cheap LED lights are for cycling now, something simply like you have is probably fine for the riding you are doing but even more powerful options for trail riding are out there for very little now.
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
DId the shoulder require surgery or are you just giving it time/physio? I separated my left shoulder in a cyclocross crash a few years ago but for that particular one surgery wasn't a good option so my collar bone just pokes up in weird way now. The right one likes to dislocate and I should have surgery on it at some point so it doesn't happen anymore. I tell people cycling is a low impact sport until it isn't and shoulders seem to take the brunt of it. Heal up!
A week after the crash, my range of motion was good enough for the Ortho Dr to say no - just stretching. Didn't prescribe PT even, although he admitted that was partly Covid influenced. It's still sore and I need to ice it once in awhile, but my range of motion is slowly getting better. Still can't quite sleep on my right side, but it's getting there. My collar bone sticks up a bit as well. Not sure if it will ever be "right" again.
In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :
That sounds similar to mine. Physio helps but only if you keep on it. My range of motion is fine and the only time I have any discomfort from it is when I'm just standing around for long periods with my arm hanging at my side, otherwise it's not a problem.
I may have mentioned I was reworking the setup on my commuter bike. I'm kind of a bag ho (not a ho bag, that's different.) I really like backpacks, travel bags, and -of course- bike bags. I'm not sure why, it's just a ...thing. I was using a modern take on the traditional English saddlebag made by Swift, their Zeitgeist bag. It looked cool and rode ok but suffered in functionality. So I decided to rework everything. The new look:
I sold the Zeitgeist and bought a Wald 137 basket and a Swift Sugarloaf - a bag specifically designed for the basket. Now, trendy placement of this is on a front rack with the basket mounted cross-ways, but I don't like the way my bike rides when front-loaded. High trail fork, so the steering is floppy. Instead, I reinstalled the rear rack and mounted the basket to the rack long-ways. The Sugarloaf holds my work clothes and my lunch if I pack it tight. It also has some internal and external pockets for bots and bobs - sunglasses, koozie, pocket knife, wallet - all the essentials. Best part about this bag is it's super quick to take off - pop 2 plastic buckles. Plus you can cram other stuff under it in the basket and strap it down on top if you need to pick up something on the way home. I sewed a bunch of patches on it because it was a little too bland.
The other bags were facilitated by an iPhone issue. I was running a QuadLock handlebar mount that worked great even if it looked dorky, but I found out the vibrations from a hard mount will kill the iPhone camera. One motorcycle ride can do them in, and it has happened on pedal bikes too. That gave me an excuse to get a top tube stem bag, which meant I might as well get a half-frame bag too. I have a custom full frame bag from Rockgeist that is well made, but stuff tends to get lost in it. I looked at a bunch of US makers but eventually stumbled on Ghost Cat Bags in Maine. Josh is the only one I've ever seen that makes full custom, pattern matched bag sets. They've done some killer looking stuff. I designed the stripe pattern and chose the colors and he made them look awesome. Notably, for the full-custom, one-off, matching set - he was still cheaper than all the "known" names in the current bike-packing scene were for JUST a frame bag. The bags are made really well and are custom fit to the bike. I call the color pattern "Georgia Rambler." It's inspired by biking the dirt road of central and south GA - orange clay roads, pine green trees, and blue skies. OK, our roads aren't high vis orange, but you work with the colors you have. The coyote brown ties it to the Sugarloaf and my shellacced cotton bar tape. I'm loving how the bike looks now, and it's working great on my commute. I still want to figure out a better tool solution than the cheap Molle bag strapped to the basket though.
In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :
What was wrong with Zeitgist? I was considering that or Ron's Bikes Fabio's Chest at some point.
I love a good basket bag though. I have a Dark Realm 137 bag and just bought my wife a Makeshifter Basket Case for a christmas gift.
adam525i (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to 93EXCivic :
A dab of blue can't hurt and is worth a try, it's probably better than the wear and tear from it always loosening or over tightening it.
Turns out I needed another spacer in the headset.
Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to Tony Sestito :
Sweet. I separated my right shoulder on an XC ride a few weeks ago, so I'm probably off the bike for another month or so. I just finally got the muddy bike out of the van yesterday and washed it.
In other news... I had pretty much put away the idea of ever buying another full-on DH bike... and then I saw an IG post from a small frame builder in the UK.
Now this will probably mean nothing to most of you, but if you are familiar with vintage DH bikes from the late 90's/early 00's, then you may understand my desires... This is basically a modern interpretation of a Brooklyn Machine Works (BMW) Race Link frame. Rare and stupid expensive then. More so now.
Ca ca...
Oh... and another post from the company IG page... and I've now decided what color to order the frame in - green to match my GT6 so I can duplicate this picture:
In reply to 93EXCivic :
It was barely big enough for my lunch and work clothes., but that's not the main issue. I don't have room to run one of the Carradice type support racks, which means it was tied to the saddle loops and the seat post. This puts the bag in a position where the opening faces straight rearward. Add to that the fact that you have to leave it on the bike, you can't easily take it off to pack in the house. Which leaves you carrying stuff out to the the bike one piece at a time and stuffing it in a bag from the rear. It's just massively awkward. The basket bag allows me to pack everything and then load it. It also means I can pull the bag off and take it with me if I do a store stop.
The bag itself was well made and really nice. If I had room to run it on one of Carradice's QR support racks where it was held upright it might have stayed. Or if I could frontload my bike it might make a good handlebar bag.
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