Anti-rant thread: sh%^ that makes you happy

When I installed new brakes on my ebike Friday, I also took the time to be super thorough with silencing measures. I stuffed another piece of moto foam down by the battery where there's a big bundle of wires, and I added rubber hose grommets (from YT Capra kit) everywhere the brake line exited and entered the frame. It made a shocking amount of difference. Basically when descending, all I heard was the tires and dirt/rocks. My brain perceived the less audio feedback (bike didn't sound like it was rattling itself to pieces) as the trails being smoother, so I rode smoother/looser/faster. I'm still shocked at how much of a performance difference ~$10 in rubber grommets and moto foam made.

I wrecked my shit on Friday, but I didn't bounce my head off the ground and my bike was fine. Fucked myself up, but I'll still take it as a W since it could/probably should have been worse.

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Originally Posted by Andeh

When I installed new brakes on my ebike Friday, I also took the time to be super thorough with silencing measures. I stuffed another piece of moto foam down by the battery where there's a big bundle of wires, and I added rubber hose grommets (from YT Capra kit) everywhere the brake line exited and entered the frame. It made a shocking amount of difference. Basically when descending, all I heard was the tires and dirt/rocks. My brain perceived the less audio feedback (bike didn't sound like it was rattling itself to pieces) as the trails being smoother, so I rode smoother/looser/faster. I'm still shocked at how much of a performance difference ~$10 in rubber grommets and moto foam made.

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Quiet bikes are fast bikes.
Back in 2000s when Doug Dalton was wrenching for C-Dale and Cedric Gracia, and bikes were a whole lot louder, he was experimenting with injecting foam into Cedric’s frames. Back to back testing showed that Cedric was going faster on the quieter, foam filled bike.


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Attachment 499936Attachment 499937
I’m so happy that my rear wheel exploded and not my front, I’m stoked I was within sight of the car when my wheel blew and I didn’t eat shit! I love it when shit works out! Rims are cheaper than bones.


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On a road trip right now on the West side of the Sierras scouting sections for the Orogenesis bikepacking route. I always check out sections recommended by other scouts to see if their suggestions are good or crap. Three consecutive sections in one area: rad granite slabs! Needs a bit of work but would be awesome for the route. I checked out all three. There are indeed awesome granite slabs but there is exactly zero singletrack accessing them. Following the GPS track provided it was a bushwack to enter/exit and no defined route through the slab area and above and below it was choked with deadfall and even without there was no hint of any trail existing, ever. And this guy told us yup this is totally good to go. Rad descent! Maybe it was a freeride route back in the day but I saw no evidence of any use whatsoever.

Anyways after the third one I scouted some other stuff that were just lines on maps. I wasn't hopeful because this area is full of trails that show on maps but no longer exist on the ground. First one was an old road bed dropping into a canyon. Rough start but the singletrack in the canyon actually sees use as it goes up to some cool pools. The trail down from there was almost 100% rideable and totally made my day after the previous BS.

I had 90 mins left til sunset and decided to take a shot on another line on a map I'd spotted. Had to climb 1400ft to get there and realized near the top I'd left my lights in the truck. Hope this trail actually exists! There were a handful of MTB tire tracks near the start which looked promising. I was expecting a possible bushwack as the forest is dense here and plagued with the deadfall based on the other scouting done. Had to cast around to find the entrance but found a line that actually sees hike/bike use. A couple downed trees near the top were it. The rest was granite and DG goodness all the way down, tech, steep as flow. Dropped me out not far from where I'd parked. Stoked! I will definitely ride both of these again.



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^^^ that looks awesome. Cool terrain in there!

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That looks great!

We've come an awful long way since 1986. I started riding offroad probably around '91/92 on a rigid Trek Antelope then Diamondback w a Manitou Mach 5, it's been a phenomenal ride all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8qDwN8C0no

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Originally Posted by VTskibum

That looks great!

We've come an awful long way since 1986. I started riding offroad probably around '91/92 on a rigid Trek Antelope then Diamondback w a Manitou Mach 5, it's been a phenomenal ride all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8qDwN8C0no

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"Everything from top-of-the-line $2000 bikes to..."

In theory 2k in 1986 is roughly $5,750 in 2024, but yeah no kidding on that!

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Originally Posted by VTskibum

That looks great!

We've come an awful long way since 1986. I started riding offroad probably around '91/92 on a rigid Trek Antelope then Diamondback w a Manitou Mach 5, it's been a phenomenal ride all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8qDwN8C0no

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You and I are pretty much on the same schedule - bought my 1st mt bike when I was in Uni in Michigan as a way to get to/from classes.

Discovered dirt and that was all she wrote.

Rigid Giant ATX-760 was the 1st ride.

Attachment 500161

My first MTB was a Mongoose Rockadile in probably 91ish? I bought it after borrowing a friend’s Fat Chance and riding with him at Salem Lake NC on all of the pirate trails that were popping up.

Wife bought me a used Schwinn Impact ($65) for father's day around that same time-frame.
Yup, the blood is completely on her hands.

I was an avid cyclist ever since the Schwinn apple cart. I was a roadie and raced in the Little 500 in 1976.
In 1978 a guy from Marin let me ride his Junker and I was bitten. But incapable of building my own bike, I stayed a roadie until 1983. I got a Ritchy in 83 and haven't owned a real road bike since.
Been an everyday mtb rider since 1989.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

I raced in the Little 500 in 1976.

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Oh yeah, I remember you:
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I'm still down w/ broken collarbone, but glad to be able to ride trainer. The bigger anti-rant was my 11y/o daughter getting 3rd in her first NICA XC race ever.

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Originally Posted by VTskibum

I'm still down w/ broken collarbone, but glad to be able to ride trainer. The bigger anti-rant was my 11y/o daughter getting 3rd in her first NICA XC race ever.

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NICA saved my oldest. He was lost and the support and structure led to success, jobs, etc. My youngest also has raced up until this year when the soccer coach decided they needed to be out there 6 nights a week. If I had the ability to steer, she would be riding bikes. The ridiculous numbers of kids makes many anti NICA around here, but I'm psyched everytime I have to pull off and let the trains pass. Stocked for your daughters positive experience!!

That’s great! First world problems, but I get the frustration w large number of kids put on small number of trails at the same time. The kids are always so polite as a group though.


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Going on a ride where the average age is 35 years younger than you and you're the only one to attempt, much less clean, a high consequence feature. :cool:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/32Eze_0Qck0

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Originally Posted by Roxtar

Going on a ride where the average age is 35 years younger than you and you're the only one to try, much less clean, a high consequence feature. :cool:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/32Eze_0Qck0

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Kids these days... amirite?

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

Kids these days... amirite?

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Yup, they're not makin em like they used to. :nonono2:

I found the source of a creak on my bike by accident. Well, I was trying to find it, but the source literally jumped out at me. It would creak once when I started pedaling as chain tension was applied, then be quiet as long as I maintained tension. I pulled off the crank arm & chainring to clean their mounting, and had to disconnect the chain's quick link in order to feed it back on after reinstalling crank/chainring. When I disconnected the quick link, the pin in the back plate literally fell out. Well that's pretty obviously the source of the problem... I smoked my chainring on the edge of a steep roll a few weeks back, and the stars must have aligned so that the quick link was right where it struck. Easy enough fix.

The Bike Bus group ride to school in Portland
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBGu5ROvTjk/?hl=en

First outdoor and off-road rides in 8 weeks since I broke my collarbone. Some easy singletrack w my daughter yesterday and some backyard pump track laps today. Few weeks into physical therapy and ROM is good, strength coming back! Still not supposed to be riding for fear of crashing, but gotta live life!


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Originally Posted by VTskibum

First outdoor and off-road rides in 8 weeks since I broke my collarbone. Some easy singletrack w my daughter yesterday and some backyard pump track laps today. Few weeks into physical therapy and ROM is good, strength coming back! Still not supposed to be riding for fear of crashing, but gotta live life!


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I'm almost 8 weeks post-surgery for my collarbone and I think I'm ready to ride again, taking it easy. How did yours feel riding, any discomfort?

Just a little bit of discomfort and was riding very mellow trails with only a few roots, so didn't have any large compressions. Was able to ride some pretty fast berms on my pump track though, only thing that bothered it was trying to initiate a manual.

I was gifted some rollers from an aging customer who is just gonna ride a trainer this winter. I’ve never wobbled on rollers (with a hand on the counter) more than about 10 seconds on a borrowed bike at a shop over a decade ago.
I successfully rolled for about 30min this morning without flying off or pulling my bookshelf over on top of me and and my bike! Grabbing my bottle still feels sketchy AF.


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Haha yeah I just my bottle on a stool or counter next to me when I’m rollin on rollers. You do get better at it with practice though.

Try standing (gently) next time, eventually you’ll be able to ride no hands. This makes me want to ride mine again now!


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I hit my first century on the new knee on New Years day. Six months in and the training / PT is starting to pay off. This number of hours on the bike has me thinking about a return to road biking. I knocked off the Whole Enchilada back in October and I was having quite a bit of pain by the end. To the point I didn't even try a number of features due to the pain and the risk of consequence from my weak leg. While just boring flat miles on this one, my knee and body felt pretty good getting off the bike. Feeling better about my choice to get this done.

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Originally Posted by Canada1

I hit my first century on the new knee on New Years day. Six months in and the training / PT is starting to pay off. This number of hours on the bike has me thinking about a return to road biking. I knocked off the Whole Enchilada back in October and I was having quite a bit of pain by the end. To the point I didn't even try a number of features due to the pain and the risk of consequence from my weak leg. While just boring flat miles on this one, my knee and body felt pretty good getting off the bike. Feeling better about my choice to get this done.

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Great to hear.
Vibes.

The synergy of a well executed rear shift and front derailleur trim with downtube shifters and a single hand. You know, When the reach to downtube shifters falls fluid and seamless to hand and the shift/trim is smooth and silent. Comes with decades of use and experience and for me reinforces, yet blurs, the link between man and machine. Zen and the art of classic bicycles. Bliss

I have index shifting....https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...wink_smile.gif

Well, the Mrs. Mtnjam and I got back from a family reunion thing in Wisconsin, but we rode our brains out once again at the Winman Trails near Manitowish Waters. Do yourself a favor and go ride there. Purpose built mountain bike trails all crammed into a fairly small area, but like a lot of riding in the forest in that area, you'd never know you are doubling back on a trail only 3 feet above another one.
We were introduced to the Winman trails last year after a high school friend of mine suggested we go check it out while we were on a road trip from seeing my folks in Appleton after riding at Hartmann Creek SP trails and on our way up to the CAMBA trails in Cable/Hayward, WI area.
Seriously fun trails at Winman. Anyone else been there?