Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[rideit]

Yup, cleared out for now.

[Roxtar]

Mountain bikers and hikers bitching about motorcycles on the trails built by/for motorcycles. Fucking idiots.

I'll go one better.
Local bike park just put in a new flow trail. Tearing ass down it and had a near miss with a group of hikers walking up it.
Of course, I was the asshole

[Roxtar]

Horse people: "we cleared all the deadfall on the trail"

Reality: branches 8 feet off the ground have been cleared. Logs 6" off the ground are still there.

Next time I see an equestrian doing trail work will be the first time.

[Roxtar]

When will trail organizations realize that all this flow trail they're building requires way more maintenance than traditional trail? If you build a trail that relies on berms and smoothness to carry speed, then you have to maintain that shit. Otherwise, it all crumbles and gets carried away, and what you're left with is a flat, technical trail with (even more) baffling shitty lines and constant pedaling to carry momentum.

I gotta disagree with this one. All those dips and banks are erosion stoppers. They keep the rain from running down the trail and force it to sheet off sideways.
If designed and built right, flow trails are almost maintenance free.

[bagtagley]

If designed and built right, flow trails are almost maintenance free.

I keep hearing that, and that they don’t erode. I’ve yet to see it in practice.

[Bunion 2020]

Any trail that sees enough use to have a burned in tread is going to have erosion, don't care how well it is built.

Trail builders fuck up all the time, the trick is to build trail that allows you to correct those fuck ups.

Rolling dips are fun as hell and if spaced properly and directed well they are money for erosion control.

Like em or hate em "Flow Trails" are a big part of trails that get built. I have seen some really outstanding examples as well as some that are exactly as Bagtagley describes.... (Leverich At least they are rebuilding it, again.

[hick]

Any trail that sees enough use to have a burned in tread is going to have erosion, don't care how well it is built.

Trail builders fuck up all the time, the trick is to build trail that allows you to correct those fuck ups.

Rolling dips are fun as hell and if spaced properly and directed well they are money for erosion control.

Like em or hate em "Flow Trails" are a big part of trails that get built. I have seen some really outstanding examples as well as some that are exactly as Bagtagley describes.... (Leverich At least they are rebuilding it, again.

Fucking Leverich. How many times can they polish that turd?


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[Bunion 2020]

As many as it takes I suppose.

[jm2e]

My take on Flow Trails:
If I'm pedaling to the top, it's way too much work to fly down the hill super fast. I want tech that takes a ton of time to get down.
If I'm getting transported to the top, and paying for it, I get pretty annoyed when your flow trail turns to garbage and you don't address it. Spent a week at Mountain Creek last fall and those fuckers were like Umpa Loompas at the Chocolate Factory cleaning up trails after a storm. Hats of to them. Makes me sad when I come back to my "local" bike parks and flow trails turn into fast jank.

[TahoeJ]

If designed and built right, flow trails are almost maintenance free.

I wish this was true.

[Dantheman]

Is the Post Canyon trail crew for hire? The flow trails there are fucking awesome.

[t.odd]

Sounds semi-local-ish.

https://buckrail.com/smoke-from-idah...-monday-night/

Not as bad as I imagined.

flew over that yesterday Den-Van, lots of smoke, but source seemed relatively small-ish

[Falcon3]

Is the Post Canyon trail crew for hire? The flow trails there are fucking awesome.

Call me a crank but I wasn’t impressed by Post Canyon. Decent, for sure, but not measuring up to the hype at all. I like the Beacon trails in Spo better.

[Dantheman]

Call me a crank but I wasn’t impressed by Post Canyon. Decent, for sure, but not measuring up to the hype at all. I like the Beacon trails in Spo better.

I haven't ridden Beacon, but in Post we rode Blind Mice, X Chorus, Bad Motor Scooter, Grand Prix, Blade Runner and Mitchell Ridge and I thought they all kicked huge ass.

[EWG]

Thule pricing in general, and also that Thule charges literally less than half the prices in Europe that they charge here.

Need to buy a fit kit for a new car, and from Thule and any US outfit it's $160. In the UK the same part is 50 Euros ($60). I'd get it from amazon.uk (good trick btw) but it's out of stock everywhere but thule.com.

Now I have to decide if I buy it now from Thule for $160 or wait an unknown and maybe long amount of time till it's in stock at amazon.uk for less than half that price.

Also, wish I still had prodeals and could use it at Thule.com. $179 after tax for 4 rubber pads and 4 bent steel brackets is just beyond outrageous.

[singlesline]

Thule pricing in general, and also that Thule charges literally less than half the prices in Europe that they charge here.

Need to buy a fit kit for a new car, and from Thule and any US outfit it's $160. In the UK the same part is 50 Euros ($60). I'd get it from amazon.uk (good trick btw) but it's out of stock everywhere but thule.com.

Now I have to decide if I buy it now from Thule for $160 or wait an unknown and maybe long amount of time till it's in stock at amazon.uk for less than half that price.

Also, wish I still had prodeals and could use it at Thule.com. $179 after tax for 4 rubber pads and 4 bent steel brackets is just beyond outrageous.

Same with some of the Yakima stuff too. They bought Whispbar and then seem to have promptly reduced the product offerings (way less vehicle fits available in the US and I think they only sell the FlushBar versions here) and the prices are way higher than abroad...

Shame because I think the Whispbar stuff is the best in the segment. Quiet, easy to install, wide variety of fits (and flushbar/through-bar options), t-slots on the bars with an expanding rubber gasket that fills the gap (rather than the stupid designs that have you cut up a rubber strip to fill the slot).

I've seen lower prices in the EU , but I've actually ordered both my racks from Australia from https://www.roofrackstore.com.au/ (once via their ebay store and then once direct from their website). First set still had Whispbar branding, but the most recent ones say Yakima. Some of the EU sellers carry it under the Prorack name.

Last fall I ordered racks for my wife's car. Including shipping from Australia, it was like $380USD for a set of through-bars, including 4 lock cores which they were happy to match to my existing key. The closest match I can buy from Yakima (they only offer flush-bar now) is $624...add another $70 for 4 lock cores and we're at about $700. If I am willing to go with one of their cheaper options with a t-slot I can save $150 by going with the JetStream bars, but those are objectively not as nice as the Whispbar design.

[EWG]

I gave in and ordered from Thule. Freaking extortion.

[::: :::]

I gave in and ordered from Thule. Freaking extortion.

Call Rerack here in Portland. They do 2nd hand Yakima/Thule/etc. Not sure if they’ll ship. But might be worth a call to see what they have.

For instance, we sold them our old Frontier roof box. It was in shitty condition, but they were happy to take it & seemed confident that someone would want it (or that they might recondition it, who knows…they took it, and we were pleased to get a few bucks for it)

[springsproject]

Picked up freshly built wheel from the shop. Didn't get it taped because I had some tape at the house. Got home and realised said tape was too narrow to get tire to mount up tubeless. Put a tube in so I could get out for a quick ride. Ran over a nail 15 minutes after leaving the house.

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[VTskibum]

I have a new helmet but continue reaching for my older smith forefront because the glasses storage on it is so good. they didn’t include that feature on the new edition which is such a bummer

Reverse rant and follow up...

Went to a shop last weekend, brought glasses and tried on 8+ helmets from various manufacturers; Fox, TLD, Leatt not one even attempted to have glass storage. Will say the Fox Speedframe Pro fit well and seemed like a good one.

Last night went to another shop and tried several Smith, Lazer, and Specialized helmets. Ended up walking out with the Spec Tactic, likely would have preferred new Ambush 2.0 but they didn't have any. I don't love the look of the high/fixed visor, but fit was spot on (1st priority), apparently ranked #1 in the VT test rankings (alum so have to believe in their credibility), and lastly the sunglass storage was excellent.

Babybear I tried on the new Forefront 2 which held my Smith Ruckus and Oakley Sutros well, though never tried a 1st gen Forefront to compare against. Forefront fit well and was #2, even if I liked look of it more than the Spec Tactic. I also tried the Smith Sessions which has some space for glasses between the honeycomb and the frame, but was definitely not an easy one-handed affair.

I'm tempted to pickup a Forefront as well and pass on one of them to my son for a bit of head to head testing Forefront 2 vs Spec Tactic.

Anyway some faith restored that there are designs out there prioritizing glass storage.

[BigHerm]

Forefront 1 was awful. I believe it was their first Koroyd (straw thingies) helmet and it didn't vent for shit. Every hole in the helmet was filled with Koroyd. I once attempted to cool off by pouring water on my helmeted head: no water made it to my head. I think it had sunglass storage but I was the goon wearing goggles everywhere cause I was too cheap to buy ridiculous looking cycling glasses with exposed lens edges.

[NuMexJoe]

Anyway some faith restored that there are designs out there prioritizing glass storage.

I'll add another one you didn't mention. My 100% Altec (which I cracked Saturday hitting a tree on a bad jump landing) has reasonably well-designed sunglass storage and great venting. Now if these headaches would just go away....

[chicken feathers]

Reverse rant and follow up...

Will say the Fox Speedframe Pro fit well and seemed like a good one.

I've got a Speedframe. How about massive visors catching wind. Anyone else get that? Seems noticeable anytime I'm on a downhill in the open and there's anything more than a light breeze. Kinda annoying.

[Falcon3]

Shimano 12s Quick Links?!? $13?! How is a single link 25% of the price of the entire chain?

[NW_SKIER]

Shimano 12s Quick Links?!? $13?! How is a single link 25% of the price of the entire chain?

Meh. Worth the cost when you snap a fuckin chain in no mans land and don't want to walk all the way home. Besides, they last forever. Save them when your chain stretches out and you'll never buy another.