Called the LBS looking for a derailleur hanger. Also need a derailleur and chain. If the price is right I'll even pay them to install it. They can't order it but gave the hanger number and their sister shops phone number. Sister shop is literally two hours away. Do they really expect me to go on a four hour round trip, and then go back to their shop to install it? They also gave me the wrong hanger number.
Called the local Giant shop and they want $40 for it.
Can order it online for half that.
I want to work in an industry where I can actively turn business away.
DHs (at least before UDH) are one of those items you really have to buy online. Again, excepting UDH, there are just so many options (even within the same brand) that it's unrealistic to expect a LBS to carry them. Also, $40 isn't really out of line. Wheels Mfg, Burgtec, and North Shoe Billet are all in that neighborhood.
I especially like when I order a derailleur hanger from a manufacturer for a specific bike and it's still not the right one.
Best option to get a hanger is to bring the bike or at least just a hanger to a shop that carries that brand of bike
2nd best probably just order it from wheelsmfg or derailleur hanger.com or the mfg's website if it lets you do that
worst option is call a shop "do you have the hanger for x bike?" I don't know they're all in a couple of bins, unsorted and mostly unlabeled I'm not going to dig through it unless you're here with a hanger to try to match up.
Not really a rant but I saw a YouTube vid with someone using plastic hand guards for mountain biking.
In my 38 or so years of mountain biking I've never said to myself "you know what I need? Some plastic hand guards because I keep smashing them into shit!"
They look so silly to me.
dirtbag, not a dentist
I don’t run them, but there have been many times I wish that I would have. Particularly in desert areas with tons of waist high thorns. Another thing that I have noticed is that when aggressively e-biking uphill, it is super, super easy to misjudge your speed and power, and have definitely hit stuff on the side of the trail.
It’s easy to avoid stuff at 2-3 MPH on a steep, twisty uphill, but totally changes when going 4-7 mph.
I have grazed my pinkies (and shredded gloves) quite a few times, Whereas before the e, it was fairly uncommon.
When the high country wildflowers start dying in the fall, and the Russian Thistle is waist to chest high, I might run them this year.
Forum Cross Pollinator, gratuitously strident
I’ve never used them, but I see them a lot at Silver Mountain. A couple people have told me they help shed wind off their hands. I just wear different gloves, but they seem popular in certain places.
Not just the desert! Riding through overhead blackberrry, poison oak, and stinging nettle sucks! Of course, I really would like an entire shield in front of the bike, not a little moto hand guard. [emoji848]
_______________________________________________
"Strapping myself to a sitski built with 30lb of metal and fibreglass then trying to water ski in it sounds like a stupid idea to me.
I'll be there." ... Andy Campbell
Bleeding the roadie. Ho-hum, just did my XC, how hard can it be? Wait, where is the bleed nipple? Oh there's a screw...wait what goes in the hole? How do you connect the syringe/tube? LBS#1: "You need a full bleed kit, which we don't have". Repeat for LBS #2, 3, AND 4 and REI (of course, I just thought a disgruntled bike tech might slip me a spare plastic adapter). Nipples. Aren't. Hard. Can someone explain me why using a screw hole is advantageous? I'm levers to bars over here and Amazon (last resort) just lost my bleed kit. You know what? F*ck it, who needs brakes?
Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
Yeah they look silly but they have their place. I bought a pair after my knuckles repeatedly got stabbed by yucca on a couple different trails. And by thistle. Both of which are often right at handlebar height. They work fine for plants that aren't real stiff.
But the guards flex easily so I find they are pretty useless for tougher brush like whitethorn/buckthorn, manzanita, etc. They might protect against the thorns but the branches can push the guard into your hand. And if you rode into a thick branch or tree, the guard could probably break your hand.
Maybe there are versions out there that are more like moto hand guards that have a rigid frame that attaches to the bar on both ends. But the MTB specific ones I've seen only attach on one side.
I'm using a work glove with 1/4 " strip of rubber on the back of the hand and each finger for, its completely made out of synthetic material so it never stinks like sweat soaked leather and it wears really well, it fits well enough for mtn biking and only 28$
I could punch holes in drywall with these badboys
https://ca.images.search.yahoo.com/y...g&action=click
Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know
Ok, yeah I can see their advantage in overgrown back country type rides. Now that we mention that fact I'm realizing that I don't ever do those anymore!
dirtbag, not a dentist
It's become a thing in my 'hood to buy those goddam Scrambler "ebikes" and let your 10-14 y.o. kids out loose on the streets at 20+ mph with no helmets. It's insane. They're just 50 cc mopeds with a battery and those require a DL or motorcycle license in all 50 states.
And of course now my kid wants one too and I'm the asshole for telling him there's not a snowball's chance in hell.
My fucking town has bike paths all over the place, but 90% of them dead end into nothingness at random places where the town couldn't be bothered to get an easement. The one I rode this evening dead ends at a property line, and then restarts a couple hundred feet later at the other side of the property line, with a shitty little cow path that's been worn in connecting the two ends. Another one just dead ends into a river embankment, so you either have to hike up the embankment to get onto a street, or backtrack a quarter mile to the last street the path crossed. And all of these are the main, highly used bike paths. i.e. from downtown to the grocery store, the hardware store, etc.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Relaxxx
I am going to guess he is talking about Surrons
www.apriliaforum.com
"If the road You followed brought you to this,of what use was the road"?
"I have no idea what I am talking about but would be happy to share my biased opinions as fact on the matter. "
Ottime
Give it a couple weeks. A scrambler will catch fire and burn someone's house down. Then there won't be so many in the neighborhood.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Ton of kids in my neighborhood have the low power electric Razor moto's and a ton of electric scooters, some of which are pretty fast. Virtually none of the kids or adults riding these wearing helmets and my kids are effectively only two riding bikes. I'm the a-hole for banning my kids from riding them, and especially w/o helmet which I caught my daughter doing month ago!!
See a bunch of them at our pool club over the summer, mostly ridden by adults and teens for short, but hilly commute over.
The annoying rich kids up the street (Dad is a GM at a Miller car dealership) all got Surrons. Guess they took off the speed limiter off too, now they rip around the neighborhood without helmets or lights or any common sense... Nearly ran one of them over the other day, they were coming down the sidewalk opposite of traffic in the dark and shot out in front of my car going mach loonely...
Last edited by sfotex; 05-13-2024 at 08:35 AM.
When life gives you haters, make haterade.
Bookmarks