Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[Roxtar]

YMMV but I had XT before the NX and IME it wasnt any better

fox 36 wasn't really any better than ZEB

Obviously this is all bullshit or i am not much of a dentist

I was about to say your dental work isn't particularly inspiring.

[Bunion 2020]

Not a rant. Was able to ride for an hour yesterday and get in 10 miles. Asphalt and gravel on a 6" travel FS is suddenly exciting. My shoulder is sore but feels good.

[rideit]

Got to ride for the first time in two weeks yesterday. It was glorious. I deeply missed those endorphins coursing through my cortex, and sincerely appreciated every moment. Perfect dirt, dodging ridges to avoid potential lightning, raining all around the area, and not a drop on me. It was tremendous, and I felt lucky to just be there.
I felt alive.

[singlesline]

My boss at a past company got pulled over multiple times for talking on his phone while driving. After riding with him in the car a couple times it was easy to see why. He wouldn't use hands free and was weaving all over the lane. It was both scary and mind blowing that he seemed so oblivious to how bad he was driving.

I never cease to be amazed how much talking on a phone (especially if holding it, but even handsfree) impacts people's driving. Both people you are in the car with and people you follow on the road long enough to see the patterns.

Talking to someone else in the same car seems fine, but something about the phone just turns off your outside awareness. Seems to also disable many people's ability to modulate speed or steer straight.

[skaredshtles]

I never cease to be amazed how much talking on a phone (especially if holding it, but even handsfree) impacts people's driving. Both people you are in the car with and people you follow on the road long enough to see the patterns.

Talking to someone else in the same car seems fine, but something about the phone just turns off your outside awareness. Seems to also disable many people's ability to modulate speed or steer straight.

Yep - this has been demonstrated time and time again. It is *not* safe to take calls in your vehicle, even if it's hands-free.

[smmokan]

What about if the phone is mounted on the dashboard immediately in your line of vision? Does that help?

[beaterdit]

No doubt XT/Ultegra work fantastic. The only way I justify the upgrade to Dura-Ace is that unlike mountain bikes, the parts are never going to be replaced due to crashes, and the wear rate on them is drastically lower than on MTB, so the price is basically a one time hit, and then I’m also going to be keeping the bike for well over a decade, so that hit is spread out.

Canyon’s non-halo Dura-Ace bike is ‘only’ $1500 more than the Ultegra bike, and that includes a wheel upgrade from DT Swiss 1400 to the top end 1100. Seems reasonable, or at least not obscene, to me, even if totally unnecessary.

I’ve never considered buying a new XTR bike before since I end up replacing too many parts. (However, my current bike is actually XTR, because I had pre-ordered an XT build that got cancelled due to Covid shortages, and ended up buying a used two month old XTR version from a shop employee on the other side of the country for the same price I was originally going to pay.)

Fair enough. If I spent more time on the roady I might consider it too I guess. At this point in my life I've prolly bought my last road bike, there might be a 'gravel' type bike in my future at some point though. If I found XX for the same price as XO, sure you bet, but not XTR, hahaha.

[J. Barron DeJong]

Talking to someone else in the same car seems fine, but something about the phone just turns off your outside awareness. Seems to also disable many people's ability to modulate speed or steer straight.

The explanation I’ve seen for this is that the other person in the car is able to observe the situation the driver is in and modulate their conversation/behavior appropriately, but that’s lost on the phone.

[wendigo]

it's not an "acoustic" bike. it is a bike.

[El Chupacabra]

it's not an "acoustic" bike. it is a real bike.

FIFY.

[skaredshtles]

I.e. *not* a moped.

[BigHerm]

Muscle bike.
Meat bike.
Bike.

[climberevan]

Everyone with any sense, including the USFS, knows that bicycles do not have motors. Mopeds/e-bikes are just another motor vehicle. They lack the magic of the bicycle.

[beaterdit]

This seems self evident to me too.

[evdog]

They lack the magic of the bicycle.

I like that. Something that people not willing to put in the effort will never understand.

When people tell my friend he should get one he says, nah I'm not ready for an assisted living device. That seems to piss them off even more than calling it a moped.

[Tailwind]

I like calling side by sides ‘Texas wheelchairs’ but directly to people I’ll call them ‘go-carts’ as that’s a bit less likely to cause an altercation.

I kinda need a modestly demeaning equivalent for e-bikes… liking ‘assisted bike’.

That being said, I think e-bikes > shuttling. But… I do see more and more people shuttling their e-bikes.

I like that. Something that people not willing to put in the effort will never understand.

When people tell my friend he should get one he says, nah I'm not ready for an assisted living device. That seems to piss them off even more than calling it a moped.

[Roxtar]

That being said, I think e-bikes > shuttling. But… I do see more and more people shuttling their e-bikes.

I was an early e-bike hater but I'm softening my stance for that reason. I know some very strong riders who have bought big travel e-bikes for downhill laps (not sure why people call it shuttling. Shuttling is using a vehicle to carry your bike up. This is just assisted peddling up. Shuttling would be them carrying me and my bike up).
For instance, the best DH trails in Santa Fe are at Glorieta; 4-5 of the best DH trails anywhere and no lifts. Each trail requires a 45 minute or so grunt up. Two laps and I'm gassed. My e-bike buds will ride every trail in a day.

[plugboots]

I have a few questions/comments from the last 25 or so posts.
-Why only Dura Ace? I replaced my semi-worn out DA with SRAM wifly. The shifting has been perfect for a few years now and I basically love everything about it.
Evdog’s boss is a moron asshole. How do you drive around talking on your phone? I’ve had a Bluetooth system in my cars for more than 15 years. WTF? Does the dude still have a VHS blinking 12:00?
-I remember reading an article maybe 25 years ago about how road riding has kind of replaced golf. The super expensive bikes make sense in that context. Times haven’t changed.

[bagtagley]

The explanation I’ve seen for this is that the other person in the car is able to observe the situation the driver is in and modulate their conversation/behavior appropriately, but that’s lost on the phone.

Yeah, a second set of eyes with a vested interest in not dying.


Anecdote more than rant. There’s a steep af trail nearby that almost nobody rides besides me, and semi recently, some adventurous groms. They’re typically good kids and decent riders but there have been a couple lines they couldn’t figure out so they started building shitty ride arounds. I’d build barriers and they’d generally get the picture, but there’s one sketchy section (a not-obvious entry that’s a blind roll-in into a steep chute) that they couldn’t help but mess with, so I went nuclear with some huge logs and cut rounds.

That worked for about a year, until yesterday when I happened upon some kids standing around the line. I rolled in and through the crux, to some fanfare which was pretty funny, then realized that they were undoing all my work. I was in a hurry so I hollered as I rode away that it was rideable as-is and to leave the barriers alone. Went back today and they had put everything back other than a couple big rounds that were too big to roll back up the hill. Even better, i could tell that they had spent some time sessioning the correct line. Made me smile.

[rideit]

That warms the cockles of my heart.

[Andeh]

We've had a similar situation lately. There's a steep sandy chute into a catch later on a trail that certain people walk/slide down the side, so we put in a squirrel catcher at the start (2' drop onto steep face with catch berm at bottom), so that hopefully they'd get the message that the trail was hard. Instead they started bushwacking b-line entrances. We'd close those and they'd open a new one. Figured it was kids building the ride-arounds/hike-arounds because it being summer vacation and all, but one guy set up a trail camera and found out it's a crew of hack ebikers. Words will be had, both in person and on their fucking YouTube channel.

[g_man80]

Attachment 466307
On a lighter note, this is fucked. A pair of Shimano shoes with safety warning. In dozens of languages.


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But absolutely no detailed information about servicing or install.

[VTskibum]

Yeah, a second set of eyes with a vested interest in not dying.


Anecdote more than rant. There’s a steep af trail nearby that almost nobody rides besides me, and semi recently, some adventurous groms. They’re typically good kids and decent riders but there have been a couple lines they couldn’t figure out so they started building shitty ride arounds. I’d build barriers and they’d generally get the picture, but there’s one sketchy section (a not-obvious entry that’s a blind roll-in into a steep chute) that they couldn’t help but mess with, so I went nuclear with some huge logs and cut rounds.

That worked for about a year, until yesterday when I happened upon some kids standing around the line. I rolled in and through the crux, to some fanfare which was pretty funny, then realized that they were undoing all my work. I was in a hurry so I hollered as I rode away that it was rideable as-is and to leave the barriers alone. Went back today and they had put everything back other than a couple big rounds that were too big to roll back up the hill. Even better, i could tell that they had spent some time sessioning the correct line. Made me smile.

Is that on OHill? Will be back down your way end of the month


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[J. Barron DeJong]

-Why only Dura Ace? I replaced my semi-worn out DA with SRAM wifly. The shifting has been perfect for a few years now and I basically love everything about it.

Top end SRAM is still in the same ballpark as Dura-Ace, so no huge cost savings from what I’ve seen. I’m sure it’s good, but I have all Shimano, and know I’ll be happy with it.

[XXX-er]

I was an early e-bike hater but I'm softening my stance .

My buddy bought an E-bike for the wife cuz she has asma but now she can keeps up with the fam and rides with her women friends and she seems pretty happy

he alwasy sez " its not a matter of if I buy myself an E-bike its when"

according to Warren Miller if you don't do it this year you will just be another year older when you finally do