Anyone have anything they'd like to rant about?

[Roxtar]

USFS and others do that around here as well. Often when a new trail is built (usually a dirt sidewalk style one), they decommission the existing user-built trails with extreme prejudice. Even committed scofflaws don't bother to rebuild them, as they tend to totally wreck the surface in addition to putting a ton of shit on top of the trails.

Net we end up with more trail mileage but less interesting trails. There is so much available land for both! We just need to have SO many more trails so everyone can spread out and have fun.

Curious about the laws regarding this.
As I understand, once a "thoroughfare" has been established, whether by walking pathway, game trail, or bike riding, it is legal to continue using it, but you can't modify it, ie, maintenance.
If that's true, wouldn't it be illegal for FS to close it using modifications such as downing trees?

[mtnjam]

I’ve been away from Boise for a few years, which trails have they decommissioned now?

Also, battery chainsaws are quiet, relatively cheap, and carry easily in a backpack. Just sayin’.

They decommissioned Sweet Pea a few years ago, went in, spent a bunch of time and effort to dig trenches across the trail. The newest decommissioning is an old trail that used to parallel Mr. Big.
Found out who is in cahoots with the forest service, it's Hoff Timber/Land Company closing all these off because "they don't want people on them" despite the property being Boise National Forest property. I guess even land that touches Hoff Company property is subject to this because, they are a land company.

[mtnjam]

Curious about the laws regarding this.
As I understand, once a "thoroughfare" has been established, whether by walking pathway, game trail, or bike riding, it is legal to continue using it, but you can't modify it, ie, maintenance.
If that's true, wouldn't it be illegal for FS to close it using modifications such as downing trees?

One would think. But logging companies apparently have lots of political pull with the land managers of the Boise National Forest.

[toast2266]

Curious about the laws regarding this.
As I understand, once a "thoroughfare" has been established, whether by walking pathway, game trail, or bike riding, it is legal to continue using it, but you can't modify it, ie, maintenance.
If that's true, wouldn't it be illegal for FS to close it using modifications such as downing trees?

Generally speaking, on forest service land there are system trails, and non-system trails. System trails have been adopted by the forest service as official trails, and the forest service maintains them (although sometimes that maintenance is effectively non-existent, usually due to budgetary restraints). If they want to decommission a system trail (or make any other large changes to it, including what users are allowed on it), there's a public process and some level of environmental review.

Non-system trails could be anything from an old trail that never got adopted into the system to a new rogue trail that some bikes put in, to a trail that developed from use over the years. None of those enjoy any sort of protection. You can legally use them in the same way you can legally walk aimlessly through the forest, but you can't maintain them (just as you can't legally cut down random trees in the forest). If you want to clear deadfall off them, you can sort of skirt the rules by purchasing a permit to cut firewood. Whether that will actually get you out of any trouble kinda depends on who catches you and whether they feel like being an asshole.

But to your question at the end, the Forest Service is the land manager. They can definitely decommission a non-system trail if they want to. And they can definitely hire a contractor (like a logging company) to do that work for them. Locally, if a non-system trail is going to be decommissioned, they usually either get one of the fire crews to do it in the off season as a training exercise, or they get a logging company to do it, usually as part of a larger logging operation in the vicinity. There's not much to be done about that other than pleading with the district ranger to not do it, and maybe argue that the trail should be brought into the system as an official trail. In my experience, those arguments don't work very often, but occasionally if you can show that a trail is popular and worthwhile, and the FS doesn't feel like it's an environmental catastrophe, and there's someone in the FS office that thinks the trail is cool, it's possible to get it legalized or at least not shut down.

[SchralphMacchio]

Unsustainable rogue MTB trails can sometimes be the leverage needed for a land manager to agree to entertain new sustainable system MTB trail proposals! Of course usually only if someone else agrees to pay to build and maintain them …

[John_B]

A local crotchety old fuck e biker has taken it upon himself to remove <1 foot tall log drops that don't have a ride around on one of the local non sanctioned trails.

They've already been rebuilt and I know some of his buddies have told him to knock that shit off. Hopefully it was a one time thing and he doesn't keep doing that.

[skaredshtles]

A local crotchety old fuck e biker has taken it upon himself to remove <1 foot tall log drops that don't have a ride around on one of the local non sanctioned trails.

They've already been rebuilt and I know some of his buddies have told him to knock that shit off. Hopefully it was a one time thing and he doesn't keep doing that.

Time to take him out behind the wood shed.

[John_B]

Time to take him out behind the wood shed.

Yup. He's a family friend of my wife so if this keeps up we will have a talk.

[SchralphMacchio]

Hand him an avalanche shovel, and tell him it’s for the moguls at your local hill.
I’m guessing the sarcasm will be lost on him, however.

[jhyatt]

Do you mean USB-C female on the bike, or are you referring to the end of the plug in cable? a proprietary female plug on the bike with a male USB-C charging cable (instead of USB-A)?

The end of the plug on the rear derailleur. It just goes to regular USB. Could have been a USB c like a phone.

[smmokan]

The new Stumpy... electronic drivetrain only, proprietary shock, and $6500 for a GX build with pretty average components. No thanks.

[toast2266]

The new Stumpy... electronic drivetrain only, proprietary shock, and $6500 for a GX build with pretty average components. No thanks.

Yup. I'll be pretty annoyed if mechanical drivetrains get forced into obsolescence by frame manufacturers.

[Dantheman]

This goes way beyond the end of mechanical drivetrains. I won't be surprised if 5 years from now they only make ebikes except for niche stuff like XC/DH race bikes, DJs, etc.

[XXX-er]

This goes way beyond the end of mechanical drivetrains. I won't be surprised if 5 years from now they only make ebikes except for niche stuff like XC/DH race bikes, DJs, etc.

then we can all be the antichrist

[Boissal]

This goes way beyond the end of mechanical drivetrains. I won't be surprised if 5 years from now they only make ebikes except for niche stuff like XC/DH race bikes, DJs, etc.

I was chatting with a buddy back in France who owns a ski/bike shop and is a big Scott retailer. He said more than 90% of the bike he sells are mopeds these days. I was out hiking 3 or 4 days and didn't see a regular bike out, everything had a motor. The area is quite conducive to ebikes since the vast majority of the uphills are heinous dirt roads used for ski resort access but it was a bit of a jarring sight for me. I spent 15 years pedaling that shit...

Re: new Stumpy, it looked appealing at first, 160/145 could be an ideal Wasatch bike, and no headset cable routing! The proprietary shock was strike #1 (I guess it can be swapped for any 210x55 but that's just more $$$) but no mechanical drivetrain is the death knell for sure. It could make sense on the S-work models given the price but give us peasants the option to run cables on the semi-affordable models...

[Benneke10]

Yup. I'll be pretty annoyed if mechanical drivetrains get forced into obsolescence by frame manufacturers.

The process has been underway on the road side for almost 10 years. Pretty common for a top end frame to be electronic only but cables aren't obsolete yet.

[westoxified]

Re: new Stumpy, it looked appealing at first, 160/145 could be an ideal Wasatch bike, and no headset cable routing! The proprietary shock was strike #1 (I guess it can be swapped for any 210x55 but that's just more $$$) but no mechanical drivetrain is the death knell for sure. It could make sense on the S-work models given the price but give us peasants the option to run cables on the semi-affordable models...

what is proprietary about the Stumpy shock? is it some special leverage curve that only works with braingenie? strange they are offering it with a ttx coil but at 8.5K it must be a shop pro only price strategy.

interested about this one being stiffer than the Stevo. other than stack, my only real complaint on the current gen. i got the comp model when it came out for 4K. prob first and last time paying full retail for a bike.

[jackstraw]

Tennis elbow and I don't play tennis! [emoji16]
Can't really ride...down. Up is fine one armed but down is too sketchy for me. This stupid injury has lingered forever now and it's gotten worse. I'm an idiot for not dealing with it properly from the start. It is an odd one where it really doesn't slow you down, so idiots like me keep going. Faak

[XXX-er]

tennis elbow injuries happen to people who don't play tennis but you know that, if it hurts on the inside its tennis and if it hurts on the outside its golfers elbow,

I've had tennis elbow 5 times from WW kayak paddling really its about the constantly gripping something so it also happens to drywallers and tradesman who swing a hammer. one of those velcro bands around your forearm at the elbow helps

I havent had tennis elbow in the last 15 yrs since i changed to a paddle with a smaller shaft which is easier to grip

ime Tennis elbow would go away over the winter when i wasn't paddling

[toast2266]

I was chatting with a buddy back in France who owns a ski/bike shop and is a big Scott retailer. He said more than 90% of the bike he sells are mopeds these days. I was out hiking 3 or 4 days and didn't see a regular bike out, everything had a motor. The area is quite conducive to ebikes since the vast majority of the uphills are heinous dirt roads used for ski resort access but it was a bit of a jarring sight for me. I spent 15 years pedaling that shit...

Re: new Stumpy, it looked appealing at first, 160/145 could be an ideal Wasatch bike, and no headset cable routing! The proprietary shock was strike #1 (I guess it can be swapped for any 210x55 but that's just more $$$) but no mechanical drivetrain is the death knell for sure. It could make sense on the S-work models given the price but give us peasants the option to run cables on the semi-affordable models...

I think this has got to vary a lot by location. I was riding in France last summer and there were tons of people on regular mountain bikes. Lots of ebikes too, but a large majority of those were tourists on rentals.

I'm sure ebikes will gain market share, but I'm extraordinarily skeptical of the predictions of the imminent demise of real mountain bikes. Plenty of people still like to get exercise.

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[Cocximus]

This probably came up before but wtf is up with fabook feed. All I get is garbage suggested content that I don't care for. Clickbait rage content. I'm in some ski and mountaineering groups to get beta but that never shows up. I get it, they have to push ads. Show me an ad every 3 posts. But enough of the random shit IDGAF.

[Eluder]

I’m told the new shock will be on other bikes in the future. Also, It’s not that proprietary, it’s just a float with a different air spring. The cable thing is annoying and stupid, but you got to believe there is gonna be alloy options with cables within a year.

[BigHerm]

Tennis elbow and I don't play tennis! [emoji16]

Get yourself some Theraband Flexbars. I have red, yellow, green, and blue. Pretty much just use green and sometimes blue now. Yellow/red during acute phase. Eccentric twisty exercise that relieves pain and strengthens forearm muscles.

I used to suffer from mtb-induced seasonal Tennis Elbow. No more. Game changer.

[VTskibum]

I think the new shock is the probably the most compelling part of the new Stumpy. I've struggled on my non-EVO to get a good balance of supple and not blowing through travel. In theory this makes that quite a bit more straightforward and is ultimately standard sized as well. I got to ride a short descent on the new Stumpy 15 this week, though can't say I really got a chance to put it through it's paces as it was setup for someone 50lbs heavier. Doubt I'm in the market, but would be a great all arounder.

I'm torn on the no cable routing, maybe Shimano is close to releasing their long speculated wireless DI2? I imagine if they come out with an alloy one next year it'll have routing for mechanical.

[toast2266]

It seems like every 10 years or so, the industry waffles back and forth on creating the perfect suspension via linkage placement vs. shock fuckery. The last decade had certainly been dominated by linkage placement. Specialized seems to be betting on shock fuckery for the next decade (although specialized has mostly erred towards shock fuckery over linkage placement through the years).

If history contains any lessons, shock fuckery results in a brief period of bliss, followed by significant frustration, maintenance headaches, and the conclusion that weird shocks are usually tuned for gapers, and they tend to be difficult to tune for competent riders.

I predict that most decent riders with the new stumpy will ultimately end up mounting a traditional shock on it, and they'll make excuses about how a more linear leverage ratio is actually good because [insert bullshit here].

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