this is basically how my partner’s codes are. they feel awful to me. he finally just took it to the shop today and they said one of his levers just doesn’t work right and that he needs a new one. he said it feels like it returns extra slow.
I’m thinking of upgrading brakes just to give him some shimano brakes. at least I’m comfortable bleeding those.
Yeah, it returns slower than my other levers! wtf. I’ve had 3 pairs of these now and this is the second to just want to die. They’ve both been front levers on my most used bike.
Can always try this on the levers.
I had the Level-T’s stock on my Nukeproof. They were…fine. But after wearing out the first set of pads I replaced with Shimano SLX, and I LOVE those.
A mtb-less friend got on my bike today (SRAM Code RSC) and remarked “do these brakes work? they’re touching the bars”
I’ve got a buddy staying in Eugene, OR for the Prefontaine Classic and wants to rent a MTB tomorrow. Any chance one of you has a recommendation for a shop that does MTB rentals?
For you New Englanders, Sugarloaf Mountain’s bike park is now open.
Was scheduled fri-sat-sun at the resort. Friday was oddly slow and most of us had no lessons. Saturday I taught a couple guys all day in a cornering clinic. Today I had a dad and 14 yo daughter in the morning, then 2 first timers in the “intro to downhill” class (it’s a cheaper group class that includes a rental bike and protective gear).
I’m continuously astounded at how much better of a biker you can make someone in 3 hours. The 14 yo started the ride sitting on her seat with her seat post up getting just rocked around and crashed really early going over a berm. By the end, she was clearing small table tops and crushed all the basic skills maneuvers we did.
My learn to downhill students - 1 had mountain biked a couple times but only on easy stuff and never downhill, the other had never. They started out moving sub 5 mph through the green trail and by the end of the lesson we were doing 15 mph average down a blue trail and the faster guy was right behind me with his friend maybe 15 seconds behind at each stop.
“thankfully, he was able to walk away” …after sitting on the ground for 15 minutes surrounded by medics
Someone in the comments there called him the Colin Mcrae of mountain biking and damn that’s accurate.
sounds right
lets just keep him away from helicopters
The Rimpo AF frame that I purchased back in November of 2021 gave up on me last week. It probably has around 1300 miles on it. Ibis is sending me a new frame HY, but I wonder if this is going to happen again. I would say my riding is spirited, and as my skillset progresses, so do the forces exerted on my bike. I do small drops and the frame has seen maybe 5 park days. As far as maintenance is concerned, I service the suspension and bushings about once a year. I am a big dude who weighs about 230 when I ride with my pack.
During the last ride, I could feel something on the drive side. It felt like the springs on the pedals were loose or maybe like my cleat was slipping. When i paused to look at it trailside, I did not notice anything out of the ordinary and just figured I would deal with it when I got back home.
The frame buckled after hitting a small drop, not the largest one i did that day, but it was the fastest one in the loop that I do. I am so thankful Ibis is sending me a new frame, but I wonder if I should think about getting a burlier bike to handle my size and my progression. I am in new england, so i never thought I needed an enduro bike, but I also dont want to break frames every 4 years. I feel pretty lucky to walk away from the failure without issue, pretty sure that could have been bad.
Tarcklebee for best destroyed frame.
Where were people talking about frame warranties?
mo’ rip
Banshee Titan is something to look into - the Phantom is burly enough for me at almost 300. The leverage curves are favorable towards heavy riders, and the cradle area for the shock is something to behold.
I forgot too, but when the tarck crowd suggested a frame lasting four years, it made me think.
I showed this to a mechanic and he thought he saw that bike here in Bellingham. Evidently a very similar point of failure on same color Ripmo AF.
Banshees are real sweet, and the raw color fucks. And framesets are on sale pretty much everywhere.
was looking at the Rock Lobster website, specifically the MTB frames and Paul writes this on the XC (hardtail) web copy:
I’ll be frank here- Aluminum for a mountain bike frame is really great in that it is very stiff and light. The drawback is that it has a finite fatigue life. Mine lasted eight years, through a season of racing and many crashes. I’m old man. I think that if I were in my 20’s racing every weekend on this frame I would get two seasons it.
got the new XT brakes on this singlespeed weight weenie Giant XTC Advanced i bought two years ago. the brakes work now!
now that it isn’t squeal central i can actually dial it in. i took it to the trails today. did not bother to consult the SID air pressure guide and simply went based on feel. i started at 100psi. that was too much…by a factor of two. brought it down to 50 and it is proper now.
i forgot how unforgiving this geometry is. a little off and it just rides so harshly.
of course a proper weight weenie would put some thin maxxis ikons on. i don’t like the ikon but i’m cheap and too lazy to change them. messed with the pressures for a while and decided on my standard 18/20…why did i even try anything else?
then i shot it into a chute that i mistakenly thought was a different trail. having the saddle up my ass was not optimal! there is no dropper on this thing.
i think i gotta get a dropper to add SOME element of fun.
what is goin on with that fork??
