Random MTB discussion thread

[SAMSONite]

I was also thinking about Mammoth. It might not be very icy - since there was very little traffic to pack snow down.

[RegalX]

Someone buy this! You wont find a better build for the price!

http://madison.craigslist.org/bik/3561244132.html

[Stormwalker]

I think I'm heading north tomorrow to ride Cuyuna. I haven't ridden for two and a half weeks due to trail conditions and temps, and the trail conditions are wonderful up there. If anyone wants to join, let me know.

[Steve]

I would but someone broke into my house and took apart the 907 and drilled a bunch of freaking holes in the wheels. On top of that, I ordered some tubes a while ago and they are only 26x2.7. What a disaster!

[RegalX]

Tubes... what are those?

[9GUY9]

I would but someone broke into my house and took apart the 907 and drilled a bunch of freaking holes in the wheels. On top of that, I ordered some tubes a while ago and they are only 26x2.7. What a disaster!

Use the tubes. I ran 1.9-2.2" tubes for a long time with no issues, I got a second batch and did have a couple tear at the seams. Now I run Bontragers 26x2.8's.

Where did you find you new tire in stock?

[Stormwalker]

Cuyuna was perfect. Absolutely perfect. Grippiest snow ever, and the trail groom was amazing. On top of that, the weather/temperature was perfect as well. Could not have asked for a better ride. I rode all of the Sagamore and Yawkey units. When I got back to the Sagamore lot, there was an older couple there with a new Mukluk 3, and the wife took it out first. I talked to the guy for a while, and he was talking about opening the lake connector, and how he groomed the trail down to there, and he explained that he worked there. Turns out it was Steve Weber, the DNR manager of the Cuyuna recreation area. We talked for a long time about all the plans there. He said they are very excited to put in a paved trail that goes from Cuyuna all the way to behind the airport and further into Brainerd to connect to the Paul Bunyan trail. Running along this paved trail will be a mountain bike trail, kind of like how it is right now with the connector trail between the Pennington and Yawkey units. So if you like the backcountry feel of that connector trail, expect about 20 more miles of that in the future. Otherwise, grant money is still tight right now, making it difficult to expand the singletrack trail system (25 miles are currently there, they would like 100). In the short term future, next winter they are going to groom boot camp, easy street, and the connector trail to haul road, so that you can literally ride from Sagamore to Yawkey, all on singletrack. That would be quite a ride!

We also talked about skinny tire bikes on trails. He was asking me a lot about what happens to trails in the metro with regular mtb tires, and he talked about their controversial decision to make the Cuyuna winter trails fatbike only. I guess last year at the whiteout, the first racegroup that went was about half skinnies, and they tore up the trail so bad it ruined the system for the rest of the riders that day. They decided they can't have that sort of thing happen again. I agree it works well up there. Every time I've ridden there this year, the trail groom is absolutely amazing, much better than anything I've ridden... well, ever.

One other thing I should add is that Steve told me that the Pennington area is now open to winter riding as well. He said it's ungroomed so it might be tough going in spots. But it's no longer off limits, at least right now. I didn't have the time (or legs) to check it out after riding Sagamore and Yawkey.

I rode the little Wall Trail section at Sagamore for the first time, there's quite a downhill drop on that trail, pretty fun. I wanted to do a second run of bobsled, but I wanted to get back at a reasonable time hoping to avoid bad roads on the way down. I may as well have done that second round of bobsled. I had a lot of fun at Sagamore today, more fun than I thought I could have on that trail system. It's all kind of doubletracky, but today, it was a blast, particularly discombobulator. It's pretty twisty, and I was leaning in hard carving the corners, and just having a great time. After today, my opinion of Sagamore has changed. It is a very fun winter trail system, and it doesn't need any crazy tech or convoluted trail features, it works great just as it is.

This was the best winter ride this season so far for me. As soon as I got done, I was making plans to go back next weekend.

I am pleased to see some snow fell in the cities. Seems pretty wet, but maybe it'll be the type of stuff that packs in fast. I might even try to get another ride in tomorrow night.

[Stormwalker]

I got an Emerson video camera for christmas and was playing around with it. Either the camera sucks or I suck at camera work, so I apologize, but here is a TERRIBLE video I took up on discombobulator:

http://youtu.be/BOMQakoQslU

edit: why is it green? the raw video wasn't green... also, you can hear my nates humming away. Not sure what that other really annoying noise is.

[Steve]

Use the tubes. I ran 1.9-2.2" tubes for a long time with no issues, I got a second batch and did have a couple tear at the seams. Now I run Bontragers 26x2.8's.

Where did you find you new tire in stock?

Fatbikes.com had them up until today. I Just ordered another one from Bikeman a few minutes ago.

[Stormwalker]

Fatbikes.com had them up until today. I Just ordered another one from Bikeman a few minutes ago.

If you had a conversation with yourself from seven months ago about biking, your past self wouldn't have a fracking clue what you would be saying.




I brought my Pugsley to work, hoping to get a ride in tonight, though it looks like a lot of the fresh snow melted away. Perhaps Mammoth may be a good ride tonight.

One other thing is that pubestripe stopped by... and I had him ride the Pugsley around a bit in the snow. He's not much for winter, but I think I still saw the curse starting to take hold.... sorry dude.... I will have to say he was smiling the entire time he was on that bike though.

[Steve]

My mouth is starting to water for Blue Hope Pro Evo 2 hubs and a Raceface turbine crank. How do you decide between 170mm and 175mm?

[mnstang]

i was thinking about my bike the other day. this spring i'm going to clean it all up really well and tune everything up. i'd like to maybe tune up/adjust the deraillers slightly, i see there are little phillips screws on them, what do they do? i'd rather learn myself vs. taking it to some bike shop all the time. this is on a cx bike but not sure if it matters.

[Steve]

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

[Stormwalker]

i was thinking about my bike the other day. this spring i'm going to clean it all up really well and tune everything up. i'd like to maybe tune up/adjust the deraillers slightly, i see there are little phillips screws on them, what do they do? i'd rather learn myself vs. taking it to some bike shop all the time. this is on a cx bike but not sure if it matters.

Those are the limit screws. Don't touch them unless your chain is jumping off the end of the cassette one way or the other. There may be a barrel adjuster, and this is what adjusts your shifting.

Late April after tax season, I can just come over and show you a bunch of stuff regarding bike maintenance. I'll probably also try to talk you into shopping for a mtb lol.

[Stormwalker]

My mouth is starting to water for Blue Hope Pro Evo 2 hubs and a Raceface turbine crank. How do you decide between 170mm and 175mm?

Usually, the length of your legs, though sometimes it's a preference issue and the type of use the bike gets. That's why you see size small frames come with shorter crank arms, and larger frames with longer crank arms. You'll likely want to go with the shorter length.