Check Out: A Youth Neck Brace, Suspension Service, Hydration Pack, & More

 You were lucky to have a bike with gears or something that resembled a suspension fork when I was 11

 my 11 year old is riding a 2003 Nicolai Nonius =(

 That 11-year old also somehow speaks marketing lingo like a professional: "I don't notice it unless I'm wearing a hydration pack. It works great with a hip pack. I think its a very well designed piece of protective gear".

 Young, adolescent dentists are seldom seen in the wild...

 @saladdodger: I was riding a debadged supercycle with upgraded tires, your kid is lucky!

 I remember my mom shuttling us at Post Canyon at his age! So many good memories there on a hard tail!

 @ADGproductions: ...another lucky one!

 At age 11 I was riding a 1990 Specialized Rockhopper Sport. Chromoly frame, no suspension, 21spd shimano drivetrain, cantilever brakes, and Ground Control tires. Thanks Mom for the Christmas gift! I loved that bike.

 Cheaper than a pony. Cheaper than a year of rehab later in life. Everything is relative. Used bikes are pretty affordable these days and if it gets a kid outside and away from the video games and social media culture, more power to them.

 I was a perfect parent until I had kids too.

 @mi-bike: it's funny, I'm friends with him and he was telling me that he is somewhat sponsored by leatt. Looked on this today and I was surprised.

 @zyoungson: they had suspension forks when u were 11? username checks out, then

 @savagelake: yeah, they were around, but a suspension fork was a super high end item found only on the fancy bikes. It was not spec’d on the Trek 830 I started out on.

 it's only been a few years but every 11 years old in Scotland when I was that age rode a Cube AIM

 @nkrohan: Hmmmm, cheaper than a pony? Quick googles shows up Betty Boop, The Best Pony for a mere $2,800. You can't even shod that pony in Enve shoes for that much.

Granted, the SC doesn't shit all over your garage or kick you through a wall if you've mistreated it.

 @VTTyeahyouknowme: How much do you pay per month to stable, feed, and provide medical care for your bike?

 @DrPete: Doesn't matter. Keeping my baby warm, fed and happy is worth any price.

 @ReformedRoadie: good one!

 Don't give your bosses any ideas. They might start making you wear one! ????

 It may have started with "Strava or it didn't happen" but it has escalated to this. Sure, it's consumer gouging to you and me but there's no doubt a market for these ridiculous gadgets. People simply need content for their social media feeds to stay relevant! It's all about the likes these days. A day not posted is a day not lived.

 Great business model. They get to charge third parties for access to your data and advertising, and you also pay for the privilege.

 I bought a Garmin watch with GPS for $100 a few years ago (are they cheaper now?). You can sync it to Strava (if that's the only reason you bring along your phone) and it gives you heaps of data through the Connect app including sleep analysis. Obviously, no monthly charge, I don't really even wear it for anything but rides though. I would rather sleep another 20 minutes, than analyze my daily data.

 @dominic54 @mi-bike: I find the data useful. I’m a busy person and while I likely can find some other means of analyzing my heart rate, etc., I’ve been happy with the Whoop app. I don’t want a smart watch. I don’t share my data with anyone. This isn’t about social media usage it’s about finding Useful information to improve my health and fitness.

 1. Wrist based optical heart rate monitors give out some of the worst data for accurately tracking your heart rate. Give some of the reviews at dcrainmaker.com a look to see. 2. As some of the other people have noted, you can get a decent optical strap for pretty cheap these days or even a chest strap. This data can be analysed for free through the likes of Strava, Garmin or the Elevate add on for your web browser. 3. It looks retro AF. I've seen nicer medical devices.

 AND it doesn't tell time so is it really a watch???

 @Rigidjunkie: it pairs with you phone so you can conveniently track time in the app!!!

 My Garmin does this all for no monthly charge and I get garmin a amazing customer service.

My wife’s Fitbit does even more tracking and they can be had for under $100. Although, they do not last like a garmin will.

 @Rigidjunkie: Maybe they can include an inscription reading something like "check your phone for the time" to cover that secondary function of a watch...

 My old Polar S810 also measured heart rate variability and could calculate recovery based on that. It required an orthostatic test but I think that's fine.The Suunto Ambit 3 (I only have the Ambit 2 so haven't tested it) does seem to do a similar test to what's being described in the article. Obviously watches aren't cheap either but personally I prefer to pay up front for the tool instead of having to pay for a subscription.

As for optical measurements, they may give you a nice indication if you want to get an holistic view on your day and activities but they are far from accurate. I can imagine it could also be because my skin is dark, it may not work that well. I wanted to track my rides to and from work to get a better view of my activity load throughout the week and not just log my actual trainings. I didn't feel like wearing a chest strap for those commutes so initially I used a Mio Link which does nothing other than measure my heart rate (optical) and send it to my watch over ANT+ and bluetooth. I later used a Garmin Vivofit 2 for this. The Garmin has a display so as an experiment I just let the Garmin show its measurements and let the watch receive the HR from the chest strap. It was way off, especially at higher intensities. It just doesn't pick up the higher heart rates. So fine for commutes and hikes but useless for more intense training. But with it being so inaccurate, I wouldn't add much value to the heart rate variability measurements. But yeah, it being optical it may work better with lighter (and maybe also thinner) skin. And of course if you're wearing elbow pads with extended lower arm protection, it may may interfere. Just like if you're wearing wrist protection. Not sure how many people do that in bicycle riding these days though. I wear wrist protection for mountain unicycling and I've seen a few wear it for hucking stuff on bikes, twenty years ago.

 Hear! Hear!

 It's expensive but the labor involved in rebuilding a damper with new seals is a bit high. I don't think $175 is out of range for that task, but what is ridiculous is most shops charging $70+ for changing the bath oil and wiper seals.

The good news is that doing the more basic services, the ones that you get the most feel improvement from, is fairly easy and quick once you get a feel for it. You can replace the bath oil and soak the foam rings in less than 20min on most forks with minimal cost, replacing air spring seals isn't much work after that, but probably doesn't need to be done as regularly. The wiper seals are a pretty easy replacement, also, when needed. These things will provide more reduction in friction and improvement in feel than the most labor intensive task of rebuilding and bleeding the damper, although with some forks (DVO), that process isn't terribly involved either.

I end up changing my bath oil out about once every 2 months and when major temp swings occur (I use different oils for temps above and below freezing). I find after about 3 months of riding, the oil is typically contaminated. Most new forks also typically don't ship out with the proper oil quantity.

That said, fork manufacturers could make it easier for people to work on stuff by getting rid of some unnecessary steps, like replacing crush washers with actual seals at the bottom of the rods (e.g. Manitou, MRP, DVO all did this) and eliminating one off tools "needed" (e.g. the tools "required' to knock out the rods on Fox forks).

 @shinook: Absolutely, a monkey could do your cars oil change and it would still take 10 minutes. However, I would rather stick with crush washers as they won't degrade and fail overtime and are basically a guaranteed seal even if you overtighten a bit. It is a bit wasteful throwing them away everytime though..

 @shinook: aren't the tools needed a socket and dead blow hammer to knock out the rods? My set of Fox forks but that is what it looks like. Haven't done my 1st service yet but its close to time.

 @MattyBoyR6: yes, you can get them out with a socket and mallet. It will eventually ruin the soft aluminum bolt. The proper tools protect the rods and require less force to break the press fit loose.

 @MattyBoyR6: I say to just buy the tools, barrel your way through figuring out how to conduct maintenance, and save money/keep your fork in good working order for it's lifetime

 @MattyBoyR6: That's why I put "needed" and "required" in quotes, you can use a socket and rubber mallet to drive the rods out of the legs, but you risk damage to the rods in the process. I've done it several times without an issue, but having the proper tools is safer.

Other forks (Helm, Manitou, DVO, RS, etc) are easier and don't require these tools, some you tap with the hammer directly or others you can press out by hand.

 @MattyBoyR6: It's a bit more than that ~ enduro-mtb.com/en/how-to-lower-leg-fluid-service-on-a-fox-34

 @Mntneer: I've done plenty of Marzocchi, RS and moto forks over the years. This will be my first Fox. Doesn't look any worse than the others really.

 So do the prices

 @Mac1987: the real reason people don't services suspension.

 We are not paid by any company to promote any product. If you actually read my feedback, you can see I have no interest in a smart watch or having anything on my wrist that tells me time/texts, etc... I find the data useful, especially the "recovery" analysis but I am glad this article gives people a sounding board to disagree.

 @nkrohan:

"So would you rather pay $350-$500 dollars upfront for a fancy device, or go stealth for $216/year? In my mind, stealth is the way to go"

Your words, not mine. Surely they've paid you to say that you'd buy this over a typical smart watch style device? I cannot understand why else you'd be compelled to say it. Why not just buy a smart watch and stick duct tape over the screen....?

 what other countries are there?

 @howsyourdad: Zamunda.

 @nozes: King Jaffe Joffer, The Royal Palace,

 I thought they were gonna post videos on how to do basic services!!!

 German pricing: (Fox 36, DPX2)

Fork service: 144 EUR (= $160)
Shock service: 162 EUR (= $180)
Fork service incl. GRIP2 Update: 499 EUR (= $552)

That sucks.

 @howsyourdad: I wonder what they pay the servants to clear the royal penis? Maybe they should get into fork servicing at $175 a pop

 @jazzawil: Your, I think typo of 'clear' instead of 'clean' had me visioning a lady with a long cotton swab clearing a blockage from the urethra. Kind of like the old STD testing method.

 This is pretty dramatic. Rebuilding dampers is not a nightmare.

When I do use a shop for suspension service (which I try not to do after de-mistifying this "nightmare") I'm happy to support shops that do their work for $80/hr + fluids and parts

 Than maybe Fox should keep ease of servicing in mind when designing their products. I can completely strip my Mattoc, relube and refresh the oil (damper and bath) and rebuild within 1 hour. And I'm not even an experienced mechanic and have to check steps with YouTube instruction videos. A full service therefore only costs €110 when done by a small shop that know what they are doing. A full service for a Fox 36 FIT4 costs €150+. Fox parts are also relatively expensive (they charge €50 over here for the damper removal tool and another €50 for the airspring removal tool for my Float 34...). It's not the shops' fault, it's Fox's.

 Too bad fux can’t even do it right half the time. I will NOT be sending my suspension to fux factory or a shop rat that gets paid $15 an hour to fvck things up. Fortunately there are great alternatives.

 @Eatsdirt: please elaborate

 @mkotowski1: Elaborate on alternatives?? I send my stuff to a small local suspension guru who does bike/moto suspension (Advanced Dynamics) and he's worked wonders fixing the 'service' Fux did at a competitive price. There was no comparison in quality of ride and service life, so to me it was worth well over the price I paid. There a few other suspension guys like Fluid Focus, Diaz, Dirt Labs, Vorsprung etc in the US that I'd imagine do a great job.

 Well Vorsprung not in US, but possibly worth shipping to...

 Should've asked your mom for Enves.

 @mi-bike: That's it! I didn't have those snappy wheels!

 I have a 9 and 11 year old. They both wear the Leatt neck brace with fusion body armour. The brace I got is adjustable and intergrates really well with the armor so it fits both boys different body shaped. Both the armour and neck brace have paid for themselves and have stopped the boys from getting worse injuries from their numerous crashes.

 Its chest width (just under the arms) that they use rather than age. Their site says smallest is 29.5 inches (!). I'm sure Atlas have smaller ones than this though.

 Thanks for the insight guys!

 No juggalos allowed

 @whitebirdfeathers: you need jesus sir...may I point you in the right direction...

www.jesussavesjuggalos.com

 It's a terminology artefact from when road racers wore toe clips and straps, which had to be done up by hand while you were on the bike. When the first 'automatic' pedals came out they were considered 'clip-less', as they locked your foot in without needing toe clips and straps, and you could get out of them without having to reach down and loosen them.

 @cmrn: Started mountain biking in the mid to late ‘80s, and rode with toe clips off-road...even without cinching them tight it was tough getting in and frequently terrifying to get out.

 @cmrn: I may be too young to know this but thanks for the lesson!

 @ReformedRoadie:

You cant forget the first time that the panic sets in as you frantically try and get your foot out of your toe clip, in what seems like super slow mo, as the bike is gently falling sideways..!!

 @w0dge: I remember trying to ride my Dad's monstrous (at the time, for me) road bike and everytime coming to a stop and falling (from the sky!) onto my side.. I never got very good at getting out of the clips, but I did get smart enough to know to get onto the grass when I came to a stop

 better get that pedal flipped over and foot in the toe clip before heading down that steep chute.

 @MattyBoyR6: If it's really steep, you're better off on the flip side, as those canti levers aren't going to do shit to slow you down.

 Oh man, dude... It's ok, there's counselors in abundance these days, you can be helped.

 Potty function for essential toilet breaks. Who's working on the nonessential variant? So glad my sleep analyzer is waterproof.

 @ceecee: You wouldn't understand. As a female, having a bib that you can pee in without shedding all the top layers is really freaking nice. Taking the time to voice your negative opinion is about as productive as the waterproof function on the Whoop strap.

 As a permanently pre-op transsexual engineer, permit me to reredirect to the nonessential...trailside sunbathing...top layer not desired.

 @ceecee: you got me. Its hard to show a bib without stripping down to the bib. It was cold. I'm fairly modest. I pretended like I was in Mexico poolside with a margarita.

 @gnarnaimo: LOL, thanks for that!
I recon mud tires work better than councilors for seasonal affective disorder!

 @getsomesy: Agreed! I do enjoy the little bit of sliding DHFs allow in the mud though..not fast...but fun!!!!

 @nkrohan: arhhhh I get it , crutch less bibs !