Sunday Randoms - Sea Otter 2018

 Lol

 Dad truth. This was my first thought too.

 @timrippeth: I wonder if they interlock? Amazing that every Lego block ever made fits every other Lego block ever made. Amazing tolerances. That's a lot of Lego blocks!

 Lol

 What has been the worst lately are the hard-plastic, mini-dinosaurs! In the dark on the stairs?!?! I'll walk all over alloy legos if we can ditch the Jurassic plastic trees!

 @jaame: maybe Lego could increase sales by introducing new standards that don't work with their previous product. Nevermind that's a horrible idea.

 @Duderz7: made my day!

 @Duderz7: Boost Lego. Each block has nine nipples instead of the usual eight. It boosts lateral stiffness of each block by 13.45%

 @jaame:

 On the upside, it's impossible to break into my house in bare feet in the dark.

 @Duderz7: if you think about it...legos are the exact opposite of the bike industry.

 @jaame: Billions

 @jaame: Its called Duplo....but they still interconnect!

 @jaame: 13.4499 %

 And then there is this guy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Jj7B7yVDM&t

He doubled the distance for "walking on legos" Guinness World Record...sounds ridiculous? It is

 @derhasi: that's it! I'm selling the mountain bikes and turning my focus to Lego walking! I've got five kids so a while lot of Base training had already taken place.

 It’s a prison-release work program.

 i suppose that's better than 'currentPedo'.

 Apparently the guy who founded it used to work for the Catholic church

 I thought it was pronounced "egg speedo"? Kinda like another way to say "banana hammock" never made sense, but makes me chuckle.

 @Duderz7: banana hammock make sense...
www.on-lynecomponents.com/collections/nana-hammock/products/nana-hammock-black

 @VlajiciStrapec: that is awesome, I had no idea such a thing exist.

 @literally: literally

 Shoulda had him on a tandem with mandela

 @h-beck83: sir, that is hella funny

 They're just clarifying that he's a big Assegai

 At least they nailed the hair.

 For just a second I was like, why does he have a hoof...

 Not sure what the marketing thinking was on this one either.

Marketing director: Okay, guys, we have a problem. People are ridiculing us for the name of our new tire.
Intern: Well, why don't we clear things up by making Minaar look like a superhero.
Marketing director: hmmmm
Intern: . . . and we can put him in tights!
Marketing director: Perfect!

 I was considering that bomber strap until i saw the price. Might as well get the entire pad. $72 bucks ridiculous!!????????????

 I want one bad

 Wrap my stanchion in grit? no thanks, pass.

 @loopie: the strap doesn't go on the stanchion, but on the lower. I'm digging it.

 Won’t block the back-up camera. I’d Definitely would be in the market.

 The front tire will wear a hole in your paint in no time though. I guess if you put some clear 3m on your tailgate where the tire touches it would be fine.

 @BigballmcCall: learn how to use your mirrors

 @RobKong: The picture shown here, it would wrap the stanchion of an adult bike. Checking the website (not one picture of it in use and a split second shown in a video clip)...it seems it comes in sizes, the one here would be for a kids bike...the others have the lower strap at the bottom of the pad.

 tailgate pad=moving blanket=cheap=removable=non worn out paint on tailgate=thumbs up!

 @amurphy505: never thought of that, but my proximity sensors doesn’t like the pad either. Goes off every time I put it reverse if I forget to disable it.

 100% your tire will wear the paint on your tailgate. Many things work but nothing as good as a full length tailgate pad with straps for the downtube.

 Might help those of us that have a spare tire swingout on our trucks and can only fit 1 bike over the gate.

 @BigballmcCall: first world problems for sure

 @onemind123: I was thinking the same. Happy my pieceofshitcar doesn't have all these problems.

 @loopie: the strap moves up and down so it never wraps the sanctions

 Take my money.

 @tremeer023: yeah I've been looking at it for a while, as there was one production run available for sale in Taiwan last year. Then I saw this one with the gold crown and like, wow. Then I scrolled down and saw the helm with the gold crown and I was like, wow wow!

 @jaame: ...now you can play with your bone .

 In stock where and how much, can't find shit online

 @poozank: I think they jumped the gun with that caption.

 @jaame: yeh, could still be a little while I reckon. Soon to be at least two credible inverted single crown forks on the market makes me more than a little excited.

 @tremeer023: what's the other one?
Last week my bike fell off the bike carrier on the freeway. I think the steerer tube has moved in the crown. I've sent it away to be inspected. If it's bent, it will be new fork time, and what a time to buy! New fox 36 with the grip 2 damper, marzocchi z1 with the old grip damper, cane creek helm coil, x fusion revel, DVO hopefully soon to release the onyx SC (any news on the release of that one @dvosuspension?)

What a year for fork customers!

 @DVOsuspension

 @jaame: DVO and X-Fusion the only two credible ones. What is Intend then, incredible? Curious though whether Magura will eventually release a regular mtb usd fork again. Then again Rockshox actually has something short travel out for XC (and apparently gravel cycling too).

That said, considering the number of brands that have actually been dabbling with protypes etc it apparently isn't as easy or great as the theory/marketing implies. The challenge is the connection between left and right stanchion. One solution is to use a fork guard that connects the two, but I don't know whether DVO holds that patent. The other is to use a larger diameter hub axle. Curnutt used a 30mm axle for a reason. But even if this is the best solution, no marketing manager dares to step into the Pinkbike pit, surrounded by keyboards and rotten tomatoes and admit:

"Hi there, we'd like to introduce our new, progressive, ehrm... axlestandardokthanksbye!|

 @jaame: I was thinking of the Intend. Looks amazing but £££

 @tremeer023: I would be happy to buy a fire which came with its own hub with a huge axle, say 30mm and spinning on widely available bottom bracket bearings. I mean, how hard is it to build a new wheel up at the same time as changing fork?

 @jaame: would probably be worth it - the Lefty uses a proprietary hub which is larger and meant to work well i think. Risk of creating a new industry standard though but 15mm has been a mistake/joke from the beginning.

 @tremeer023: Curnutt used the 30mm axle a fair while ago so technically you could choose that and not say you're introducing anything new. Specialized had the E150 dual crown fork for their Enduro bike with a 25mm axle, so same goes for these. I wouldn't introduce a new diameter unless you really need to go larger than 30mm. Right in the middle between the two (27.5mm) will be criticized too as people don't like those small increments though again if this is what is on offer, people may just accept it eventually. You can avoid 29mm but 28.99mm isn't necessarily the best way to do that.

I partially agree with your comment on 15mm axles, but I do think the move 100mm wide was a good one. Except for cup and cone bearing hubs (which typically are dedicated for the width), the additional 10mm (of conventional 20x110) brings no advantages if the bearing and flange distances remain the same. Yeah, nice you can convert them between the two but it implies you've lost the advantage of the extra width. I'd say it is even worse as the load trajectory got longer. I actually believe that the never 20x110 boost is actually what the "old" 20x110 should have been right away. And well, 15mm turn out to be a nice solution for more weight oriented components. The larger axle requires a larger bore in the fork lowers, which again require a bigger reinforcement. So yeah, it has its place. I've got a couple of older 20x110 forks and hubs so I've got reason to stick to "old" but if I came in fresh into the sport I'd see no point in old 20x110 over the boost version. And I see no reason for the "old" 110 spread over the newer 100 if it were used with cartridge bearing hubs.

As for the Lefty, I think it is a clever fork which make people more likely to accept that it needs its own hub for it to work. Having to remove the brake caliper to remove a wheel does seem like a hassle though. It is a bit like a car so I'd go all the way. Leave the bearings, brake rotor etc onto the fork and only slide the hub shell (with attached spokes etc) on and off. If the advantages are clear, more people are willing to accept a new standard.

 @vinay: I never thought of that about bolting the wheel on to the hub whilst leaving the hub and brake in place. That is a good idea.

 Maybe I am getting used to oversized Metric shocks with massive air cans, but to me the air can on that Suntour shock looks a little...puny

 SR Suntour or bust for me dude. If I had money I would invest heavily, they got me shocking when other companies would have cost double for a similar world class product. Can't complain.

 @Kramz: SR Suntour is the Toyota to DVO's Lexus. They also used to make Marzocchi, I believe. Although that might have been the wilderness years.

 So it’s cheaper and stiffer? Did Pivot place a large bet against themselves?

 @sosburn, it's cheaper and stiffer, but not lighter. That's the third part of the equation that'll make the carbon version appealing to weight conscious riders.

 Only on Pinkbike do the majority of people think the main goal of bicycle composites is stiffness.

 @mikekazimer: Yeah i was just joking anyways. Thought it was funny that they used it as a selling point.

 As a weekend warrior I'll take more precision in a bikes handling over weight savings....and keep a junk of change in my pocket while I'm at it

 It'll also likely be 2x as strong. Not to mention fatigue life.

 "Strong, light, cheap: pick two." If the Al is strong and cheap, then the carbon is... is... Uh oh!

 @mikekazimer: But not the ones that pound down a plate of donuts.

 But many years ago, everybody wanted carbon because it was lighter. Nowadays people are complaining that it aint even a pound lighter...and people be like ''yeah but we don't really care about the weight, it's STIFFER!!''.

Now we come back to the lighter argument because it ain't stiffer!? Come on... LOL

 It can be whatever is required of it. Which is why it is used extensively in all high strength to weight applications in every industry and alloys increasingly aren't.

 Which one do we pay less carbon tax on? ...hahahaha

 I know. I mean it's not like the idea of a full suspension mountain bike was ever viewed as totally unnecessary is it........

 @mgolder: why not just use a hardtail xc?

 Ha... yeah, Niner should probably focus on the 29r market that they had in the palm of their hand and managed to piss away.

 With that seat angle they’ve already failed basic concepts, this looks like something from 10 years ago.

 i am willing to bet that 5 years from now, every major bike company will have a full suspension gravel bike with drop bars. oh, they're coming.

 I would never buy a bike you can't touch. Sure I can hover with a magic carpet, but I can not hover above one.

 That bike looks amazing! Do some of the gravel races out in BC and you will understand the need for it. I have experimented with a dropper on my cross bike too, seems every year all the disciplines get a bit tougher. I was in a cross race that had xc single track last year.

BUT @vinay is right, if you can't even touch the bike then what good would it be, maybe that why they call it the magic carpet, you are just supposed to hover slightly above it.

 @warmerdamj: Out of interest, when will things start to go the other way?

That is, instead of putting phat tyres, dropper posts and suspension on gravel bikes, you start putting tall gears, narrow tyres and drop handlebars on an XC MTB frame?

 Thought I was looking at 3 bikes stood together at first!

 @JoeRSB: I dont know but I definitely would agree things will come back around eventually. It's the just the way things are eh!

 In twenty years on Pink Gravel dot com: "Now that was a bike..."

 why @NinerBikes full sus gravel bike?

 Hopefully won’t make the rider crash all the time.

 When I saw that Tazmon I actually thought it was multiple bikes leaning against each other

 I am from the past and based on early mags bought I'd say thats a Judy triple crown and period checks out.

 @browner: The triple clamp Judy only came out in 98.

 @Kiwijohn42: plus nothing had disc mounts in 94, or at least a standardized mount. I don't think the Hayes 22mm mount was out yet in 94. Fork must be from later.

 I think it's a Girvin fork (or whatever the RST equivalent was). Yes, they "made" (or at least stickered) a telescopic Girvin fork. www.bikepro.com/directions/a97_proflex/beast.html

 Its a 650b

 I would love to see a 120-130mm 29er Zerode. It may be the bike to cure my carboniphobia.

 Very tough woven nylon. Been around for decades.

 Originally used in flak jackets in world war 2. Hence the name. Google is your friend.

 Sounds great, would match my gold chains but unfortunately my hummer is too tall to put bikes on the roof rack