There's a Reason They Don't Let Me Write the Tech Articles - Sunday Comics with Taj Mihelich

Jun 26, 2020 at 13:18
by Taj Mihelich  

Mountain biking used to be a whole lot harder.



Good luck with this one Dan Roberts! MC Escher signature suspension design.



First 10 people to explain how clipless pedals got their name ruin the joke.



Ok, I admit to drawing this horsey a few years ago before I started at Pinkbike, but it still makes me laugh.

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113 Comments

  • 186 0
 Clopless made my morning
  • 161 1
 It make things stable
  • 60 1
 I laughed so hard I’m hoarse.
  • 134 1
 Horse puns will always rein supreme.

And with that, I’ll grab my coconut shells and continue my quest.
  • 20 3
 Let's try and reign it in with these puns.
  • 21 0
 @Dmrides: you could grab them by the husk.

Did you get them from an African Swallow?
  • 12 0
 @Dmrides: bring me some shrubbery!
  • 13 2
 @Dmrides:

".....Bring out yer dead"
  • 96 1
 Clopless is best for unbridled power transfer. Ignore the neigh-sayers.
  • 7 0
 @enis: always look at the bright side of life da da da da da da da da life's a peice of $ht when you look at it
  • 2 0
 @enis: too soon
  • 6 1
 as they say here in Scotalnd: Neigh bother
  • 12 2
 I think he is sponsored by Ironhorse
  • 3 13
flag TW80 (Jun 28, 2020 at 10:20) (Below Threshold)
 @tetonsorbuttes: Man I miss my old trusty steed Iron Horse! It was fun for my first FS bike BID '94. Here's a link to one like mine, stickered an different company but the same damn bike:
www.flickr.com/photos/92056929@N00

BTW, I broke the rear swing arm at the large pivot joint taking a small 1 foot jump and that was the end of her reign in 2004... Not bad for a 10 yr old bike. Then it was on to an SC Superlight. That thing was bad A$$ cause I didn't read any MTB mags or online forums, I just rode...anywhere anything. Then $hit got serious and I read a MTB blog of some sort and started to find out about HTA and different disciplines and standards! My lyfe is over! Nothing less/more than 64 degrees, boosted, 780mm wide bars!!

I will proudly confess: NEVER once did I don spandex/lycra, always baggy's and a T!

Anyways, there's my ramble on... Shred my dude!
  • 10 0
 What is the air-speed velocity of a clipless Ibis?
  • 4 0
 We need a T-shirt with that horsey drawing.-
  • 2 0
 @Dmrides: it’s too perilous
  • 6 0
 @vw4ever: they're non migratory.
  • 8 0
 I would like some clopless pedals, but I'd have to pony up some cash
  • 2 0
 I guess this horse is "trotting", where opposite diagonal hooves are down at once, so the captain and stoker cranks would need to be 180-degrees opposite as the drawing shows. I think a galloping horse would need the two cranks at 90-degrees so that only one pedal was down at a time. A camel would would be able to ride a "normal" tandem crank configuration (0-degrees) because they run with both right, then both left feet. I really want to see a camel riding a tandem now.
  • 3 0
 @bmar: it doesn't matter, as long as you let the Ibis do the work.
  • 4 0
 @pixelguru: woooooaaaaaaahhhhhhh there buddy, its a joke. *pats snout* here have some hay.
  • 1 0
 @Dmrides: 'come patsy'
  • 2 0
 My mane issue with clopless pedals is clopping in and out
  • 45 5
 Do any pink bikers know what mountain biking in the early 90s was like and the death traps existed before clipless pedals???
  • 27 0
 yes
  • 13 3
 I use to love toe clips...without the straps! I could almost make an argumentbthat a nice grippy modern flat with a toe clip style front and easy to escape sides could be amazing
  • 23 0
 I remember when I HAD to have beartrap pedals with toe clips. Also after much pestering I managed to convince my mom that a RockShox quadra 21R would change my life. Now THAT was a top notch fork. None of these silly "rebound" and "compression" adjustments. Just pure elastomer bliss.
  • 15 0
 Does anyone here on Pinkbike remember Onza pedals with elastomer ‘Springs’? And how wonderfully they worked in the wintertime?
  • 3 0
 @guyonabike407: I have a very vivid memory from 1996 of getting stuck, uh trapped in my OnZas, and falling over like some dumbass SPD rookie--I went back to Shimano pretty quickly.
  • 5 0
 @guyonabike407: I remember the Onza's. I asked the sales rep about the cold, because I rode an elastomer Manitou suspension fork in the cold. Well, in the cold it was mostly rigid. He said they would be fine. My friend ran Onza's and on one winter ride tipped over 3 times, I had to twist his foot to get him out of the pedal once. Just couldn't leave him in the woods... Wink
  • 3 0
 I still have a scar from those damn Onza pedals ...
  • 2 0
 @JodyLeeJr: I still have a few elastomer inserts from my onza pedals. I smirk every time I see them in the bottom of the tool box.
  • 9 0
 Man, we went to the moon like 50 yrs ago...but somehow in the 90's the engineers/people making stuff for bikes produced some pretty awful stuff. Hell you can go jump on a dirt bike/BMX from 30yrs ago and it's still pretty great. My old mtb tho?? Lol...
  • 1 0
 Oh yes, I still have the bike my Grandfather gave me, but nowadays it has flat pedals and no toe clips.
  • 1 0
 I rode with clips and straps once and that was enough. Borrowed my dad's sweet 2001ish Kona Lavadome with its triple and massive 65mm or so of travel. Worst ride of my life. Never again.
  • 1 0
 @Snowrydr01: I know people that do this for their road bikes. Works great.
  • 3 0
 @mikeyrides: Don’t you love those time capsule nuggets?!! I have a couple elastomers from my old Mani-Poo fork rolling around in my parts box!
  • 2 0
 @guyonabike407: Death Pedals! Didn't clip/release in the winter or in the summer. Onza made a grippy tire in the Porcs, but a lousy pedal.
  • 1 0
 You bet, started in '86. Started out wearing hiking boots in them with the straps loose. Set up that way they were actually harder to get into than out of.
  • 2 0
 @guyonabike407: oh yes. Hopped on a bench during a cool winter night and started to fall over and couldn’t get unclipped. Huge bruise on my thigh. Worst pedals ever.
  • 2 0
 How about the early 80s?
  • 3 0
 Umm, nineties? How about the eighties? Better yet, ripping trails on BMX in the seventies on Skyline trails.
  • 1 0
 @guyonabike407: I had those, they lasted forever.
  • 3 0
 @OceanPhil: should have an award for most concise and upvoted comment ... u win
  • 1 0
 @Snowrydr01:
Almost.......and therein, lies the lie.
  • 1 0
 @guyonabike407: I still have a pair kicking around! They look awesome, and that's it.
  • 2 0
 Tioga Powerclip II's my friend. They were the shizz. On a Falcon Mountain Peak that weighed oooooh about 4.5 metric tonnes.
  • 2 0
 I rode back in that era and I still don't recall anyone ever calling them "clips". They were typically referred to as "straps". Perhaps we should call them "strapless pedals" instead.
  • 1 0
 Oh yeah. I started ridding around 1993. Started with toe clips and straps. It was a great day when I got my first pair of shimano clip in pedals. So much better.
  • 1 0
 I still have a pair of those old pedals lying around as they seem to be great wild life traps when I go out to do my Bear Grills adventures...
  • 1 0
 @Geochemistry: aren't the onza tires and the onza bike components two separate companies?
  • 1 0
 @skijosh: Quien Sabe? They had the same logo.
  • 1 0
 You are correct, the current Onza tire company has no affiliation with the old company. The current company simply purchased the name when the old Onza went kaput--same scenario as NukeProof.
  • 33 1
 I'm all for the german way of pedal naming: clicks and flats. It's English anyways. No need for confusing every noob with nonsense names from "historical reasons".
  • 1 0
 It is the consequence of naming something by what it is not. People still claim that I'm riding tubeless, I insist I don't. I ride with ProCore.
  • 8 4
 You erase history, you erase the future.
  • 8 0
 @BenPea:
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past."
George Orwell
  • 4 0
 Clips or flats work for me.
  • 5 2
 @Dropthedebt: nah, I said it first man. Check the timeline.

Anyway, they're called automatic pedals here, which makes even less sense. There's not even a historical reason for it.
  • 1 0
 @BenPea: I agree on that statement but don't see the relevance on technical innovations for a kinda niche hobby
  • 1 0
 @BenPea: sorry Ben tup
  • 1 0
 @daweil: you're right, I've changed my mind. I'm just going to pretend that non-flat pedals don't exist.
  • 2 0
 Clicks and flats! Now that's a new standard I really want to see.
  • 1 0
 Isn't it all about how concave?
  • 15 0
 Would love to see suspension by Giger, Dali, Picasso...
  • 4 0
 Mondriaan...
  • 17 0
 Wouldn't work with Picasso. Square bearings and all that..
  • 17 2
 Brilliant idea, i want to see the giger one where all the links are made of dicks and the shock is a fetus.
  • 9 0
 @pakleni: I reckon he could draw a pretty good Cube.
  • 1 0
 @pbuser2299: squish
  • 1 0
 @commental: I don't think it can be more square than it is
  • 2 0
 @pakleni: Most cartridge bearings are quite square or at least rectangular. It just depends on the perspective. Even if you're going to draw cross sections, just use needle bearings and you'll be good.
  • 3 0
 Can imagine the shafts on a Giger designer shock.
  • 10 0
 The man, the myth, the legend, the one who doesn't save the day but saves every Sunday, has returned. BTW a horse riding a tandem has no tandem happening, does it still count as a tandem?
  • 7 0
 It is a horse bike. With a horse link. No tandem, amigo!
  • 9 0
 That Escher suspension can go forever when paired with the Mobius wheelset.
  • 3 0
 Bottomless feel
  • 1 0
 Some topology enthusiasts on PB lately. Mobius wheelsets are great for e-bikes as the spoke magnet should pass the sensor every other revolution so you can go twice as fast until the limiter kicks in. And you'll be wearing the tire both sides so they should last you longer too. Still having some minor issues trying to get the tire to seal properly but I'm definitely getting there. The suspension feels wicked but I should add that even though Escher has been exploring these impossible geometric shapes, it wasn't his invention. Some French artists have done this before him though I don't know who was first (if it is even known).
  • 10 0
 He's back!!!
  • 3 0
 If there were a horsey in the house, a horsey in the house, a horsey in the hou-ouse, if there were a horsey in the house, the horsey would be bigger than the house. Tiddle-toddle
  • 6 0
 Put that horse on a t shirt!
  • 3 0
 I'll give him 25 dollars for that shirt
  • 5 0
 That horse has some sexy eyelashes...
  • 17 0
 It's 2020, go for it!
  • 1 0
 Too bad it's not a donkey, then... 'Dat ass'.
  • 1 0
 I've been riding clipless forever... Since the old m737s were the only choice available. But it's always been a stupid name. Probably should have called them bindings or something. In fact, I think look tried to use that term for a while, but it never stuck.
  • 1 0
 Cinelli M-71 for the win.
  • 3 0
 Brilliant! The horse on the tandem is fantastic - I could see that as a framed print by itself.
  • 4 0
 Need the caption: "on a steel horse I ride"
  • 4 1
 @elsb0048: "on a 4130 horse I riiiide"
  • 3 0
 Pedaling on billiard balls...like the sensation of riding Speedplay Frog pedals (pinballs would be a perfect description).
  • 4 0
 Brings new meaning to riding on the balls of your feet
  • 4 0
 Brilliant!
  • 2 0
 Thoroughly enjoyable comments section today. Taj inspires the good vibes, see that?
  • 2 0
 The Penrose suspension design
  • 3 0
 Glad you're back.
  • 1 0
 How did you not pick an 8-ball for a pedal!? Maybe an 8-ball stem, so you can get behind it
  • 2 0
 Oh Taj I've missed you!!!
  • 2 0
 Why don’t ponies talk? Cause they are a little hoarse!
  • 2 0
 Hoof-SPD's are the equin-tessential horse-biking component.
  • 1 0
 Is that suspension design what Yeti really wanted to do with "Switch Infinity"?
  • 2 0
 Excellent!
  • 2 1
 Sunday morning Baileys with coffee just got brighter!
  • 1 0
 Screw Travel gear range, how much horsepower does its have??
  • 1 0
 This is getting to the heart of the matter.....
  • 1 0
 that horse looks hella fast
  • 1 0
 not quite in the same league as Mint Sauce !
  • 1 0
 Ah Mint Sauce. I can still draw him from memory. Like i did all over the back of my school books!
  • 1 1
 The MC Escher signature suspension design will be the foundation for Grim Donut 3.
  • 1 0
 Thank you. The horse riding a tandem made my morning!!!
  • 1 0
 Clopless pedal wins the internet.
  • 1 0
 Surely horsey would be riding Shoemaneo?





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