nbrewste

"Remi Gauvin crushes chunder on Maple Mountain."

@Hayek: well articulated!

@noapathy: Wow you are a confrontational person. I'm not sure why you're assuming I disagree with you. All metals and mineral production is destructive to the environment, both in terms of CO2 emissions and destruction of habitats. I was saying that, lithium production "is one of the major industrial processes that holds a real possibility of reaching net-zero due to novel extraction techniques." Holds a real possibility. It's not doing that today. Those new techniques use ion-exchange beads, similar to those you find in a water softener, to eliminate hard rock mining and evaporation ponds common in the Atacama desert. So basically you pump lithium brine from the ground, run it through an exchanger, extract the lithium, and put clean groundwater back into the earth. This also eliminates habitat destruction (theoretically). It's far easier to adopt these methods for lithium (at industrial scale) than it is to change the way we produce steel or aluminum. If you want to read instead of argue, check out Lilac Solutions [https://lilacsolutions.com/] and listen to some things that its CEO Dave Snydacker has to say. Producing lithium and preserving the environment do not have to be mutually exclusive.

@noapathy: Thanks for the kind words! I never called it clean. The first words of my response are: "Yes, mining lithium is carbon intensive."

@SATN-XC: Hammer Nutrition has manufactured a little refillable bottle for its bulk gel products for years. GU even has one. The major issue is cleaning. It's like trying to clean toothpaste from inside a Camelback bladder. Difficult and wastes tons of water.

Yes, mining lithium is carbon intensive. But you know what some of most carbon intensive processes on the planet are? Metals manufacturing. From mining, to smelting and refining, the manufacturing of steel and aluminum is ridiculously carbon intensive. So much so that if steel manufacturing were a country, it would rank 3rd behind the US and China with regards to carbon emissions. Aluminum is better, but not by much, contributing to approx 3% of global CO2 emissions. Surprisingly, lithium production is one of the major industrial processes that holds a real possibility of reaching net-zero due to novel extraction techniques. If you want to read up on any of these challenges (and many proposed solutions) check out https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies -- its work is comprehensive and no-nonsense. Also, think deeply about the transport chains in general. Not just for batteries, but for everything you live with. Marine transport is integral to getting goods from country to country -- especially out of China, Taiwan, and Japan (bicycle manufacturing hubs). And marine transport, as with any mode of industrial transport, is notoriously difficult to decarbonize due to the inherent energy density of liquid fuels like diesel and gasoline.

@nvranka: Haha. I am nearly 38. I worked in the bike industry from 2006-2011 (at a wheel company, shops, and managed a shop). I was into road racing, then cyclocross racing, then back to my MTB roots. I have only owned Rock Shox and Fox suspension. Why would I go down crazy forum rabbit holes to investigate Cane Creek's service practices? haha.

I've never owned a Cane Creek suspension product, but I assumed that "of course a brand would have its service instructions available." All other brands do, right? I've been using Rock Shox and Fox service instructions for almost 15 years. Weird.