oldschool43

The owner of Red Bull ran 2 teams in F1 a few years ago. $350 million dollars to enter 2 teams for a full season. They have one team now and an extra $175 million to hire someone to figure it out. The biggest issue is the wind late in the day at Rampage, be near impossible to run an extra 1-2 hours later into the day. Don't know about the morning winds, but I'd get up early to see women send it on stuff 90% of the people commenting on this topic wouldn't touch.

I hope they don't go away with OTT, I'm not a fan of self equalizing forks. Think the key to heavier riders with the new "D" version forks is setting the air pressure lower and the OTT on the firm (no OTT) side. Then bring the OTT up to your liking. Using the DVO guide (I'm well over 225lbs), it sat way deep in the travel and I had to run a lot of HSC because I blew through the travel. I ran 140psi to start for a month or 2, then went down to 125psi with the above setting. Just had to find the amount of HSC. It's firm enough and has mid support. I too find the rebound has no "open" setting. One click from full open is about the midpoint on other brands. I think you can adjust the shim stack, which you can remove without taking the fork apart. I liked the 1st version Diamond's adjustability more.

Pretty cool. Vanilla Ice climbed in my friends car and we drove him to the liquor store once. I had no idea who he was, had long hair and a goatee. It was weird.

@xy9ine: I owned one of those bikes. It wasn't the greatest, but they did upgrade the eslatomer shock to a damped unit. Removed the bucking sensation. Biggest issue was the mismatch travel, 100mm in the rear, 50mm or less in the front. I saw that new Slash, it brought flashbacks. I can see that swingarm in the back, even with the seatstays. I thought,"Nope. Not for me". That's how bad it damaged my view of high pivot bikes. Some type of 4 link (or more) all day.

It's actually a horrible bone to break. I fractured both of them in both wrists and they take 6 months to year to fully heal. I refractured both several times because after the 7 weeks in a cast, it felt fine. They weren't healed and even doing common push-ups, one fractured. Ended the career of Ricky Johnson and a few other motocross guys and some top BMX freestyle guys. Literally did ride a bike, do sports or work out for a year for them heal. It's a long, boring road

@Untgrad: Well, the line choice would carry over. Whenever my Dad would talk riding, he talked about line choice as the most important key to going fast. I ride a hardtail for the most part and can hang pretty well with most people on the downhills. The woods riding sounds fun. My brother and I would watch GNCC and go,"Dude, we should totally do that! It's like XC, but no pedalling". I do have a DRZ 400SM. I thought about buying some offroad wheels and seeing how I'd do. We have Enduro moto trails in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. My Dads biggest feat, the back story, he was 25, had a full time job and 3 kids, been racing for only 4 years, he was racing a district championship race and some kid was racing one of his last amateur races. Had a 4 lap battle at the end and beat the kid. He always got to say he beat Mark Barnett. Those days were pretty cool, because he knew the local pros (went on to make there name in the sport) and I got to meet a lot of them in casual settings. I've had a fun life and wheels are to blame. To bad about the valve, but mtb replacement parts usually cost less then an engine rebuild.

@Untgrad: Yeah, my Dad was a single digit numbered motocrosser in the most of the 1970's. My first picture on anything with wheels, I was 18 months old, sitting on my green plastic stryder-ish motorcycle, holding up in a wheelie, with my dad riding past on a track the at a Gary Bailey MX school. Though I asked for a moto every Christmas, B-Day, never got one, never worked out as an adult. So, bicycles it was. I rubbed elbows with the pro's in freestyle in the 80's. But, broke both scaffoid's (navicular) in a freak crash. Had to sit out for a year or 2 after 5 refractures to either wrist. Tried mtb in 90. Loved it. Traveled to races. XC and mostly DS. A few DH's, but I couldn't afford a DH bike. I would always qualify top 16 in dual slalom when I was 25. Even with some pros mixed in. Then I met a lady, got married, had kids. Bikes kinda sat for 7 years, back at it since 2010. Every ride takes me back to that little ass kid on a plastic green motorcycle. Can't shake it.

@Untgrad: Yeah. I'm 52, still ride a bike 2-3 days a week, still manual, still hit jumps I think I won't break something on and can still ride a mile long wheelie. My 35th high school reunion is coming up, I see my friends now, they look so old and I think,"I don't feel as old as they look. When will I be that old?". BTW, the reunion is the 1st Saturday in October. I'm gonna miss it because I'll be shuttling in Copper Harbor. :)

@shorttravelmag: Yeah, Crupi was founded in 86-87, I didn't see anything Crupi until 90-91, on a Hawk BMX bike from the west coast. I'm in Wisconsin. Maybe he meant just Beartraps, which were very similar, but little to no spindle showing.

@Untgrad: It's okay. You just aged us that know it means, a little bit more. :) I had every one of those at one time. Even broke a few Skyway wheels. I'd call bike shops and ask if they had replacement spokes. Too age me more, I still have my original pair of the last run Shimano DX BMX pedals, bought new in 1984. And, I even remember the gumwall Tioga Tomac Comp III style mtb tires. John Tomac, not his retired motocross son Eli. I'm getting old...