whambat

Well, I have the lace Unions and it’s the first shoe I’ve ever moved my cleat forward from full back because it was too far back for me. End of review.

@sethtc: 3M weatherstrip adhesive works well to keep dirt out and grips from moving. Back in the 90’s Oury grips packaging suggested it and that’s where I learned the tip. Hard to find outside of Amazon, but at least a small tube is cheap and lasts a lot of grips. Also, doesn’t leave a ton of junk on the bars and easy enough to clean off.

@sackifrombikeyoke: @sackifrombikeyoke: I know CO2 canisters are readily accessible in the bike world, but nitrogen would be a nice step up to reduce acidity. Unless, the gas has no contact with the coffee.

A bike like this would be great for the self-supported bikepacking race crowd: ability to be aero on road sections, stability of 32” when sleep deprived, fast rollover speeds, no UCI, etc… I wouldn’t be surprised to see it at the pointy end of the Great Divide or CTR.

Not in the same market as Deore, but the new directions from Shimano and SRAM makes the Madrine derailleurs more attractive.

It really is an immediate turn off. What designers think this is a good idea? I know of no one that wants this. I’d take full external cable routing any day over this BS. But, I’d probably prefer that anyway over internal. Tube in tube is easy enough to be able to run housing, but is probably heavier.

@sanchofula: I also use the fat grips. So nice as it was finally a grip for XL hands. And, yes, I made the switch years ago when they came out and on my 5th pair. Golfers and tennis players have long had different grip diameters, I don’t get why bike world took so long to catch on. I really like these new bar ends and want to try them, probably will protect the delicate fat grips better in a crash. However, what will I do with my fancy handlebar tools @wolftooth? Love your stuff, know I am conflicted within your line.

@FloImSchnee: while STA only matters while climbing, the principle of where you put your COM for balance is the same. I have 440 mm chainstays on my XL and wouldn’t want any longer. I started with this sport in the 80’s where we had to move our mass so far back on descents our sternums would sometimes have to rest on our saddles. Our chainstays were also much longer because triple chainrings forced a longer stay for clearance. With properly slack HAs, we don’t have to move our weight back anymore. My weight goes straight down now when I use the dropper. If you move your weight back, I can see why you might have a loop out feeling with a 435 CS. But as the dude from Spot says, you can just move your belly button forward 2mm and that works when the saddle is dropped. Fortunately, if you want longer stays, there are companies that make them. I’m just glad not everyone does. Unlike in car racing where drivers use have to use their brakes to get their weight forward to have better steering and use the gas to shift weight to the back and straighten out, we can make some quick weight shifts with our bodies.

On a whim, I bought a Mayhem 150 on sale when the new 140 came out to replace my Ripmo I was handing off to my teenager. My only regret was not buying two at the sale price. It somehow both pedals better than the Ibis and yet descends better. It hugs the ground until you want to pop off something, then it becomes crazy playful. That Living Link turned out to be the real deal, and I was pretty skeptical and only bought because the price was irresistible. Definitely an underrated brand.

This article and comment thread has really opened up many of our eyes to the rise of mountain bike use, not just manufacturing, in China. Having core riders in China will really change understanding of how the product is used and how it is designed in the future. From my limited understanding of the long term effects of the one child policy, China will need to depend on automation and immigration to keep manufacturing capacity high and costs low. Otherwise, we will see the same results that happened in the US in the 1960s and 1970s when labor costs rose to the point that manufacturers looked to foreign production to keep costs low. We also witnessed that change in Japan: in the 1980s, bike manufacturing was common in Japan, by the 1990s costs got too high and switched to Taiwan and China. My first two mountain bike frames were built in Japan. Now, I never see a made in Japan sticker in the bike frame market. After years of trying hard to support US made aluminum and steel bikes, my last few bikes have been made in Taiwan, China, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, prices have climbed to the point where US made bikes are starting to be more competitive again.