Did you ride today?
- Thread starter NyNomad
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The past couple weeks I’ve been trying to ride almost every day in the morning before work, and a couple times after work. These are short little 4-5 mile jaunts to warm the legs up. I decided it’s better than nothing and I can’t just wait around to find the time for a nice long ride. I’m reconfiguring my motivation in other words, and it’s reminded me that it’s just simply fun to be on a bike - doesn’t matter the views or the mileage or any of that.
Anyway, I blasted through the neighborhood on our little greenway path and some streets today. Here’s a totally epic pic of the Bob Jackson on my front porch after I got home. No maps or tracking because I don’t have any of that jazz. The massive sandstone block came with the house and I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.
Anyway, I blasted through the neighborhood on our little greenway path and some streets today. Here’s a totally epic pic of the Bob Jackson on my front porch after I got home. No maps or tracking because I don’t have any of that jazz. The massive sandstone block came with the house and I can’t bring myself to get rid of it.
What a beauty. Is that the Elson bar?
Nitto BA130AAF. Kind of a funky shallow drop.
Nitto Technomic tall stem on there too. English frame & saddle, Italian drivetrain, French cranks, Japanese cockpit & brakes, Japanese 650B wheels & tires. The bike is a mutt but it all works.
Hit a local favorite of mine this morning. Packed with tons of riders but still a fun ride. Perfect 50 degree Finn sun ride kind of day.
I f'ing love orange bikes!
It’s really much more of an orange/salmon. It’s sweet!
Jenna's new whip looks as fast as it is hermana. Happy b-day to her
All I had time for this weekend was a 20 minute clash of the tartans before dark today
Finally got the two new vintage ATB builds off the pavement and into their natural habitat yesterday. 10 miles on gravel, mild single track, and some small rocks. Couple of short climbs too.
Stopped by a creek so Karen could poke at rocks with a stick. I swear it’s one of those human instinct things like poking at logs in a fire.
She loved it. Not bad for a girl that’s been commuting 7 days per week for 18 years on the same fixed gear track bike. She said that being on a bike in nature as opposed to in a city was a wildly different experience, and really nice. Thanks to all that fixie riding she didn’t have to downshift as much as me haha. This section was super easy so I grabbed a photo while rolling - she was getting ready to take a photo of me too lol
She’s still getting used to coasting, shifting, and braking, hence taking it easy. It was also a shakedown run for both of these bikes that we’ve built in the last 6 weeks so I didn’t want to be throwing these things down a mountainside. They’ve got some pavement miles, but putting them through paces on dirt is different. Both of them performed great.
Final note: she has Rene Herse Humtulips Pass tires and I have Maxxis Ikons. Both were fast rolling and never slipped. Neither would be great in heavy mud, and the jury’s out on rock slab performance, but for dirt and gravel both felt locked to the ground.
Stopped by a creek so Karen could poke at rocks with a stick. I swear it’s one of those human instinct things like poking at logs in a fire.
She loved it. Not bad for a girl that’s been commuting 7 days per week for 18 years on the same fixed gear track bike. She said that being on a bike in nature as opposed to in a city was a wildly different experience, and really nice. Thanks to all that fixie riding she didn’t have to downshift as much as me haha. This section was super easy so I grabbed a photo while rolling - she was getting ready to take a photo of me too lol
She’s still getting used to coasting, shifting, and braking, hence taking it easy. It was also a shakedown run for both of these bikes that we’ve built in the last 6 weeks so I didn’t want to be throwing these things down a mountainside. They’ve got some pavement miles, but putting them through paces on dirt is different. Both of them performed great.
Final note: she has Rene Herse Humtulips Pass tires and I have Maxxis Ikons. Both were fast rolling and never slipped. Neither would be great in heavy mud, and the jury’s out on rock slab performance, but for dirt and gravel both felt locked to the ground.
You'll find Ikons are great on slabs. The best for loose over hardpack. (Although I hear the Aspens are no slouch in that environment, either, and I love me some Thunder Burts except I don't Schwalbe anymore). Ikons are great on everything except deep loam and mud -- neither of which are threats where I ride the most.
I was originally going to put some tires on from this company House of Looptail. They're kind of new and they have Panaracer private labelling repros of vintage tires for them - the Ritchey Megabite, Competition Duece (moto style tires), and the old Snakebelly. With advances in tires I wanted to try something more modern, the Ikons - zero complaints so far. Also, I think every other tire on all the rest of my bikes are made by Panaracer so I wanted something outside my box. Going with something for style points from a new company didn't seem like the best use of funds too.
Karen's Rene Herse tires are Panaracer private labels of course and kind of a basic old school pattern, but we found a great deal on them barely used so we couldn't pass it up. She gets extra bougie points for that Herse logo on the side. The doctors and lawyers will approve of her bike now haha.
I've got Ikons on my hardtail, and as Cruisertrash says, they're great on loose over hardpack surfaces. I've got WTB Rangers on the big yellow bike and they're nice on similar surfaces; I'm likely to keep an eye out for another set of those, and the roll quite quietly and quickly on tar (which is ideal for commuting on)
I quit my job for the afternoon, grabbed some sushi (Wednesday is cheap sushi day) and a coke and then hit some singletrack. Weather was glorious. There were bones.
And then on the way back my guardian angel quit her job for the afternoon. I superman slid across a concrete driveway after flying over the bars. Somehow in the mayhem the end of my handlebar punched me in the scranus. Hard. And I ruined my favorite sun sleeves. Pretty cool tho how the concrete dirt matches the color of the ASSOS logo.
And then on the way back my guardian angel quit her job for the afternoon. I superman slid across a concrete driveway after flying over the bars. Somehow in the mayhem the end of my handlebar punched me in the scranus. Hard. And I ruined my favorite sun sleeves. Pretty cool tho how the concrete dirt matches the color of the ASSOS logo.
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My friend Hubert came to pick up his supercharged 3RZ-FE powered single-cab pickup that we did 2 months of work on….
He brought one of his own build custom frames…. Luckily he’s a short as I am so hopping on it and spinning around the OLC4x4 was awesome…
It’s a tits hardtail…. Hubert’s a cool dude.
He brought one of his own build custom frames…. Luckily he’s a short as I am so hopping on it and spinning around the OLC4x4 was awesome…
It’s a tits hardtail…. Hubert’s a cool dude.
Another beautiful day in the desert. One of favorite seasons here.
