All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Awesome. Surprised that didn’t exist already.

 

Love my new rack! No wheel removal and can remove rack by opening tailgate.

 

For those of you on FS 1x bikes, do any of you run Chain guide/Bash guard combos? Is one more useful than another? Or just a waste of money? Trying to figure out if it's a worthwhile purchase before the new season starts

 

Just run a narrowide and a clutch rear der. I don't use one since it decreases clearence. On my DH bike I ran one though, but for trail it's not needed IMO

 

I have a oneup chain guide (and also their oval chain ring). Can’t say for sure, but I know that since I’m still learning am Sometimes on the wrong gear and without the guide Im sure would have dropped the chain at least a few times.

 

Don't have any pics with my bike and truck, but here's a few from the collection.

Banshee Rune


Fuji Track Pro


Fuji SST

 

Put a flip out bed extender to get my fatty in without having to pull a wheel. Works well.

 

I personally don't use either. I run a narrow/wide chain ring with a clutched derailleur and have never dropped a chain. Depending on the terrain you ride a bash guard might be something you may consider, but honestly unless you are bombing down janky rock sections you probably don't need one.

 

I ended up grabbing it since it was the last 1 in stock & 20% off. It's One-up's Bash Guide so it has both, I mainly wanted it for the bash guard but figured the guide can't hurt. I'd say 75% of the trails up here in the NE are rocky/rooty & fairly unmaintained leaving a lot of trees and such down. So I figured it is a safe purchase, worst case I'll take a few rides before installing to re-gauge the need & return it

 

I've always ran a chainguide/bash guard on my 1x FS bikes as it's fairly necessary where I'm riding and how I'm riding. It always seemed like a solid investment to save the hassle of the chain falling off, getting hit, etc. I use a Race Face setup fwiw.

 

Had a pretty good week. Wednesday I went to our local mtb organizations registration party. Re-upped my membership and signed up for the first race of the year, the Mullet Classic a relay race should be fun. Then my Birfday came around again this Sunday. Wife got me my first pair of Handups and a Bike stand, she spoils the hell out of me! And I treated myself to an upgrade got the Kuat hitch receiver rack.

 

I picked up Blackspire Crusher bash guard for this season. Probably most useful for me playing around the skills park here and there where I inevitably smash my chainring at some point as I'm learning. Other than that, clutched mech and NW chainring are all I need for my trail riding.

 

Saw this Tundra set up in Durango CO last weekend looks like he notched the topper and mounted the Thule rack to a piece of sheet metal. There were three attachment points for the metal base to the truck.

 

Now that's the setup

 

OK, so it was a success with the Topline 2 bike carrier. Like I said before, stock there's NO WAY this thing is clamping onto the rail. The only option given by Topline is to cut a 3 inch hole in the bed in order to gain the proper clearance, which is insane to me. Here's my solution.

The clamp is too deep to fit over the railing, leaving the clamp crooked when I try to mount it. So first, I took a measurement of the railing depth so I could cut off the correct amount. I needed to cut off an inch. So I got out the cutting wheel and got it done.


Next, it needed a mounting hole for the screw so it can connect to the T-mount that I put in the railing. Unfortuantely my first measurement was off. I forgot to add the thickness of the clamp. D'oh! Oh well. So I drilled a second hole and fit it all up. Sorry for the blurry pic. Too lazy to go take another one. Regardless, you get the idea.


So here it is with the clamp on and the first brace in. It's too cold to be messing with bikes right now to fit a bike in the back but it's all good. Even with a short bed I should still have enough room to close the gate since there's room between the bike and bed side to turn the front wheel so I can gain some front to back space.


Before my first ride of the year I'll add some Loctite to the screw that holds the clamp to the railing, just to be safe and also spray paint the screw holes and the end I cut off to help prevent rust. I'm also not stoked that the clamp holding the aluminum bar doesn't seem to squeeze quite tight enough and if I pull hard on it I can dislodge it. I have a big case of cotter pins so I'm going to just drill a hole in the end and install one just in case.

So while this isn't as elegant of a solution as other carriers, for $75 I'm happy.

 

I just realized I never posted any of the bikes that will be riding in my Taco bed. All of these are my daughter's except for the Pivot Mach6. The Kona is still pretty much exactly like pictured although we are changing the drivetrain over to Sram GX DH. The Juliana Roubion has a different I9 wheel set on it now, as well as Deity carbon bars and Deity Cavity stem in Ano Purple. The Pivot Point has new wheels and tires as well and new Deity Ano Red bars and Fox Float 32 fork. It is also set up true single speed with no rear derailleur.

 

she is 15 and graduating high school a year early to go to college on a cycling scholarship. colleges eat up girls who like to do "gravity" events. She prefers DH and Dual Slalom over anything. She races Enduro and XC too, but prefers the gravity stuff. she just got into mountain bikes 2 years ago, so she still has a ways to go but she is trying. and she has a great coach, Neko Mulally...

 

God im ready for spring! just ordered a new take off fox 36 for the turner and accessory rail for the front of the bed to attach my mounts to which I just fabbed up to work with the bed rail

 

@JimmySport if shes working with Neko and riding out at WR than she will crush it on the collegiate circuit. What school is she going to? Still crazy to see so many more colleges offering varsity programs now. Back when I was racing with ETSU it was only LMC. Now theres more varsity than club teams it seems like.