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

Bahahah this made me spit a little coffee!!

 

Not my taco but, it is my daily and my bike!

 

Does anyone know of any vendors who make a RTT rack that is high enough to allow you to still fit bikes in the bed via a tailgate pad? I found one custom fabricator posting on mtbr, just curious to see if there are any other options that may be more fiscally responsible

 

@KB Voodoo has racks, i'm not sure if they will fit, but he makes awesome accessories to mount bikes on his racks!

 

C4 Fab's fits my Bronson\DH Bike just fine, have to take the rediculously long seat tube out of my fatbike though. 100% the reason I bought this one over others. 4 July is coming up, so I bet they'll have a sale going. Super easy to work with and answered questions super fast.

 

Anyone want to school me on Gravel/Cyclocross bikes? New apartment is within biking distance, so looking for a all weather commuter I can take to the fall CX races.

 

cross was how I found my way into mountain biking a few years ago. i've since ditched CX but i've got a decent knowledge base on the bikes and sport. an all weather commuter + cx racing ability may be hard to accomplish if you want to run proper fenders on the commuter... but it can be done. I had a Kona Jake the Snake and loved it.

 

What areas in glacier? I love chuckanut and gailbraith

 

Fenders are for dorks!...but I appreciate their purpose. #roostertail

Looking pretty strongly at the C-dale CAADX 105 + Slate models, Salsa Journeyman (bit more adv bike), and Norco Search.

 

if you intend to race it, look for something with a 1x11 drivetrain, disc brakes, and a possible spare set of wheels/tires to switch over from commuting to race mode. there's a boat load of cross bikes for sale in the portland area and all the shops will ship. https://sellwoodcycle.com/collections/used-cyclocross-bikes

 

I live in Camas. Just over the river from Portland. Where are you now?

 

I also got into mtb through cx. I commuted on a race bike for a while and hated it, especially carrying a backpack. Monster cross seems to be the latest trend now, 650b wheels with some beefy tires. I keep seeing the All City Gorilla Monsoon at my LBS and it looks pretty sweet.

 

Disc Brakes and Spares make sense. Why the focus on 1x on CX though? I know the benefits on MTBs, but is it the fact that you don't have huge climbs and fast descents like in road touring that drives that? For a commuter bike, I'd be fine with 1x, but I'm tempted to take it out on a proper ride through the canyons around here once in a while.

Yes, I know I want to use it for unintended purposes...

 

I'm noticing that trend too. But at that point, I may as well just buy a hardtail MTB with some skinny XC tires on it.

 

cross is 40-50 minutes of pure fucking torture. up and down gravel, pavement, dirt, grass, running stairs, jumping barriers, hurdling barriers.... all in the dead of fall. in oregon it's an absolute shit show. in turn the simpler your drivetrain set up is, the less you have to focus on shifting, and you can focus on your race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHkT6sKGP4c

 

Missoula Mt...

 

I did a super casual CX race last fall, but on my Bronson (cuz local beer league race). I felt like I was cheating when I could bunny hop over the smaller wickets and ride down the stairs. Still got my ass smoked on the open grass when the CX guys could finally open up their 40+ tooth rings.

Shitloads of fun, but yeah, I felt like I was gonna stroke out by the end!

 

I did the same thing 2 years ago. I got a Devinci Tosca, pic below. After a couple of months, I ditched it. It wasn't really great at anything. It wasn't efficient and fast, it couldn't do real dirt, it was a crappy commuter, it wasn't cheap. Sure looked good through.
Then I started the whole, "Might as well get a hardtail with 2 sets of wheels that I can commute on or ride dirt for real." That's where the Ragley BigWig 'Green Monster' came in. Again, not great at what I wanted.
Now, I get a new frame (pic to come) in the form of a Devinci Marshall. We'll see how this goes.
I started with a budget of $500. Now I have another $4,000 bike. Lol.
Funny thing is, I got a cheap Scott Sub as a commuter for the wife 5 years ago. No shit, I haven't spent a dime on it since. It's still running perfect, and it's the real commuter of the house. It was $380.

The Devinci Tosca.

 

Yeah, functionality was my concern. I like CX bikes because they seemed a little more "all weather+terrain" but seems like it kinda blows at being an actual road bike or a mtn bike. Seems super specialized, which in fairness, it is.

Funny, I had a Marin version of basically that same bike for several years and loved it, just never rode it. Now I have a reason, but sold it to my roomate that moved to Portland not long ago.

 

You have a point. The only reason I'd get another "adventure" drop bar bike would be if I got into longer distance bike packing and needed more efficiency than a hardtail provides on road. But if I'm being real, that's what my truck is for.