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

Waited for the rain to stop before heading out for a ride today.

 

Lots of recent rain =‘s the Cutthroat.



I did something odd too, my first KOM.

 

Speaking of Tenkara, this is what I did pre-ride today. Easier to catch than trout (I use foam carpenter ants).

 

Very nice! I recommend the Love Valley Roubaix course if you want a good mix of road and tame gravel to sort out your gear. I rode it yesterday and the climbs are brutal but the scenery is totally worth the pain.

103 miles and 9700feet of climb.

 

Wet morning in PNW...

 

OOH! Just saw that Evil released an updating Following (120mm travel 29er)! Looks like they are trying to tackle the complaints about climbing and adjusted the seat tube angle to 77 deg?

Color choices this year are Blackout Drunk and Protein Powder

 

We have a small lake around here filled with 'em. I got annoyed fishing for them since they would fight over the fly, lol. Tenkara really isa fun new way to fish, really enjoying the simplicity and how it makes even the little guys fun to land. I got a nice Brookie the other day, about 14", and that was a hell of a lot harder to land than on a regular fly rod. It's been fun taking it out for a few after a ride. Been even thinking of where I can ride to go and take it with me.

Those bikes always looked so good, but damn that's a lot of goddam pivots and bearings. I just got a Devinci Django built up a few months ago, almost identical geo, super similar suspension action. Same principle, 120mm, 29", inline DPS, not too far overboard with geo. I gotta say, it's super addicting fun on that thing. The more I ride it, the more I enjoy it. It's just so damn lively, and incredibly capable.
Here's my review of it, in case you're interested.

 

Here is my Tenkara fishing rig.

Don't worry too much about the Evil suspension. It really is just a single pivot that looks complicated but rides really well. I also have a Spartan and I think the suspension feels about the same (the Spartan has a better climbing position however).

 

the bike is very pretty. much sexy. The most common thing I've heard about the bike from various sources is concerns over the complexity of that suspension. How it would perform over time is the main concern there. But it does ride very well from my understanding and the suspension graphs all show a very efficient and predictable suspension.

 

Yo that’s a sick backpack

 

Good question! Ideally, a bikepacking rig like this one would have multiple hand positions to use on any of the many surfaces you ride on during a proper bikepacking adventure. This bike in particular has the geometry to handle a little bit of mild singletrack when necessary, so the dropbars are a little wider than normal. In my opinion, they're still not wide enough, so my next upgrade will likely be a set of the newer dropbars coming out in widths closer to normal mountain bike flat bars (600mm+). Once I have those installed, I should also have enough bar real estate to add a set of aero bars for the longer/flatter roads I encounter.

The drop bars are definitely a different experience, but they're really nice to have when you are stuck on really flat roads of any sort for an extended period -- especially smooth downhills where getting your aero on is a thing.

Here's an example of the newer drop bars getting released for bikepacking and gravel+singletrack use. These Walmers go up to 750mm in the drops and 650 between the hoods. Craziness!
https://www.curvecycling.com.au/products/walmer-bars

 

Right on, thanks for the recommendation! I'll check it out. Some of those 6-7% climbs definitely look brutal on Strava... may need to wait until later this season to go for something like that.

I'm considering the New River Trail out-and-back for the initial shakedown. Something simple to test all the gear. Haven't finalized yet, though.

 

Red Rock Open Space

 

Stuck between upgrading my 2017 Camber, or moving onto a Ripmo AF or Remedy 7 ...

 

VERY different bikes you're comparing. Are you more XC(Camber) or DH(AF) oriented?

 

You should decide what kind of riding and travel you need first

 

Decided to take the Ibis for a spin and spent about 20 minutes sitting on a log above a creek. #naturefix

 

Danville?

 

No sir. It's actually what may be my favorite local Raleigh spot these days:

"286", North Loop.

#banditlife