New England B.S. Thread

@Pugga kinda my thoughts.
I have my heart set on a Guerilla Gravity for my next FS bike.
So, I'm going to wait it out.

Hell, I haven't had a chance to ride either of my bikes this year...

 

Diminishing returns - depends what level your riding is. For me, my riding I diminish my returns around a grand. Beyond that, the added complexity or weight loss or whatever is lost. I get no benefit from it. Well. Given the recent uptick, closer to 1200 I guess. Road bikes are the same for me - after like 750-800 on the used market, a grand new, it's just no benefit for me. Heck, I just put together @Chasespeed road bike hand me down for free + a few new bits that needed to be replaced (brifters, cables all around, grip tape, stuff like that). 150$ all said - it's a 30 year old road bike but other than a 1" threaded instead of 1 1/8" threadless, it's (a) still using all modern stuff and geometry and (b) STANDARDIZED! No proprietary BS that the modern bikes use

PS Chase - Last weekend rode it around my old campus up in Orono, then met up with a friend in Portland and went for more miles down there. Thing rides great. I think I might need to clean it, might need to replace the brake pads too. But damn this thing is awesome, will get me some miles!

awesome! Where y'all headed? Sticking around this weekend, next weekend going up to VT - Radar base.





PS @BadDNA you mentioned redoing the half baked run from last year, still a thing? that was an awesome trip.

 

The diminishing returns thing is something I'm very aware of and one of the reasons I don't want to spend a ton on a mountain bike. Geometry you sort of get for free so you go with a good setup and you get that going for regardless of the other parts. I couldn't care less about losing a few grams between aluminum vs. carbon, I'm not racing and I'm not riding at a high enough level to really notice. I want to get into something that can be upgraded and parts swapped out if/when needed. I like the servicability of a quality bike. I don't ride overly hard, I'm out of shape but looking to change that. I see my riding as mostly being state parks but want something that will survive being mobbed as fast as I dare on the occasional downhill run. I was really nervous about the brakes on the Mongoose, they were piping hot and the suspension was pretty much dead by the time I got to the bottom of the hill, no dampening really going on at that point.

At this point, I think my list is as follows:
1x drive train
air fork (and shock if I go full suspension)
aggressive HT angle, especially if I go hard tail
120+mm of travel
dropper post
hydraulic brakes

I didn't even have thru-bolt hubs on the list, I guess I wasn't thinking of the importance of them and will have to do some more research on the downsides of the QR.

 

Depends on your riding. QR is probably fine, but most of the modern bikes are going thru axle. I have QR on .... all of my bikes, actually, now that I think of it other than my BMX. It's just one of those things - it's a bit more expensive for thru axle, but tends to be better overall. BUT, QR isn't a thing of the past, so there are still some decent QR options out there, as long as you aren't thrashing on it, they're fine (or using pegs, like a BMX )

 

Don't be jealous of my sweet ass mountain bike I bought with lawnmowing and odd construction job money in middle school circa 1997 or so. And the pimp ass tow behind I got off marketplace for my son.

Seriously though I looked at prices of used or even new Walmart special mountain bikes when my daughter got off training wheels and said fuck that. This sweet ride is just waiting for me at my parents place.

 

Happy Friday to you as well!! I got the boat behind the truck and I'm heading Downeast after the days work is done to spend the long weekend golfing, fishing, beach going and watching fireworks from the water!

 

As for mountain bikes, I have the highest end Diamond Back dual suspension bike they made when I was working for the company as an outside rep- which doesn't say much. I own it because I couldn't sell it at the time. No one wanted to buy a $2500 Diamond Back, if you were spending that kind of money you could buy something much nicer. Fox air shocks front and rear but it's before the days of hydraulic brakes. It's got clipless pedals, I believe XTR components (or maybe a mix of components, it was a stupid build for Derby Cycles). I should take a picture and see if anyone wants it here, I'd sell it cheap. If I could trade it for a light, basic hardtail that I can just use to ride rail trails with I'd be happy. This bike spent most of it's life on the roof rack of my Jetta as I made sales calls. Probably has less than 5 hours on it but it's gotta be a 1999 model or something.

I also have the works to basically start a whole bike shop- a Park shop bike stand, a wheel truing stand, a Park wheel dishing tool, and a big tool box filled with every single Park tool they made- probably $2000 in tools. I also have a dual bike storage rack that mounts floor to ceiling- it was an expensive piece back in the day. I don't use any of this stuff anymore and the rare occasion I join someone for a bike ride I could be on something far less extreme. If anyone is interested in stuff like this let me know.

Looks similar to this but it's a pearl white and has a Rock Shox Sid on the front.

 

Off to the cape for the 4th like every year. Dennis Port to be exact . Campground has a private beach

 

Cheaper to build one and it will hold more weight. The "bed" is a nice thing to have for looks and Nostalgia, but functionality no so much.

 

Yeah, it's rated to what, 500lbs? That's plenty for a Tacoma, but a trailer not so much.

 

Mmm...mountain bikes. I love my Timberjack and it's at the top of my list for an entry-level ripper - The 29" or 27.5" wheels in SLX drivetrain is ~$1800. I have the 27.5" SLX from a couple of years ago, of course, the first thing I did to my $1700 bike was drop another $1700 on wheels.

I might, if I can make some time. I was just saying that I need to get out for a couple of days of camping. I haven't put the tent on the truck for the summer yet, but I'm gonna need to soon.

 

I'm going up next weekend with a small group to the radar base, let me know if you want to tag along

 

I'm thinking of converting my 26" HT into a rigid and commuter, but for the cost to build that out I could just buy a rigid commuter 1 by -- but point being, I would use mechanical disc brakes. Hyrdo is nice for DH and control BUT for commuting, meh.

Can't remember what I was looking at a while back, but it was a rigid frame+fork, 1 by front, mechanical disc brakes, thing was perfect as a commuter and was about 400 bucks - less (way less) than it would cost for me to convert the motobecane into it.

Speaking of which I have a 26in HT Motobecane, I graduated from it. Let me know if you're interested at all.

 

I'm game.

 

Good times. I've got some friends visiting next weekend, but that's practically in my back yard.

 

Blackstone cycles in Cumberland RI is a Salsa dealer and can usually get stuff pretty quickly. Give them a try

 

I may give them a buzz to see if they have anything decent in the used market. I'm not really feeling the new prices for what I'm going to do with it (or maybe I need to suck it up, save for a while longer and bite the bullet). Just can't wrap my head around new mountain bike prices.

 

Blackstone Bicycles is a good shop to check but I don't know if they do used stuff.
NBX (Narragansett Bikes) is another good one, same on the used stuff
RideYourAssOff in Fall River specializes in used mountain bikes and other alternative sporting goods, I'd definitely give them a call: Edit:
Depending on how close you are, Milford Bicycles is amazing, and Landry's in Worcester gets a solid thumbs-up from me as well.

 

Does Milford do used stuff? They are like 10 minutes from my house I always use their lot to turn around when i'm going to Olivia's market for catering stuff or sandwiches, but i've never gone in.

 

Milford does have a small selection of used bikes from time to time; wife and I bought our Treks there a couple months ago.