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

I think there's a couple of things that make local governments a bit wary of difficult features on land under their management. Liability is certainly one, but also their rescue infrastructure has to be considered -- funded and trained properly, with the right equipment. Of course, this has ties into liability. Land managers likely depend on local governments to provide emergency services. But, injuries can occur on even simple trails -- my worst crashes tend to be in the fall when leaves are covering wet areas/holes/roots/rocks on relatively smooth singletrack. Surprise! Luckily I've never been carted out. When I lived in the STL area, there were several different orgs to deal with (cities, multiple state orgs, counties, etc.). The St. Charles county parks department seemed to be the most open and easy to deal with, and even had "Trail Closed" signs at some trailheads when it was too wet or we were in the freeze/thaw cycle. We flagged a potential downhill-only line at one of their parks, not particularly gnarly (but with some good potential in spots), but we couldn't get it to move. I think it was talked about for like 3 years. It was a remote park, but there was good access for emergency vehicles to the spot we chose.

Anyway, there's a lot to consider. Luckily I live in an area that has good support for the sport at all levels. I personally tend to avoid the overly groomed stuff that we seem to be popular for. Most of the stuff you see here has easy lines around features, or the features are built in a way that you can easily roll one side or do full send on the other, allowing for progression. But, you can still get yourself in over your head pretty easily.

 

That's pretty neat! I had a Diamondback for a bit (collecting dust at the moment), and the best way I could come up with was to mount a Rocky Mounts track to the top and use a fork mount.

 

Yeah its pretty much all cross country flow with a handful of roots sprinkled in. There's a trail called Hobb's Hollow that has a few small jumps and there is Schooner Trace that is slow, narrow, almost trials type, tech. Pretty fun place to spend a day or two if you've never been.

 

Ha, yeah, Schooner Trace is insane. It's hard to even walk that trail in places.

Follow up with a Dante's Inferno and pitcher from Mother Bear's in Bloomington.

 

Certainly cheaper than my way! I don’t like removing the wheel if I can help it

 

NBD was last week, Kona Rove DL on 650b x 47. Getting it pretty dialed in but I think the Brooks/Thompson seatpost combo isn't going to work out...need just a wee more set back. It's pretty cool to roll out of the house and ride MUP, road, and green singletrack.

 

Nice. I've got a Rove for a commuter/winter/trail-rip-detour bike.

 

This is what I did. I added a tire tray from BillieBars to strap the rear tire down.

 

I went lower key than that, i use bungees to keep the back tires from bouncing around

 

Fun ride up in the mountains today. Great trails and some views!

 

Lots of work has gone by without notice here. But the Rat rod Bike buildoff ends in a week, so I've been occupied when regular life wasn't around.

I built this shifter from various bits. An aluminum seat post clamp, old hard drive motor and a bit of the aluminum chassis, broken kickstand, spring steel from a windshield wiper, trackball from my former boss's old mouse, a Shimano combo shifter and brake lever cut down.

 

I spent a lot of time cleaning up my welding area. I now have everything off the ground and up on a rack or shelf. I can actually see my welding table.

I made up this bike frame jig from some heavy junk I picked up. It's attached to a heavy stock rack covered in tubes and junk. very steady. I had to cover up all the stock so you could see the bike.
Here's the stripped Mongoose up on the rack and bolted down tight and square. I used fishing line and electronic levels to square it up.

The frame is cut and about half bent. I cold-bent the seat stays to lower the bike about 2.5"
It will stretch about 1" and rake about 3 deg more.
Here is the full bend, went easily, no kinks or popped paint.

Here's the fillers, partly shaped. not welded yet.

 

They are foolish to argue against free advertising. If it is free then take it. IMBA is an interesting organization. It basically acts as a shell corporation for mountain bike clubs. It provides certain membership advantages for clubs that shouldn’t be ignored. For instance, my local club puts on a summer time trial series (6 races, 194 registered racers) for $40 each. Without imba they couldn’t carry the insurance for a race, which the land managers require.

I agree with others that they should endorse opening wilderness areas up to riding and it was a Self-inflicted PR loss for them.

Local clubs are still local no matter if they are an imba chapter or not. Some areas have great local support and I could see where the benefits of being an imba chapter are not worth it.

@mrtonyd I saw that cringeworthy story a couple of months ago for Red Rock open space. I was kinda pissed the way it portrays the rogue trail damage being done by bikers. We all know it’s because out of shape tourist create shortcuts when hiking while the trails are soaked during the spring. I’ve volunteered for RMFI and spent each time filling in rogue hiker trails not mountain biking trails. I think everyone is still pissed at them from a few years ago regarding the trail re-routes due to the Greenbacks. Not their fault but they did a lot of the work. Medicine Wheel is generally a good organization and have done a lot for trail development. Surprisingly, they didn’t selfreport some of the rogue trails on the usfs land and get them shut down (captain Morgan’s).

 

No, it wouldn't be enough tire for my needs on this bike. Though the Specialized Ground Control is far more comparable to the Rekon and Wicked Will, I have been really impressed with them on my trail hardtail. They'll last longer, cost less, and be lighter even in the Grip T7 casing/compound.

 

I've run two Assegai's up front (with different rears), but man are they heavy and slow for a 150/130mm bike. A great tire, but you give up a lot for that traction. At the rate/mileage I ride, I run though a couple/few sets of tires a year per bike and am always trying different setups.

 

6 months post Achilles and FINALLY feeling decent again. Did my 6th or 7th ride today and first one that felt good. Minimal jumping and gotta be easy over the nasty roots, but pretty solid otherwise.

 

I stopped reading after your first sentence. Please don't have an opinion over something you aren't knowledgeable about. The IMBA Trail Center programming is absolutely pay-to-play. And believe it or not not everybody wants to exploit the trails they have built over the years with tourism

 

Did you read my second sentence?

edit: Are you not also in the business of mountain bike tourism?

 

How long do MTB tires last? Mileage wise - which, I know isn’t the greatest way to look at when to replace but I think I’m coming up on needing to replace my rear tire at least. The side lugs, they aren’t tearing off but I can see the wear and a bit of cracking on the lug on the inside. I think I’m at 750 miles on these Specialized tires, Butcher up front and Purgatory in the back. And with Spec having a sale on tires, I’ll probably buy now.

But just curious. I know when my road and gravel tires need replaced, but MTB is newer to me.

 

yea the story i read didn't make much sense. 60 miles of illegal trails in red rocks? where? they already shut all those down years ago. i would believe it if they didn't mention the canon as a seperate area.

either way, Med Wheel has been making great trails. Cory and Harry have done great work on all the trails they've had a part in, even contracting some out to external trail building companies when they realize they can't take on a specific project but see the value in it being completed. TOSC is kind of in the middle since they focus more on urban trails and commuting. RMFI has their own agenda and is totally understandable, they cover a much greater area and spend weeks in the back country working on trails. But when the city comes in and shuts stuff down without input from any of those three or the relevant friends of that open space/parks group, it kind of feels like whats the point of the other groups, many of which run on volunteer hours.

Either way, it just means I gotta get out and ride these trails while theres still a chance. I remember going down Sesame for the first time and coming to the waterfall. It was steep, I wasn't ready, told myself I could come back and do it later. Well they closed the trail down and it's not an option anymore. I'm not saying I should ride outside my comfort zone to the point of it being dangerous, but im sure someone gets what i mean.