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

ohhh..... yeah. i forgot about that. hahaha.

 

Will do! Our group will be lots of Tacomas and a van...so we'll look just like most people in Moab.

TWE shuttle booked for Friday, so I'll report back.

 

Yes that one

 

yeah, total shit show with the responses to the logo. I have to agree with those saying the flat new sticker is... not good. I can't even imagine my old Mojo3 without their iconic gold badge.

 

I can't poop like that without a platoon of 18-22 year olds nearby throwing pinecones and heckling mid-drop. Too serene otherwise

 

For those that don’t know (I didn’t), bikeflights has a max dimension/weight limit. If exceeded you could face a $1k+ penalty.

Now I know…free boxes/packaging from the LBS are great, until they aren’t free…

 

I did not know that, that is a pretty steep penalty -- but good that they withhold your labels until confirmed. I'm guessing that the e-Bike trend is resulting in a lot of large bike boxes at the LBS. I haven't shipped a bike in a while and typically have had to deal with free LBS boxes that are a bit smaller than I would like, and one time I had to ship the wheels in a separate box.

 

that is wild, I didn't realize there was a limit.

 

You hit it squarely. The box I used is from a Trek Fuel EXe. It’s a monstrosity. Well made though. I had to pull out what seemed like 20lbs worth of internal framing to get all my bike/wheels in there.

Funny you comment on the smaller boxes. Thats usually what I’ve had to deal with too. Free is free and all the LBS had on hand that would accommodate my bike was this behemoth. Everything else would have required multiple boxes.

 

If a buyer is cool with it you can manipulate FB shipping on the marketplace. List bike for $1 with all the shipping paid by buyer. You provide weight and dimensions and it's actually relatively cheap.

 

Good to know for future reference. Currently not (and no plans to be) on FB. I’m sure that’s partially to blame as to why I miss out on some decent local deals.

 

Now that you can fly with your bike (assuming you are shipping the bike to use somewhere), it maybe best to just to buy an EVOC case and fly with the bike. That penalty is a little steep.

 

Most airlines charge specific baggage fees for bikes that are higher than what BikeFlights charges. I think on Pinkbike or somewhere I saw tips on how to stuff your bike into a hockey bag, and then you just pay for "sports equipment" which at the time I checked was usually a flat $50. That worked OK in the 26" days, but 29" wheels are a bit obvious if you can even get them to fit. It's nice to have your own bike with you, but in the end, it seems renting usually comes in at about the same cost as taking it with you or shipping, without all of the hassle. But, if I was intent on using my own bike, or I was staying somewhere for an extended time where rental was going to be crazy expensive, I'd definitely go the EVOC case route and just pay the baggage fees.

 

United, Delta, Southwest, American all treat bikes as standard checked bags. So, if you pack creatively (the bike box must be less than 50lbs generally and there are dimensional limits as well), bikes fly free.

 

Just rode with another guy that had the same things to say about his lower link VPP bike as you did. Did not keep that bike long. I haven't ridden an Ibis, but enjoyed DW on my Pivot Mach 5.7. I've also been extremely impressed with the Delta Link on the Following. It really does eat up terrain incredibly smoothly for a 120 rear end! A properly sorted horst link can be great too.

Last free box I got was way too big too (saw their limits) and I actually cut it down to make a custom box. Worked out ok.

 

Just got back from the Bozeman area and got a few rides in. It had been about a month since I rode so between my fitness, the elevation, and the straight up/down nature of the trails there it was pretty tough. Hit a couple new-to-me trails though and one I hadn’t ridden in years that was recently rebuilt. Good times.







And speaking of getting my ass kicked, I was left with the impression I might need a gear change. I'm running a 32T front ring with the original 12spd Eagle GX rear on a 29er with 165 cranks. Looking for a 30T oval for SRAM direct mount if anyone knows of a deal.

 

This is what I’m most concerned I’ll miss about selling my Evil.

Taking my little chameleon the other direction. PO had a 28T ring on there. I’m running out of gears way too often. Granted I’m only riding XC style trails. But I need to get at least a 32T on there soon.

 

The bottomless rear and the POP! I'm constantly amazed at how much this thing boosts when jumping. I clear things way easier or further than with my last bike. I consistently clear things I see last minute and think there is no way I'll clear it. I was for sure finding the limits with the 130 front this past week, but the rear never felt overwhelmed. Still super curious if I'd like an Offering more. My least favorite thing about the bike is steep tech climbing. Might just be my body composition or a cockpit setup thing, but I can't get the front end to stay down on climbs. Being gassed and out of gears doesn't help either.

I'm really not sure I ever use the smallest couple cogs. Not consistently anyways. I was maxed out grinding in the big granny gear for most of my riding this past week. All short foothills climbs but stuff like 2000' climb in 3 miles so much steeper than my average rides here. But even locally we'll have short but quite steep climbs followed by longer rolling terrain. I had already been considering a bump down but this kind of cemented it.

 

Downieville, second bridge.

 

Someone asked about bike fork mounts and a cap, here’s mine. Simple yet effective: