Well, data the other direction here. I separated mine maybe 15 years ago, grade 4, and never had surgery. I was told they only operated on professional athletes who used that arm and even then it wasn’t guaranteed to do anything. And there was the possibility of messing things up more if they went in. I was living in the US at the time, going to Stanford Medical Centre, and insurance would have paid, so that wasn’t a factor. But, surgical procedures have no doubt changed.

It’s not particularly bothered me since, once the initial healing and physio was done. My collarbone sticks up in the air, that’s the only downside. I’ve also damaged rotator cuffs in different accidents and they’ve been much more of a problem.

J.

Massive headwind down the final section for some but not others?

Lived there years ago so can’t help you with hire but,

– in town there are a number of canyons that you can string together on a ride. Depending on where you stay there would be no need to drive.

– further out, Noble Canyon and Anderson Truck Trail are the two that stick in my mind. Anderson is shorter and nearer to town. Noble is a great ride in the real mountains an hour or so east of town. Big climb, mainly on fire road, with a long single track down going from high altitude forest and ending in desert.

Provence? Not near the beach. Coast is an hour or so away I think.

http://www.la-grande-bergerie.com

Friend of mine’s place. He’s a big rider and there’s great mtb and road riding in the area

J

It was. Exo 3c TR for both. I prefer the narrower minion, although hiw much narrower it actually is I don’t know. Personally preference though, I know guys who prefer the HR.

Honestly, try it and see, but I wouldn’t expect a massive difference.

I got a bike like last year that came with them. I couldn’t get on with them on the front. Went back to a minion DHF which has been my choice for years now.

Hard to say what was different, but I just have way more cornering confidence with the minions. Could be just that I’m used to the minions but I gave the HR a good few rides. I’m running the HR as rears until they are done. Working ok on the back for me.

I’ve done it in the past – generally smaller rotor of the same brand and model brake.

Can’t say I noticed any real difference.

J

I’ve used these:

https://www.allmountainstyle.com/pages/ams-honeycomb-frame-guards

not the whole frame protection approach of invisiframe but they have stayed on better than any localized patches of 3M I’ve used in the past.

J

I’d recommend getting the official power supply. I had a lot of frustrating issues using other supplies, including a direct connection from a USB power adapter in the wall and an iPad charger. Official one has worked great.

Shaun, I’ve had good luck making normal, none tubeless ready maxis work tubeless. Sometimes harder to get the bead seated but always worked in the end.

Might depend the rim I guess. Been on stans for a while now.

J.

It’s generally down to personal preference in the end over which model. For what you describe sounds like you aren’t after light weight XC. I’d say it’s between high rollers and minions, both F and R. Never buy Minion R version 1 (if you still can).

Different people swear by different combos of these. For the front (I care less about the back and generally run what I can get on offer) I keep Going back to the Minion F. Tried HRII but just didn’t gel, other love it though.

So, my choice, DHF on the front in 3c and whatever in 60/62 in back. Currently got a HR2 on the back.

J.

I booked 2/3 days with them last year. Only did one as I messed by ankle up but, from the little riding I did, it was well worth it.

It’s not DH at all (in that you wouldn’t want a DH bike). We uplifted to a high point on the volcano and rode back to the beach. Good amount of mileage and overall descending (don’t have the exact stats), some fire road but a good amount of natural single track.

I got the impression they have a lot of routes, some more climbing than others, others more technical, and they’ll adjust to suit what you want.

J.

It will have been tested in animals first. No way the regulators allow human trials before animal testing.

What went wrong is all speculation at the moment. Phase 1 trials start with very low doses and increase slowly with the explicit purpose (among others) to find the toxicity limit. With Teganaro the issue was, if I remember right, mistakes were made in translating toxicity dose values from mouse models to humans and the first dose given to humans were way too high.

Tragedy whatever happened.

J.

1993. PhD in computational neuroscience. Did about seven years post doc work in academia before moving to industry.

And angledust; 16 papers while doing your PhD? How the hell did you manage that?

Another recommendation for Lavatrax here. And wear pads and baggies. The lava cuts pretty bad if you slide out on it.

J.

Cone wrench of the right size works well also

J.

Another very good MTB shop, probably more on the downhill/enduro side of things than Roaring Mouse.

http://www.elevationbikeco.com/

J.

Yes. Used to live in CA and we’d do a road trip to bootleg every winter. Rocks, dust and more rocks. Mainly thought of as a DH place but there are some technical XC runs. They used to do uplifts to the DH. Bike shop in nearby town ran them.

And couldn’t agree more about Vegas. Hate the place.

J.

I did mine at the end of March. Very bad sprain and a couple of fractures they just treat the same as sprains. Been back on the road bike about a month or so and did the first MTB ride today. I could ride before this but I was concerned with crashing or having to put a foot down and spraining it again, it just didn’t feel strong enough before.

Lots of calf stretching really helped. As did the wobble board thing, although standing on one foot (the damaged one) with the eyes closed was probably better. Then started hopscotch when the ankle felt up to it.

J.

Where in CA are you going to be? Massive state and if you’re only there for a week you don’t want to be driving round too much.

J.

Sort of makes sense, reuse the D/A converter in the CD player rather than having one in both the cd and the amp.

I have to admit I love the AS set up. I never have to go to my computer anymore to select music to stream, just control it from the phone.

J.

Have the same set up myself, works great. One thing to note. The airport express audio output is both RCA and optical digital. If your amp has an optical input you may get better sound that way. You need a mini-toslink to normal toslink cable.

Also, if you have a smart phone, the Sonology audio station apps allow you to push music without having to open the MacBook. And, finally, if you’ve got the internet connection for it at home, the audio station remote streaming works great.

J.

I used to live in San Francisco and have family there. My mates own an intense dealership so I got mine through them, before it was available in the UK I believe.

Here’s a link to their blog post with a picture of the bike and me. About only thing I have that speaks to sizing.

http://www.elevationbikeco.com/ride-blog/client-ride-jonnys-2015-intense-tracer-t275-alloy

J.

The new frame that’s the same geometry as the carbon?

I have one, am 5’11” and on a medium. Fit is great.

Haven’t had it long enough to know about bearing life but there are grease injection ports in the pivots.

I’m loving it, or was till a recent crash that fractured my ankle. But, it’s my first trail bike in a number of years so new geometry, new suspension technology, etc. I was coming off an Intense 5.5 and the tracer is way more stable and generally a lot faster. Maybe feels a little less nimble but I think that’s me getting used to it, given its slacker and longer.

J.

Others have hinted at it but Vegas and the Grand Canyon aren’t that great. Way more to do and see in the west of the U.S.

Vegas is a bit of a shithole that preys on people’s weaknesses. Grand Canyon is a big hole in the ground. Worth going if you have the time and inclination to walk down into it, but not otherwise.

Igm and chubby have it right

J.

So your NAS is just network connected drives? You’ll need a computer to run some form of music server. There’s lot around, plex, subsonic are two I’ve used successfully. Neither are tied to itunes though.

I’m using a synology and their music server app now.

J

Affect indeed.

Thanks for that clarification. The reporting I’ve seen on it has been dreadful, it never made sense to me. The part owner of the team also makes things a lot clearer. Cheers.

What I can’t find a good answer to is why the federal whistleblower case only effects him as it was the team that was sponsored. And most of the them were doping, and management organized it. Or is it just reporting ignores everyone else?

I’m not skinny and find the Endura Singletrack II pretty good. Like all Endura stuff though the sizing can be odd so you may need to try different sizes. I tend to go a size larger than suggested by the charts but that does not always work.

And yes, I wear them over bibs

Another thing, maybe speaking to Northwind’s point, is that while the SCA thing is all on him (his bonuses) the dept of justice action is regarding sponsorship of the team is is not? So who’s on the hook there? That must go further than LA personally?

The USADA claim they gave him the chance to fess up and get a lighter ban. Truth? We don’t know.

I’m a little sad it was the US authorities that blew it all open in the end and not anyone with international authority. The UCI has gotten away with a lot and was massively culpable.

I’m a good 20lbs above that and mine’s been fine for a year

Multiple tricks out there to seat the bead if it won’t go on easily. I tend to go the use a tube route. Install tyre with tube to seat the beads, then remove on one side, remove tube and go again. Always works for me.

Park do a 24mm cone wrench and I use that. Works a treat. I think they even advertise its for Pike top caps.

Ah, ignore me, just saw you asked instead of cone spanner

I’ve got big feet and hate wide, fat boards because they don’t turn as well as narrower ones. I use a combination of higher angles and toe lifts to avoid tow drag.

Normal bloke looking for skill compensation seems about right this end also. Thanks for thoughts and review, much appreciated. Tempting to replace my HR2 on the front for the rest of winter.

Any opinions on conditions it wouldn’t work well in?

Yeah, I wanted a black one. Forgot silver’s were available on their own.

NAS searching could be a pain, but I don’t do it that way (I presume you mean the DLNA interface I think it has). I have a Synology and use their audio server and associated apps. Web interface from the computer and phone apps around the house. Work’s a treat.

The internet radio is configured via a web site. That’s how they get around the small display there.

But, I’ve been looking for 2/3 years for one device with a built in phono stage and airplay. Mainly to get rid of extra boxes and associated leads. Was well happy when I found this and it’s ideal for how I listen to music.

J.

I just got one of these and pretty happy with it

http://www.richersounds.com/product/mini-hi-fi/teac/np-h750-cd-h750-blk/teac-np-cd-h750-blk

specifically cos I wanted a small (it’s maybe not micro) system with a phono stage. It has everything I need (phono, airplay, digital in) plus the internet radio stuff which was a nice addition. The airplay plus my NAS means I have wireless digital plus turntable in one box. Only unit I found that could do all this.

I didn’t need or want the CD but couldn’t find just the streaming unit for less than the combo.

J.

Well, I’m going the other way. Since moving back to the UK and living in Oxford I find I never ride mine. So I’m selling it and thinking about a long travel trail bike.

That said, I did love riding it. On the right terrain they are a lot of fun.

Blatant plug: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/intense-m3-downhill-bike-1