Or you pull it’s pants to one side

Vivid imagery.  Chapeau.

It is becoming clear that I am alone in this.

Yeti have just launched a whole series of bikes where their take on this bodge is being touted as a feature and it is possibly the ugliest implementation yet: https://goo.gl/images/2VV1Rn

This one is utter nonsense.  Why have two narrowly spaced bearings supporting two separate pieces. The structure is only held together by a threaded bolt but they’ve built in a mechanism where any flex will provide counterrotation of the two ends.  I predict these will work themselves loose and otherwise creak and be annoying.  Sticking plaster solution.  The engineering justification in an extension being required in that their design is that it maintains their desired kinematics as it moves the shock higher in the frame (weren’t shocks low down in the frame supposed to be good for handling) so that a water bottle can be fitted.  The implementation, given that problem, is a farce.

At least Pivot have the decency to hide theirs out of sight: https://photos.app.goo.gl/z1paqV6QeaYrrLJw5

And YT have the nous to not need one and eliminate most friction causing rotation at the shock by just having the seatstays drive the shock ( I wonder if their renowned super-progressive characteristics are related to this: https://goo.gl/images/id5swL

I concede.  It is just me.

Those ever so clever people in marketing have explained for many a model launch that side loading on the shock was a bad thing eliminated/improved for model year 20XX… and, hey, the yoke is mounted on things called “bearings”.

It is like nobody believes bearings end up after a year in the mud and grime being less bearing-ey than when they’re factory fresh,

My main quibble is that when a mechanism like this starts to develop play, the shock load of a quarter of a tonne (2:1 CR from 30% sag to bottom out, 2.3:1 mechanical ratio, 90kg rider, assumptions made about wheelbase and chainstay length) is acting off axis and will rapidly make things worse.  If you’re designing a connection to not develop play, you wouldn’t turn a shock eyelet on its side, shove a bolt through and say “job done”.

This is actually very helpful.  My fantasy bike shortlist keeps getting shorter.

Commencal Meta AM 29 : https://goo.gl/images/ypxPvW

Orbea Rallon: https://goo.gl/images/R2P2wD

Whyte S-150 / G-170 / anything: https://goo.gl/images/R7ywzU

Specialized anything: https://goo.gl/images/z1Asey

I have mine set at 25mph, which I think is probably comparable to the speed I might pedal on the flat.

If you don’t know what speed you’d pedal on the flat it is a fair old bet that you wouldn’t hold 25mph for any length of time.  20mph (32kmh) is a challenging speed to sustain on a road bike.  25mph is what old school time triallists (before aero) would aim for as a benchmark of hardman-ism.  I’ve done normal road bike commuting 5 days a week sprinting off the lights and hitting 25mph+ when I feel good… but you can’t do that every journey (and I was an old school time triallist).

I think e-bikes are brilliant having just rented one for the first time out in Livigno.

This seems pertinent to STW: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/older-men-using-e-bikes-behind-rising-death-toll-among-dutch-cyclists

apropos of nothing, the correct torque setting for anything made by magura is 0.00005 NM.

Does big M mean “Mile”?

Still a low torque value FWIW.

I’m going to nominate the “XTR” cowbell I was given as a handout at the Lenzerheide world champs.  Honestly made my experience of mountain biking far superior to rattling a few stones in an empty red bull can.

(Not entirely convinced that XTR hasn’t become a bit of a cop out though;  some parts seemed to be made of bent wire and the whole thing was powder coated; not a classy anodized forging or magnesium bit anywhere)

50Nm on a crank bolt can be felt on most cranks as a sudden change in resistance as the crank bottoms out on the splines.

I’m fond of this approach.  Seen too many stripped threads from click type torque wrenches.  Truth is that after everything is “tight” it is only ever a handful of degrees to stretch the typical fastener.  So feeling for when it goes tight is much more precise than a TW that might never click.  Correct fastener stretch is positional – the thread pitch ensures that.  Trying to back calculate position to a torque, affected by various sources of friction and measured by a mechanism that may be loaded off-axis and may or may not conform to anything approaching a calibration is topsy turvy.

Spring type torque wrenches are more sensible.  Dial spring type torque wrenches are effective as you can see the point where the torque starts to ramp.

Failing that (and preferred), using a proportionally sized lever helps you feel the nipped up point.  Small bolt, small lever.  Big bolt, bigger lever.

Say what now?

You’re determining dish by reversing the wheel in a jig.  You don’t know where the absolute centreline is.  One way round you wind in a pointer to touch the rim and then you reverse the wheel and it leaves a gap to the pointer position.  The gap you have measured is double the adjustment you need to make.

If you use a dishing tool, when you adjust it to touch on side A of the wheel, you adjust the centre position so that the tool touches at two diametrically opposed points.  When you flip it over and place the tool on side B, the same thing is happening.  The tool can have a gap of double the adjustment you need to make *at both diametrically opposed points*…. but what you do is you press one of the ends of the tool onto the rim and the gap at the other end opens up to be “double the double offset” – four times the adjustment you need to make.

It is an analogue multiplication that means you’re not diddling around with dial test gauges – you’re looking at a big old gap and there’s very little ambiguity.

Both sizes I’ll get a 150/160mm dropper in at full extension no problem.

Double check that.  Expensive mistake if it isn’t the case.  With the prior generation 27.5 Foxy Carbon full insertion of a 150mm Reverb isn’t possible and then they made the Reverb 10mm longer “for no good reason ™”.  I think the point where this is an issue is more at 5’7″ than 5’9″ so you’ll probably be ok but … be certain.

Flipping the wheel in the stand gives an indication of double the off centre measurement. A wheel dishing tool indicates 4 times the off centre measurement.

I just take the wheel off the stand and place it on a flat bit of kitchen work top. Place the rim with the valve hole against the wall side of the worktop and the rim touched against the surface. Stack up anything to fill the gap from surface to rim at the near side. Flip wheel and the difference is four times the off centre measurement just like a dishing gauge.

The winning rider crosses the line with his time showing green. He checks that it’s real and then he’s back at his bike pointing out the #STRENGTHFORJARED sticker to the cameras.

Tears in my eyes.

Class.

Up in the trees could see that Tahnee wasn’t at her standout best. Rachel was absolutely in the driving seat of her bike and was making every inch of track count for speed.

Agree with all the comments on the depth of worthy talent in the field. Could be anyone from a dozen, factoring in that a World’s run is different. Been a long time Minnaar fan as well. Gwin is overdue. The form of all the French riders is phenomenal. Shaw has the speed but not yet pulled it all together for that one run  Brook, Eddie Masters, Martin Maes, Greenland, Hart.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Can’t wait. </span>

Women’s  I’m with a lot of sentiment here  After demonstrating an ability to dominate the women’s field by 10 second margins Rachel has been a preeminent force. Tahnee has been matching Rachel, pushing the mrgin down to tenths either way  Will be great to see a close finish, but problems on the day for either or both of them could allow Tracey or any of the others to bring home the stripes.

Bring it on

Attacking the incumbent on grounds of amorality implies a certainty in one’s own morals.

OMG. Defo Pence.

Fox’s paperclip. “You appear to be riding Downhill… let me bugger that up for you”.

If the default is “locked” and a dry joint lets go when I’m at mach cheese biscuits, will I be able to sue bazillions from my hospital bed.

I put together a spread sheet which sets the bar height from the BB, means I can get an idea of what size I should be demoing

I think this.

I’ve recalculated frame reach for one consistent stack height (as though I was adding spacers to get the height up on the low stack frames).  Other requirements: 1) short seat tube (for a big dropper); 2) longerish chainstays

As I’m coming from a very short bike setup I think I’ll get adequate “ooh, I’ve got more reach” from the 480mm end of the nominal 480-500 “Enduro” reach range.  That’s still 45 more than I’ve got at the moment (on my normalised calculation) which also gets close to the “halve my stem length and add 10” formula.

– Whyte G-170 (L) is on the list.  Now they do the 29er that also works but both are a little weird on BB height.  29er has longer chainstays (435).

– Capra (XL) in either wheel size.  I’m annoyed it so perfectly fits the bill.

– RAAW Madonna (L) is the joker entry in the list that meets all the criteria.

– Bird AM9 gets in the running. L is a bit longer than any of the others mentioned so far.  ML is shorter.

If I’m going to allow 150mm travel 29ers, the Whyte S-150 (L) is obvious.

If I relax the reach requirement a little further:

– Commencal Meta 29er (L)

– Orange Stage 6 (L)

A little bit further still:

– the new Commencal Clash

Commencal are a bit weird in that their XL are two sizes bigger than their size L; same for Nukeproof whose size L is too short to consider.

Nomad (XL) is at the upper limit of seat tube length and has the shortest chainstays I’d consider.   Same could be said for the Radon Swoop (size 22 XL) and Devinci Spartan (XL).

You can combat this by not running spacers, but running high rise bars, and turning the sweep up, not back.

If you’re moving your hand position forwards you have the choice of high rise bars and rolling the bars vs. longer stem, spacers and lower rise bars.  The difference between those two is cosmetic, right?  Maybe a bit of wrist angle depending on the bar? Not the same as having a more reachy frame?

So have I got this right?

If the head tube is shorter the reach will be overstated (more headset spacers needed)

If the BB drop is greater  the reach will be understated (fewer headset spacers needed)

e.g.
Nukeproof Mega 275 Large vs Devinci Spartan large (Lo setting)

1226 WB vs 1222 WB

435 CS vs 430 CS

115 HT vs 125 HT

Both 65 degree HA

Both 170mm fork 27.5 wheels

BB drop 10 vs 16 (?)

600 stack vs 625 stack

470 reach (overstated) vs 465 reach (understated)

I’d expect the Spartan to feel longer in reach by the time I’ve adjusted my contact points on both.

Or…

Do I need chainstays? If so, how many to go with my reaches?

Is there a compromise by going all out on reach in larger sizes?  Not many designs have bigger chainstay lengths.

I’ve entered a few enduros and I’m solidly middle order (vet class until next year when I’ll be grand vet).  On trails I know, I’m fast(ish).  I fail to turn practice and sighting runs into speed on timed stages although I can go back to the venue and find that speed through repetition and confidence.

So I guess if I’m blaming the bike I’m looking for the magic combo that is going to make me feel confident soonest.

Is that what reach gives?  (in XL sizes, with proportionally shorter chainstays)

I use VPD Air.

VPD Air are short.  Particularly above the knee so you have to factor in whether you can look cool enough wearing them with an occasional gap showing or be very selective in your shorts choice to give extended coverage.

But they stay put and I never think about them pedalling or descending all day.

Have had VPD 2 in the past and had problems with slippage.

Mine (160mm) has been reliable for a year.

However the design does mean it needs resetting after every uplift on chairlifts in the alps so I’ve temporarily retired it in favour of a recently rebuilt 150mm Reverb.  I’d quite like a permanently fitted small lever to perform the reset operation instead of having to delve for a 4mm allen key.

Giro Riddance aren’t any good for grip.  Seriously dreadful.

Back to Five Tens for me.

A few years ago I set up a compute cluster to handle mass ripping and encoding. To get compatibility with playback apps/device’s compared to native disk formats you will be reencoding. It takes a careful selection of handbrake parameters to achieve compatibility and quality. Single language dvds are OK. Subtitles are rendered into the encoded video rather than overlaid on playback which can be a minefield.

Blueray was marginally possible. Makemkv was key.

I had 40+GHz of processor power and this thing ran day and night generating a lot of heat but it chewed through a big collection. The key was automating the queue of jobs from ripping into encoding. I had macs (2x Mac Pro, 2x Mac mini, 1x Macbook Pro) and cluster accessible NFS, Xgrid job distribution.

If you approach it one disc at a time on a significant collection you’ll blow you brains out after the third time you’ve had to change params to get compatibility/subtitles/language and had to start all over again.

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>This is why online streaming is so popular. Consider carefully how many of those discs you’re actually going to go back to and how accessible they are on streaming services. </span>

I’ve just been through the exact same process.  Two pairs of Five Tens fell apart within weeks.  Tried (insert well known alternative brand) flat pedal shoes; just not the same.  Scratched the flat-style clip-in itch.

My thinking:  I used to ride Shimano SPD from 1992-2011 ending up with the “trail” variants with the partial (useless) cage.  I’ve been on flats on the mountain bike exclusively since then.  I’m not an SPD mechanism fan (mostly the absence of meaningful float and release being controlled by spring force rather than adequate release angle).  I’ve even used flats on the road for commuting (and been able to hit 50kmh sprints on them).  I’ve also used the cheapest Time Atac MX2 for commutes (because of float) and while they’re good they’re still reliant on a rigid sole shoe.

A proper cage around an SPD-type mechanism might work but I wanted float and less reliance on spring tension so I went with Crank Bros (HT X2 was my second choice).  My stance needs a wide, toe-out q-factor so the options were Mallet DH or Mallet E-LS (57mm) and the only ones in the shop in resort (Bourg-Saint-Maurice) were DH.  Matched these with first-gen Giro Chamber shoes (again available in resort).

The combination is just what I was looking for (until I need to service bearings or some other Crack Bros implosion).  Feels just like flats but I’m not expecting the shoes to fall apart next week.  With the generous float it was easy to dial in the cleat position.  I’ll ride pretty much everything feet up but even if you go foot out the grip if you miss clipping in again is enough to get you through.

After 7 years of flat pedals (out of 26 years riding), I’ve just switched (in the last week) to Mallet DH.  Very happy so far.  The feel is basically the same as flats with less likelihood of the foot moving out of position.  Q-factor is just right for my bow legged riding style.  Mallet E would have been the wrong answer.  I’ve done Shimano thing in the past with disco slippers and this is a different world.

I was significantly concerned about buying anything mechanical from Crank Brothers but was getting a bit peeved anyway with the service interval on DMR Vaults (I’ve had brilliant luck with Nukeproof flats though) and the disintegration rate of Five Tens.

Possibly brake rotors are a safety feature: it didn’t bleed because it was cauterised in the act of sizzling

“Worrying about one specific risk is a bit irrelevant really”

What about the risk of “being a dumbass”?  I find myself worrying about that one quite a lot (admittedly more than I worry about brake rotors, so I appreciate your point).

“My suspension was set with the help of shockwiz”

This is quite possibly the problem here.  I’ve got lots of Shockwiz experience and it is more guidelines than law.  Potentially everything about your setup needs to be questioned.  FWIW, I get wrist survival for full on days in the Alps basing around a custom Shockwiz profile of Firm-Active with zero spacers in a 2016 170mm Rockshox Lyrik.

The other thing is that you need to keep on top of the lube in the lowers staying on the foam rings.  Again, with full on days in the Alps I am doing this once a week.  If you know you have lube in the lowers but it has likely drained to the bottom of the lower legs (not up at the foam rings) quick simple way is to…

1. remove the front brake lever at the bar so it can move with the fork lowers

2. remove air pressure from the fork (for safety)

3. invert the bike

4. start as though you are removing the fork lowers… (loosen bolts etc.) but don’t pull the lowers all the way off the stanchions.  Get to the point sliding the lowers off the stanchions where they *just* disengage from the bushings but the seals are still fully engaged with the stanchions; they’ll flop a few degrees.  This is all you need to do to get the oil back up to the foam rings.  Wait a few seconds then reassemble

If the sore wrists are a pattern of injury then it will only get worse unless you get to the bottom of it.  You’ve started a thread asking “Is it the bars?”; this is impossible to determine definitively because we know so little.  I’d look very broadly at your setup and try and work systematically looking for problem areas.

I don’t know where you ride, what you ride and how fast / hard you ride except for the mention of “rough downhill impacts”.  Is this a hardtail or full suss?  What travel? What typical trails?  Are you aggressive (for want of a better term)?

Regardless of those questions there’s a bunch of stuff that makes a difference:

1. wrist angle from rolling your bar back/forward

2. brake lever flatness / single finger setup / brake reach

3. reach and stack – if you’re running a too short stem (for fashion reasons) on a too short bike it can really send you out of position and might end up at the wrists

After all of that you have setup and there is a wealth of misguiding information floating around.  It isn’t necessarily badly intentioned information but it can be that one person’s solution doesn’t apply across the board.  I’ll stick to generalisations to explain why I don’t think a 35mm bar is the problem.

Bars do have a feel; that is certain but they are at the end of a chain of connectivity between you and the dirt.  Tyres and suspension all come before the bars and, crucially, they have a significant (damped) deformation built in as a principal part of their design; bars do not.  Yes, bars deform under load.  Yes, Spank pump a bar full of foam and tell you it has damping.  Everybody knows carbon is a wunder material with natural damping, whatever that means.  But bars are just bars; they’re not very clever devices.

So key to a smooth ride is the combination of tyres and suspension setup and then on top of that if you are grabbing huge handfuls of brake with twisted up wrists while nailing Alpine sized verticals over braking bump strewn trails, you will have a recipe for wrist trouble.

My riding at the moment is on alpine sized verticals over braking bump strewn trails.  I have weak wrists – they’ve been problematic since 2002 and I’ve learned to live with them.  I’ve also worked extremely hard on my setup to enable to me to keep riding the way I want to ride.  The key turning point in my story was when I realised that the changes I’d been making to make my suspension softer had actually aggravated my wrists more than ever.   With soft setups I had two problems:

1. Bottoming out (or just sitting deep in the travel) on steep terrain

2. My rebound set too slow for the soft spring so a tendency to pack down if speeds picked up

In particular that second characteristic would mean I’d be afraid of speed picking up and I’d hang up hard on the brakes a lot which killed my wrists / gave me arm pump pretty quickly.

So without knowing too much about your situation I’d just encourage to say that wrists take a hammering in this sport but even feeble wrists can be accommodated with sensitive setup choices.  So more information please and there may be some ideas for your setup.

But I don’t think the bars being 35mm diameter are the problem.

Edited / deleted.  More content to add… but as someone with feeble wrists i felt is was more deserving of a longer answer (to follow)

Re. positives.  The distinction is again between acclimation to dehydration and acclimation to temperature.  In response to repeated exposure to exercise in elevated temperatures (both dry and humid) there is evidence of acclimation: increased plasma volume, reduced heart rate, increased sweating.

Dehydration isn’t the driving mechanism – we are broadly tolerant of varying hydration levels; temperature control is the driving mechanism – bad things happen if the body cannot maintain temperature in a narrow band.

Dehydration and heat stroke are two different conditions.  A little sweat goes a long way in a breeze.  If you are wearing excessive clothing or a backpack that reduces airflow over your back, you could have impaired cooling which would be worth thinking about but it isn’t the dehydration that is taking its toll – it is the accumulation of core temperature.

Being transiently dehydrated is tolerable but is often conflated with heat related distress; the two are (largely) independent states.  Controlling heat is to do with convection and ambient humidity.  Outdoor motive exercise (running/cycling) seldom results in heat stroke unless there are mitigating circumstances but when you stop exercising (stop the breeze) you should ensure your temperature can be maintained.

It is ok to be transiently dehydrated.  Just don’t defeat your mechanisms of temperature control by wearing excessive clothing for the conditions or otherwise compromising your cooling.  Be more aware of the risks in very humid conditions.  Extended hill climbing at slow speeds also represents a large workload with reduced airflow.

After exercise, there is no reason to expect your body to be the same weight it was before exercise.  You also should not just immediately reinsert water (electrolytes or not) to the same amount as the missing weight.  Give your poor body a few hours of steady inputs rather than flush it with a big hit.

M970 cranks pre-date boost by a good few years.  M970 is a triple crankset.  Chainline for a single ring is the same as the middle ring position on the triple.  This would align with *non-boost* hub spacing to give the most reasonable angles on the cassette for both the largest and smallest cogs.

On a boost frame a non-boost chainline will:

1. having extreme angles on the smaller rear cogs = noise = premature wear = poor shift quality

2. potentially have inadequate clearance on the chainstay and take chunks out of your frame

M970 also needs a special tool to fit and maintain.  Best avoided.

I’m not going to go further on Noakes.  It doesn’t help this thread.

My experience [with standout memories]:

1. Isostar = cramps [two road races 1988/89 – Brill + Blowingstone, Oxfordshire]

2. Deep bonk on carbs [British Universities team time trial ~ 1989]

… allowing that there is a world of difference between the physiology of a twenty year old and forty+…

3. On the occasions that I have attempted fat adaptation… i) I lost weight; ii) I felt mentally sharper; iii) I was able to ride all day without fretting about fuelling/bonk [CLIC24 2008;  Tweedlove Enduro 2016 practice and race days]

4. When I have not intentionally attempted fat adaptation, I’ve needed a basic replenishment fuelling strategy to get through a five hour + Enduro (but this has worked successfully) [Cream of the Croft / Ballo enduros 2018]

5. When I rehydrate (gulp down pints of fluid) after exercise, I tend to get bad cramps [always]

My recent approach has been a bit of a composite.  I absolutely don’t cope well with glucose heavy intake.  Gels are a complete no-no.  I’ll go for plain water, sipped when thirsty or tipped over my head to cool down.  I prefer “health” bars with ingredients you can identify – preferably a fruit / nut / seed mix and I can cope with (and probably need) one of them per hour.  I don’t believe in carb loading (for me) prior to the event as I’ll just feel bloated and horrible, but normal diet and an attempt to taper will be just fine (which doesn’t work when you have an enduro practice day the day before the event).

I’m attempting to go back in the direction of fat adaptation again because I feel better on it and I think it stands the chance of giving me the best coverage for two day events (practice and race day enduros).

Most importantly, YMMV.

All science is subject to revision in light of new results. Tim Noakes as much as any other. He publishes research papers  He critiques existing studies. He points out where contradictory results and secondary observations from other experiments have been extrapolated past all sense by marketing teams.

I think he’s rather more worthy of consideration than just a snide put down with no context.

The understanding of exercise associated hyponatremia courtesy of Noakes et al is saving lives where the sports nutrition industry would have carried on regardless. It will evidently take significant time for decades of misinformation to fall out of the body of received wisdom, as per the forum responses :”you’re dehydrated mate”

“the headache is probably dehydration”

This is probably a non-medical diagnosis and neither is anything I write.

The human body is made up of homeostatic systems.  We self-regulate.   The self-regulation is intrinsic, automatic and beautifully capable, until it encounters an external influence beyond its scope of control.  We are evolved creatures of exercise.  We are not evolved to drink gallons of liquid while exercising.  What has worked for me is to do as little out of the ordinary as possible to my body and let it sort it out.  YMMV.

That said.

Humans do not get through as much water exercising as the drinks companies tell you.  Sometimes, overdrinking is the cause of headaches as a precursor stage to EAH (exercise associated hyponatremia).  Low intensity exercising adults (females particularly) who hydrate excessively can put themselves in a life threatening condition (EAH) which cannot be corrected orally; this is suspected to be the single largest cause of collapse and death in marathon running (it isn’t the elite who die, it is the punters who go slowly, don’t sweat that much and over-hydrate).

When cycling, a little sweat goes a long way for body temperature regulation because of the general airflow.  So hydration guidelines for runners (what the drinks companies sell) are inappropriate.

When you’re hot, drinking doesn’t make you cooler.  Sweating does.  If you’re hot on the bike (and not thirsty) tip that bidon of water over your head and down your back.

Drink to thirst unless you are one of the truly rare people who lacks a sense of thirst.

To confirm if a “drink to thirst” strategy is working check your urine colour – clear to straw; not yellow.

Last bit: hydration isn’t necessary to sustain performance; all those hydration/performance tests were done in the lab with inadequate airflow and therefore inadequate temperature regulation.  temperature determines performance.  Keep your temperature regulated and you will sustain performance even having lost a lot of fluid – often this is more comfortable on the gut that shoving a mathematically formulaic volume of fluid back in the system.  Even dehydrated athletes can sweat.  There is a phenomenal wealth of BS around these subjects.  Suggest referring to Tim Noakes book “Waterlogged” for a review of forty years of science in this area.

Fuelling with carbs means you need a fuelling strategy.  You need to realistically assess your energy demands and replenish.

The “science” behind these strategies (and the billion dollar business of sports nutrition) is barely science (associative rather than causative studies) and usually ignores the gut distress, peaks and troughs, and off-the-bike consequences of a carbs and glucose fuelling strategy.

Many people can reasonably adapt to fat burning in as little as 10 days, which makes 100 miles a doddle.

The studies that investigated non-carb fuelling strategies and demonstrated superiority of carbs used non adapted subjects.

Dark corner.  Fingernail tests suggest the rubber isn’t ST any more.

Well I’ve put the HR2 on the back and an MSC Gripper on the front.  The Gripper comes up huge looking for a 2.4 (63mm on the carcass and 67mm on the tread blocks; rim is 28.5mm internal) but is a rounder profile than I’d normally expect to run on the front.

Just done a test run on hero dirt so not too much to read into it all feeling grippy and secure.