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If you're on DT350 hubs like I am, you just replace the 18t star ratchet it came with and put in this 54t. That was one of the first things I did when I got the bike, and it improved the engagement immensely. Plus now errrbody can hear me coming...no need for a fuckin bell.

A lot of the bigger bikes are also good climbers these days. I hear that about the Ripmo a lot in particular. I've never ridden one though. I'm on a 140 bike now and it climbs incredibly well. I demo'd a Ripley too, and I thought it was about as good at climbing, but certainly not as capable on descents and the rough stuff. There are so many good bikes out there now it's crazy (if you can find one in stock, that is).

yep modern trail bikes are going to feel waaay different than that old hardtail. Earlier this year I went to a new trail bike from a 2012 full squish xc bike and things had changed so much in that time that it was a big adjustment. Once I got used to it though, it was a night and day difference. Absolutely love my new bike.

Bummer, didn't know that about the perd. That was our go to spot to ride in the early aughts. The water was almost always great out near the 71 bridge.

You bring up another option that I'd been considering - a boat club. Are you in Austin by chance and if so, any recs? I'd considered doing the boat club thing for the next year if for no other reason than to get water time in different brands, plus not having the hassles of boat ownership is appealing. The last boat I owned was in the early to mid-aughts, and it was 20 years old by then...so wasn't the most reliable vessel.

What are y'all's thoughts on Mastercraft NXT vs Moomba vs Axis? I know there has been some positive talk about Axis upthread. I've been casually looking around a bit, and I'd prefer to stay in that 75-90k range (never used to think that would be so hard...). I gather those are the Toyota, Honda, and Nissan to their respective Lexus, Acura, and Infiniti. My primary purposes would be for wakeboarding and surfing. Any opinions on one vs the other? Or in that range is it better or possible to pick up an older Nautique or Supra?

There is only one cure.

Got mine last weekend and it was as simple as could be. I'm on AT&T and was coming from an S8+. Swapping the SIM from the old phone to the new is all I had to do and I was up and running. As far as transferring data, I just plugged the USB-C cable to each phone, ass-to-ass style, and followed the prompts to transfer everything that I wanted - photos, apps, wireless settings, etc. Could not have been any easier. Note that if you use MFA apps like Google or Microsoft Authenticator, look up how to properly move those to a new phone otherwise it can be a bit painful. Overall I'm liking the phone. It took a bit to get used to the smaller phone coming from the S8+, but I think my days of paying more than $500 for a phone are over. Good value with the 4a. The one gripe I have is that there's no photo gallery and it uses Google Photos by default. I like Google Photos fine, but would prefer a separate app for the camera gallery. I'll poke around and see what's out there.

I just did the Fubo trial and it has ESPN and ESPN2. No TNT. I went to cancel as the trial was coming to an end, and they offered a month for $20. Went ahead and did that so I could watch the stros for a month.

Maybe that woman from Colorado Springs has moved into your hood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Pooper

Also ordered a Pixel 4a. Google is taking trade-ins now and offered $132 for my S8+. Might not send it in and try my luck on Swappa instead.

Wow that's a bummer. Have they been able to give you an ETA on the frame replacement? Hopefully you're not down for too long, given the current situation in the bike industry.

I went to Angel Fire 7 or 8 years ago and rode all day for 2 days. My hands were also destroyed, and honestly I don't think they've ever fully recovered.

I had a very similar experience a while back. I came around a corner and there was a rattler laying across the trail like the one you saw. I was moving fairly fast so had to hop over it. I then turned around and went back and it hadn't moved. I nudged it a couple times with my front tire and then it finally meandered off into the grass, not giving two shits about me.

Niiiice. Not quite a new bike, but that probably ensures that the little invest out in the Gulf makes a beeline for CenTex this weekend...

I like Reimers, but it is kind of two-faced. If you do the entire loop (follow the black trails) it's about 11 miles. The first 6-7 miles is fun, climby, techy stuff. The rest is flat, windy and meandering which I usually just want to end. It's only a 30 minute drive from my place, and I like the park so I hit it every now and then. And there is little shade. But I go to Pedernales Falls 2-3x as much, and it's another 10-15 mins. However - they just built this new downhill trail which they call the Flow Trail. Not sure why they call it that because it is more of a jump trail and is much gnarlier than I was expecting. It has doubles, tables, gap jumps, drops, and a large hip jump near the end. There are 3 features that are signed as double black with signed blue B lines. 2 of them have high penalty for failure (I went ahead and skipped those). It was a bit surprising to see a trail like that pop up in a Travis County park. Kudos to whomever made it happen.

Yep. I've been doing more lunch rides during the week. It isn't too bad at that time - low 90's with lower humidity than the gross early morning. But the heat got to me for the first time this year last Thursday. I met a friend at Reimers, wheels down just before 6. Truck read 100 when I arrived. We were gonna do most of the blue/black loop then do some runs on the new flow trail. We did most of the loop then one run on the flow trail and both of us felt like shit, so we decided to bail and go back to the truck for a cold beer. Shortest ride I've done in a long time...7 miles and 45ish minutes. But the beer was good. I'll probably avoid the afternoon rides until temps moderate a bit (so, October I guess).

I was watching some of that Lance Armstrong 30 for 30. Nothing new really and he is still a dick, but the most interesting part to me was this pic of Floyd Landis with a GT Zaskar LE and Mag 21

I believe you PM'd me about the singlespeed, which I haven't listed yet. I've gotten crazy interest in the Tallboy, seems demand is still really high for bikes. If you want more info, let me know.

So, Oklahoma then.

Does this mean...Texas? I'm about to list my 2012 Santa Cruz Tallboy Carbon for sale. If you can't find anything else and are interested, PM me. It's older geo, but I upgraded it to a Shimano XT 1x11 setup in 2018.

Yeah I think a BMX cruiser like you mentioned would be perfect. I bought that Kona for $1100 5 or 6 years ago. I've put a little money into it, but it would be super cool to sell it for about what I paid. I'll test the waters on that as I've heard from a couple of other sources now that bikes are selling like hotcakes.

Well, according to dingleberry over there, about $1100. I was gonna see if I could get 800 or so for it, so that may be more than you want to spend for a neighborhood cruising bike. Don't know what it's actually worth really, so if you're interested PM me and maybe we can work something out. I think it is a large frame (need to verify - could be a medium). It's Kona's Scandium frame and has a RockShox Reba RLT Ti up front. XT brakes, Stan's ZTR Arch 29 wheels.

hrmm...might be time for me to go ahead and list the SS for sale.

Yep those are the spots. That part with the wooden ramp I know I can ride, but it got in my head and I just had the mental block. Hate that. The steep rock garden thing was truly sketchy as shit. But I want to clean it. Even that one rock garden on the black is a bit sketchy. you made it look pretty easy in your vid, but it ain't no joke...my buddy even went otb there. btw, Rotor Smoke is a much better name.