The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[sasquatch69 627]

I saw the reply to my post above and felt better about sticking with my vintage bike - until I saw this.

This seems like a really great bike for $1100 if you don't need dual suspension.

https://www.velonews.com/gear/mountain-gear/canyon-stoic-hardtail-an-affordable-trail-mtb-entry/

Edited December 8, 2020 by sasquatch69

[Your Mom 4,986]

The modern geometry and 29" wheels will probably have that bike handling chunk better than the full suspension old school bike.  That's just my anecdotal opinion.  But if you like riding the old bike, there's nothing wrong with it at all.  I was a better rider 20 years ago on a very similar old GT than I am now on a modern trail rig.  I sold that bike about 10 years ago and wish I could buy it back today.  It wouldn't handle like my bike now does but it could still rip around the neighborhood singletrack just fine.  Canyon makes quality bikes, pretty cool of them to make something that affordable.  Most manufacturers of their stature would turn their nose up at that idea.  

[Your Mom 4,986]

Let talk videos:  WD40 and others... how are you getting HD stuff onto Youtube?  

I film at 1080p, 60 FPS.  I upload to iMovie to edit and it's crystal clear.  I upload the edited version from iMovie to Youtube and it's pixelated.  If I export the same iMovie to my hard drive it plays crystal clear.  Upload it from the hard drive to Youtube and it's pixelated again.

I've got my Youtube upload settings to Full Quality.  Googling around and I'm learning about codecs AVC1 vs VP09 and the camera settings that would give playback quality of one vs the other.  I'm thinking I need to increase the quality and slow down the frames per second.  Maybe go 27k and 30 FPS?  

[Stinkpalm 697]

On 12/2/2020 at 6:56 AM, TwiceHorn said:

Welcome to the thread.  We ride a lot of the same stuff.  

I have always been intimidated by Big Cedar, I think mainly because the central loop (Ranger?) is long, and blue and there doesn't seem to be any way to shortcut it.    I can handle most DFW blues just fine, but there's enough variance in it that Big Cedar makes me wary.

Plus, it has always been the "most technical" and challenging trail in DFW.

It’s definitely long, especially if you hit the off-shoot loops along the way, but I wouldn’t say it’s overly technical or intimidating. Once you get your bike up and running again, and get your endurance back up (it’ll definitely test your lungs), I’d encourage you to make the trek because it’s a fun trail. The downhill lines are the only truly intimidating features imo. The pics and vids of the jumps and drops don’t do them justice. But the downhill area is easily avoided. I’m still working up the nerve to give that  area a go, but they recently put in a bunch of dirt features and a jump line since the last time I was there that look pretty awesome. 

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

8 hours ago, Stinkpalm said:

It’s definitely long, especially if you hit the off-shoot loops along the way, but I wouldn’t say it’s overly technical or intimidating. Once you get your bike up and running again, and get your endurance back up (it’ll definitely test your lungs), I’d encourage you to make the trek because it’s a fun trail. The downhill lines are the only truly intimidating features imo. The pics and vids of the jumps and drops don’t do them justice. But the downhill area is easily avoided. I’m still working up the nerve to give that  area a go, but they recently put in a bunch of dirt features and a jump line since the last time I was there that look pretty awesome. 

The other thing about Big Cedar is that apparently it has changed a lot.  The land manager (church?) apparently took some of the trail "off the table" some years back, which included some of the crazier loops.  And that seems to have caused the maintainers/builders not to have kept up some of the other sections.

Then there's more recent utility work. 

So it's a little hard to figure out from various trail reviews what is what down there.

But yeah, Ranger's a 10+ mile loop with multiple lungbusters and maybe some freaky stuff on downhills that intimidates me.  A lot of the time, it seems if I have to walk something, or walk a climb, it kind of ruins my flow and my ride and finishing things out just turns into a death march.

Now that I know there are some escape routes, I will be less bothered.

Like the climb out Boulder Park can kind of ruin my day, but it's at the end of the trail so it's ok.  It usually does deter me from another loop, though, even when I power through it.

Edited December 9, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[sasquatch69 627]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The other thing about Big Cedar is that apparently it has changed a lot.  The land manager (church?) apparently took some of the trail "off the table" some years back, which included some of the crazier loops.  And that seems to have caused the maintainers/builders not to have kept up some of the other sections.

Then there's more recent utility work. 

So it's a little hard to figure out from various trail reviews what is what down there.

I've been reading through threads on the Big Cedar and DORBA FB groups, and apparently the church is super-supportive and is fine with widespread trail use, but adjacent landowners and ONCOR have been really difficult.  And there are rumors that the section of trail north of Camp Wisdom (the Highway Rim loop) is on land that has now been sold. 

[wd40 1,976]

On 12/8/2020 at 7:08 PM, Your Mom said:

Let talk videos:  WD40 and others... how are you getting HD stuff onto Youtube?  

I film at 1080p, 60 FPS.  I upload to iMovie to edit and it's crystal clear.  I upload the edited version from iMovie to Youtube and it's pixelated.  If I export the same iMovie to my hard drive it plays crystal clear.  Upload it from the hard drive to Youtube and it's pixelated again.

I've got my Youtube upload settings to Full Quality.  Googling around and I'm learning about codecs AVC1 vs VP09 and the camera settings that would give playback quality of one vs the other.  I'm thinking I need to increase the quality and slow down the frames per second.  Maybe go 27k and 30 FPS?  

this was discussed some pages back.  based on Kurdt's input, I'm now doing 2.7k and 30 fps.  I also changed the aspect ratio to "Super", whatever that is.  seems to work pretty well.

I've not really researched how to make it look good on youtube.  it seems they're gonna do whateverthefuck they want with it, sooner or later.  res on some older vids has changed on yt, even though they were recorded with the same camera settings.   at least when viewing on my ipad, the early parts of most recent posted vids are either pixelated, choppy, or both.  no one else seems to notice, so I got that going for me.

rode 4 days, last week.  35mi, almost 6k ft of climbing.  had one long day (15.6mi, 1976ft), but the rest were each 5-7mi and 800-1200ft.  now if I can keep from replenishing my liquor cabinet, I might burn off some turkey and dressing...

[KuЯdt 248]

yeah I have struggled with this same thing.  I could never get videos I recorded in 1080 to look good on youtube.  There was probably something I could have done differently, but as wd said, once I switched to recording in 2.7k things got better.
Really, it's about your render/export settings.  You need to give youtube the best quality video possible as they are gonna take it and compress it, render it in different resolutions, etc.  they have published recommended encoding settings  here.
They recommend using the H.264 codec, so that's what I've been using.  Another important thing is to make sure when rendering your video to use a high bit rate - at least as high as what the original video was recorded in.  That varies based on the resolution and fps settings - the higher the res and the higher the frame rate, the higher the bit rate.
I'm now recording in 4k (because fuck it, why not) and 30 or 24 fps.  I've posted a screenshot of my render settings below (I've also since switched to using Davinci Resolve, it's crazy how powerful that program is and it's free). So far this has been working pretty well for me, but I am certainly no expert on the subject, just trying to learn enough to make things look decent.

 

[KuЯdt 248]

Oh and I forgot to mention that I ran across these 2 videos recently which were a HUGE help.  I did a couple test runs using this guy's settings and the results were good.  I had never really messed with color correcting before, but I can see how it makes a big difference.

 

 

 

 

[sasquatch69 627]

Trails all over the eastern half of Texas this weekend. 

 

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

yea, glad I got one in yesterday afternoon. 

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

La la la *I don't care* La la la

Cuz I don't have a fucking bike.

[sasquatch69 627]

Tried a few new (to me) trails in DFW the past few weeks.
 

Did Katie Jackson (which I'd ridden briefly a while ago but wanted to explore further) after a very light rain, hit a slick leafy patch right off the bat, and my rear tire caught a big root and slid sideways fast. I went down hard and wrenched my left arm back to avoid landing my full weight on it. It's been pretty sore on and off since. I finished a couple laps on the red/blue trails but that was all I could muster.

Also rode Arbor Hills for the first time, which was meh due to number of people and the fact it's crammed into such a relatively small area - but I give DORBA props for their efforts there as it's got some decent TTF.

The best first visits were Erwin up in McKinney, which has been covered here in previous posts and really held my interest, and Horseshoe, which was right in the sweet spot of my ability level right now (except for the "Sorry" loop which I had to walk). I rode Horseshoe today which was a welcome return to riding after a week off due to rain (thus trail closures) and cold. 
 

Hoping to get some rides in this weekend back at Big Cedar and RCP if they reopen and weather continues to hold up.

Edited December 18, 2020 by sasquatch69

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

I broke myself at Katie Jackson (collarbone and finger) on one of the steep descents at Howard's Corner.  It's one of my go-tos and is also the second-closest trail to me.  Also saw the only bobcat I have ever seen there.  It's one of my go-tos.

If you find yourself "in-town," Harry Moss is a little gem.

[Al_4_ISU 12,699]

Gonna fuck around and find out with freeze/thaw this afternoon.  If I get skunked, I can just go for a run.  Tomorrow AM should be some pretty prime frozen dirt riding though.  Looking like lots of opportunity to ride through the Xmas/New Year's window.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

I haven't ridden in a week. I'm going to try to fix that today. 

 

[wd40 1,976]

me too.  

hasn't been quite that long for me, but I've been living on a pot of chili, some Tiff's Treats from my boss, and whiskey for the last several days, so I need it.  maybe also try some of the video tricks posted up thread.

gettin old.  I don't remember cold weather riding being so painful.  every little rock and bump just jarring my hands and wrists.

[Al_4_ISU 12,699]

These cold weather rides feel like I'm pulling one over on the universe.  It's impossible for me not to feel a sense of gratitude while doing it.

[KuЯdt 248]

I'm in Bentonville right now and have been unable to ride due to the snow on the ground.  Got here last Sunday night driving through a snowstorm (which was sketchy af).  They ended up getting 6" and then it hasn't gotten above 35 all week until late yesterday afternoon.  I think starting today I'll be able to find some trails to ride.  It will be cold, though.

On the plus side, the dogs have been absolutely loving it.

 

 

[Your Mom 4,986]

I was getting some work done on my car yesterday and the shop was a couple miles from Walnut so I took my bike with me and got in a couple hours of good riding.  I forgot how fun some of those trails are when it’s not packed. Only saw 3 or 4 other bikes the whole time I was out there and maybe 4 or 5 hikers.  And I did the Root Drop for the first time. Made me feel good after the Picnic drops I keep chickening out of on Brushy. 

[Al_4_ISU 12,699]

47 minutes ago, KuЯdt said:

I'm in Bentonville right now and have been unable to ride due to the snow on the ground.  Got here last Sunday night driving through a snowstorm (which was sketchy af).  They ended up getting 6" and then it hasn't gotten above 35 all week until late yesterday afternoon.  I think starting today I'll be able to find some trails to ride.  It will be cold, though.

On the plus side, the dogs have been absolutely loving it.

 

 

It blows my mind that this is the current conditions in Arkansas, and yesterday my dad and brother rode single track in suburban Minneapolis with zero snow.

[KuЯdt 248]

3 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I was getting some work done on my car yesterday and the shop was a couple miles from Walnut so I took my bike with me and got in a couple hours of good riding.  I forgot how fun some of those trails are when it’s not packed. Only saw 3 or 4 other bikes the whole time I was out there and maybe 4 or 5 hikers.  And I did the Root Drop for the first time. Made me feel good after the Picnic drops I keep chickening out of on Brushy. 

I went out there last week for my yearly Walnut ride.  Monday morning on a cold day is perfect...not many riders or hikers but there were a lot of off-leash pit bulls.  I had a blast out there too, as there has been a lot of work done since the last time I went.  Tons of berms, and I rode Upper Log Loop multiple times as it had a lot of new features on it.  That trail is a blast now.

[Al_4_ISU 12,699]

It was 28 degrees at the trailhead. Great conditions honestly.

[Your Mom 4,986]

2 hours ago, KuЯdt said:

I went out there last week for my yearly Walnut ride.  Monday morning on a cold day is perfect...not many riders or hikers but there were a lot of off-leash pit bulls.  I had a blast out there too, as there has been a lot of work done since the last time I went.  Tons of berms, and I rode Upper Log Loop multiple times as it had a lot of new features on it.  That trail is a blast now.

Yeah I pretty much did the whole network but looped around on Log Loop a few times. Lots of fun jumps on the outer loop. 

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

That sounds pretty brisk.

If I can withstand the wind and self-generated wind until I start sweating, I can ride anytime.  Meaning Texas anytime, not way north anytime.  I usually don't bother in the 30s, though.

I have some pants made of soft-shell material that are really good starting out and get pretty warm later in the ride.  

[Al_4_ISU 12,699]

That sounds pretty brisk.
If I can withstand the wind and self-generated wind until I start sweating, I can ride anytime.  Meaning Texas anytime, not way north anytime.  I usually don't bother in the 30s, though.
I have some pants made of soft-shell material that are really good starting out and get pretty warm later in the ride.  

It’s all about gear. They have subzero gear that works great. My stuff isn’t up to that snuff, but I wouldn’t be afraid to take it down to 10.

I worked up enough sweat that I had to shed layers as soon as I got back to the Pilot.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

Didn’t test any Strava records, but got in a solid ride on the neighborhood single track.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wd40 1,976]

11 hours ago, Your Mom said:

I was getting some work done on my car yesterday and the shop was a couple miles from Walnut so I took my bike with me and got in a couple hours of good riding.  I forgot how fun some of those trails are when it’s not packed. Only saw 3 or 4 other bikes the whole time I was out there and maybe 4 or 5 hikers.  And I did the Root Drop for the first time. Made me feel good after the Picnic drops I keep chickening out of on Brushy. 

ain't nothin' but a thing, dude.  well, at least that's the mental approach.  I bottomed out on it twice, today.  but it's totally rollable.  you know that.  in a lot of ways, WC root drop is tougher.

bummer about your trip, @KuЯdt.  a novel experience, I guess, and certainly par for the course, this year.

more of the same, today.  sorry about the music.  it's been stuck in my head for 3 days.

 

[sasquatch69 627]

Did just over 10 miles in two hours at Big Cedar just now and it was sublime. Great weather, some chunk, some hero dirt, some grass trails (because everyone likes a little grass every once in a while), lots of elevation and some beautiful views by Dallas standards. Best ride I've had in a while. Even had to walk some of the hills but I ain't mad. And at the end, there's a pavilion the church that hosts the trails built with clean restrooms - a rarity. 
 

Sorry not sorry for the photo dump, but I stopped along the way to take it in and snap a few shots, and I had to share. 

[KuЯdt 248]

ain't nothin' but a thing, dude.  well, at least that's the mental approach.  I bottomed out on it twice, today.  but it's totally rollable.  you know that.  in a lot of ways, WC root drop is tougher.
bummer about your trip, [mention=2168]KuЯdt[/mention].  a novel experience, I guess, and certainly par for the course, this year.
more of the same, today.  sorry about the music.  it's been stuck in my head for 3 days.
 

Don't be so quick to...ride away.
lol

My bentonville trip isn't really improving. Did a ride yesterday in pretty sloppy conditions, and found a fun area with drops, skinnies, jumps, and rocky tech. I had to awkwardly step off of a slick skinny, and it was a bit higher than I realized. Im now on the couch with an ankle brace while the weather outside is perfect.
Hoping it will be better by tomorrow or at least Monday. We shall see.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[wd40 1,976]

stepping off a skinny is how I blew up my tibia...so skinnies are mostly bypassed nowadays, per my personal risk/reward calculus.

probably heading up to rpr today.  didn't get near as much rain as we did, yesterday; and it dries out quick.

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

1 hour ago, wd40 said:

stepping off a skinny is how I blew up my tibia...so skinnies are mostly bypassed nowadays, per my personal risk/reward calculus.

probably heading up to rpr today.  didn't get near as much rain as we did, yesterday; and it dries out quick.

Now you tell me.

Skinnies have been popping up on our trails lately and I have been trying them.  They're not very high, but that's just perfect for me to spiral fracture my tibia in a slomo disaster.

[CooterBrown 18,293]

Bicycle Sports Shop has been sold to Trek and all locations will convert to Trek stores in January.

Hopefully a decent shop gets hooked up with Santa Cruz and Specialized otherwise Austin won’t have a local option for these brands.

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

Yeah, one of our local shops, BicyclesPlus, is now a Trek store.  For MTB, they didn't carry anything else, so no big loss.

They did have some other roadie brands, though, including some pretty high end.

[sasquatch69 627]

4 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

Bicycle Sports Shop has been sold to Trek and all locations will convert to Trek stores in January.

Hopefully a decent shop gets hooked up with Santa Cruz and Specialized otherwise Austin won’t have a local option for these brands.

Do you think Mellow Johnny's will start carrying more than just Trek and Cannondale?  Did they ever carry much of a MTB selection anyway, or mostly road bikes?

[CooterBrown 18,293]

Do you think Mellow Johnny's will start carrying more than just Trek and Cannondale?  Did they ever carry much of a MTB selection anyway, or mostly road bikes?

Never been in there since BSS existed. Never been interested in roadies. I’ve only ever owned Santa Cruz, Salsa, and Specialized mountain bikes. Now I don’t have a local retailer.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

Yea, BSS picked up Yeti when University Cycles closed. Be interested to see who picks them up now. I miss University Cycles. 

[wd40 1,976]

sorta good riddance, tbh.  I've had a few great repair experiences there, and quite a few not-so-great ones that have pushed me towards taking on more and more of my own wrenching, over the years.  their inventory has (understandably) dwindled away to the point where the only thing I buy there is Stans and chain lube.  their turtle-up act for covid has pushed me even further away.  I now take my LBS business to Monkey Wrench or Peddler in town.  the Parmer store is a suicide run of stop lights and soccer mom stupidity from my house, so I avoid it as much as possible; although I suppose when it's time to retire my p153, I'll have to head out there for another Kona or a Transition.

so my experiences with BSS lately tell me Hill has been wanting out for a while, so this really comes as no surprise.  can't blame him.  it's been a good run.

rpr conditions were primo.  a bit of a circus, though

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

1 minute ago, wd40 said:

sorta good riddance, tbh.  I've had a few great repair experiences there, and quite a few not-so-great ones that have pushed me towards taking on more and more of my own wrenching, over the years.  their inventory has (understandably) dwindled away to the point where the only thing I buy there is Stans and chain lube.  their turtle-up act for covid has pushed me even further away.  I now take my LBS business to Monkey Wrench or Peddler in town.  the Parmer store is a suicide run of stop lights and soccer mom stupidity from my house, so I avoid it as much as possible; although I suppose when it's time to retire my p153, I'll have to head out there for another Kona or a Transition.

so my experiences with BSS lately tell me Hill has been wanting out for a while, so this really comes as no surprise.  can't blame him.  it's been a good run.

rpr conditions were primo.  a bit of a circus, though

Have you ridden that trail behind Peddler? A lot of the guys in my neighborhood that I follow on Strava have been riding it a lot lately and bragging on it. I was thinking about giving it a shot over the break. 

[wd40 1,976]

4 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Have you ridden that trail behind Peddler? A lot of the guys in my neighborhood that I follow on Strava have been riding it a lot lately and bragging on it. I was thinking about giving it a shot over the break. 

bits and pieces of it.  rode some from Peddler when I was demo'd the 153.  then from the other end, starting at the church where all that Fr512 stuff is (supposedly a lot more stuff there now).  but I've never connected those two points.

my fork squeak is getting ridiculous.  seriously distracting, especially on anything big.  gonna try Velofix.  so we'll see how/when that goes.

[Pescado_Rojo 19,596]

5 minutes ago, wd40 said:

bits and pieces of it.  rode some from Peddler when I was demo'd the 153.  then from the other end, starting at the church where all that Fr512 stuff is (supposedly a lot more stuff there now).  but I've never connected those two points.

my fork squeak is getting ridiculous.  seriously distracting, especially on anything big.  gonna try Velofix.  so we'll see how/when that goes.

They did a good job on my fork. They can't do a full nitrogen service on Fox shocks, but they can do an air can service. 

[midtown 3,357]

Heads up to the mtn bike newbs from this newb. .  Changing a tire is not the same as they are on a road bike and probably older bikes of any kind.  I had no idea there was a deep channel in the rim that you had to push the tire into in order to get it off and then back on.  I spent 15 mins trying to tire lever that sucker on and my education in maths and physics could not help me understand how on earth I was going to get that tire stretched enough to get it over the rim lip.  What a moron.

[KuЯdt 248]

On 12/20/2020 at 7:02 AM, wd40 said:

so skinnies are mostly bypassed nowadays, per my personal risk/reward calculus.

 

I may do the same.  They're kinda like tree gates to me - sure it's a challenge but not something I find all that fun.

Luckily I didn't break any bones, just a grade 2 sprain. A couple days off the bike and I felt ok to do some more conservative rides.  Which was perfect for the Back 40 today.  That was a pretty fun trail.  I started at the Blowing Springs trailhead, so ended up with a couple more miles than just the Back 40 proper.

 

 

[wd40 1,976]

On 12/20/2020 at 5:18 PM, wd40 said:

bits and pieces of it.  rode some from Peddler when I was demo'd the 153.  then from the other end, starting at the church where all that Fr512 stuff is (supposedly a lot more stuff there now).  but I've never connected those two points.

my fork squeak is getting ridiculous.  seriously distracting, especially on anything big.  gonna try Velofix.  so we'll see how/when that goes.

update:  gonna cancel my Velofix house call.

appt was a month out, not cheap, and with the contactless setup they have for covid, no guarantee they'd diagnose and solve the problem.  so I decided to dive in.  figured out that a 50-hr service on my fork (lowers) is super easy to do.  it didn't solve the squeak, but it was a good thing I did it because only about a teaspoon of oil drained out, in total, from both legs.

on the suggestion of a buddy, I popped, cleaned and regreased the crown race.  while I was at it, I did the same for the headset bearing cups.   now my bike's so quiet, it's almost as unnerving as that loud vibration squeak it had before.  I think I'll get used to it.

[Knoxtnhorn 6,314]

On 12/20/2020 at 8:05 AM, TwiceHorn said:

Now you tell me.

Skinnies have been popping up on our trails lately and I have been trying them.  They're not very high, but that's just perfect for me to spiral fracture my tibia in a slomo disaster.

Assuming we're talking about the same thing re: "skinnies", I went flying off the side of one @ Squabble Creek the last time I was there.  There was about a second where I was in the air thinking, "Ok.  Which emergency clinic am I going to hit up?".  Somehow, I landed on both tires w/o crashing.

I got a Go-Pro over XMas and hit up RCP for the first time in a couple of months.  With today's weather, looks like it'll be awhile before the trails are open again.

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

I don't think there's a skinny at Squabble Creek.  There is that banked boardwalk thing.  Don't know what those are called.

A skinny is a narrow (18" or less), raised platform that goes on for some distance.  There's one at Katie Jackson that's about 18" off the ground.  So not enough height that you'd think it would be dangerous, but it is just enough to fuck you up pretty good depending on how you go off it.  And there's a lot of little trees and brush right up next to it, to make sure you can't dismount cleanly.

There are some I have seen in videos that are several feet off the ground.  No thanks.

Edited December 30, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Knoxtnhorn 6,314]

On 12/22/2020 at 5:00 PM, midtown said:

Heads up to the mtn bike newbs from this newb. .  Changing a tire is not the same as they are on a road bike and probably older bikes of any kind.  I had no idea there was a deep channel in the rim that you had to push the tire into in order to get it off and then back on.  I spent 15 mins trying to tire lever that sucker on and my education in maths and physics could not help me understand how on earth I was going to get that tire stretched enough to get it over the rim lip.  What a moron.

Could you expand on this a little?  I changed a MB tire for the first time about a month ago and ran into the same issues you had.  About took the skin off of 4 fingers trying to get the levers to remove the tire.  I don't understand the part about the "deep channel in the rim" that you mentioned.  

[Knoxtnhorn 6,314]

2 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

I don't think there's a skinny at Squabble Creek.  There is that banked boardwalk thing.  Don't know what those are called.

 

A skinny is a narrow, raised platform that goes on for some distance.  There's one at Katie Jackson that's about 18" off the ground.  So not enough height that you'd think it would be dangerous, but it is just enough to fuck you up pretty good depending on how you go off it.  And there's a lot of little trees and brush right up next to it, to make sure you can't dismount cleanly.

Got it.  IIRC, it was only about 20 feet long and spanned a dry creek bed.  I believe it was only about 2-3 feet off the ground.  For someone currently averse to jumping, it scared the crap out of me.

[TwiceHorn 32,155]

Just now, Knoxtnhorn said:

Could you expand on this a little?  I changed a MB tire for the first time about a month ago and ran into the same issues you had.  About took the skin off of 4 fingers trying to get the levers to remove the tire.  I don't understand the part about the "deep channel in the rim" that you mentioned.  

For tubeless purposes, there is a "shelf" for lack of a better term, inside the rim adjacent to the bead.  

That means that, in order to get the tire off (or on) the rim without prying with levers, you have to get both tire beads into the depression in the middle so that you can pull one bead or set of beads off (or on) the rim.

On roadie and non-tubeless rims, once you got the tire beads unseated, there was enough room to roll it off with your hands, regardless of where the beads sat in the rim.  Now you have to get them in the middle.

 

[CooterBrown 18,293]

Could you expand on this a little?  I changed a MB tire for the first time about a month ago and ran into the same issues you had.  About took the skin off of 4 fingers trying to get the levers to remove the tire.  I don't understand the part about the "deep channel in the rim" that you mentioned.  

Both of you have rims designed for tubeless tires. That channel locks the tire to the rim so you can add Stan’s to the tire and it’ll hold air.

Once you go tubeless, you won’t go back. Other than once when I tore a sidewall, I haven’t had a flat since I went tubeless over 10 years ago.