The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Furk.

[Your Mom 4763]

Well... see... what had happened was....  

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

On 1/24/2019 at 9:10 AM, Loco said:

psa/lol

Shit like this is why I love my Saris rear mounted bike rack.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

On 1/24/2019 at 8:10 AM, Loco said:

psa/lol

Was this you? A not uncommon occurrence, unfortunately. Got a few riding buddies here with similar experiences.

[Loco 3752]

20 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Was this you? A not uncommon occurrence, unfortunately. Got a few riding buddies here with similar experiences.

nope not me...  I have a pickup truck and don't own spandex.

 

I just love the ironic bike brand

 

[G650 13335]

That's the strongest Look frame I've ever seen.

[AUinHsv 570]

1 hour ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Was this you? A not uncommon occurrence, unfortunately. Got a few riding buddies here with similar experiences.

That's why you find a way to attach the garage door opener to the bike after putting it up there. Of course that rule didn't help a friend who did all that and then hit a low hanging tree limb

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Update:  the collarbone is coming along fine, although it will be substantially deviated.

The finger, however, has been pinned and screwed at a cost of a kick-ass CF bike.

And will not be depinned and unsplinted until early March.

After all this, it's nothing but green trails for your homey from here on in.  This kind of sucks.

If there is a way to make me more risk averse than age and natural inclination make me, it's cost me $6,000 plus and a lot of down time.

Edited January 26, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

Good luck with that finger, Twice. Mrs Rojo shattered that first bone (closer to the palm), and is about to have her 3rd surgery. She still can't close that finger all the way. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

12 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Good luck with that finger, Twice. Mrs Rojo shattered that first bone (closer to the palm), and is about to have her 3rd surgery. She still can't close that finger all the way. 

Thanks.  Yeah, there was a chip near the joint that wasn't growing back, so the screw you see holds it in place.  The doc convinced me to spend on the surgery because he said, droop or no droop, that jacked up joint is going to wear away the cartilage and it's going to hurt like arthritis.  And he noted that my cartilage seems to be pretty full for my age (possibly indicating against arthritis in the future).

[TwiceHorn 30851]

The most disgusting thing about this, that's mostly timing (f the offseason) is that, instead of biking or shooting or something else, I'm reduced to watching Texas Basketball.🤮🤮

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

Bring on the weekend.  Single track snow riding perfection!

[G650 13335]

lol -26

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

8 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Blows my mind how cold the upper Midwest gets. I mean, that's just coooold, man.

We had a few overnight lows back in December in the negative single digits, nudging close to -10, and we'll go weeks in which the mercury stays below 25, but it's never been that cold in the 15 years I've lived here.

It's as my pop was fond of saying: ain't nothing between the High Plains and the North Pole but a few barbed-wire fences.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

This is actually the coldest it's been in almost 25 years.  I guess today was the lowest daily high temp we've ever seen.  

The part that gets me the most is how it's going to be 42 on Saturday, and then back to subzero by Wednesday.  These roller coaster weather patterns have become more common lately.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

8 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Blows my mind how cold the upper Midwest gets. I mean, that's just coooold, man.

We had a few overnight lows back in December in the negative single digits, nudging close to -10, and we'll go weeks in which the mercury stays below 25, but it's never been that cold in the 15 years I've lived here.

It's as my pop was fond of saying: ain't nothing between the High Plains and the North Pole but a few barbed-wire fences.

Yeah, there's truth in that.  As James McMurtry once said about the Upper Midwest (South Dakota, specifically) "barbed wire won't stop the wind".  Truer words.....

[TwiceHorn 30851]

And there are any number of nutbags that ride in that type (probably not that low) of weather routinely and even race.

 

The idea of riding a bike in Sorels kind of offends me.

Edited February 1, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

The idea of riding a bike in Sorels kind of offends me.

It's a burden some choose to, uh, shoulder.

[Al_4_ISU 12376]

It was a fucking slog yesterday.

[Ths71 472]

For you vintage fans this is one I put together this winter. Used stuff I mostly had laying around in the garage.
Frame: ‘92 Kona Hot built by Tom Teasdale. Tange Ultimate ultralight/ultra strong.
Bars: old Specialized Tomac style Dirt Drops.
Wheel: Cronometro
Cranks: NOS Kooka/Syncros Ti BB.
XTR with Shimano bar end shifters.



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[Loco 3752]

8 hours ago, Ths71 said:

For you vintage fans this is one I put together this winter. Used stuff I mostly had laying around in the garage.
Frame: ‘92 Kona Hot built by Tom Teasdale. Tange Ultimate ultralight/ultra strong.
Bars: old Specialized Tomac style Dirt Drops.
Wheel: Cronometro
Cranks: NOS Kooka/Syncros Ti BB.
XTR with Shimano bar end shifters.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks great.. loose the drop bars/stem/spacers

[Ths71 472]

1 hour ago, Loco said:

Looks great.. loose the drop bars/stem/spacers

That would be no fun☺️

It was built as a Gravel Grinder for fire roads etc. It spent many years MTB racing so now it can take it easy in retirement. 

[Your Mom 4763]

It's like a cross bike, only manlier.

[G650 13335]

11 hours ago, Ths71 said:

That would be no fun☺️

It was built as a Gravel Grinder for fire roads etc. It spent many years MTB racing so now it can take it easy in retirement. 

Hell yeah. That's exactly what I'm doing to that old Marin I posted upthread

[Loco 3752]

12 hours ago, Ths71 said:

That would be no fun☺️

It was built as a Gravel Grinder for fire roads etc. It spent many years MTB racing so now it can take it easy in retirement. 

You'll just end up getting mustache wax all over the bar tape.   Team grip shift (or thumbies), and cut down Ti bars.

Looks great and I'm just kidding with you, but I would absolutely change out the silver spacers for black.

 

What fork is on there?

[Ths71 472]

2 hours ago, Loco said:

You'll just end up getting mustache wax all over the bar tape.   Team grip shift (or thumbies), and cut down Ti bars.

Looks great and I'm just kidding with you, but I would absolutely change out the silver spacers for black.

 

What fork is on there?

That's a Kona Project 2 fork. I used silver spacers cause I have a bunch of them and am still tweaking the bar height.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

Ah, skinny tires, drop bars, and V-brakes!

I would say, "Those were the days," but they really weren't that long ago, were they?

Good stuff, Ths.

[BillyBadAss 188]

Speaking of old bikes.. After years of hibernation I dusted off my 2002 Bianchi Grizzly in the hopes to start riding again. It looks just about like this except mine came with a celeste saddle as well.

Specs: https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?item=37559

It turns out in its slumber MTN bikes have completely evolved. And the fork is shot and can't get parts to rebuild, yada yada. Rockshox makes a recon silver tk that'll fit, but it's heavier and likely a step down from the Marzocci it would replace. Long story short, I was advised I'd like riding even a modern budget HT more than this if I tried to fix it back up as a trail bike. I took that advice and after a bit of research ordered a new Giant Fathom 1 which looks to be a pretty decent bang-for-buck HT. 

But now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Bianchi. It was such a sweet bike in it's day, I'm not sure I'm ready to part with it. I was thinking if I put a rigid fork on it and some street tires it could serve as a tool around the hood, ride to the store kinda bike. 

I'm also wondering if it's possible to replace the front DT with a single ring and run it as a 1x9, keeping the rear derailleur and cassette. Or is it not so simple? 

Thoughts? 

 

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

19 minutes ago, BillyBadAss said:

Speaking of old bikes.. After years of hibernation I dusted off my 2002 Bianchi Grizzly in the hopes to start riding again. It looks just about like this except mine came with a celeste saddle as well.

Specs: https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?item=37559

It turns out in its slumber MTN bikes have completely evolved. And the fork is shot and can't get parts to rebuild, yada yada. Rockshox makes a recon silver tk that'll fit, but it's heavier and likely a step down from the Marzocci it would replace. Long story short, I was advised I'd like riding even a modern budget HT more than this if I tried to fix it back up as a trail bike. I took that advice and after a bit of research ordered a new Giant Fathom 1 which looks to be a pretty decent bang-for-buck HT. 

But now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Bianchi. It was such a sweet bike in it's day, I'm not sure I'm ready to part with it. I was thinking if I put a rigid fork on it and some street tires it could serve as a tool around the hood, ride to the store kinda bike. 

I'm also wondering if it's possible to replace the front DT with a single ring and run it as a 1x9, keeping the rear derailleur and cassette. Or is it not so simple? 

Thoughts? 

 

 

Sounds like a plan.  Manitou makes a fork called the Markhor that's fairly inexpensive and seems to be tailored to retrofitting older or less expensive bikes (straight steerers, 26", etc.).  https://www.amazon.com/Manitou-Markhor-100mm-Travel-Matte/dp/B072LBLZH2 Suntour is making inroads with less expensive forks also.  Havent seen any reviews of the Markhor, but Manitou seems to be doing a great job outside the Foxshox orthodoxy.

Yes, the drivetrain is pretty much that simple, with a couple of caveats.  You will need either a narrow-wide front chainring or a chain guide to keep the chain on.  And you may find your rear cassette has a suboptimal range with one ring up front, but you probably already have a feel for that and could tweak it with the size of your chainring.  I am assuming here that your chainring bolts are a current pattern.

Edited February 10, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[G650 13335]

3 hours ago, BillyBadAss said:

 

But now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Bianchi.

 

 

Fix that bitch up and go ride it man. Its 10 times the bike these modern abominations they call 'mountain bikes'.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

In anticipation of returning to the trails, I'm trying to post-mortem my OTB event.  As mentioned, I think, I went down a steep, short drop and ate it on the runout.  The last thing I remember is seeing some small stumps to the left and thinking "I don't want to hit those."  I don't believe I did.  But I did something that made me go over the bars.  I wasn't in panic mode, at all, but did something lizard-brained nevertheless.  I did forget to drop my seat before the drop in, so I probably wasn't back far enough (and I also have a tendency to come forward probably prematurely after a steep section).

So, it seems like there are three choices:  hitting the front brake, oversteering, or hitting something unseen.  I'm kind of leaning toward oversteering because I still haven't quite gotten used to the steering on this slack (relatively) frame.  I am told that the phenomenon is "flop," that is, pass a certain point of steering input and the wheel just flops over.  The one clue I have that tilts me this way is, as I was landing, I heard the hiss of air escaping and front tire was flat, indicating that it went sideways and burped.  I would like to think that I am past using my front brake incorrectly, but can't exclude it entirely.  So I am thinking I should have just leaned away from the stumps, but instead I gave the bars a turn and had the front overweighted and boom.

Maybe as Braff says, I'm overthinking this, but OTBs are supposed to be learning experiences.

Edited February 10, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[G650 13335]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

 

Maybe as Braff says, I'm overthinking this, but OTBs are supposed to be learning experiences.

Honestly, in my experience, it can be difficult to accurately reconstruct what happened if there are no witnesses. Humans just don't process these well with the spike in hormones mid wreck.

 

If you did indeed hear a tire go down, it may have just been that, a flat that caused it.

[Loco 3752]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

In anticipation of returning to the trails, I'm trying to post-mortem my OTB event.  As mentioned, I think, I went down a steep, short drop and ate it on the runout.  The last thing I remember is seeing some small stumps to the left and thinking "I don't want to hit those."  I don't believe I did. 

I bet you did.  You steer with your eyes. 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

1 hour ago, Loco said:

I bet you did.  You steer with your eyes. 

It occurred to me as I typed that that it was possible. Certainly at lower speeds I know the difference between seeing an obstacle and fixating on it, but according to the fone i was doing 20 and it's usually 10-20 percent slow so maybe I did. For me that is hauling ass. 

However one might think they would have fuct up my rim and it isnt as far as I can tell. 

And not blaming a flat, rather thinking that getting my front wheel relatively crossways burped the tire or rolled it "off". 

[Ths71 472]

Speaking of old bikes.. After years of hibernation I dusted off my 2002 Bianchi Grizzly in the hopes to start riding again. It looks just about like this except mine came with a celeste saddle as well.

Specs: https://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/BikeSpecs.aspx?item=37559
It turns out in its slumber MTN bikes have completely evolved. And the fork is shot and can't get parts to rebuild, yada yada. Rockshox makes a recon silver tk that'll fit, but it's heavier and likely a step down from the Marzocci it would replace. Long story short, I was advised I'd like riding even a modern budget HT more than this if I tried to fix it back up as a trail bike. I took that advice and after a bit of research ordered a new Giant Fathom 1 which looks to be a pretty decent bang-for-buck HT. 
But now I'm trying to figure out what to do with the Bianchi. It was such a sweet bike in it's day, I'm not sure I'm ready to part with it. I was thinking if I put a rigid fork on it and some street tires it could serve as a tool around the hood, ride to the store kinda bike. 
I'm also wondering if it's possible to replace the front DT with a single ring and run it as a 1x9, keeping the rear derailleur and cassette. Or is it not so simple? 
Thoughts? 
 
 

That’s a pretty nice frame. If the front ring is positioned correctly you should be able to run it as a single with the 9 spd.


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[Ths71 472]

My next vintage project. My favorite AL frame.


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[Your Mom 4763]

3 hours ago, Loco said:

I bet you did.  You steer with your eyes. 

This.  Always fixate on the good line.  Front wheel goes wherever the eyes are.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

I suppose G650 is right, I'll never know.  But I guess thinking about it a bit helps.  I'm going to have the major heebies on any kind of steep drop for quite a while.

[Your Mom 4763]

 That new bike park , Spider Mountain in Burnet.  The lift seems a bit excessive and overkill on a 350 foot mountain.  But I get the novelty of it and I’ll probably go check it out later this spring. It’s just a few miles from Reveille Peak which I really enjoy a lot.

 

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

So a sometime riding buddy from the trail I went OTB on just hit me up.  I hadn't told him about the collarbone.  He asked where I did it and when I told him, he said "did you hit that rock."  I'm like "what rock."  We may have an answer to why I went OTB, although I still think turning away from the stumps on this confounded slack bike set me up to go over of and when I did hit the rock.

I guess I should go recon that part of the trail while I am still gimpy.

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

I might have told this story on TOS, but I damn near broke my collarbone and my hip in a crash a couple years ago. I was riding the trails behind my house, which are fast, flowing single track. Not very technical at all, and I ride it a lot, so sometimes I kind of go on auto-pilot. The trails don't get a lot of traffic, so its pretty narrow singletrack in some places, and the grass and weeds stay about knee deep on either side. I was zooming along and got a little wide and into the grass coming out of a turn, and hit a cedar stump hiding in the grass. I hit it hard, and I was still leaning a little from the turn and went straight down on my right side. I didn't even get unclipped, or get my hands off the handlebars and boom! I thought for sure I'd broken my collarbone, but I had full rotation without excruciating pain, so I dusted off and tried to take it easy and ride out. I made it home, but my hip started to hurt pretty good about 10 minutes into my ride out. By the time I got home it was purple, and by the next morning it was purple from my hip bone to my knee. I went to the doc and got x-rays on both, and dodged a bullet. Strained ligaments in the shoulder, and a bone bruise on the hip. I was off the bike for a couple weeks, but the bruise on my hip got nasty looking before it completely healed.  

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

7 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

So a sometime riding buddy from the trail I went OTB on just hit me up.  I hadn't told him about the collarbone.  He asked where I did it and when I told him, he said "did you hit that rock."  I'm like "what rock."  We may have an answer to why I went OTB, although I still think turning away from the stumps on this confounded slack bike set me up to go over of and when I did hit the rock.

I guess I should go recon that part of the trail while I am still gimpy.

Pedal strike seems a likely candidate.

I've gone endo from a few, the worst of which occurred between 22-25 mph and resulted in a splintered carbon fiber crank, broken alloy pedal, too many cuts and bruises to list, and "something wrong" with a rib or two on the right side that eventually healed up and went away. Could've been worse but was fortunately ejected on the downslope side and struck the ground at an angle.

 

[TwiceHorn 30851]

6 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Pedal strike seems a likely candidate.

I've gone endo from a few, the worst of which occurred between 22-25 mph and resulted in a splintered carbon fiber crank, broken alloy pedal, too many cuts and bruises to list, and "something wrong" with a rib or two on the right side that eventually healed up and went away. Could've been worse but was fortunately ejected on the downslope side and struck the ground at an angle.

 

I would have to think I would have noticed a pedal strike.  And this runout is mostly flat, it isn't some kind of rock garden.  The notion of having my front wheel turned a bit to the right, to get away from the stumps and more aligned to goalpost the trees into the woods, and hitting a rock that flopped it to 90 or enough to send me over the bars makes a lot of sense to me.

[Braff Zacklin 13299]

I misunderstood your earlier post--you're thinking you hit the rock with the front wheel and not a pedal? Hmmm. You know best, but if you would have noticed a pedal strike, how could you  not also notice your wheel hitting a rock?

Is this spot more of a hole? That would certainly be enough to grab the front wheel and cause you to go over.

Incidentally, in my worst-case accident, I was in top gear on a flat, easy section and putting in a few extra pedals before a big descent. Hit a large rock next to the trail that I'd harmlessly passed hundreds (if not thousands) of times, only I didn't notice it on this occasion because my blades were salted up from the climb and I had no peripheral. I was actually at the bottom of a power stroke when I struck the rock, which is why it cracked the pedal and destroyed the crank--torqued the left arm with a force it was never designed to bear. Dumb.

[AUinHsv 570]

Did the rock/front wheel endo on hill of life. Unfortunately I landed groin first on a pointed rock and off the ER. Had some real interesting

bruises on parts of anatomy for a few days. (luckily no pics)

[TwiceHorn 30851]

14 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I misunderstood your earlier post--you're thinking you hit the rock with the front wheel and not a pedal? Hmmm. You know best, but if you would have noticed a pedal strike, how could you  not also notice your wheel hitting a rock?

Is this spot more of a hole? That would certainly be enough to grab the front wheel and cause you to go over.

Incidentally, in my worst-case accident, I was in top gear on a flat, easy section and putting in a few extra pedals before a big descent. Hit a large rock next to the trail that I'd harmlessly passed hundreds (if not thousands) of times, only I didn't notice it on this occasion because my blades were salted up from the climb and I had no peripheral. I was actually at the bottom of a power stroke when I struck the rock, which is why it cracked the pedal and destroyed the crank--torqued the left arm with a force it was never designed to bear. Dumb.

I don't know, really.  As I said, "what rock."  Like you, I had done this drop, I dunno, half a dozen times without incident (I admit though, that usually I kind of slowed down because there are several drops one can take from that point, but this time I committed before getting there, so I was already going faster than usual).  But I'm guessing it must not be a monster rock, but just enough to take that front wheel, turned a few degrees right, and turn it, I dunno 45 degrees or more so that it became a fulcrum for me.  My big clue on this was burping the front tire.  It was deflating as I was coming to rest, but isn't punctured and the rim is not damaged.  That tells me that at some time prior to or during the crash, it got a pretty good lateral loading.

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Related question.  Tires were tubeless, Stans sealant.  Front was flat from 12/4.  Rear went flat several weeks later.  I suppose I should add a couple of ounces of sealant?  Do I need to clean out the old?

[Pescado_Rojo 19262]

Yes and yes

[TwiceHorn 30851]

Well the pin is out of my finger.  That was wild.  Those damn lidocaine injections hurt!

[G650 13335]

10 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well the pin is out of my finger.  That was wild.  Those damn lidocaine injections hurt!

I was completely desensitized to lidocaine at one point. Had to get sewn up once completely unnumbed