NOR-CAL General Chat.

[Vivek]

You expect a mystery engine to live 40k miles?

Ugly but true equation:

dead BMW + $1k engine = will not run for 40k miles.

I think a Toyota Corolla is calling your name.

That was my point. I was explaining why I wouldn't wanna do it because for the same money I can get an m42 with a warrantee from a wrecker. The only issue is actually finding one.

[Pantless Spency]

Y'all are boring

[BlackbirdM3]

What do you mean by "they lack gearing"?

I mean just that. I was the only person running 3 chainrings up front (24/36/46) and I was pedaling away from the group everywhere. My 36/28 combo is a lot taller than a 32/36 or whatever the common 1 by 10 setups are these days. On the flatter sections I'd be spinning comfortably in the 46/17 and drop the next closest guy who was pedaling his ass off trying to keep up with my 70 rpm spin.

In my book a triple chainring up front with a close ratio cassette still makes more sense than a single chainring with a wide ratio in the back. The triple gives you the crazy low gear to climb anything and the top end to fly on a flat or downhill. It really irritates me when people start crying that I'm going to fast for them when they are on bikes with 5+ inches of front and rear travel and not enough gearing to keep pace with a 17 year old hardtail with 3 inches of travel up front and smart gearing.

That said, I recently discovered that the road world has gone to stupid small gearing as well. Most road bikes come with a 50/36 combo up front and an 11/28 11 speed in the rear. Sweet, now my mtb is running road gearing with 3 less cogs in the rear and 4 less teeth on the big ring up front. (I used to run a 50 tooth big ring on my mtb. I kept bending them because of ground clearance issues.)

The bike industry has gone from catering to the people who want to go fast, to catering to a bunch of overly wealthy pansies. Seriously, why does and adult need juniors gearing on their road bike. I remember the days when the juniors were begging to have normal gearing because it was too short for them. Sure, a smooth fast spin is good but when you are spun out and someone on outdated parts is pulling away like you are standing still because they have taller gears, there is a problem. Seriously, why the hell do I want to buy a bike that will make me slow by limiting my gearing? Oh, what? If I want the same bike with real gearing its going to cost me $5k more? WTF? The industry has gone away from selling a quality product to selling a wannabe image. What? You want a pro peloton frame? Ok here is this (name the brand) but its a little different, the headtube is twice as tall, and it comes with childrens gearing. What? you don't like that? Why do you want a bike like what the pros ride when you can have something sort of like it but watered down and "less extreme"? If you respond that you want a bike like the pros ride, you are crazy. I'm sorry but if the pros can do 8+ hrs on their frames, I think the weekend warrior can do 1 hour on the same frame. I don't want a watered down image, I want a bad ass product that is exactly what the best riders in the world are riding.

End of rant...
Will

[StereoInstaller1]

Did you get your radio installed yet Spency? We are in Albany today, hit me up if you get stuck

[freeride53]

Good mornin' yall. Sunday mornin' hangover ftw. No school tomorrow.

[freeride53]

Did you get your radio installed yet Spency? We are in Albany today, hit me up if you get stuck

lol wat. city of albany? as in next to berkeley?

SOOOOOOOOO much good food on solano ave.

[Bryanlopez325]

What's up guys, I'm driving up to SF/Guerneville the 6th and was wondering if anyones selling anything worth buying (suspension, convertible top, wheels)

[Wanganstyle]

I'm not sure about why MTB gearing change from the 90's is really different from today.

Back in the late 90's I raced a hard tail with 2x8 XTR M950 or sram gripshift. (Dumped the granny just got stronger)

What is so different about 2x8 compared to 2x10 or 2x9 modern setups? I think they got more gearing; cassettes went super wide.
I ran standard middle and big chain rings and 11-30 cassette.



Bikes still weight the same as 1999. My spooky darkside was 21.5lbs with coil oil marzocchi (raced for them)

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[BlackbirdM3]

I'm not sure about why MTB gearing change from the 90's is really different from today.

Back in the late 90's I raced a hard tail with 2x8 XTR M950 or sram gripshift. (Dumped the granny just got stronger)

What is so different about 2x8 compared to 2x10 or 2x9 modern setups? I think they got more gearing; cassettes went super wide.
I ran standard middle and big chain rings and 11-30 cassette.



Bikes still weight the same as 1999. My spooky darkside was 21.5lbs with coil oil marzocchi (raced for them)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Spooky makes some nice frames. I used to ride for Action Tec. The bikes have gotten heavier, more needlessly complex, and equipped more poorly. Like you I more or less ran a 2x8 but had the little ring as a bailout gear for stupidly steep stuff. I rarely used it unless I was riding a hike a bike section. Mid '90s there was a shift to the micro drive setup, running a 22/32/42 with an 11-28,11-30, or perhaps 11-32. When 9 speed came out, they dropped the 11-28 and 11-30, and went to the 11-32, or 11-34 (really, who needs a 22/34 combo? If its so steep you need that, you won't be getting enough traction to climb it anyway.) Then the small chainring started going away and the widened the ratios out even more by adding (I think) a 36 tooth cog. Now they have made the full suspension bikes with so much travel that they have dropped the front derailleur all together, leaving the rider with perhaps a single 26 tooth front ring (I didn't stop and count the teeth, but it looked to be about the same size as my granny ring.)

I just have to laugh when people mock me for showing up on a 17 year old bike and then start bitching at me that I'm too fast. Its not my fault they can't keep up on assents or descents (full of rocks or otherwise.) Its their fault they bought the poorly thought out, heavy bike that can't climb or get down a mountain quickly (despite having more suspension travel than needed) Perhaps on the next ride I do in the dirt I'll take my 21 year old S-Works steel frame with 2 inch travel Mag-21s and real cantilever brakes. If I can get away on that, they really have no room to bitch.

Will

[Wanganstyle]

Spooky makes some nice frames. I used to ride for Action Tec. The bikes have gotten heavier, more needlessly complex, and equipped more poorly. Like you I more or less ran a 2x8 but had the little ring as a bailout gear for stupidly steep stuff. I rarely used it unless I was riding a hike a bike section. Mid '90s there was a shift to the micro drive setup, running a 22/32/42 with an 11-28,11-30, or perhaps 11-32. When 9 speed came out, they dropped the 11-28 and 11-30, and went to the 11-32, or 11-34 (really, who needs a 22/34 combo? If its so steep you need that, you won't be getting enough traction to climb it anyway.) Then the small chainring started going away and the widened the ratios out even more by adding (I think) a 36 tooth cog. Now they have made the full suspension bikes with so much travel that they have dropped the front derailleur all together, leaving the rider with perhaps a single 26 tooth front ring (I didn't stop and count the teeth, but it looked to be about the same size as my granny ring.)

I just have to laugh when people mock me for showing up on a 17 year old bike and then start bitching at me that I'm too fast. Its not my fault they can't keep up on assents or descents (full of rocks or otherwise.) Its their fault they bought the poorly thought out, heavy bike that can't climb or get down a mountain quickly (despite having more suspension travel than needed) Perhaps on the next ride I do in the dirt I'll take my 21 year old S-Works steel frame with 2 inch travel Mag-21s and real cantilever brakes. If I can get away on that, they really have no room to bitch.

Will

Hahaha seriously. People don't understand that it's just easier to float the hard tail over stuff; faster too!

26" worked.



Then 29ers to bandwagon off what??

Stupidity.

650b is even dumber. Just give me a 1999 alumium frame with any decent fork and it will eat anything modern.

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[Thizzelle]

How the fuck do u get brake booster out without taking manifold off?
Thinking about un doing motor mounts then lifting engine up a bit or is there another way?

[BlackbirdM3]

Hahaha seriously. People don't understand that it's just easier to float the hard tail over stuff; faster too!

26" worked.



Then 29ers to bandwagon off what??

Stupidity.

650b is even dumber. Just give me a 1999 alumium frame with any decent fork and it will eat anything modern.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Agreed. At least I'm not the only retro-junkie who likes to roost on outdated parts. The 29 and 650B ideas were all tried in the '80s and found to be failures. Now, hey, looks whats back? Same with the wide rim thing. Its like being zapped into a parallel universe where things that have already been tried and deemed failures are new again :loco:

I have to admit, as much as I loved my Scandium Action-Tec, I really do love the ride of Titanium.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

If anyone is interested in some autoX seat time, we are doing another autoX day in the paddock at Sears Point this weekend. Right now we have 12 people signed up. That means HOURS of seat time for $75. We will have people who can ride along and give tips as well. This is Saturday. We also have a tentative one we can run on Sunday as well if we get some more people signed up. I'll be out with the Datsun.

http://trackmasters-racing.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.eventDetails&event_id=124

Come on out and have some fun. PM me if you need any more info.

Will

[bastianshaw]

anyone have a coupe stock speakers laying around?

[freeride53]

If anyone is interested in some autoX seat time, we are doing another autoX day in the paddock at Sears Point this weekend. Right now we have 12 people signed up. That means HOURS of seat time for $75. We will have people who can ride along and give tips as well. This is Saturday. We also have a tentative one we can run on Sunday as well if we get some more people signed up. I'll be out with the Datsun.

http://trackmasters-racing.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.eventDetails&event_id=124

Come on out and have some fun. PM me if you need any more info.

Will

God damn it. Exactly what I've been wanting to do...but I'm moving back to the bay area in 2 weeks :( Will there be another one of these events in July or late June?