Mountain Biking - Ry, Miller, others?

[ryguy79]

[thewalrus]

Just bought my wife a kayak. A smaller one - more of a fun, flat water, touring kayak - that's also good for everything up to class two rivers (but you'd have to be brave). Reviews say it's easy to paddle, but that it doesn't have a ton of storage space, and it isn't super fact. I've got to get one for myself, now, too. I'll probably go for a more traditional touring / sea kayak. Something in the 14 foot range that'd be good for kayak-camping and photography. So stable, lots of storage space, and decently quick.

Getting a carrier installed on our car on Monday.

[ryguy79]

Nice. With all the rain and snowmelt the rivers are higher than I'm comfortable with, haven't been kayaking since April. Might be a while till they come down unless the weather changes drastically.

[thewalrus]

Well, I just converted a not insubstantial amount of my MGB money into a 16 foot Trak folding Kayak. A really nice weekend camping / short excursion touring kayak. You can load them up quite nicely, they're stable, quick, and well designed sea kayaks. Should be arriving next week sometime.

So, I know own two Trek bikes, and a Trak boat. Awesome. Photos to come when it arrives. Got a black one, just like this:



Though to start, I'll be using it more like this:



Got the black top on white hull. Looks awesome. Very stealthy on the water. Pretty pumped to take it out next weekend.

[ryguy79]

Cool! If I'd stayed in northern Michigan I definitely would have had a sea kayak. Went a couple times on Lake Superior, renting, and loved it.

I have been busy, bike wise. Have a 2014 Yeti SB66 frame coming. Tore down my Pivot Firebird to sell the frame, moving wheels/drivetrain/dropper seatpost/seat/bars over. Have new SRAM Guide brakes and a newer Lyrik fork that I reduced the travel down to 150mm to match the travel of the frame.

Also rebuilding my Iron Horse for lift served duty. New shock, new handlebars, new seat and seatpost. Have a 2 degree slacker angled headset that's not yet installed to make it handle better downhill. Need a few more things to get it rideable, but its close.

Rebuild




Adios


Hello!


Jared Graves won a lot of enduro world series races on the full carbon version this bike before the SB6c came out. Mine is aluminum front, carbon rear. In fact, both of my Yetis are aluminum front/carbon rear now.

[thewalrus]

Sweet! Sounds like you're getting closer to your perfect bike. I looked pretty closely at Yetis here in Edmonton when I bought my Trek. They had a pretty bad selection at our local store - only really expensive stuff and nothing in my size.

[ryguy79]

I'm totally hooked on them, being an hour south of their headquarters in Golden has made me biased. I see a lot of Yetis on the trails here. There are lots of good bikes and brands out there, and aside from possibly a fatbike, I don't see myself buying much else for the foreseeable future. Since they're going 100% carbon with the exception of the DH bike, I may be buying used for a while too. But this SB66 is only a year old, appears nearly brand new (just got it today), and cost less than a third of a brand new frame, so I hope to get a few seasons out of it before I need to scratch the itch again and find a used SB6c at that time.

I love bike depreciation. Last new bike I bought was in 2007, but was old stock 2005 model and was half price, and I've built used frames since then.

[ryguy79]

Officially best bike I've owned.

[thewalrus]

[ryguy79]

[thewalrus]

Started riding into work now. Adds about 20 km of biking to my day, which is awesome. Took the Marin - and ended up bombing around on some nicely groomed gravel trails on the way home. Felt fantastic. The agility and speed of a road bike, but surrounded by the scenery and fresh air of nature.

[ryguy79]

That's awesome. Looks way better than sitting in a car!

[ryguy79]

CRASH. Ouch. Got a bit off line, caught my handlebar on a bush that happens to be right at the top of a good sized drop, came off the bike mid air thanks to the bush ripping the bars out of my hands, and hit the ground at about 20mph. Dented my brand fucking new Smith Forefront helmet but my head feels fine. So I guess it did its job. Its not a cheap helmet though! Most comfortable I've ever worn.

Also either broke or sprained a finger, have a huge nasty bruise on one shin (thought I might have broken my leg at first), and think I at least bruised a rib.

[millertime]

[ryguy79]

lol.

I rode an easy 15 miles yesterday on my hardtail, but every root and rock made it feel like someone was punching me in my rib.

[ryguy79]

A nice Foes Racing promo video shot by a local shop at some local trails. This trail network was across the street from my first apartment in Colorado and I used to ride there almost daily, still try to ride there at least once a month. So good.

https://youtu.be/WKZpXySxQ8I

[ryguy79]

And now, despite my current love affair with Yeti (which really started 5 or so years back when I rode a 575 at a demo) I still have a soft spot for Cannondale, and this has me wanting another. 120mm travel 27.5+ tires with a lefty, the coolest fork out there.

http://www.cannondale.com/nam_en/2016/b ... d-habit-23

[thewalrus]

[ryguy79]

[ryguy79]

So, this thing followed me home. Can't wait for snow.



http://surlybikes.com/bikes/ice_cream_truck_2015