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This is what's wrong with The Industry™

Leafy

Monkey
Sep 13, 2019
552
361
if you watched the video you wouldn’t have passed it here. He explained why some trails there were better paved and that there’s still tons of tech trails there. No one complains when a new paved velosolutions pump track gets installed.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,579
19,602
Canaderp
I'm starting to as councils provide them as an alternative to proper dirt jumps they're closing down.
That blows yeah.

Any city run dirt jump or pump track here has failed miserably. They almost always put zero maintenance into them and also don't want anyone doing volunteer work (liability or some shit probably). It sucks.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,485
20,287
Sleazattle
That blows yeah.

Any city run dirt jump or pump track here has failed miserably. They almost always put zero maintenance into them and also don't want anyone doing volunteer work (liability or some shit probably). It sucks.
The local urban pump/skills course here has become the local fecal matter, used needle, Hepatitis repository. Sadly I think Skookum actually put a lot of work into building it.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,485
20,287
Sleazattle
is that the seatac one under the bridge?


duthie still gets plenty of attention yeah?
Farther north where I-5 goes over the ship canal. I only went to ride there once and noped the fuck out. Not only do you risk an infectious disease from crashing, I feel like there is a good chance your bike would be freed from your possession. It has gone downhill a lot since then, I don't think anyone wants to take the responsibility with the risks associated with trying to clean or maintain it.

Duthie gets a ton of traffic and maintenance. It is basically MTB daycare.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,685
5,618
UK
That's a shame. The main pump track in Edinburgh was built on waste ground next to a small wooded area which was originally an old historic stairway entrance to the Royal Park but had been neglected for years and years and become littered with well... litter, (actual) shite, used needles etc. and dodgy people. Prior to the pumptrack being built a clean up of the whole area was done (arranged by local residents and suppoers of the proposed track). The pumptrack has now been there a good few years on the whole it's stayed a clean and safe shared area ever since. and the entrance to the Park is no longer a dodgy place to go.
Our councils (along with local residents and lottery funding) Have mainly used Velosolutions to design and construct the tracks so they end up not requiring a huge amount of maintenance as VS tracks are constructed in such a way as not to collect standing water and built with very durable/sustainable materials which seem to hold up remarkably well to wear and our crap weather. They're still popping up in towns all over the country and seem to be welcomed by (most) local residents.

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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,019
9,679
AK
They had the great idea here too that they'd run out the homeless camps by building trails next to and through them. All that did was make the new trails sketchy to ride. They aren't much, just some stuff that roughly parallels a bike path, but the homeless camps keep expanding and getting crazy. They'll tap into the lights for the path and run electric blankets and chargers. In the day time they'll use solar panels. Yes, solar panels.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,485
20,287
Sleazattle
They had the great idea here too that they'd run out the homeless camps by building trails next to and through them. All that did was make the new trails sketchy to ride. They aren't much, just some stuff that roughly parallels a bike path, but the homeless camps keep expanding and getting crazy. They'll tap into the lights for the path and run electric blankets and chargers. In the day time they'll use solar panels. Yes, solar panels.

No one seems to fuck with the local dirt jumps as I think the BMXers would cut them in half with shovels.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,088
6,024
borcester rhymes
Listening to the latest Pinkbike podcast with Brook Macdonald, I get the same impression as the previous interviews with him (3-4). Every time, he whines and shits on the GT bike he had at the time because it was supposedly so bad, while Gee and Rachel were both winning every race with it. Henry told him « I get you inherited the GT that the Athertons developed, so it wasn’t you that had designed it ». He said « yeah maybe it worked for Gee but we are very different riders with different riding styles ». What about Rachel? Was her riding style the same as Gee’s?

I get that it happens that someone doesn’t gel with a bike, and that’s totally fine, but when others are winning every race on it, then the bike must not be total shit. Just say that it didn’t suit you and stop shitting on the company/bike. And maybe once you’ve said it once in an interview it’s fine, but don’t bring it back up in every single interview tou do.

He also said that having a good bike is like 80% of what you need to win today and while it’s important, I don’t think that a racer’s talent and everything else only makes up for 20% of the equation. Today’s race bikes are pretty dialed and some racers switch teams/bikes and still do well on totally different bikes.

edit: He also mentions being scared on his bike for the last 4 years and that being a horrible position to be in. Basically giving all the fault to his bike for his bad results. Maybe it’s time to design his own bikes.
While I definitely think that there are riders that do well on certain bikes and worse on others, it comes down to the rider. Somebody like Gwin won on Yeti, Specialized, Intense, Trek, whatever. Somebody like Danny Hart can come in fifth on virtually anything, anywhere. And Brennan Fairclough can come in 38th on the same scott with remarkable consistency.

Except
Remember when he switched from GT to Mondraker?
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,088
6,024
borcester rhymes
I briefly tried one of those stupid oval chainrings a few years back. I feel like they're even worse with flat pedals, especially standing up (where having very even, smooth force is important). Not to mention how much noise they make from fighting the clutch on the RD.
First off, biopace and modern ovals are rotated 90*. Biopace wanted to make force output consistent through the entire pedal circle, making it harder at the top and bottom. Ovals try and make it easier at the top of the stroke, where you can't make power. Honestly I don't know which would feel worse if you were on a totally smooth and consistent surface.

What I thought the new MTB ones do is to reduce required power at the top and bottom of the stroke so that your cadence is consistent throughout 180 degrees and on real steep climbs, when you can't get that last 5* of rotation because there's a root or whatever bullshit, you drop the ring from 32 to 28t and it makes it easier to kick over. Then you're back to 32t for where you are able to put down the most power. So torque is applied consistently at the back wheel and there's a reduced potential to slip. I put one on back in 2015 and don't notice it anymore. I don't think it makes a huge difference, but I'm also not going out to buy another round ring. I do think it makes steep, 5-20ft technical climbs easier.

I run round rings on my road bikes because it's not impossible to spin smoothly. I wonder if switching to shorter cranks, where your hip angle isn't as large, reduces the benefit of ovals.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,685
5,618
UK
Pinkbike. - Today's main page highlight : Some woman you've probably never heard of has a baby

It's litterally become the daily mash
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,714
13,060
Cackalacka du Nord
Pinkbike. - Today's main page highlight : Some woman you've probably never heard of has a baby

It's litterally become the daily mash
actually she was a dominant dh racer in the southeast for a long time and a mentor to a lot of junior women riders and her hubby calls many of the dhse races and is a huge regional cycling advocate.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,019
9,679
AK
actually she was a dominant dh racer in the southeast for a long time and a mentor to a lot of junior women riders and her hubby calls many of the dhse races and is a huge regional cycling advocate.
I have a friend that raced pro that had a baby.
 

Lelandjt

Turbo Monkey
Apr 4, 2008
2,522
850
Breckenridge, CO/Lahaina,HI
Whenever I go to buy bike stuff anymore I feel like the industry is giving it to me rough and raw!
That's the way I feel seeing ads these days splashed all over the internet for 30-50% off high end bike parts and completes. That's employee purchase levels of discount and I work for really low pay to get them. Dentists are supposed to pay retail.
Has me questioning if I should start training for a new trade, but the bong's already in my hand, the double I started building yesterday needs a landing, and this could be the last day over 60° until March.
 
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