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why DECLINE doesn't cut it for me

cmc

cmc

Turbo Monkey
Nov 17, 2006
2,052
6
austin
from Sept. 2008:

"One spec item worth mentioning is the fact that the Nighttrain comes from the factory with a rear brake only, but we added an Avid Juicy 3 front brake and a 6 inch rotor to match the rear stopper setup. It is DECLINE policy to mount a front brake toa llthe bikes we test. DECLINE is a mountain bike publication and as a safety measure we recommend two brakes for all-terrain riding, like what you see in each issue of DECLINE. Many riders may chuckle at a front brake on a dirt jump/street bike, but it's our responsibility to let the groms know that they need a little extra stopping power if they want to head out on the mountain (Whistler Bike Park, for example); you can't send a man in to (sic) battle with a BB gun. . . . "

unlike downhillers, most of the DJ/skatepark/street scene does not live near a mountain. am i right?



...... i still appreciate what it does cover though... and if i was on a mountain i'd definitely try downhill.
 
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siege

siege

Monkey
Sep 30, 2006
155
0
kapolei, Hi
id rather read another stupid what bike should i buy or what wheels should i get than slander on America's best mtb publication. take your whining to the street and ride your bike. booya
 
T

t1maglio

Monkey
Oct 29, 2001
855
0
southern wisconsin
CMC, I'm with ya. Sounds like the Decline boys need to take off their skirts and try doing something with out their safety net front brake. I took mine off years ago and have never regretted it.
 
T

t1maglio

Monkey
Oct 29, 2001
855
0
southern wisconsin
I think what hes saying is if your testing a DJ bike, probably test it for what its ment for. Its like taking a XC bike and putting an 8" fork on it. Sure it might help the bike absorb big hits better but its a little un-neccesary. DJ bikes don't really need a front brake, thats not to say you can't run one, but if your testing a bike it would seem like that whole section could have been left out. Test the bike the way it is, on the terrain it was intended, and save the soapbox for another day.
 
cmc

cmc

Turbo Monkey
Nov 17, 2006
2,052
6
austin
not meant as slander. it just used to seem like DJ was an afterthought for DECLINE. but looks to be changing. and i spoke too soon on the Sept issue. it has a lotta DJ and even covered my hometown. keep it up.
 
P

pain

Monkey
Mar 15, 2006
264
0
t1maglio said:
I think what hes saying is if your testing a DJ bike, probably test it for what its ment for. Its like taking a XC bike and putting an 8" fork on it. Sure it might help the bike absorb big hits better but its a little un-neccesary. DJ bikes don't really need a front brake, thats not to say you can't run one, but if your testing a bike it would seem like that whole section could have been left out. Test the bike the way it is, on the terrain it was intended, and save the soapbox for another day.
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t sounds like decline is trying to save there asses oncase something happens
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,920
24,495
media blackout
thats whats great about biking, you can always figure out a way to get your kicks in no matter where you are.

also, i guess in terms of decline (and magazines in general for that matter), you gotta cover what's happening. in the scope of the "mountain biking" world, there's far more slopestyle comps and DH races than there are straight up DJ comps.
 
E.T.

E.T.

Monkey
Feb 23, 2004
128
0
NorCal
To be honest most dirt jumpers could really use a front brake FOR THE DIRT JUMPS. I have seen so many kids at the local dirt jumps skidding up or off of lips out of control when they screw up. This works wonders for the lips and pisses me off. Route your front brake through the steerer tube if you're actually doing barspins or tailwhips (which 95% of the kids aren't) otherwise invest in a front brake and save the skids for the asphalt.

Now who on earth would want to ride a dirt jump bike down Whistler? Beats me... :crazy:
 
Windowlicker

Windowlicker

Monkey
Dec 27, 2007
443
0
Santa Cruz
I dont know about you guys but i still it fun to rip down trails on the DJ bike with only a rear brake. Me and my buddies used to rip down part of the trail that Cam McCaul rode in NWD6 and then take the 1 mile or so ride over to Post Office in Aptos.

Decline is just trying to cover their asses.
 
T

t1maglio

Monkey
Oct 29, 2001
855
0
southern wisconsin
Lol, I used to go out with the local MTB club and school most of the guys on my 20". We would ride down the knarliest hills, ride at night, passing guys the whole time. Its just a matter of if your used to it.

I wonder if it would make sense for a review of DH bike to say they took the front brake off because it just wasn't condusive for dirtjumping. I'm not arguing that front brakes have their place, its just a dumb way to review a DJ bike.
 
CRoss

CRoss

Turbo Monkey
Nov 20, 2006
1,329
0
The Ranch
Posers get all concerned about what brakes you have on your bike.

Real men could give a **** as long as you are riding.
 
sealclubber

sealclubber

Monkey
Nov 21, 2007
543
10
if anything front brakes are quite dangerous on djs. nothing like puttin your hand back on the bar and grabbin all the front brake you have. definitely not fun going otb into the lip of the next jump
 
N

nwd_26

Monkey
Nov 29, 2007
184
0
Toronto, Onterrible
sealclubber said:
if anything front brakes are quite dangerous on djs. nothing like puttin your hand back on the bar and grabbin all the front brake you have. definitely not fun going otb into the lip of the next jump
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Strikes me as blaming the bike...skidding ruins jumps, anyways.

fun fact: last summer, I ran front brake only on my street/xc/jump bike. Why? I wanted something different, I had just converted to singlespeed, unlimited barspins, and I like doing endoes more than I like skidding. Pretty fun, but the **** I got was unbelievable. People didn't seem to understand that I could stop faster, with less skidding, and that at the end of the day which brake(s) you run are your choice.

By the way, this summer, I'm rear brake only again, but wishing for a front brake.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,920
24,495
media blackout
Windowlicker said:
Decline is just trying to cover their asses.
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Bingo. In today's lawsuit happy American society, I could definitely see some dumb rich kid picking up a copy of Decline, reading about a dope DJ bike and deciding he wants it despite no real DJ/mtb experience, convincing mommy and daddy to drive their BMW down to the bike shop, and getting him a bike without a front brake. Then when he convinces them to go to Diablo (or insert lift access mountain here) because he saw what sick jumps and trails they have. Poor little rich kid gets himself in over his head on the trails, and goes OTB and breaks his neck because he wasn't able to control the bike. Mommy and daddy go apesh*t and sue the mountain for having those kinds of jumps and features that are dangerous. They'll sue the bike company for manufacturing a bike without a front brake. They'll sue the bike shop for selling a bike without a front brake. And they'll sue Decline for reviewing a bike with no front brake. And all because they're the average modern American, too stupid and with too much of a sense of entitlement to take responsibility for their own actions, and would never hold their own precious son accountable for his own actiosn because all 3 of them are from the shallow end of the gene pool.

Yea its worst case scenario paranoia, but have you watched the news lately? :crazy:
 
RUFUS

RUFUS

e-douche of the year
Dec 1, 2006
3,480
1
Denver, CO
jonKranked said:
Bingo. In today's lawsuit happy American society, I could definitely see some dumb rich kid picking up a copy of Decline, reading about a dope DJ bike and deciding he wants it despite no real DJ/mtb experience, convincing mommy and daddy to drive their BMW down to the bike shop, and getting him a bike without a front brake. Then when he convinces them to go to Diablo (or insert lift access mountain here) because he saw what sick jumps and trails they have. Poor little rich kid gets himself in over his head on the trails, and goes OTB and breaks his neck because he wasn't able to control the bike. Mommy and daddy go apesh*t and sue the mountain for having those kinds of jumps and features that are dangerous. They'll sue the bike company for manufacturing a bike without a front brake. They'll sue the bike shop for selling a bike without a front brake. And they'll sue Decline for reviewing a bike with no front brake. And all because they're the average modern American, too stupid and with too much of a sense of entitlement to take responsibility for their own actions, and would never hold their own precious son accountable for his own actiosn because all 3 of them are from the shallow end of the gene pool.

Yea its worst case scenario paranoia, but have you watched the news lately? :crazy:
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You are the smartest person on the internet right now, seriously.
Every single person in America wants to sue somebody for something at all times. I agree with Decline covering their own ass by picturing a front brake.
Everybody is looking for an easy buck and someone to blame it on.
Pathetic abut true
 
T

t1maglio

Monkey
Oct 29, 2001
855
0
southern wisconsin
jonKranked said:
Bingo. In today's lawsuit happy American society, I could definitely see some dumb rich kid picking up a copy of Decline, reading about a dope DJ bike and deciding he wants it despite no real DJ/mtb experience, convincing mommy and daddy to drive their BMW down to the bike shop, and getting him a bike without a front brake. Then when he convinces them to go to Diablo (or insert lift access mountain here) because he saw what sick jumps and trails they have. Poor little rich kid gets himself in over his head on the trails, and goes OTB and breaks his neck because he wasn't able to control the bike. Mommy and daddy go apesh*t and sue the mountain for having those kinds of jumps and features that are dangerous. They'll sue the bike company for manufacturing a bike without a front brake. They'll sue the bike shop for selling a bike without a front brake. And they'll sue Decline for reviewing a bike with no front brake. And all because they're the average modern American, too stupid and with too much of a sense of entitlement to take responsibility for their own actions, and would never hold their own precious son accountable for his own actiosn because all 3 of them are from the shallow end of the gene pool.

Yea its worst case scenario paranoia, but have you watched the news lately? :crazy:
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So given that logic when I flip over my bars and smash my head on my bike with its new front brake can I sue Decline? :biggrin:

I'm just playing, your probably completely right on that one.
 
cmc

cmc

Turbo Monkey
Nov 17, 2006
2,052
6
austin
ok since i started this lame thread.... lemme explain a little bit better.

ever since i started 26" i wanted to find a magazine about the DJ scene and basically covering a lot of the issues we are all talking about on this board all the time. (lowering forks, bikes with ultra short cs, posting pics of trails, etc). DECLINE is a downhill magazine. therefore it doesn't do THAT for ME. --------> pretty simple. i'm not saying DECLINE sucks. nor that front brakes suck.

a fully DJ magazine (with staff who all had DJ bikes) would not have required their staff to add a front brake to a DJ bike in order to test it. to me it was just a small example that the management at the magazine that was setting the "policy" was out of touch with where MTBMX/DJ is right now.

similarly, you don't see disclaimers in every issue of DIG or RIDE UK about brakeless bmx being dangerous for street riding and crowded skateparks.

there are companies now making bmx frames without brake mounts. what's their lawsuit risk !!??

lastly.... DECLINE is a rad magazine and i still look forward to every issue.
 
S

Savage_Animal

Monkey
Feb 3, 2008
658
0
Norcal
I think you should really look into the Dirt UK mag. The bike scene over their is way better then here... no joke. I read an a few articles, one was about this guy that was riding chainless so he could do fakie whips on a quarter. pretty legit. Check it: http://www.dirtmag.co.uk/
 
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