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This is what's wrong with The Industry™

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,337
5,095
Ottawa, Canada
He got 168m views on his last snow edit.

Some of the freeriders around here only ride bikes and shuttle year round. No sking, snowboarding nor fat bikes. They all make/use these diy spiked tires. Vinny T does a lot of that stuff.

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To maximise views, I wouldn't be surprised if the UCI snow bike races were 4x-style, with those spikey tires mandatory. a proper bloodsport.

Its a decoy man, the trail is over there!


The nordic skiers are a delicate bunch. We've been yelled at and talked to, for crossing over the groomed trails before.

As far as I'm concerned, once the sun goes down, the forest is free game (on public land of course). We've run into a few skiers at night, also with lights, and they've been pretty cool. I think some might have been doing some shrooms a few times, but thats a story for another day.
I'm of two minds on this. I both fatbike and nordic ski. I've poached nordic ski trails a bunch on my bike, and I'm very mindful of not leaving a rut. caus' when there's a rut or boot prints, it can make it pretty much impossible to ski. I think the big difference (here at least) is that nordic skiers pay a lot more for access to the trails (those piston bullies aren't cheap and don't drive and maintain themselves).

Our nordic ski club (on privately owned land) has granted access to the adjacent mountain bike trail centre that grooms fatbike trails in the winter to use a portion of their land and cross a few ski trails. it works fine. It's been three years now that the arrangement is working. I think with a bit of goodwill on both sides, everyone wins.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,002
9,665
AK
To maximise views, I wouldn't be surprised if the UCI snow bike races were 4x-style, with those spikey tires mandatory. a proper bloodsport.


I'm of two minds on this. I both fatbike and nordic ski. I've poached nordic ski trails a bunch on my bike, and I'm very mindful of not leaving a rut. caus' when there's a rut or boot prints, it can make it pretty much impossible to ski. I think the big difference (here at least) is that nordic skiers pay a lot more for access to the trails (those piston bullies aren't cheap and don't drive and maintain themselves).

Our nordic ski club (on privately owned land) has granted access to the adjacent mountain bike trail centre that grooms fatbike trails in the winter to use a portion of their land and cross a few ski trails. it works fine. It's been three years now that the arrangement is working. I think with a bit of goodwill on both sides, everyone wins.
If I ride my bike on the ski trails, will they please ski on our fatbike trails for revenge?

 

William42

fork ways
Jul 31, 2007
3,927
671
I don't mean to hurt anybodies feelings, but why don't you just move somewhere fucking better where you don't have to deal with snow?

Or do a snow sport that's actually fun, like alpine skiing or snowmobiling?

Like, there are options out there. You don't have to pick an inferior sport that sucks in every way.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,002
9,665
AK
I don't mean to hurt anybodies feelings, but why don't you just move somewhere fucking better where you don't have to deal with snow?

Or do a snow sport that's actually fun, like alpine skiing or snowmobiling?

Like, there are options out there. You don't have to pick an inferior sport that sucks in every way.
because riding snow trails is sublime.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,002
9,665
AK
Either you don't know the proper meaning of sublime, or your snow trails are sublime. :D
The snow trails are sublime.

The newest trail is "Free Beer" and a masterpiece of bridge-construction and weaving in and out of the trees. We are going to work on the trail in the picture tonight, try to rehab it back for the friend that initially tried setting it. A lot of it IMO is "bulletproofing" it during the initial construction, without connecting the ends so wandering post-holers think it's a good idea to hit. So I don't connect it until it's ready for significant traffic, so it doesn't get wasted fast. Moose can have the same effect, so it needs to be packed enough for that too. Then it goes to construction, reinforcing edges so waddlers don't chew it all out and it becomes a crooked 6" balance-beam and is actually fun to ride. The amount of work to payoff ratio is way way higher than summer trail construction, so you get stuff built a lot faster. The trail tonight is a steep DH trail and should be fun to work on, it'll make one more connector. They are especially fun to hit a little later in the season when it's starting to warm up, early in the morning when it's rock hard and no one else is out.

These areas "explode" in the winter with something like ten-fold more trails than exist in the winter time.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,332
879
coloRADo
Sports Illustrated. Out of business.

Maybe this is "Right" for the industry, actually. But really, don't be SI. I'm talking to you all you ass-piring writers, photogs, editors, etc.

You had one job to do. You might as well be selling Bud Light at Target. FFS.

(Due to my BIKE subscription running out, I got moved to Men's Health or Outside or something. Then it became SI. I have never wanted to throw away a magazine faster, and I love print.)
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,332
879
coloRADo
and the company that owned the publishing rights to SI owns this website :)

Well at least you guys play sports. Or at least pretend to ride bikes. And that's all I need :) All 12 of us.

Worlds DH Watch Party in Fort Collins, CO, USA this year! Then we'll smash some rocks. Maybe get 3 feet of air. Bed Bath And Beyond, maybe some Home Depot, IDK It'll be crazy. :D
 
Sports Illustrated. Out of business.

Maybe this is "Right" for the industry, actually. But really, don't be SI. I'm talking to you all you ass-piring writers, photogs, editors, etc.

You had one job to do. You might as well be selling Bud Light at Target. FFS.

(Due to my BIKE subscription running out, I got moved to Men's Health or Outside or something. Then it became SI. I have never wanted to throw away a magazine faster, and I love print.)
The only magazine that I receive is Mother Jones.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,226
4,480
I hoarded 26” tires ten years ago. Still have a lifetime worth. Not exactly proud of this.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,002
9,665
AK
Mastodon sucking down again. Asinine air spring for cold weather riding. Apart from not enough width on a lot of snow trails to set the bike down to access the air valve on the BOTTOM where you have to pull the fork apart at the same time to make sure it's not sucking down while the pump engages the negative spring, differences in temperature, pump readings and trying to balance front and rear spring just make this an asinine solution for something intended to be ridden in the cold. Why why why didn't they just put a goddamn coil spring in there. Manitou always does this, in 9 out of 10 areas they make a real good product that beats the competition, and then in that last area, they just go full retard.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,226
4,480
And they’ve probably all aged out at this point and feel like rocks.
They still feel miraculously good. Put a new set on last summer. No dry rot or hardness in sight. Part of the reason I have so many is that I stopped going through them as fast… and as a result, they lasted forever. Also, changed my view on what a worn tire really was. Has side knobs? It’s fine :)
 

FlipSide

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,387
826
They still feel miraculously good. Put a new set on last summer. No dry rot or hardness in sight. Part of the reason I have so many is that I stopped going through them as fast… and as a result, they lasted forever. Also, changed my view on what a worn tire really was. Has side knobs? It’s fine :)
Same. As things are, I will never use up my 27.5" tires backlog unless I go mullet on my next enduro bike.

I really need to work on myself and retire my tires sooner. I generally decide to retire a tire when it gets dangerous. I have always done that for some reason. I spend stupid amounts of money on everything related to bikes, but I am the worst cheapskate when it comes to tires.
 
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SkaredShtles

Michael Bolton
Sep 21, 2003
65,746
12,765
In a van.... down by the river
Same. As things are, I will never use up my 27.5" tire backlog unless I go mullet on my next enduro bike.

I really need to work on myself and retire my tires sooner. I generally decide to retire a tire when it gets dangerous. I have always done that for some reason. I spend stupid amount of money on everything related to bikes, but I am the worst cheapskate when it comes to tires.
You got any 27.5" Michelin Wild Rock'R2's?

Asking for a friend... :D
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
and in the continuing saga of big changes at Santa Cruz... joeg is out: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-ceo-joe-graney-out-at-pon-holdings.html

I feel like with the way GM was shown the door, he was the last of the old guard? That company used to have 'soul' (whatever the eff that means). I'm not really sure what appeal those bikes have anymore going forward...

Hey @joeg

Grab a few whiskey honesty drinks and come back and let us know what's up. Nobody reads this website, it's just between us.

Hope it was an amenable arrangement.
 

Leafy

Monkey
Sep 13, 2019
552
361
and in the continuing saga of big changes at Santa Cruz... joeg is out: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/santa-cruz-ceo-joe-graney-out-at-pon-holdings.html

I feel like with the way GM was shown the door, he was the last of the old guard? That company used to have 'soul' (whatever the eff that means). I'm not really sure what appeal those bikes have anymore going forward...
The appeal is that they come in colors other than black. At least that’s why there’s currently 2 Juliana and 1 SC in my basement that belong to my wife.