Mountain Bikes!

Nah dude, maybe I'm not explaining it well. The idea that the steering should be centered goes against nearly everything we know about how bicycles and motorcycles work.

Think about when you're leaned over and you suddenly lose traction. Whether you lose the front or the rear, you counter steer to bring the bike up, no? Forcing the steering back to center (or holding it at center) after you already lost traction means you'll almost always crash. The bars should never be forced to center, its a very different conept from being stabilized at where the bars would naturally land at any given lean angle, which relates there your corner speed, your mechanical trail, tire shape, etc.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cNmUNHSBac?t=450

Er, go to 7:25 or so.

 

I guess this will get into the interesting discussion of 'what are your bars doing when leaned over in a turn' ... on a motorcycle at 50mph in a left hand turn (on track) are my bars to the left, or are they 'straight' during the turn? Yes, I agree when I lose the front I weight the outside peg and put force into the bars to turn right to lift the bike up.

Does a 20lb bike at 25mph react the same? I'm not sure ... with knobbies on my yz250 I just gas it and use the rear to save the front.

I'm just saying its an interesting concept and I'd like to try it out. The advantage will be on gnarly downhill enduro trails likely in race situations. Not amateur XC or even 'all trail' , since most enduro and DH trail don't have switchbacks and singletrack the concept of what K.I.S. does is not necessarily negative given the trend to stupid head tube angles.

Now, if they start claiming it benefits XC race bikes I'd like to hear from the riders. Either way I wouldn't mind trying it out a few dozen times to see how it works.

I love innovation and thinking outside the box and this has clearly split the mtn biking community - which IMO is good.

 

Honestly, this stuff is to make money - like all "innovation" in the consumer market. Sometimes its legitimately "game changing better" like droppers. Other times (and more often) its snake oil at worst, or imperceptible gains for 90% of the riding community at best. Who is using it in racing? Like - does Canyon run it on their EWC teams? Or XC racers? I'm not sure as I haven't really even looked into it because I am not even close to being the market for a new bike, but sometimes I do wonder, with a skeptic eye, how much "innovation" in the cycling world is actually real innovation.

 

They said they tested it in practices this year but haven't used it competitively from what I've been able to find. Its going to be on all their Strive race bikes for next season.

 

Then if that is case, I would maybe consider it with higher esteem and it probably should be taken more seriously for those that are "serious" about what the ride their MTB on lol.

 

I haven't seen anything about them putting it on the Strive, only the Spectral.

I'm all for innovation, but this is one that I have read about and looked at and just flat haven't seen any reason for. It would be interesting to ride just to feel it I guess.

 

Check out the Cane Creek Viscoset, it was released a few years ago as an aftermarket part, but they haven't really marketed it other than throw a product page on their website. On MTBR, it's seen some use among the snowbikers, I think I'm gonna give it a try on my "downcountry" bike.

It's more like a Scotts radial damper than a linear, but instead of forcing hydraulic fluid through a small orifice, you adjust the amount of damping by stacking the plates to create less or more friction surfaces.

https://canecreek.com/product/viscoset/

Damper makes more sense in my head than this rope spring thing.

 

Bit of a change of pace? My Mongoose fat tire budget bike special. All the bits are Amazon including those highly sought after “Faux” 32 forks lol. Actually rides quite nice.

 

I want to try a big motor e-fatbike. Now that seems like it would be riot.

 

This looks like it would be the cat's ass for sure.

https://www.lamerecycles.com/esummit



...priced accordingly too - https://shop.lamerecycles.com/esummit.html

 

yeah that looks stupid rad - but more than my actual race bike (motorcycle) lol

 

What do you guys ride in in cooler weather? Obviously you don't want to be over dressed, but pneumonia doesn't sound all that appealing either. I'm wondering about pants mainly.

Say 30-40°

 

Thermal tights, wool socks, good base layer with coat, jacket, and a couple pairs of gloves to have, depending on the weather.

We ride fat bikes up here all winter, all temps. Main thing is keeping your hands and feet warm/dry.

 

I'm wearing this festive ensemble...
I'll spare you the before pics but good news is my face protected my new Yeti from that mean ole' granite lurking under the leaves of my less than favorite downhill.

 

Dangit

 

woof... speedy recovery.

 

Shit I thought bikes were safe and motorcycles were dangerous?

 

Lori tells me I get hurt more on my MTB, than I ever did on a racebike.

 

Fine....

Once I got up and saw what happened I damn near passed out. Luckily not a scratch on her and all the carbon is intact. She's in my Dining Room recouping for the winter with my Kona while I sort my limbs out.