JBV2 profile

i thought 'chunder pig' was a novel and humourously refreshing descriptor. especially after 'weapon' ugh.

a rollicking review of a fascinating bike. what a looker. i've wondered about that head angle, so incredibly slack, but probably what's needed to ride with confidence in its terroir.

indeed, and subset of trails chosen to ride must play a role. one can think of the shore like it's all the 5th Horseman, which of course, it isn't. shameless plug for my Tranny Smuggler, which i experience in the way Cam experienced this steed.

interesting and definitely thorough! curious that you enjoyed it on the downs so much, normally 68HA and 34 forks are the subject of derision on NSMB for shore riding, understandably. why would you have run such high pressures with the 29 tires? the 2.3 DHF is a light and small tire for that neck o the woods, i'm confident the 2.5 DHF could be safely run closer to 20 and a thick casing tire such as the Aggressor DD or Spesh grid Butcher or Hillbilly (my current front tire, very thick and damp casing) the low 20's for a much better ride and grip. Clearly this bike did something very right for you and must have been a perfect fit. Love it when that happens.

well i'll be…..

i like this guy.

when first posted i watched a lot of it. indeed he's quite interesting here and one can see the mutual respect amongst the elite riders. also, he really pushes a 140mm 29er, wow. i thought it was all 160mm bikes in this kind of race.

Hnnnnnnnngg!

OMG, no stiffness comparison commentary!!??!! what's a fork review without going on about degrees of stiffness?!

is that trail even steep?

prognostications on the evil of the algorithm and Big Data. scary stuff, like, real fucking scary.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28186015-weapons-of-math-destruction

no shit eh?! some live footage in later years, the band slows down. based on the comments some guys hate it. it's because Ozzy is such a mess and they have to play low and slow. from the vids i've seen it's great. sludgy Sabbath all the way.

a buddy forwarded me a link recently announcing "Black Sabbath's final concert". to my mind the real Sabbath has been dead a long time, but you know how these things go. (worth a google, some good footage) i can't say i blame the old guys for wanting to get together and play that incredible music again and make some bucks doing it. the older they get the more they themselves must be amazed at what they achieved. personally, i think that few people truly understand the scale of the contribution of this mostly obscure band had on rock that came after. to the uninitiated, the name and imagery are too much to look past and that's where it ends. to the curious and patient, they are an eccentric art rock band of immense and utterly unique creativity. but i digress……

there are so so many, and there is no definitive answer (but i bet someone could program an algorithm to measure 'fatness')

my vote is Sweet Leaf. the original and ultimate shoe gazing masterpiece. a riff so fat, greasy and dirty your wife won't want it in the house.

advertising agency conversation:
hmmm, maybe lets just play some muzak over the drivel that she's speaking and we'll just gawk at her and the chain instead. whatdyathink? good idea Bob, let's run with that.

Make sure the sales guy has your name, phone number, and what you want to pay. Walk away now and let him come to you at the end of the month if he hasn't met his target.

a guy i used to know thought he was cool, used to write down what he wanted to pay for a car on his bus. card and just hand it to the salesman and say 'call me' and leave. i asked if it ever worked and he said no.

BOA is a lot tougher than you'd think. Helmet retention web is a great place for it. I tried on a Specialized AM helmet that utilized a BOA tightening system and was really impressed with it.

None of my helmets have MIPS. Maybe the next one will, who knows.

Surprised so few people ride with a mouth guard

i've wondered the same thing about mouth guards. when i think of the speeds hurtling down tight rocky trails lined with trees the potential for trauma is insane. i see some of the local bro brahs get more injured all the time chasing records. lots of facial injuries and of course no one wears a full face (or mouth guard, or elbow pads, etc)

anyone have experience with this tread? i read a highly favourable review and was looking for a front tire so ordered one up. it's a thick heavy casing, thicker and firmer than EXO, a bit closer to DD. supple and rubbery though. a real challenge to mount in a cold garage, i can't imagine this thing burping. it's a bit narrow and i wonder about how far the knobs go over the side of the tire (not very) but i doubt that i really get that kind of lean angle on the bike to be a concern. compared to a DHF 2.5 though it looks narrow and the prominent sticky knobs are more upright and square. i've only ridden on it twice and it was good and i can ride these at very low pressures, but just a sample ride really. i'm tempted to get one for the rear as i think it would provide incredible traction and rim protection at the cost of some drag.

after the varsol, or initial solvent degreaser, what's the next chemical cleaner to remove the first one? how many rinses n baths before you get down to the final MEK super high volatility squeaky clean leave no residue to contaminate the new stuff end rinse?

a video from Artscyclery shows the mechanic taking off the rear triangle then using a needle nosed pliers (closed) to rotate the bearings around. says they can get stuck due to so little rotation. well my my, hasn't the last week just been a massive edumacation on all things bearings and grease. the amt of videos and bike websites (roadies analyze bb bearings and grease and wheel bearings ad nauseum) out there is amazing. i'm a fucking closet engineer by now.

here's a good video on how to clean and relube your bearings. i can see doing this every six months on all pivot bearings for max life. as a bonus the background song is that great song from that cool band…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97xYjQSTCow