syncro profile

Well that sucks - been there so can relate to the frustration of all the shit to deal with after the shock is over.

But maybe this was the universe's way of helping to answer the question " What. The. Everloving. Fuck. Have. I. Done?" when it comes to finding a more permanent replacement for the Ford?

No worries, it was just a suggestion that I figured could be of help to anyone reading.

One thing I've found that helps a ton in getting the bead seated properly is inflating the tire so it's firm and holds pressure (40psi - ish) with the wheel is on the bike and then hit the sidewall gently in a downward motion ( ie from hub to rim direction) with a soft rubber mallet. This will help pull/coax the tire bead towards the edge of the rim.  If you watch the tire, wherever the bead isn't seated fully you can see it creep to the edge of the rim with each hit.  Another thing that helps is to spray some silicone lube onto a towel/rag and wipe the tire bead and rim edge. This makes it a lot easier to get the tire on the rim as well.

If most people on the new geo frames are having to push their seat all the way forward then that tells us that either the front ends are too long OR the seat tube is in the wrong position relative to the length of the front end. Steeper seat tubes simply seem to be the way to compensate for longer front ends (reach). The thing we can't escape though is that the length from the BB and seat to the head tube is limited by the human piloting the thrill craft. So even though a longer front end might be good for descending, it's not necessarily good for pedaling. I think the new geo bikes are good, not because they are optimal in terms of riding/pedaling biomechanics, but because the old geo was just so bad and we didn't know any better. Things are better now, but we're still chasing problems. MTB bike geo is like a game of chess on a sound mixer - move one slider (dimension) up and you have to compensate by changing something else.

At the end of the day unless people are riding something horribly mis-sized or have had the chance to ride a lot of different bikes/setups to be able to understand how fit matters, I think they're not realizing how wrong their bike fit might be simply because they're having too much fun on the trails.

Hmm. I see where you're going with the elite athlete thing and agree with the sacrifices needed, but then there are also rewards for those who make it to that elite level that are often shared with family. So is that selfishness, or shared sacrifice and shared reward? Typically those sorts of people tend to be high achievers - in all aspects of their life. For example, I have a friend who lives in Whistler and has competed as a Tri athlete which has required sacrifice from family, particularly his wife. Yet his drive is also what makes him a successful business person which has provided a high standard of living for his family. He's also been a great father. Achieving excellence requires sacrifice and hard work. Sure some people stumble ass-backwards into success due to sheer luck or by birth, but most people have to work pretty hard for it, so I'd question whether that can be called selfishness or not. Maybe we are just looking at selfishness a bit differently. I see selfishness as doing things for your own gratification and not having any thoughts/concerns about who or what gets stepped on in the process. 

The toxic individualism is a different thing though, and there I think think there's a stronger case for the use of the world selfishness - even if it's ignorant selfishness.

Humility is one of those things that I think most people unfortunately aren't taught at a young age. It takes experience to learn about humility, and success at a younger age makes that more difficult. You bring up an interesting point about how rare true humility is with those who reach the top. How do we know if those people have humility? Most of us have to rely on the stories the media tells us so how do we really know what a superstar is like? In some ways I think we are also a part of that problem, as we tend to reward brashness and extravagance while tales of generosity and kindness don't get as much air time.

@Pete

Yup, people need to ignore all the marketing categorization BS. Talk to people who know bikes really well (not necessarily the sales guy at your LBS) and know how/what you like to ride in order to figure out what will probably work well for you. 

I love bikes, but I tend to loathe what the bike industry has become in terms of how it presents itself.

I think he was referring to the article - in a good way?

For my two cents seat angle is the wrong measurement/parameter we should worry about, it should be seat position. Obviously seat position is different for up and down, both vertically and horizontally. It seems that the critical question is where the seat should be in relation to the BB if pedaling efficiency and comfort are to be maximized. The problem we have as mtb'ers is the optimal seat position is in conflict with itself when it comes to the up and the down. Products like the Aenomoly Switchgrade help, but fore/aft adjustment is also needed. Imagine some sort of electronic seat post and clamp gizmo that offer 3 or 4 settings you can manipulate so the seat is always where you need it when you need it. Something for flat/mellow, steep ups, crazy downs and maybe something in between the flat and steep settings for those short little pedally sections that show-up on descent every now and then. Would you pay for such a thing? 

Is it possible to have all the adjustments necessary for optimal up and down riding positions or do we just need to accept that because we do two very different things on an mtb that we simply have to make compromises? All day pedaling comfort means we'll need to sacrifice downhill munching capabilities. There may very well be some magic design where most riders can find they can get pretty close to having it all, but that probably means getting a custom bike made by someone who knows how to take an individual's unique physical measurements and translate them to the bike's geometry. Even then, there are going to be some compromises to be made such as amount of travel, weight and cost. 

I think the solution has always been n+1, horses for courses. And maybe, recognizing that we all have some limitations we just have to deal with.

Cool article Cam, I've always fascinated by the psychology aspect of sport and it's great that you're willing to pull back the curtains on your mind and let us have a peek at what's going on in there. There are a lot of factors can influence our mindset and affect how we ride, somedays we get steak and somedays we get the horns. Something I've wondered  about with my own riding is how much improved bike tech translates to improved riding. Does the confidence that comes from things like better tires translate into being smoother on tech sections and result in riding smoother/better? I feel like you flirted with this idea a bit when you said you feel safer on the bike, does safer translate to better?

One other thing I found interesting was your comment about getting better being a fundamentally selfish endeavour, care to share any more thoughts on that? I think that getting better can be selfish, depending on what one's motivation is, but I don't know if I'd label it as inherently selfish. I'd probably even go the opposite direction and say that a desire to improve is a fairly noble and generally intrinsic quality, rooted in our evolution of wanting to achieve more than just basic survival. At heart I feel like humans have an innate desire to see what we are capable of.

A hybrid with a small diesel motor (1L?) that has just enough output to increase range capacity to say 600km in a 12 hr driving period and the ability to fully recharge the battery in 12hrs would be awesome.

The future is getting brighter though for electric work vans that can also be playtime vans. 

small vans:
https://www.vanarama.com/blog/vans/best-small-electric-vans

larger vans:
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars-vans/105891/best-electric-vans

Unfortunately many of these won't be available here. They also won't have the steez of the AMG wagon unfortunately. What's a tradie to do?

Posted by: SixZeroSixOne

I thought this was only available (in Canada) to "pension" income - so, when she retires (about 4 years after me) we can do this for her work DB pensions. It's the intervening few years until she retires that I was curious about...

(I believe incoming splitting in the US is different in that it's not restricted to pension income - if I've got that wrong please let me know!)

Yes sort of, sorry, I'm thinking of income splitting for investment income and using something called a spousal loan. It's not something I'm super familiar with as it doesn't apply to me, but I am aware of it. You may be too far along to take advantage of it but it could be worth a look.

https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/en-ca/insights/how-income-splitting-can-create-tax-savings

The Wealthsimple page on income splitting gives some good general info too. 

https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/learn/how-income-splitting-works

Don’t think about pension income and simply treat it as income.

The advantage to splitting is it can take one spouse out of a higher income tax bracket and put them into a lower one. I’m sure there are some free online calculators available that will do the math for you and show you how much you can save on tax. If the discrepancy between your incomes is fairly high then there’s probably a fair amount of tax to be saved.

The dirt/dust part is definitely a hang-up, but it can be mitigated. I’ve done it before and it works and is less expensive, but it is more of a pain in the ass. If the right EV comes along I’ll switch to having the EV for work and the “nice” car for casual/fun use.

Posted by: Squint

Yes this. I like the 98% vehicle; it does what I need for almost all of the time. For the odd occasion, I'll just get delivery or rent a pickup or van ($20 for 4 hours). 

I had a great compact pickup for years, sure was good for getting the motorcycle to a track day but overall was not the right vehicle for the vast majority of the time.

Same problem with EV’s right now, too many are high end luxury vehicles, which equals a lot of weight to haul around and is inefficient for what most people need in day to day transport. 

IMHO the best route is to have a two vehicle solution, something like a Mini or Honda Fit that is electric for day to day commute and a bigger vehicle the odd camping/hauling jobs. I pretty much guarantee that overall it would be cheaper to operate two vehicles like that than to have one higher end vehicle. 

For example FO could have bought a slightly used Leaf or something similar for day to day use and an older truck/suv for weekend exploits and spent less money overall. Plus there’s the convenience of having two vehicles.

Posted by: Fast-Orange

Posted by: syncro

Not electric but a cool option to a truck if you need to haul some stuff around

https://www.uline.ca/BL_116/Steel-Rolling-Scaffold

^ Im sure I could fit one of these plus all my other crap in there no problem.

EDIT- my next vehicle will most likely be an electric one. I'm not against them just none of them seem to suit my budget/lifestyle yet.

Yes you could fit your scaffold in there. Fold the rear seats down and there’s about 7ft from the tailgate to the backside of the front seats. You could easily get 8ft 2x4’s inside with the front seat folded flat as well, maybe even some 10ft metal studs. Add a roof rack and 8/10/12ft sheets of drywall can be hauled to the job site too. Not sure about half a cord of firewood, but you could get as much firewood as a pickup with a shitty little 6ft box on it, maybe even more. You could easily car camp inside one of those too.

I don’t think I’ll get a full size truck again. The odd time I need to pick up a full load of plywood/drywall/lumber/etc I can just rent something for the day and bill it to the job.

Fun fact - the cargo capacity of the Benz with the rear seats folded down is about double of that of a Taco with a 6ft bed.

Not electric but a cool option to a truck if you need to haul some stuff around

It's the same thing with my pension, if I work till 65 or even later I'll maximize my my monthly pension payout. However if I take early retirement at 55 and take advantage of the bridge payment to cover not being able to access CPP then it makes total sense to me to get an extra 10yrs of freedom in exchange for a slightly lower pension payment. Any difference could easily be made up by doing some part time work a few days per month. IMO it's about maximizing how much juice you can squeeze out of the time that's left on the clock vs maximizing pension payouts.

Posted by: tashi

I can build a whole freaking house but I get so much satisfaction from successfully servicing my washer and dryer. 

There’s huge satisfaction to be had from fixing things and saving them from the garbage heap. This includes bikes especially and is why I’ve always valued the same ethos that Andrew extols with the min-max idea and fixing things for yourself. New might often function or work better than something that’s been repaired, but it isn’t necessarily better overall.