On 2017-12-04 13:01, jbeattie wrote:
On Monday, December 4, 2017 at 11:26:51 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2017-12-03 14:34, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, December 3, 2017 at 1:06:52 PM UTC-8, sms wrote:
I was just in Los Altos today and noticed that Chain Reaction
is gone. This is the store owned by Steve and Mike
Jacubowsky--Mike used to post in this group. Their Redwood City
store is still open.
I was surprised to see it gone. That store was located in an
area where people have high disposable incomes, and was the
only Trek dealer in the area. They said that parking and rent
were issues. The space is still empty and they closed about 2.5
months ago, so no one is a rush to rent it. That shopping
center can get very crowded because there is a popular Trader
Joe's and a popular produce store, and an unpopular Rite Aid
store. Also there's both a Starbucks and a Peet's coffee.
I never bought a bicycle from them, my only Trek is a tandem
and when I bought it Chain Reaction didn't have the size I
needed in stock, even though they were cheaper than the place I
ended up buying it from. For all the other bicycles we've
bought in the past 25 years or so Trek did not have any models
that met our needs, and Chain Reaction is a Trek-only store.
But I know a lot of people who bought expensive carbon-fiber
bicycles from them, one multiple times after the carbon-fiber
frame broke. They were a very well thought-of shop for Trek
buyers.
Trek has a bike for everything. https://www.trekbikes.com/ They
even have bike-packing bikes.
https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...colorCode=grey
I am quite certain I'd rip out those tiny rack mounts within the year:
https://trek.scene7.com/is/image/Tre...=0&cache=on,on
This is how it's done right, four 1/4" diatemer bolts and so on:
http://www.analogconsultants.com/ng/bike/Muddy4.JPG
If the industry only understood that you need a bunch of clamped on
arms to hold 20lbs of luggage! What are they thinking! More bolts .
. . more arms!
There is a whole lot that the bike industry doesn't understand. Since
decades.
BTW, the idea of bikepacking is not to put 100lbs on a rear rack.
Not 100lbs but sometimes 50lbs or a bit more. When a machine part weighs
60lbs it weighs 60lbs and you have to put it somewhere. Or use the car.
The idea is to divide the load between front and back.
http://www.bikepacking.com/news/2018...acking-stache/
Now explain how to do that with a front suspension fork. Aside from the
fact that the last thing you want to do on an MTB is increase the
steered mass. It'll also dig into mud too easily.
Bikepacking is an actual thing. It is not "Joerg-ing" or
Superbad-Cameron-Park- Gnar riding with CPUs. It involves packing a
relatively modest load of camping gear and food, typically in soft
packs. People who haul cargo typically ride cargo bikes. If I were
in your shoes, I'd skip the rear suspension and go with a rigid fat
bike, being that you're probably bottoming-out your rear shock with
your massive, incredible, impossibly heavy loads.
I'd be in major pain very soon. Once I forgot to unlock the rear
suspension for the first mile on a rocky trail. I was promtly reminded
by sharp pain from the L4-5-6 region of my back.
Also, I made sure my MTB is well equipped for such work. The rear shock
can be pumped up to 300psi. Even with the heaviest of loads I never
needed more than 230psi and I am not a lightweight myself.
--
Regards, Joerg
http://www.analogconsultants.com/