I don't understand - what is this for?

Doug Taylor wrote:
On Tue, 7 Aug 2007 23:41:17 +0930, Michael Warner
wrote:

On Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:07:06 -0700, JD wrote:

Sounds like you ride with punks and poseurs.
No, I ride with A and B-grade vet racers on their training rides, which
they say are often tougher than their races.

You sound like an idiot, and a fairly slow one.

Actually, he's a SS riding mountain biker from amb caught in a
cross-posting cultural war with roadies from rbt and rbm.

Who was the moron that started this thread anyhow, oh wait...

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Mamba ? wrote:
"Tom "Johnny Sunset" Sherman" ""sunsetss0003\"@invalida .com" wrote in
message .. .
See http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/2007/mountain/69er.html.

Is the bigger front wheel to better roll over obstacles, or is it just a
demented fashion statement? Conversely, does the smaller rear wheel
provide any real advantage?

Can't say, but they'd be a bitch on a steep climb...

Why? It is not like shoving two different size wheels into a frame
designed for same size wheels, which would likely result in bad weight
distribution and weird handling.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:50:10 -0700, JD wrote:

Get this dickhead, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

Translation: "I WOULD GET DROPPED IN UNDER A MINUTE"

:-)

"Michael Warner" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 07:50:10 -0700, JD wrote:

Get this dickhead, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

Translation: "I WOULD GET DROPPED IN UNDER A MINUTE"


Even if that were the case RACING STILL DOESN'T MEAN ****.

:-)

Greg
--
Ticketmaster and Ticketweb suck, but everyone knows that:
http://ticketmastersucks.org
"Ya gotta stop riding the brakes,
ya gotta stop robbing the cradle" - Chris D

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:26:19 -0000, Marz
wrote:


I love this BS you get from people who claim riding a fully rigid
single speed mtb and 'actually picking a line' somehow makes you a
better rider over all.

Are you responding to ME? HELLO!

Find where I used the word "better." Do you suck so bad that you
perceive slights and threats in everything you read? Talk to your
shrink, but leave me out of it.

I was contrasting riding my rigid SS to my Dualie, and I commented
that the SS has the benefit of being 6 or 7 lbs. lighter than the
lightest dualie (and at least 10 lbs lighter than the average trail
bike), and requires that you pick a line and stand while you climb.
"Better?" Maybe, or arguably. Different? Absolutely. And obviously.

In that respect, your comment about niche is correct. SS is a niche.
As is x-c / racing. And trail riding. And free riding. And
downhill. And trials. And stunts. And cyclocross. Etc. Whatever
floats your boat.

Allow me to correct the Dylan quote:

"... don't criticize what you can't understand."

"Don't" implies the ability to overcome your deficiency. "Can't"
means you're hopeless.

JD wrote:
Get this dickhead, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

"Michael Warner" wrote:
Translation: "I WOULD GET DROPPED IN UNDER A MINUTE"

G.T. wrote:
Even if that were the case RACING STILL DOESN'T MEAN ****.

OK, then how do we know who's fastest?
c'mon, 'racing' in all its forms is very human. Bikes, cash, SAT scores,
poker, whatever.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

A Muzi wrote:
JD wrote:
Get this dickhead, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

"Michael Warner" wrote:
Translation: "I WOULD GET DROPPED IN UNDER A MINUTE"

G.T. wrote:
Even if that were the case RACING STILL DOESN'T MEAN ****.

OK, then how do we know who's fastest?
c'mon, 'racing' in all its forms is very human. Bikes, cash, SAT scores,
poker, whatever.

I ride my bike to ride, I use cash to supply myself with things on which
I survive, I play poker because gambling is fun and sometimes I make
money at it, the only thing on your list that I view as necessarily
competitive are SAT scores.

Greg

--
Ticketmaster and Ticketweb suck, but everyone knows that:
http://www.ticketmastersucks.org

Dethink to survive - Mclusky

On Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:52:45 -0500, A Muzi
wrote:

JD wrote:
Get this dickhead, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

"Michael Warner" wrote:
Translation: "I WOULD GET DROPPED IN UNDER A MINUTE"

G.T. wrote:
Even if that were the case RACING STILL DOESN'T MEAN ****.

OK, then how do we know who's fastest?
c'mon, 'racing' in all its forms is very human. Bikes, cash, SAT scores,
poker, whatever.

Again, I think we have a "failure to communicate" and a values
conflict between amb and rbt culture.

Of course racing and competing is inherent in human nature. But the
categories of faster, stronger, better, etc., have no inherent
priority: the are merely value judgments. Either they make a
difference to you, or they don't.

Our mountain biking SS rider doesn't measure his worth by comparing
himself to the abilities of others, regardless of which side of any
equation he may be on in terms of strength or skill (and he might
REALLY be "faster, stronger, better"). Riding for him is not a
competition; it is an activity to be enjoyed in itself.

"I ride my bike to ride my bike" - Zen proverb.

Furthermore, when you add to the mix that virtually ALL professional
and world class athletic competitions are tainted, if not thoroughly
discredited, by doping in all its myriad forms, then the value
judgments of faster, stronger, better, lose all legitimacy and even
relevance.

A rider who rides to enjoy the ride for itself could care less about
which doped rider on which dope (or not) is faster, stronger, better
than which other doped riders (or not).

Hence, RACING DOESN'T MEAN ****.

"Doug Taylor" wrote in message
...

A fixie mountain bike does sound fairly insane, sort of an ego trip
for bored muscle heads. But that is not the subject of this thread,
which is single speed, with freewheel. Different animal.

Harsh, but fair...
Racing a fixie offroad can be pretty tough, but racing's not about taking it
easy. Plus it gives the commentators something to talk about. I was pretty
stoked a few weeks ago to win my first Dirt Crit in A-grade on my fixie but
that was mainly due to most of the Elite riders taking it easy over winter.

While I'm contributing to this bloated thread I thought I'd make a few
points:

Riding a single speed offroad makes a hell of a lot more sense than most
people expect.

Good mountain biking is either uphill where your lowish gear is tolerable,
downhill where you're coasting or tight singletrack where your speed is
determined by cornering more than pedalling.

Fit legs have a far greater cadence range than you'd expect.

An SS drivetrain without a tensioner is noticably more efficient than
geared.

SS does teach a lot of skills about maintaining speed through corners and
undulating terrain.

SS is good training as you get to grind and spin.

SS can be faster in some races as it forces you to put effort into the
climbs and recover on the downhills. It does wear you out a bit quicker
though.

Simplicity and durability are very important for people who want to spend
more time riding and less time maintaining their bikes.

Rigid forks (not SS related) do teach you a lot about the effects of terrain
that carries over to variable length forks.

Fixed gear MTBs are pretty stupid but you do get very good speed modulation
in some singletrack...

The list goes on...

On Wed, 8 Aug 2007 23:48:01 +1000, "Duncan" wrote:

"Doug Taylor" wrote in message
.. .

A fixie mountain bike does sound fairly insane, sort of an ego trip
for bored muscle heads. But that is not the subject of this thread,
which is single speed, with freewheel. Different animal.

Harsh, but fair...
Racing a fixie offroad can be pretty tough, but racing's not about taking it
easy. Plus it gives the commentators something to talk about. I was pretty
stoked a few weeks ago to win my first Dirt Crit in A-grade on my fixie but
that was mainly due to most of the Elite riders taking it easy over winter.

While I'm contributing to this bloated thread I thought I'd make a few
points:

Riding a single speed offroad makes a hell of a lot more sense than most
people expect.

Good mountain biking is either uphill where your lowish gear is tolerable,
downhill where you're coasting or tight singletrack where your speed is
determined by cornering more than pedalling.

Fit legs have a far greater cadence range than you'd expect.

An SS drivetrain without a tensioner is noticably more efficient than
geared.

SS does teach a lot of skills about maintaining speed through corners and
undulating terrain.

SS is good training as you get to grind and spin.

SS can be faster in some races as it forces you to put effort into the
climbs and recover on the downhills. It does wear you out a bit quicker
though.

Simplicity and durability are very important for people who want to spend
more time riding and less time maintaining their bikes.

Rigid forks (not SS related) do teach you a lot about the effects of terrain
that carries over to variable length forks.

Fixed gear MTBs are pretty stupid but you do get very good speed modulation
in some singletrack...

The list goes on...

Amen. The only thing I would add is the fact that a rigid SS
(especially if you are rich enough to have a Sibex fork) weighs at
least 5 and usually much more than any dual suspension bike on the
market), which makes a huge difference going up if not down and
sideways.

It is refreshing when somebody who actually has experience on the
subject matter of a thread posts his $0.02.

P.S. Sorry about the fixie quip, but fixies off-road just have that
ultra marathon, iron man sounding quality - somewhere way off the left
side of the bell curve :-)

P.S.S. No, I CAN'T ride a fixie off-road.