Cycling

[Shirley]

I'm sure this is a double-edged sword.

Trad, I'm curious if this is something you're aware of and have an opinion on, i.e., impact on nature vs. bringing needed $ to rural areas?

Utah has the biggest high school mountain bike teams in the country and they’re bringing a tourism windfall to rural Utah towns.

[Shirley]

twocoach, it's been 3 months since you got your new, dual suspension, Motobecane mt bike. Have you had a chance to ride it much, and does riding it hurt your back?

[BiggDick]

finally, a thread in which to put the fun between our legs!

[twocoach]

twocoach, it's been 3 months since you got your new, dual suspension, Motobecane mt bike. Have you had a chance to ride it much, and does riding it hurt your back?

Yes, I have ridden it many miles and no, it is not bothering my back at all. All in all it's a two thumbs up review. The only thing that gives me any issues at all is that when I have the rear suspension unlocked, the bike can bounce down and result in my pedal hitting the ground on the shoulder of the trail. The place I ride, the trail is pretty worn so it can sit down in a bit of a valley as compared to the ground on each side of it. I might do some research on a thumb controller that would let me easily lock/unlock my rear spring but it's not bad enough that it is urgent. I can manually reach down and flip the switch to lock/unlock it easy enough. If I ride a little more regularly, I'll start remembering the spots where I hit and plan my path/pedaling accordingly. Part of what I like about MTB riding is all the gearing, steering and pedaling technicalities needed to make for an efficient, effective, challenging ride.

[BiggDick]

do you guys have any insight on tube vs. tubeless tires?

[Shirley]

do you guys have any insight on tube vs. tubeless tires?

You might as well ask a basketball fan if Bill Russel was as good or better than Wilt.

IMO:

As a mt biker, it was nice that many times, because you have a liquid sealant in your tubeless tire, it would fix itself when it got a small puncture. That made it worth putting up with the mess and the hassle involved in it being so much harder to take the tubules tire off and then put it back on and seat it to the rim.

As a mainly road cyclist now, the frequency of punctures is so low that it's not worth putting up with the mess that seems to be inevitable when you're using a liquid sealant with tubeless tires.

[BiggDick]

thanks! Good post!

I like the "fix itself" rationale. I like it much better than the dood at the bike shop who could mostly just offer a, "uhh cuz I think it's like ever so marginally lighter than actually having a tube in your tire, BTW you should also carry an extra tube while riding in case you get a flat either way.

But yea, it is a mess and hassle to take the tubeless tire off then put it back on to seat it.

And FWIW I have tubeless on my bike right now, and the back tire keeps slowly leaking, even as I put more of the sealant stuff in it, but I've just been putting off fixing it cuz I know it's a mess and hassle. If I pump it up tho it at least holds pressure long enough for a good ride.

and, knock on wood, I don't get a ton of flats either way, even riding moderately rough/technical trails.

[Shirley]

twocoach, it's been 3 months since you got your new, dual suspension, Motobecane mt bike. Have you had a chance to ride it much, and does riding it hurt your back?

Yes, I have ridden it many miles and no, it is not bothering my back at all. All in all it's a two thumbs up review. The only thing that gives me any issues at all is that when I have the rear suspension unlocked, the bike can bounce down and result in my pedal hitting the ground on the shoulder of the trail. The place I ride, the trail is pretty worn so it can sit down in a bit of a valley as compared to the ground on each side of it. I might do some research on a thumb controller that would let me easily lock/unlock my rear spring but it's not bad enough that it is urgent. I can manually reach down and flip the switch to lock/unlock it easy enough. If I ride a little more regularly, I'll start remembering the spots where I hit and plan my path/pedaling accordingly. Part of what I like about MTB riding is all the gearing, steering and pedaling technicalities needed to make for an efficient, effective, challenging ride.

^^^

And that feeling that comes when it's a seamless combination of effort, shifting weight, and responses to the trail that coalesce into that flow we're all addicted to.

Or, something.

[twocoach]

do you guys have any insight on tube vs. tubeless tires?

This is the first time I have ever had tubeless tires. I probably need to do some checking as far as what I need to do to maintain them because I haven't even thought about them since I got them set up. No clue if there is something I need to do over time. From a performance standpoint, I have been thrilled with how they roll and that I don't have to check them all the time.

[BiggDick]

I might be wrong, but, if they develop a small leak, the liquid/gel sealant within the tire moves around as the tires spin, and covers/maybe reacts with air to effectively seal small leaks as you go. If a leak persists, you can add a little more of the sealant to cover more of the inside to seal the leak, up until a leak either gets so persistent or severe, and/or the tire gets so filled with sealant, and/or the sealant just goes bad, that you have to take the entire tire off the wheel, clean all the messy old sealant, re-seat the tire, and fill it with fresh sealant.

[Shirley]

Tubeless tire plugging has evolved quite a bit, as evidenced by this video. You can buy much cheaper kits than what he demonstrates, but these are pretty cool:

[KUTradition]

i remember saving up and getting my first tubeless tires decades ago…no more sitting on the garage floor with a bunch of flathead screwdrivers replacing tubes i had just patched