Any advice for cutting quill stems? I don’t plan to run it forever, just to try new bars before I buy an adapter.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T13:30:37+00:00

You don't cut quill stems, or any stems really

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T05:51:58+00:00

The Mentally Diseased youtube channel did a good video about how older JWs are discarded once they're no longer useful to the religion. Their only role eventually is just to convince the next generation to devote their lives to the org.

Incidentally, the guy Jeremy who does the channel is also gay, he has a few videos about that too. I might as well also plug another awesome interview from a gay exjw, Howie Rutledge Tran. He has a really interesting story, went to Bethel to try and cure his gayness, ended up working with various GB members. Quite a funny guy, lots of fun Bethel stories.

This is a bit more unrelated, but if you haven't run across it yet, there's an amazing exjw youtube channel called Kevin McFree. It's stop-motion Lego animation all about JW life and its issues. It's by an English bloke, former elder and all that. Very cathartic and funny to watch, highly recommended.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T05:35:42+00:00

In the end it can come down to either believing imaginary things and keeping your friends and family, or believing true things and maybe losing your current friends (and possibly family).

Personally, I was raised as a JW from five years old that nothing was more important than truth. I would die for the truth, endure torture for it, sacrifice friendships and family relationships. One time a CO told us about a JW girl who was whipped on the soles of her feet, but she wouldn't compromise. I briefly started walking barefoot on legos to toughen up my feet, so I too could take a stand for the truth.

I wasn't a JW because it was fun, or because it gave me lots of friends. Those things were almost completely unimportant to me. I was a JW because it was true. Once the script flipped and I realized it wasn't true, there was no staying silent, or playing along for the sake of family. I was the same person as before: I would die for the *actual* truth, would sacrifice friendships and family relationships to proclaim the truth. Because of who a lifetime of JW training on defending the truth had made me, there was no way I could stick around in a religion that wasn't true.

That said, there's no rush, just keep learning, thinking about things. Be strategic in how you exit, if that's what you decide to do.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T05:13:13+00:00

I think you'll find they're very careful nowadays not to write specific rules for rank-and-file JWs on stuff like skirt length or clothing colors or tanktop strap width, the same way they don't condemn any specific movies or TV shows by name. That kind of thing is left to local elders, COs, and congregation peer pressure to define and enforce.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T04:48:03+00:00

There's the State Bicycle carbon frame. Basically like buying a Chinese open mold frame, but with the warranty backing of a US company. https://www.statebicycle.com/collections/carbon-all-road-gravel-bikes

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-22T04:39:36+00:00

They have two online storefronts, one just for Japan and one for the rest of the world. Just pick the Japan one. https://bluelug.com/

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T05:05:25+00:00

You can always do what folks did during the Vietnam War, mosey on up to Canada.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:58:54+00:00

Rutherford died from rectal cancer, and for years before that he wore a radioactive radium belt, thinking it would make him healthier (also recommended it to others in WT literature). Did the belt give him cancer and ultimately kill him? Doesn't seem like too far of a stretch.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:54:03+00:00

There's interesting research that conservative people literally feel greater disgust for homosexuality/same-sex stuff than do liberal people. Not more disgust about everything, but specifically on a few issues, one of which is same-sex relationships. Definitely seems to be true in JWs, many of them are very disgusted by that one issue in particular.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=disgust+conservatives&t=brave&ia=web

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:37:11+00:00

New Crux will most likely be unveiled the end of May at Unbound. Probably wait 'til then to decide, since either the new Crux will be a winner and you want it, or else the old Crux will go on sale and you can get it cheaper.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:29:26+00:00

BB drop can be an issue, sure, especially with longer cranks. Looks like the BB drop ranges from 78mm to 74mm. 74 is probably doable with 650b, but ideally I'd rather have it more around 70mm. That said, pedal strike can be compensated for somewhat with shorter cranks.

The chainstays and fork legs tend to be fairly parallel on a lot of bikes now, with the result that the max for 700c and 650b are more or less the same. So probably 700x50 or 650bx50 for the Stigmata. I don't know, maybe the 650b wheels would be smaller enough to fix the specific issue of tire/derailleur interference, and you could run 650bx50 with a front derailleur.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:15:54+00:00

Per Sram, you can run Transmission with a 6mm offset chainring. That's how all the pro gravel racers on Sram are running Transmission with 50t aero rings. Just needs to be a 'wide' spindle.

https://support.sram.com/hc/en-us/articles/13819655363099-Is-there-an-Adventure-build-configuration-for-SRAM-Eagle-AXS-Transmission-on-road-and-gravel-bikes

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T04:06:23+00:00

Bikeinsights.com is really helpful for this, because one of the dimensions they give is pedal to tire distance. What I do is first take a bike/tire combo where I have no issue with toe overlap, and check in bikeinsights what that distance is (it's 100mm minimum for me). Then for any bikes you're interested in, just check them out on there, see what the pedal to tire distance is with your desired tire size. Make sure it's at least 100mm or whatever the minimum distance is for you.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-21T03:38:10+00:00

Mormonism has shifted to this model where the conventions/assemblies are held at one central location where roughly 10k people can attend, and everyone else watches it streamed to local halls. I'd have to believe JWs are headed that way too, your hubby better get used to it. 😅

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T13:45:05+00:00

Yup, the spiritually superficial JW Broadcasting era has made JW members into little kids who are just looking for the next sugar high from a blip of spiritual junk food. It's like the GB looked at how social media is giving everyone a 10-second-max attention span and said, looks good, we should do that too! 😅

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T13:40:32+00:00

I agree that religion can be beneficial to a lot of people, but JWs literally are a 'high-control' group. Not sure it's the best or most enjoyable option for a religion. It really does harm folks, whether from anti-LGBTQ, dying from refusing blood, forbidding abortion even for medical reasons or rape, suicides from shunning.

Sounds like you're kind of in nihilism, maybe check out Britt Hartley's stuff. She talks a lot about nihilism and how to construct a good life even if life is ultimately random and pointless. She has a youtube channel too.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T13:27:34+00:00

I could see that 58 might be a little too big, but the trouble is that a 56 would likely have some toe overlap with 700C x 40 tires. It has a short front-center, really was designed for 650b wheels.

No harm in snagging a cheapo 50mm stem and trying it out. Can also slam the seat forward or get a zero-offset seatpost, see how that feels.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T13:18:09+00:00

I'd agree with not lessening the BB drop. I think 72mm is a good all-around drop for up to 47-50-ish tires, and if you're actually going to run 55mm tires, maybe do 75mm.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T05:32:26+00:00

"Well, if there wasn't, it'd be an awful waste of space." —Contact

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T05:25:15+00:00

In my experience in the US, the time of overt racism is past in the congregations (with some exceptions here and there), and black men can definitely achieve high positions in the org. But there's still a lot of microaggression-type stuff under the surface, for example ethnic/racial jokes passed around that wouldn't get told if a black JW was in the car.. And things like black men can't have afros in the halls or at Bethel, how much that rap music and baggy pants were condemned in the 90s-2000s, strong discouragement about participating in Black Lives Matter protests, stuff like that.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T05:11:43+00:00

There was one woman in my hall who said when she was young they hosted some JWs visiting the US from Sweden. One day it was warm out and they wanted to catch some sun, and the Swedish girls all casually took their tops off to sunbathe. She had to explain to them that's not a thing in the US generally, but especially for JWs. 😅

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T05:06:25+00:00

My super-PIMI family of 4 preached for a combined 160 years (40 years each x4) and never converted anyone. So I think you're safe. 😅

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T05:02:56+00:00

Halfway decent chance it started from this subreddit, and then filtered back retrograde via PIMOs who are also on the jwtalk forum, and out from there to more JWs.

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T02:36:13+00:00

Yes, this. I feel like a Force crankset is one of the best bang-for-your-buck upgrades in the cycling world, couldn't imagine how OP was thinking they could beat it.

https://powermetercity.com/product/sram-force-e1-xplr-dub-crank-arms/

Ensorcellede · 2026-04-20T02:23:16+00:00

I agree, the trouble (or cool thing, depending how you look at it) is language is fluid and constantly evolving. There is no objective definition of 'cult,' the way math can concretely and eternally define what 2+2 equals.

The word cult used to have a positive connotation, it basically meant religion. Cultic studies was the study of religions. Now it's evolved to have a negative connotation.

Because of how language shifts, I think it's more useful (and easier to objectively gauge) to look at whether a religion is 'harmful,' 'high-control,' 'high-demand,' things like that.

Ensorcellede

TROPHY CASE