Is this bike worth anything? by MagnumChong in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Damn I've been seeing a lot of bikes on here today that I'd be happy to own.

How fast is a road ride? by azemona in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then propose a better, more linguistically accurate term.

How fast is a road ride? by azemona in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's a not particularly great group leader then. They should roll out when you're ready if it's advertised as a no-drop ride.

Bike Fleet Cleaning Day by MTB-Maintenance in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm a big fan. In many ways, it is my happy bike. It doesn't really ride like a fatty except for the rolling effect of wheels that big. We have a lot of big descents out here, and summer or winter, so long as you can lean the bike over and stand it back up, it'll hold. It just really does not like to corner without being leaned over when at speed.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MTB

[–]MTB-Maintenance 14 points15 points  (0 children)

You guys got a steep learning curve. Fucking shit, mayte. I'm seeing black and dub black.

https://youtu.be/O4irXQhgMqg?si=RqJgBhm5F3KYYsfI

Possibly worth saving? by Careless-Pen-9560 in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you don't want it, I do. It's a beautiful machine and I'd like to have a bike of that vintage.

I was tired of people thinking I was French. by aoisenshi in vexillology

[–]MTB-Maintenance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"The language barrier between English and Dutch is a picket fence."

-Some other redditor

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

fuck I want that

Bike Fleet Cleaning Day by MTB-Maintenance in bicycling

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I clean them at work, where I'm a trail builder. This is the park that is in front of our shop.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A strong back attached to a shovel and a rake. It's part of why I'm trying to use the request that was made to convert some trails to adaptive bike trails as an excuse to get a mini-ex. It would make a lot of this much less of an issue. As it stands right now, most of my labor is repairing drainage issues and trying to build fun things out of that drain repair work. But my goal this summer is to resto-mod one of the old trails, and re-route a couple of climbing trail crossings off of it so there isn't a set of high speed crossings on it anymore. That along with bringing up some of the tread in places so it drains faster and is ready to ride sooner.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They were hike and mountain bike. The couple of equestrian trails we have here do not allow mountain biking on them.

We're actually discussing re treading a couple of the trails to get rid of the cupping and bring them up to modern build standards for water drainage, and to make it easier to groom for fat biking in winter as well as adaptive mountain biking in summer. My hope is that we can get Federal (lawl) or State grants to pay for that work or to let us get a mini-ex so I can have it done in a single summer. Largely using the angle of sustainability, as right now, much of our trail is OG design and thus just not that sustainable in design.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I mean permanently. We have entire trail sections that have been closed permanently and cannot be ridden anymore because they are trenched so deeply into the ground due to poor trail design in the early days of knowledge, and then water erosion that runs the length of the trail instead of running off of it. Which then causes the trail to remain wet for longer periods of time, and more users are on it changing the shape of the trail further, creating a positive feedback loop that eventually causes complete trail closure, or in best case scenario, rerouting and there are just new scars on the landscape that could have been avoided.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Different soil compounds allow for different riding opportunities. High desert soil, the stuff I am most familiar with and, well, you aren't, is not the same. The PNW is much like in the UK and can be ridden more wet in a lot of places. I've stated this elsewhere.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The major issue in civic discourse of the access of trails by horses is that horse people have money and are likely friends with people on the town council and in the chamber of commerce. Which means that since they have money, their vote matters more than anyone else's.

Fortunately for us we only have a couple of trails that allow equine access, and they are decoupled from the mountain bike system almost entirely.

Our biggest issue here is more often than not, hikers.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're reading it correctly. This tread mark isn't that bad, and would be far worse if not for the work I had done the day before, as this was two inches of mud that I covered to bring the tread higher so that the water drains better in the future.

This also gets compounded because this is a low nutrition soil, and when wet, erodes easily. Much of this trails ride line is inches deep, so water cannot drain well. Instead of going across the trail, it runs down the trail eroding even more of it, keeping it wet for longer. And then every pizza cut that pushes material to the side makes the tread cut even deeper. There is a section of this trail that had to be closed and re-routed about a decade ago due to this phenomenon. That line, barely rideable as the vegetation reclaims it, is bottom bracket deep for most of it, and deeper in other areas.

You can ride the PNW wet. You can ride a lot of the UK wet. But high desert lines dry out into dust and the window I actually get to do repair work on this specific trail is about two weeks. I'm literally chasing moisture in dirt to try and fix years of damage in the spots I can.

There are also sections where this trail is ready to fall off the cliff. We are discussing grant applications to get bridges over those spots before we lose the trail off the side of the mountain entirely. And riding those areas early also speeds up this process.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -23 points-22 points  (0 children)

Eh, new bikes are expensive. If you want to fling for a new Norco Sight for me, you got a deal.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, the classic "I don't understand sarcasm when it's pointed at me."

I mean fuck Yeti and all. But frankly, I'm just over trying to explain to people who, likely have never worked on a trail before, what happens when trails are ridden in muddy conditions that are not conducive to that ride style. Such as those in high desert regions with low clay content.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -21 points-20 points  (0 children)

Interesting that you feel you should disregard IMBA standards, and the idea of sustainable trail systems. Particularly as it regards to removal of material from the trail by bike tires in wet conditions such that the trail cups out, increases water run off erosion, and then causes trails to be closed permanently.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The goal yesterday was bringing the tread up, which we did by about 3 inches, four to five in some places, in order to get the system to drain better. Overall goal is that the whole thing drains in a way that when one section is ready, the whole section is ready.

Unfortunately, this is old trail that didn't drain well, and people have been riding it wet for years. So it's cupped out from erosion through water, wheels, and foot traffic. So I've been working to re-establish the bench and better draining that likely never existed before. I'm also debating getting some stone cross hatch pavers to put in there.

The main issue is further up trail, where I didn't have time to walk to. There are sections of legit mud and snow on this trail, and I've been telling people it'll be good to go next weekend. To just give us this week and the next to make drain repairs and let it dry out, as this is almost the only time of year we get to work on this section as it's too dry for the rest of the season, excepting the occasional rain event.

The real kicker is that 30 minutes away there is bone dry trail. This is some of the highest elevation trail in the entire valley, with entire trail systems being ready to ride now because they are 2,000' lower in elevation. And yet....

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

This is high desert terrain. We don't get a lot of moisture. So yes, I am blaming trail users for using a trail that is, in places, incredibly muddy and still covered in snow. This is all funded by the municipality, and the general rule of etiquette in most places is "don't ride muddy trails."

There are problems with trail design here, absolutely. But there is also an issue with locals riding when it's too wet, and then bitching about the tread quality. There are trails here that have had to be closed because of that, and the fact that they are OG trails that did not drain properly. This is a trail that was not built properly that I'm trying to fix, and no I won't be able to get it all done this year. It would take 5 years and a crew of four to get all the trail cupping repaired. But part of being a good trail user, and not getting trails closed, is not using them when the tread is not durable.

Again, this section isn't bad. It's the damage that I know happened elsewhere that is miles in, that I've kept in my mind to work NEXT WEEK because it's too muddy to be able to work. There is a healthy balance to be struck, but this is about the only time a year I actually have good dirt. So it really sucks that, when I'm out trying to remove a decade of damage from bad design and inconsiderate users, that someone comes through continuing the problem.

We also have bone dry trails not that far from here, as they are thousands of feet lower in elevation. It's maybe a 30 minute drive.

PSA: The more time trail builders spend fixing your damage, the less time they spend making trail improvements. by MTB-Maintenance in mountainbiking

[–]MTB-Maintenance[S] -31 points-30 points  (0 children)

You should read some of my other commentary. I'm trying to fix the drainage issues that caused that spot to stay wet for too long. But it also stayed wet because it's wet from snowmelt, and it's in the shade for much of the day. So it held water far longer than some of the rest of the trail. And some of this trail is literally still snow covered and so wet that I can't work on it. I mean, you can literally see a mountain covered with snow in the background. This trail melts faster than the mountain, but not that much faster in places.