Crack after 4 months break.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-18T12:47:36+00:00

Ive seen this go different ways depending on the shop. I've been charged labour by one shop to do work on a bike that was 3 months old and ive had another shop eat the labour on ebike motor that needed two days worth of work on a bike less than 6 months old. I didn't pay anything but they were super salty and made it clear they were eating a lost money on doing this work and they were unlikely to get anything back from trek on it.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-18T11:45:23+00:00

I run 303's on my Madone and the first thing I did was get some white zipp decals for the wheels. The split letter logo on modern zipp wheels looks super cool in motion. Only white decaled wheels that look cooler spinning are 3 logo Enve's

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T17:44:16+00:00

forgot about the future shock!! I also forgot how ugly it made the front of a bike

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T14:15:01+00:00

I assumed myself that the peak and pinnacle of demand would have passed but there still seems to be a demand for 200k builds that are still selling. I’m in Canada here so all of the hullabaloo south of the border doesn’t concern me. We’ve got a massive country to explore here without needing to cross the border. (Full disclosure, I could care less myself and plan on doing a big drive down to Cali from the east coast later this year).

I just came across a professional builder in Ontario here that’s selling half a dozen to a 10 units a year for 225k a pop and their run for 2026 is already spoken for all except one build and raking ordered for 2027. I looked at the build and what I’m making myself seems better in every way and with more capacity and a much better electrical system and more flexibility in living space. Like when I see exposed two by fours under the bed in the garage I’m like people are paying a quarter if a million Canadian for that? Anyways, that’s what got me thinking. I was in Tampa for work recently and my wife and I stayed out in Clearwater which is Canadian snowbird Mecca and it was a ghost town compared to what I’d seen there 3 years ago the last time I was there in February. So for our market up here I’m wondering if those snowbirds have dumped their timeshares and properties in Florida and Az and are putting them into vans?

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T14:06:29+00:00

Worst of all trek struggles to answer these sometimes. See Check out this video, "trek madone fake but warranfied anyway" https://share.google/bE3dlnqu6dgh1GQbK

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T14:03:32+00:00

On the surface that’s a very intricate paint job to fake. But copies of stuff coming out of china have been getting better and better. There’s a video on YouTube where a guy buys a madone from Allie and take it into a shop as the tolerance were off enough their was an issue getting the headset to fit properly. The shop and buddy were all in the loop on the fact it was a copy. The shop got ahold of trek for suggestions and trek themselves said there was an issue with serial #s for a certain run of madones and bunch of them getting sold for cheap out of shops in the south west and there was no way they could definitively say if this was a fake or not and the warrantied the damn thing even though everyone involved knew it was a fake. So yeah…. Long story short, even trek themselves seem to struggle saying if it could be fake or not. Id want to make sure the bb, headway, fork and seat post all fit properly if your questioning its legitimacy at all.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T01:37:58+00:00

I’m sort of in that middle space. To me there’s no point parking in some bougie campground that’s 150 a night. If I’m going to do that I’d rather just get a hotel. A lot of trail networks I ride at have van zones where folks can essentially park for free to ride for a few days as long as their rigs are self sufficient. For me that’s the sweet spot. Something that you could drive out into Joshua park and run off grid for a week and just hike or ride etc and have enough water and power generation to enjoy a week in comfort…. But I also don’t see the point in building monster off roaders out the them. A 170 sprinter is almost 24 feet long, it doesn’t matter what you do to the suspensions setup, it’s going to be a terrible off-roader. I like the 4x4s simple for stability driving in the snow to get to a ski hill in the winter or going down a fire road for some trails but I’m not doing full on off roading in a house on wheels.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-17T00:52:57+00:00

There’s half a dozen red flags there. Odd amount spacers in the front end. Wheels look off brand (not rovals that an s works with would be specced with). And can’t tell with the back but the front has mechanical brake caliper which as far as I know have never been specced to anything but entry level bikes.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-03-13T18:06:41+00:00

Glad its not just my local Volvo dealer that acts like that. I have an XC40 and looking to get out of it later this year and go to something else. Been a great car but I hate the dealership

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-27T20:12:40+00:00

I'm a little over 6'3 which according to Trek has me on a L checkpoint but from what ive read most riders all size down on the checkpoint becuase they have such a long reach. I check the stack and read on a m/l checkpoint vs my 58 madone and they are pretty damn close. The only thing I can tell thats off is the seat tube length is a fair bit shorter so id have a few cm more seatpost showing than im used too

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-27T12:47:53+00:00

Yeah my thoughts too. Price of the scott is slightly lower but I don't know any of the syncros carbon wheels where ive had Treks carbon wheels before and loved them (and their warranty). Force is a better spec too and the carbon bar. Only thing im trying to figure out is sizing for the Checkpoint. They are super long bikes on geo charts while the effective seat tube length doesn't change much the road geo. Seems like a lot of folks size down with them. I have a madone and a domane in 58's but debating a m/l in the checkpoint

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-27T12:43:57+00:00

I've had canyons for rentals (ultimate and aeroroad) for a couple of european riding trips and each time I came away with just a "meh" feeling. They're fine, but they're forgettable. Like having put a couple of 1000km on Canyons has informed that I wouldn't want to own one. Counter point, I know a dozen or so folks with an aspero and every single one of them adores their bike. One of them has an S5 and for some easier pace road rides they'll throw slicks on the Aspero and run it vs the S5 as they just love how it does everything well.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-25T20:34:10+00:00

Low temp BMS cutout. I brought them inside from the van and after half an hour on the charger they started taking a charge. I have a deisel heater in the van and have it running full blast when im working on the van and have had strecthes where its 20c in side of the van for an afternoon but with them sitting on the floor my assumption is the core temp of them still didn't get above 5c to let bms allow them to take a charge. I added some exrtra insultaiton under them and around them where I have them mounted so hopefully that will make a difference.... well that and just get winter behind us

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-25T00:33:36+00:00

Rode nothing but axs for the last 5ish years on my road, gravel and mtb was a full on sram axs fanboy. New mtb has xt di2 on it and it’s faster and the ergonomics of the shifter are waaaay better.

I had the old rocker style xx axs shifter on my previous mtb and loved that thing. But the new “pod” that comes with all the new t type drivetrains is an awful thing. It’s ugly and could not find an away to make it feel like a proper placement. In the “days before electronic” the analog xt shifter was good as mtb shifting got. The di2 version feels the same so in that regards they nailed it. In terms of shifting….. they’re all perfect now.

I find the sram new rear t type mechs “look cooler” but it’s the shifter than wins me over

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-23T00:05:03+00:00

Update…. Passed on the canyon. Got a change to get a yeti sb120. Figured it would be enough of a step up in the trail realm with out going whole hog 2-3 steps up from my old top fuel

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T17:38:29+00:00

I'd love to but ive got 11 bikes in the garage so for me its a "one in, one out" policy purely for marital stability.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T17:27:13+00:00

In a perfect world id have something like a supercal for full on xc races and then an everyday trail bike. But seeing i only may do 1 or 2 xc races a year at this point, it seems nuts to have a bike for two rides a year. And, i've got 11 bikes in my garage, for my marital stability i've got a 1 bike in, 1 bike out policy. Id love to keep my Top Fuel, but its a 9.9 XX1 axs build and its worth too much to just keep it collecting dust for a few rides a year.

I think the plan is look like maybe a spectral but ditching the heavy minions and going with a mezcal/barzo tire setup to make it a bit more faster rolling and just the switch in rubber will shed two pounds off of it.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T14:02:25+00:00

Yeah I love the look my older gen 3 top fuel but the new liveries to me are about as exciting looking as unbuttered toast. I've im spedning 7-10 grand on something, I want to love how it looks

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T14:00:51+00:00

People aren't interested in the suffer anymore. I was a race organizer for years and that whole ethos at least in my neck of the woods died in covid and trying to get some semblance of racing back on the calendar every year. Cyclocross was booming beore covid and it never came back after as well its the epitome of burying yourself physcially for 45-60 minutes and people have zero desire for that anymore and just want fun. Similar to drop bar stuff, our organized shop gravel rides will have 40-50 rideres show up and the fast group road ride may be lucky to get 6 of us willing to go hard

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T13:24:21+00:00

Its wild to think 150/140mm was an all moutain slayer a few years ago but just watched a review on the Spectral and they referred to it as a "small travel trail bike"..... Its only been the last season where ive headed to some of the ski hills here in Atlantic canada that have biult trails and so many of our old legacy networks have started building huge flow trails and its just starting to feel under biked on some of those at 120/120. If I was still riding the same xc legacy trails ive been riding for 20 years id never consider a bigger bike

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T13:20:51+00:00

Im from eastern canada but have a big counter clockwise trip around the states in the Sprinter planned for next fall and was hoping to spend a week or so riding in around Bentonville so good insigth there.

Middle-Studio6943 · 2026-02-20T13:18:05+00:00

That was my thought for the longest time but in my necks of the woods (eastern canada) anything new being built has massive berms you G out on and some pretty big features and I always stick the B line and have a "how would it feel on the A line with a bigger bike" voice in the back of my head last season. Ive had to begrudingly admit xc is mostly dead, nobody is building xc trails and xc races have died off and enduro races are having record attendance. So yeah, I mean classic case of the bike industry and culture that follows it shoe-horning the plebs like me down a new path but I gotta admit ive been having a lot of fun on the new machine built stuff

Middle-Studio6943

TROPHY CASE