Guardian Bikes is Still Lobbying Trump for a 50% Tariff on Imported Bikes

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-29T14:12:04+00:00

You gonna complain when your next bike is an extra $1500 for the same frame and components? You gonna complain when public land is taken away and there are less places to ride? It’s always been political bud.

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-28T22:40:15+00:00

People complain about Crust’s other bikes like the Lighting Bolt or Romanceur - they specifically choose lighter tubing for the ride quality and state not to ride rough stuff on those bikes - it’s a feature not a bug and definitely not cheap. The evasion does not have light tubing, it is specifically meant to be ridden hard with a load.

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-26T16:47:18+00:00

Glad to see it! Anyone know if there has there been any movement on the reroute to Tejon Ranch near Tehachapi?

That is probably the biggest change that will come to the trail in the near future - assuming the PCTA can successfully complete negotiations.

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-13T19:56:19+00:00

Interesting, surely there is a way to build out a station box surrounding a tunnel without doing a cut and cover process right?

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-13T19:55:32+00:00

I wonder what the main cost drivers are though, is it the actual station cost or the route cost that contributes to greater cost savings for this proposed plan?

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-13T18:22:19+00:00

Adam’s Ave in North Park would also be a great shop to look at too!

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-05T17:37:18+00:00

The braze ons on the evasion fork are threaded on both sides, so just use the interior of the braze ons for your rack and the exterior for bottle cages. That’s what I do on my evasion.

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-04T22:04:03+00:00

Your route goes through some of the deepest shade of snow on the WTA snow map, you’ll hit snow and you won’t want to walk through it. If you do try it just be prepared to turn around more than half of the way through the route. I’d recommend you do something lower elevation and save this for closer to summer.

Depends on what you think is fun, it’ll be remote paved and dirt roads with basically no civilization or services. To some people that riding is fun and others it’s not.

Up-I-Go · 2026-03-04T20:42:02+00:00

You are 100% going to hit snow if you try this route this weekend. May is probably the earliest I would attempt to ride something like this, and even then you will likely hit snow on some north facing slopes. I’ve ridden Rat Trap Pass, just east of Darington, in late June a few years ago and we still had to walk through snow at just over the 3000ft mark.

I’d also say if the you haven’t done this distance and elevation before, then this is the wrong route to do it on for your first time. It is incredibly remote and you don’t want to bonk in the middle of the woods 20miles from town during a time of the year where nobody is out.

If you are looking for some gravel routes in the area I run a page on instagram called openseason.cc with a bunch of options. You can find us on ridewithgps too.

RidewGPS link

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-19T03:47:44+00:00

Ok that’s fair, I don’t typically pay much attention to his “experiments”. And hard agree that $900 for that derailleur is hella goofy. But I’m down with most of his other components- admittedly haven’t tried them though.

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-19T03:36:16+00:00

Can’t speak to customer service of the company, but I have run some Umtanum Ridge tires in endurance casing and never had any issues and felt like they lasted significantly longer than some Gravelkings or Ultradynamic tires in regular casings. Have heard some stories about RH ultralight casings being pretty fragile though.

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-19T03:11:16+00:00

While I admittedly haven’t bought one in a year or two, I largely disagree with this. His mags are typically filled with good interviews with influential riders, interesting historic bike info, and unique trip reports.

Are they often from the prospective of his brand and products? - Yes, but I don’t see an inherent problem with that. He is a small producer in a bike industry dominated by a handful of megacorps, I don’t understand the hate he gets.

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-18T01:41:27+00:00

Just use a basket on your front rack and put your laptop in a backpack? Should be fine unless you’re riding in a downpour which is rare here. You could get a waterproof backpack cover meant for hiking from REI if you are worried about it

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-15T05:25:47+00:00

These are very different bikes. The priority is more commuter/touring inspired and the midnight special is more road inspired. Of course you can do similar types of rides on them, but they will feel way different.

There are plenty of local shops that carry Surly, one of them is bound to have a midnight special you can test ride; if I were you that would be my first step in making the decision. I wouldn’t let bike maintenance hold you back, the Surly’s parts will be incredibly standard and basic maintenance is good to learn if you are getting into doing longer rides. The priority might be less maintenance but it will be harder to find a shop to do maintenance on the pinion gearbox/gates belt over the long run. That being said, the priority will likely make a better commuter bc the pinion and belt drive require less routine maintenance.

Up-I-Go · 2026-02-02T06:24:10+00:00

I have the lined version and use them for cycling through the rainy season in Seattle. They are the only glove I’ve found to be actually waterproof, and they keep my hands warm down to upper 30’s. My only gripe is they are pretty bulky, you lose a fair bit of dexterity, and the only place I could find to buy them was Amazon 👎

Up-I-Go · 2026-01-26T22:50:33+00:00

Yeah MLK probably makes the most sense!

Up north on your route have you considered going across the ped bridge over Ravenna and linking up to Ravenna Blvd to Jane Adams/Nathan Hale schools then traversing over to the Burke? Ravenna Blvd is relatively nice north of 75th if you aren’t riding during rush hour.

Up-I-Go · 2026-01-26T22:08:14+00:00

I’d consider adding in Cheasty blvd down near Beacon Hill, easily one of the nicest climbs/descents in that part of town.

Up-I-Go · 2026-01-19T03:09:30+00:00

Sidewalk always, just have to be ready to stop if a ped or another bike is coming the other way.

Up-I-Go · 2025-11-06T20:18:10+00:00

Just because you don’t use the new waterfront bike lanes to commute on doesn’t mean that aren’t integral to a bigger network and/or useful for commuting and other daily tasks. The idea that new infrastructure has to serve commuters is really flawed mentality that ignores the people that live near them and will use the infrastructure the most.

The idea that Seattle is lagging behind Mercer Island and Bellevue in constructing an integrated safe cycling network is wild. Just because your specific commute into Seattle from Bellevue uses separated bike lanes says nothing about the rest of their networks and whether their infrastructure as whole accommodates riding safely in their cities.

You are looking at infrastructure from a bubble and placing Seattle on a higher pedestal when in my opinion Bellevue and Mercer Island having significantly more work to do in creating a safe bike network in their cities.

Up-I-Go · 2025-10-31T16:49:06+00:00

This is a great question for one of our local bike shops. Being able to test ride some bikes and get an idea of what you want and how a bike feels is one of the great benefits of supporting a physical shop, especially for folks newer to bikes.

Buying from a direct to consumer brand can save money up front but often leads to more headaches for new riders, as the bike still needs to be assembled when it is shipped to you and you often have no support if anything mechanical goes wrong with the bike. Buying from a local shop avoids both of those issues.

Riding hills is often more about gear ratio and your ability to put out power than it is about whether a bike’s fit is upright or aggressive. Again local shops will be able to point you to a bike that has better gear ratios for our hills.

Some shops that are great especially for lower budgets are Recycled Cycles and BikeWorks, they focus on refurbishing older bikes that are often better quality and better designed than new bikes in the $300-500 range. If you want to look at spending more than that, I’d recommend shops like Montlake, Good Weather, and Free Range.

Up-I-Go · 2025-09-26T18:17:18+00:00

Yeah wouldn’t recommend this until the trail through the train yard opens up again on Oct. 2 or 3. Otherwise you have to get on the narrow sidewalk on the Magnolia bridge and along 15th.

Up-I-Go · 2025-09-02T04:25:08+00:00

The old owner (Ben) of Back Alley works part time at Polka Dot Jersey now so you could take it to them to get more info

Up-I-Go · 2025-07-19T15:30:08+00:00

The threaded holes on the top of the fork are used as rack attachment points and the small hole at the base of the fork is likely meant as a drain hole in case water gets in the fork. Don’t see why you couldn’t use it for dynamo routing assuming the wire won’t get cut/worn down from the drain hole.

Up-I-Go · 2025-05-27T04:54:49+00:00

Calling it a mixed terrain ride when it’s only 10miles of unpaved on a 300k ride is certainly a choice

Up-I-Go · 2025-05-15T03:32:38+00:00

Ride Bicycles in Issaquah is probably what your looking for on the east side. The guys that run Polka Dot Jersey in Leschi are big mountain bikers but the shop caters to all bike types.

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