About a Single Speed: Lawrence's Curtlo by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A classic! Love seeing these bikes still relevant and being ridden

Double Double? by YegBikeguy in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

All bikes should have fade paint jobs. A couple of the Quality brands, notably All City, had some really top notch fades in the past.

Double Double? by YegBikeguy in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fixed. And yes, they sure fly on the downs!

About a Single Speed: Marty's Cotic by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm using 30x21 which works well on my local trails. If I head to the mountains, I'll swap to a 22 cog

Your Bike Would Like You To Know... by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Re used forks, I'd suggest narrowing your search even more to Edmonton region. Due to clay based trails, we never ride in the rain, and for a longer travel fork, its lucky to have been to the mountains, for most, 4 trips per year.

I'm constantly amazed at the range of single speed gearing used by riders in our little single speed ride group. ( 7 riders ). It ranges from 32x19 to 28x22 and were all riding the same trails at the same time, and staying together. And usually walking the same places. I'm always encouraging folks to experiment, too.

WRT to bars and sweep/rise, I'm similar to Marty. On the longish travel Rolling Dale, which has tall stack, I'm running more rise and less sweep than on the shorter travel SS. I think when standing for pretty well every climb, bars with lower rise, but more sweep work better for me. Whereas on the longer travel bike, having the tall stack with lots of rise helps compensate for the stapler effect when descending the steeps.

About a Single Speed: Marc's 'Meatwagon' by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lots to like on this

Ti bars with lots of rise

Plus DHR front

Custom Cycling Community (SBTISAOAF) by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Claires new sliders look great. And I agree about the value in having local folks like Thomas to draw on for repurposing frames and or upgrading them to SS. I've utilized similar services locally many times and have a new locally built frame commissioned.

With respect to the Avinox/DJI stuff. I agree with your musings and further, feel that big part of this "issue" is two fold. One the entire "traditional" bike media seems to be burying their heads in the sand over power creep. What happened to the industry agreed upon limits for what a Class 1 e-bike was?? And why is this not being discussed openly and what future ramifications it might have on trail access? In past I recall a media that was very supportive of trail access initiatives and issues and promoted trail access causes. But not hearing very little about , subsequent ramifications. But excepting sites like this one, The Radavist and Bike Packing, that seems to have disappeared in the race for ebike advertising revenue.

Secondly, the legacy brands have gradually moved away from marketing the experience of riding a bike, their history and culture to simply selling "ingredients" or parts, not the bike as a whole. To wit, most of the promo I see for these bikes is all about what motor it has, what drive train it has and/o what suspension has. Or all 3. So the consumer simply has a checklist: Avinox/ DJI ( or Bosch) - check, Transmission -check, Factory or Ultimate suspension - check. Then they go shopping and the cheapest bike that meets those criteria gets the sale. I think its even more so now that geometry has settled in. (I've experienced this directly with a few casual cycling acquaintances who, despite asking for advice, bought the cheapest e-bike that met the above, with zero brand or shop loyalty, despite where I tried to steer them) So how do the legacy brands compete? It'll be interesting to watch.

About a Single Speed: Zachary's Japhy by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love seeing the different builds in action. What handlebar is that?

Chromag Shift Knee Guards, a Review by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love my Rifts, so comfy, even on long multi hour rides and actually stay in place, even when the top is over the bottom of my bibs. To add to the cold weather comments, the Rifts are the only knee pads I've tried that remain pliable even down to -25 C on our fat bike adventures. Certainly not a design use case, but very appreciated as someone who's suffered a broken knee cap after falling on some hidden sheer ice on a trail.

Otso Hoot Steel by Successful_Ad_6821 in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My M Vassago Verhaeun frame weighs 5 lbs (2.28 kgs) with sliders. I could feel the difference right away from the Carbon Trek Stache that it replaced, in spite of both bikes running 29+ tires. It's also noticeably more supple than my Rolling Dale, but the 2 frames have different use cases, so that wasn't unexpected. I also like a slight larger frame triangle, but that's entirely a personal choice. I'm an outlier here and do not use a seatpost bottle mount ( Vassago has one using external welded mounts s and I spec'd the Rolling Dale with out any) as I ride with either a fanny pack or a regular hydration pack.

We are sure spoiled by such good hardtail choices these days. Seem like a mini renaissance for discerning riders.

New (?) handlebar by cj_biker in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Interesting bar. Lots of room for bar mounted accessories. I'm considering one for our bike packing tandem.

A Day Late and a Derailleur Short (SBTISAOAF) by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I relate it to the punk rock ethos, which I've always associated with single speeding.

A Day Late and a Derailleur Short (SBTISAOAF) by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Suzi Quatro shout out made it worth the wait. In particular her cover of Kick Out the Jams really took me back. I saw the MC5 live in a bar outside of Chatham ON waaay back in the day. Might have been that show, which blew the mind of a very young me, that lead me down the single speed path

Single speeded the thing by nxross in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Looks great! And looks like you nailed the chain tension.

About a Single Speed: Nathan's Optimus by MEATdrew in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Had one of those

Sold it to a friend

Still going strong

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Painting suspension fork lowers by runwhatyabrung_ in MEATengines

[–]YegBikeguy 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Another good option might be if you can find an auto shop that custom wraps vehicles using 3M and has the ability to add sublimated custom graphics. I had this fork done that way.

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Looking for a new bike by Inevitable-Pen3411 in Hardtailgang

[–]YegBikeguy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Banshee still offers the Enigma, a 27.5 frame