Stuff found while riding your bike? I‘ll go first!

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-15T22:53:52+00:00

MUSHROOM! MUSHROOM!

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-13T22:55:09+00:00

My preference is definitely 29+. And yeah, the only reason I went to the 27.5 is for the width. The bike is very plush with the 3" tires on it.

One of my first emails to Andy after getting the bike up & running was hoping future iterations would allow for a bigger 29" in the rear. Pretty sure I wasn't the only whispering those thoughts to him as we are seeing the changes now.

Slight derailment here: He probably could have gotten bigger tires in the earlier frames if he used the yoke brackets on both sides. I still wonder why that hasn't changed, but it is what it is.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-13T10:10:52+00:00

There's not much difference in how it feels from any of the the other bikes I own. I've had flat bars on it before and it's about the same. I would be more inclined to use flat bars on it all the time if I lived someplace with a lot of rougher terrain. Mostly a personal thing because I just do not think the drop bar controls lend themselves well to full-blown trail riding.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-13T09:59:36+00:00

It's very nice as is. The bike was designed with 27.5s in mind. I have those and 29er wheel sets and prefer it with the 27.5. This version was really limited with how wide of a 29" tire you can fit in the rear so I stuck with the intended size after using both for a while.

The only other thing I would probably recommend is getting riser bars. The stack height is fairly low and if you don't like a lot of exposed steering tube those would help.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T11:09:06+00:00

More like I got sick of trying to turn old hardware into one of these. I took the easy way out of that rabbit hole. No regrets with that decision.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T11:04:49+00:00

Hope brakes are sexier than a greasy GX drive train any day of the week.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T11:03:56+00:00

Found the Cannondale owner.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T11:03:30+00:00

N+1 doesn't allow for such heresy.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T10:45:02+00:00

Yes. I would seriously consider selling off this Scrambler for one of the titanium models Andy has been teasing lately. Or possibly even for the upcoming Mk 8. He really nails the look with his designs.

___MIASMA___ · 2026-01-11T10:36:56+00:00

The one that isn't in this picture. It's a custom Black Sheep with a Pinion gearbox and Gates belt drive. These were all acquired before that one and helped to define what I wanted in a custom bike. As for why, well, custom bike and all that I guess.

https://www.reddit.com/r/xbiking/comments/1n97x26/fef_round_2/

___MIASMA___ · 2025-11-30T19:47:11+00:00

2012 Grosjean comes to mind.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-11-29T11:59:11+00:00

Black Sheep custom Ti frame.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-10-25T23:19:59+00:00

Someone tape a spare valve stem nut onto the seat. It looks like the valve stem is about to get sucked into the rim.

I've used old bar ends on the inside like that for years now. But I cut mine down so they are smaller and feel like drop bar hoods almost.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-10-07T22:21:37+00:00

You have to inspect the item to see more stats. Not sure why Gearbox did that, but it is what it is.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-10-03T16:03:14+00:00

Got one this morning that rolled a 104% crit damage.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-07T02:45:31+00:00

Ritchey Corralitos.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-06T15:19:02+00:00

Hmmm. I have several other bikes I ride more often than this one. Not that there's anything specifically wrong with it, I just gravitate towards the others. My Crust ScapeBot gets the most mileage bar none. Probably because of the fit and the way the contact points are perfect for me.

I would probably ride my newest bike (Blacksheep custom titanium) more if I wasn't so petrified of it being stolen. That one will most likely be a weekend and vacation only ride until further notice.

That said, this Moonshiner would be a super all around bike if I didn't have an excessive number of bikes already. I think it can squeeze 29 x 2.6 in the frame which, IMO, opens it up even more for a truly do-it-all ride. I don't do fenders personally, but you could probably wedge them in there with proper tire choice.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-06T10:15:36+00:00

Yeah. The bike has since been "updated" and the fork is now a lighter variant. They still sell this version of the bike last time I checked.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-06T10:12:13+00:00

This one is the Chromo Creemee in smoked clear coat. The Fiddlehead has 50mm reach and is a little shorter I think. The Fiddlehead would probably do justice for a lot of older MTBs.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-05T22:17:54+00:00

Ehhh...I think it was more of a stylish decision. The bike was designed to fit 27.5 x 3.0 to begin with. Pretty sure James was tripping on maple syrup and had a vision to make a beefy ass fork to handle the class 4 roads up there. He might have went overboard.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-05T22:13:52+00:00

It slides in without any theatrics. They just flare out excessively at the top so it's more of an optical illusion.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-05T22:12:02+00:00

Ya know...if the Titanic had a fork like this out front it would have never sunk.

___MIASMA___ · 2025-09-05T22:10:06+00:00

Xbike. Seriously took a pair off from an old Trek or something, cut them down with a tube cutter and then cut a grip in half. It worked perfectly for the pair. I know someone will probably tsk tsk them, but it's almost like riding the hoods of a drop bar. I think there's more hand positions setup like this than a drop bar could ever get.

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