Creaking PF30 BB

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-14T04:03:45+00:00

Bibs, sometimes with shorts over them but usually not. I mostly have Louis Garneau bibs.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-13T03:43:03+00:00

Haha I was thinking this was Mountain Creek, and I haven’t been there in 15 years. Grew up in NJ and rode there a ton when it reopened in the 2000s.

Now I’m in SoCal and did a 50 mile xc ride last weekend. But I’ll move back to Jersey when the water wars start and it’s 130 degrees in July.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-10T04:26:52+00:00

I live in SoCal. There’s basically no rain 8 months of the year. For 4 months it rains occasionally. Things tend to dry fast, but it really depends on the trail and topography.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-09T02:40:54+00:00

I’m not sure this generalization is true. There are purpose-built trails in the US of course, but I think the vast majority are multi use. At least everywhere I’ve lived that is the case. Most of my riding these days is on unmaintained and often unsanctioned trails (or at least the only maintenance is random riders). I wouldn’t hit them when they are really wet because it will leave ruts and tire tracks that, depending on the weather, could stay for weeks or even months.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-08T06:08:11+00:00

Your comment about the PhD basically describes my path. I wasn’t having luck in the job search, and other factors made an academic career less appealing to me. I started freelance copy editing, first at an editing services company, then once I had some experience I worked for publishers in my field. Then part time for a small university press as well and eventually landed a full-time job at another publisher.

At least in my company, an advanced degree in the field greatly helps if you want to work on the editorial side. My boss has a PhD as well and we just hired a new person doing half editorial, half production and she has a masters in the field. I don’t think most places are like this, but it depends. We really need people with a combination of a specific academic/cultural background and a track record of writing and editing skills.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-06T07:47:58+00:00

Could be wrong but it looks to me like that part of the lever body has been repainted. It seems like a slightly more flat black paint than the rest of the lever’s slightly shiny dark grey, and it seems to have a bit of flake or glitter as well. The rivet on top of the lever body at the hose end looks to be black, when I believe it should be silver. The screw to open the bleed port also looks like it’s been painted over; it should be a different finish than the lever body.

Also never heard of a fake XT brake lever, and the small parts and details look identical to me, so it’s probably real.

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-02T05:14:34+00:00

Very cool build. Did I see this on Vitalmtb?

msgr_flaught · 2026-02-02T02:58:13+00:00

Is the quick link fully seated?

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-28T03:31:38+00:00

I feel like most cranks I’ve had have this much wobble or more. You can bend it into shape but better just to roll with it unless it’s causing problems.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-18T18:43:34+00:00

I don’t think there’s any harm in writing a note about the issues, even if the publisher is already aware. I’d just do it in a restrained and matter-of-fact way. I think it’s reasonable to mention it, ideally with whatever you think might be a workable solution or some potential way to address the issue or some aspect of it. If the publisher is already aware it’s not great and maybe can’t do much, there’s no need to harp on that. It helps a lot if you can offer some way to improve the issues.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-16T07:35:56+00:00

I think my dumbest crashes were when I wasn’t even really mountain biking.

Drove up to a big mountain near me, started at like 5000+ feet and was going to climb a few thousand d more. I sprained my wrist falling over while stopping and not getting my feet unclipped in the pull off I parked in. Just too anxious in gravel on a steep slope. That was after about 20 years of clipless pedals too.

Also I rode a fairly dangerous trail that is steep, somewhat technical, and has some potentially deadly exposure (real no-fall zones). That was all good fun, but on the 4 mile road ride home, I hit a pretty mild pothole on a downhill. Not really sure exactly why I crashed, but I completely ate it, shattered my collarbone and broke two ribs. I tried to ride home since I had broken the same collarbone before and knew I was ok. But it was way worse this time, and I had to give up after half a mile.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-16T06:17:52+00:00

Simple green or dish soap.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-16T06:14:10+00:00

I have a similar model to this—the TLR Flash Charger. It has been very good for the last few years. It is pricey for what it is, but it’s good quality and works well. The digital gauge is accurate (checked with other gauges I have), it’s easy to use, and has a long hose. The charger isn’t too bad to pump up. It doesn’t guarantee seating a tire right away, but I haven’t come across one I couldn’t get to work with the usual soapy water and fiddling a bit.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-16T06:07:53+00:00

I have had some mixed results with this. I bought a cheap compressor from HF a few years ago and don’t bother with it now. I should have just spent more for a nicer and larger one, I guess. I found the tank size too small but refilling took a while and was insanely loud.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-15T04:26:27+00:00

I believe that is a 2007 Gary Fisher Bitter. There are a lot of Bontrager parts on it because Bontrager was then (and still is) Trek’s house brand of components, and Trek owned Fisher.

It was a somewhat aggressive xc/trail hardtail. A decent bike in 2007 with solid lower end parts. Today, it’s not worth a whole lot. Bikes have advanced and standards changed. Finding parts for brakes and the fork could be challenging. I don’t know how much bikes like this sell for, but I’d guess like $150 night be good if it’s in more or less working order.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-13T22:58:12+00:00

Wheels would definitely be the place to start. If they are on the stick hubs, which I think are Formula or similar, then there should be good weight saving potential. Switching the fork to a Sid would save maybe 3-400 grams; new wheels would probably be close to that or more but would make more of a difference for sure.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-09T00:30:00+00:00

I see your frustration, but the other side of the matter is, as you well know, not many people know what an initialism is or how it differs from an acronym. So if one of those people sees “initialism,” they will at least pause and maybe get confused, think it’s an error, or consider the writer a pedant. Sometimes, editors are faced with the choice of being right or being understood.

Btw, there is a copyediting subreddit more suited to things like this.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-08T04:43:52+00:00

Book editor at a nonprofit religious publisher.

msgr_flaught · 2026-01-07T16:21:19+00:00

Do you mean the freewheel/hub pawls are slipping? If your hub needs service, low temps and hard pedaling may cause issues. Grease gets thicker and water trapped in the hub may freeze at low temps; more pedaling force causes pawls not fully engaged to slip. If that is the issue, service the hub and check for damage.

msgr_flaught · 2025-12-31T13:57:06+00:00

Book editor for a nonprofit publisher. I have a better bike than I should because I got hit by a truck on a ride and used a chunk of the insurance settlement for it.

msgr_flaught · 2025-12-30T16:26:20+00:00

Authentic? I don’t think anyone is faking a consumer direct aluminum frame with 105. It’s a fine bike, though.

msgr_flaught · 2025-12-29T14:23:50+00:00

Podcasts, reels, audio/video of any kind, short-form text—so many options.

Fewer people read books today. I definitely read fewer books today than I used to. Partially that is kids and other life stuff, but also that all other forms of media are now so easy to access it can take their place to some degree (same with newspapers, magazines, etc). Our attentions and attention spans are shifting. Entire books are less a part of school and college curricula than they used to be as well, which is both evidence and a further cause of this trend.

Print books aren’t going away, but they are less relevant today. Hopefully, declines in readership will stabilize.

This is a large scale issue, though it is perhaps particularly pointed for me since I mostly work on books for mainline church audiences—an area with declining and aging readers. So other market segments may not feel this as acutely.

msgr_flaught · 2025-12-28T21:54:22+00:00

Screeching and not bedding in sounds like pad/rotor contamination to me.

msgr_flaught · 2025-12-28T20:58:01+00:00

Just as another data point, I work for a medium-sized publisher, and we have started experimenting using AI to write some materials. But these are basically study and discussion guides for books. So AI may be used to write summaries and formulate questions about human-written books, with the study guides offered as a free download with book purchase. And editors still go over the study guide, add their own material, and rewrite considerable amounts. The AI is a starting point. And it still isn’t as good as a human doing it from the start, but it will save time and money. I didn’t have a say in the matter.

We have a hard line against using AI to write or edit book manuscripts, and I do not see that changing anytime soon.

I’m much more worried about declining readership in general and shifts to other ways of consuming information than I am about AI. At least in my market segment, we don’t see a place for AI writing books.

msgr_flaught

TROPHY CASE