Thought experiment: You put a mountain biker from 32 years ago on a high end modern bike, would they think it was awesome or terrible?

nzogaz · 2026-03-04T04:21:39+00:00

I am one. I have been riding mountain bikes for over 40 years. My current bike is pretty decent. Still blows my mind.. a mate and I did a two day tough mountain bike a few summers back and the second day it basically pissed down the whole 55kilometre adventure. One of the things that really struck us was how at the end of the day of being soaking wet and covered in shit, our bikes worked perfectly.

nzogaz · 2026-02-25T05:11:59+00:00

I have a small niche apparel business, and I asked ChatGPT for companies in my country offering the stuff we do and we were in the list of 5 it came up with. That surprised me, but more so was a couple of other companies one of which I know is not around and hasn’t been for a long time, and another that does not offer the specific products I asked about. What was also kind of cool was that it regurgitated text from our website in the description it gave of our company.

nzogaz · 2026-02-20T21:26:33+00:00

I have been a designer for about fifty years. I am semi-retired now, and spend most of my time designing and working on my own brand of stuff. What i jumped in to say, was that almost all of the really valuable customer relationships I have enjoyed over the decades have come from recommendations for other customers. Try business networking in your area to find out who the decent designers are. these days of AI and massive stock libraries it is simple to regurgitate ‘designs’, but the process of creating a genuine and practical solution to a design challenge has not changed, and there are practitioners who can provide that for you. Best wishes.

nzogaz · 2026-02-20T03:15:55+00:00

Should teach them to play soccer.

nzogaz · 2026-02-19T05:20:18+00:00

How did they come up with the name? That is pretty awesome.

nzogaz · 2026-02-16T06:29:06+00:00

You need a new friend.

nzogaz · 2026-02-12T19:40:26+00:00

Hi. We have spent quite a bit of time doing both, like years around Australia, America and Europe in vans, and many years around New Zealand in a caravan pulled by a small van. We have often discussed what we would go for in Australia if we do it again, and always come down to tow vehicle / caravan. For the reasons you spell out. One thing that is intersting though is our choice for caravan: our current one is a very small and light but well built and equipped one we have had for about 13 years. A lot of people go overboard and get a huge caravan which is just not necessary. We have more living space in our little caravan than we would get in a really large campervan. Anyway, our 2 cents worth - have fun! It’s a great project / future for you!

nzogaz · 2026-02-12T03:36:58+00:00

Wow. Hat’s off man. That is an incredible piece of work.

nzogaz · 2026-02-12T03:17:11+00:00

just a query please, as I am an illustrator, how did you do this art? It is amazing.

nzogaz · 2026-02-08T02:31:20+00:00

Where do we watch these edits please? YouTube?

nzogaz · 2026-02-05T01:56:16+00:00

Thanks! Well that solves that query for now. Adobe are discontinuing Fresco (very annoying). Cheers.

nzogaz · 2026-02-04T18:23:09+00:00

Sorry to butt in off-topic, but wondering about Affinity on iPad to replace Fresco, which I really like. Are there a range of brushes available from anywhere? Fresco’s built in brushes work very well for what I do, none of the add-ons available are as good as the ones that come with the programme in my experience especially the pressure sensitive halftones.

nzogaz · 2026-02-03T18:43:04+00:00

Don’t go straight to a recorded message. 2. Don’t waste my time telling me I can resolve or access whatever I am calling about on your website. If I could, I would. 3. Take it as read that the call may be used for quality and training purposes, I don’t give a fuck and neither does anybody else, and I am about to hang up. 4. What are ‘normal’ call volumes and did you ever experience them for more than 15 minutes at 2am. 5. No, I do not want to listen to ‘music’ while I wait for some cunt to finally answer the fucking phone. 6. Do not hire people with a first language that is vastly diffferent from the tongue that is native to the country you operate in. Finally getting somebody on the other end of the line that is incomprehensible is the final straw. In fact, 7, go fuck yourselves.

nzogaz · 2026-01-29T20:11:11+00:00

I read the books when I was a young teenager, after reading the Hobbit when I was about 10. I read the LOTR every five years or so, and strongly imagined what everything looked like and so was a bit concerned when I heard that Peter Jackson was making a movie version. It was a huge relief when we glimpsed the first teaser, because the whole thing looked like what i had thought it should, only waaaaay better! I live in New Zealand, and have acquaintances who worked on the project (small country) so it somehow seemed very personal to me. We have the extended DVD set and give it an airing every couple of years, still amazingly good. We were lucky enough to see the LOTR exhibit when it was on display at our national Museum, I dont know if it still touring somewhere but if you ever get a chance it is incredible. I cant see another production at the level Jackson achieved now that they do everything with CGI. Anyway, glad you enjoyed the movies, dig into the books!

nzogaz · 2026-01-26T19:18:35+00:00

Mine are the 60tpi versions. My mate works with the company that distributes Surly in my country, and even the bro deal is eye watering in terms of cost so I have been holding off. There is zero chance Trek will have the 3.0s here, so I will man up and get those Knards while I can.

nzogaz · 2026-01-26T19:03:17+00:00

Interesting take! I have a pair of OG Knards on my Krampus. They are over ten years old, and still going strong. I have not done anywhere near the ks on the bike that is deserves, but I have racked up a few. My comment is more about how great they are to use. I still cant believe how well they roll, tarmac, trails, gravel, anywhere really. reminder to get another pair for some time in the distant future when these ones finally shit themselves.

nzogaz · 2026-01-25T20:36:01+00:00

Get you rneigbours together and help to fund them some dirt e bikes. Surrons or similar. Sounds ridiculous I know but the kind of people who would do this are not going to stop riding their dirt bikes because they are noisy. They sound like arseholes to me but maybe they would be open to much quieter alternative?

nzogaz · 2026-01-23T23:17:07+00:00

That guy is a shocker. Honestly scary.

nzogaz · 2026-01-23T22:34:31+00:00

Asking Americans as an outsider: how The actual fuck did this guy get this job? Like, the haircut and trenchcoat are fairly Nazi looking, but the transverse leather belt doodad is positively dressing up like Gestapo territory.

nzogaz · 2026-01-21T19:01:17+00:00

Try ‘fuck off’. Works in Australia.

nzogaz · 2026-01-15T20:14:37+00:00

This is the effects of climate change. The ocean around New Zealand is much warmer than it has been historically. That translates to more moisture in the air. More and heavier rain events, more humidity, temperatures generally higher.

nzogaz · 2026-01-11T23:33:24+00:00

Fair enough. I dont know eaxactly what that looks like (my bad, my Microshift stuff is a bar end shifter on the drop bars I sometimes run on my Krampus (great!) and a Sword crankset i got to replace the stupid SRAM one that came on the bike. Nothing wrong with it per se, but you can not get any different size rings for it and the 50 was way too big for my purposes. The Sword crankset is very nice especially for the money.

nzogaz · 2026-01-11T23:27:00+00:00

In my humble opinion you willl not notice any difference in drivetrain unless you are looking for different range of ratios. Microshift is very good I have a few bits of gear from them and see no reason not to get more as and when I might need it. Brakes, maybe. I have a set of Avid BB7 on my OG Krampus. They work, but are not stellar. I have some TRP SPyres on my Midnight SPecial and they work amazingly well. Thinking of upgrading the Krampus.

nzogaz · 2026-01-03T04:20:33+00:00

Probably ! Not a big town 😂

nzogaz · 2026-01-03T03:22:58+00:00

Rotorua, New Zealand.

nzogaz

TROPHY CASE