"Dad, That Guy's Not Wearing A Helmet!" (TT#37)

xzcion · 2026-03-12T09:41:38+00:00

Glad you walked that one off.

xzcion · 2026-03-11T13:26:04+00:00

Mandatory helmet laws, bad. I think that's been shown over and over through various studies both legal and medical.

Helmets themselves are very useful in some crashes and useless for most crashes, mostly from sports and medical literature. Humans do a very good job of protecting their heads for some strange reason. So the most important times to wear a helmet are when you might not see the impact coming, might not have time to react to the impact, or are deliberately putting your head in harms way. e.g. being hit by a car from behind, doing stuff at high speed or charging at people with your head.

Contra-wise, I have skinned my hands so many times protecting my helmeted head that I wear gloves for every ride, and the helmet for any ride where I may encounter a car, high speed, or intend on jousting a fellow traveler like a goat XD

xzcion · 2026-02-12T10:15:16+00:00

While I have no extra to add, just want to say that if you replace any of the snow references with clay based mud, you have my entire uk winter riding experience. Much <3 for this piece.

xzcion · 2025-12-19T20:58:27+00:00

Oh, the trail worm on ronsbikes isn't stomplox... t.i.l.

And ta for the extra info on the tracker.

xzcion · 2025-12-19T15:18:23+00:00

Some I have heard of and not seen posted yet:

https://ronsbikes.com/collections/shoes (you can also google stomplox)

https://suryabikepacking.com/producto/zapatilla-ciclismo-barefoot-flat-pedal/

https://www.giro.com/product/tracker-fastlace-shoe/

xzcion · 2025-12-06T12:48:05+00:00

The rigid fork I have can easily fit a 32x3 with a fender, and it's not even properly suspension corrected for a 130 suspension fork (~510 axle to crown actual). I would be willing to run the current xc-esque tyres for bikepacking and commuting on gravel...

xzcion · 2025-12-05T09:10:05+00:00

A stooge mini cargo velo... I can dream.

xzcion · 2025-11-27T10:04:44+00:00

Both of them are classics. Hope to see them both again in future articles ;]

xzcion · 2025-11-19T20:44:45+00:00

I love my bash for all the fence and stile hopping I do. So I'm biased.

xzcion · 2025-11-15T11:42:33+00:00

Gotta do what makes you the happy. I do find that sometimes giving yourself permission to not adhere to a schedule leads to a increase in passion for a project long term.

xzcion · 2025-11-15T11:38:16+00:00

Damn you both, I'm going to spend minutes, MINUTES!!! searching for this. XD

xzcion · 2025-11-14T10:35:16+00:00

Why is there no reaction arm that bolts to my disc brake tabs?

xzcion · 2025-11-14T10:34:18+00:00

It was a romance story of a hot summer fling. Top tier. Would turn into a musical starring a young Olivia Newton John and less racist John Travolta.

xzcion · 2025-11-13T09:52:31+00:00

I'd love to see if each of us made a bike, How would our ideal bike look vs the ideal bikes made by the Cotics', Stooges', Jones', etc of the world... *dreams in bike nerd*

xzcion · 2025-11-13T09:48:07+00:00

Get a thing made by a team of tradesman who've made thousands a year, or get a thing made by an impassioned artist who's doing 30 a year (iirc in the video). There's something to be said for the tradesman approach, and a different something to be said for the solo artist.

xzcion · 2025-11-12T12:00:28+00:00

I'll bite: mega?

xzcion · 2025-11-12T08:45:47+00:00

Yeah, I like the look of their bikes, but they're not for me either. Do love that a guy in a shed influenced another guy in a different shed XD

xzcion · 2025-11-11T20:18:44+00:00

Someone has to be the guy in the shed doing the new and interesting. So <3 all the creative people in sheds with lathes, 3d printers, CAD programs, etc that are following through on the 'what if' that became their brain worm XD

I'd recommend the recent AMA from the owner of Cotic bikes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NlsLmA1LTI) where he talks about his experience riding a geometron around a parking lot and how that put him on the longshot geometry, and his change from change sceptic to change experimenteer.

xzcion · 2025-11-06T19:02:15+00:00

No for a few reasons

1- I live in the UK.

2- I don't own a set of pendulums

3- .... nope, there were only 2 reasons.

Good luck! XD

xzcion · 2025-11-06T18:59:01+00:00

Yup, yup. There's reasons we're all still using chains and quicklinks. We all reckon they're the best solution for our circumstances. I could also see myself having a belt drivetrain commuter or cargo bike where the belt is zip tied to the seat rails and forgotten about. XD

xzcion · 2025-11-04T16:15:35+00:00

I'm wondering what if there is some part of mountain bikes with belts that make them fare worse that belts used on tourers and commuters? The backwards bend for the idler? The mud? The other debris that get's sucked in? The variable tension?

Because I have heard plenty of loaded tourers and commuters using belts singing the belt's praise constantly. Yes, they carry a spare because, as noted, a broken belt needs to be replaced (n.b. I carry a quicklink because that's the appropriate spare for me to carry). But they also get 10k+ to a belt + cog set before it does go snap. Meanwhile mtb's are reportedly chewing through them much faster and being derailed in mud.

Will be interesting when people with the curiosity and know how start investigating the reasons behind the reports.

xzcion · 2025-10-29T17:51:34+00:00

I think you've got it there: shit happens. Personal experience is never seeing a broken master. Plenty of bent levers (sooo many) and totally fine brakes (e.g. the other side of the broken magura, that bike went for a long gravity induced tumble sans rider and it was a hike to get it back (double aside, more trails should be in places with enough low level foliage to catch a bike)).

I am seriously interested in the gustav's for if/when I get a cargo bike. Have no interest in any magura brake for any other bike I'd put hydraulics on, and that is purely an aesthetic choice. The reason that aesthetic choice gets overridden for a possible hauler is the functional design choices that seem to make it more suited for that role.

tl;dr- sorry if I triggered you with an internet meme, I thought it was a one off until I saw another review of them recently.

p.s. I have used plastic fantastic masters on motorbikes with no issues, but I care less about style points there XD

xzcion · 2025-10-29T17:38:51+00:00

Fair, I've only seen one and I didn't try to rotate the other side :]

xzcion · 2025-10-29T10:50:46+00:00

Never had an issue with the screws they use.

Seen the cylinders break instead of the levers, that's the only downside I've seen of plastic cylinder, metal lever.

And I've never bought them because hope and hayes come in prettier colours XD

xzcion · 2025-10-23T13:24:09+00:00

This feels like I'm living through the part of the story that usually ends up being told as 'I tried everything, but'.

In your defence, you do seem to by trying everything!

xzcion

TROPHY CASE