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Good point, mongoose. i forgot to mention that i use the long blue strap (it’s about 8 feet long) that came with my thule hitch rack to lash the bikes together when i use the trunk rack. i wrap it around the tires and put it through the frame of the two bikes. i think that sometimes the front wheels twist and essentially force the bikes off the rack. the strap helps tremendously.
i have the thule 2-bike trunk rack (and a thule 4-bike hitch rack). it’s very good once you get it set in a position that you like…ie, it doesn’t cover your license plate, bikes don’t hang too low, bikes don’t hang at angle so they’re not pushing against each other. i imagine a 3-bike trunk rack would have to be pretty robust, so i wouldn’t scrimp too much or you might be seeing them dangling in your rear view mirror someday (happened to me once on the highway in July!).
discovering this great sport at 37 years old (a year ago);
a wife who is supportive of the hours spent on the trails;
having a great and varied group of guys to ride with;
the great little trails that we have in NJ;
the fact that i’ve been able to mountain bike in 9 states in my first year of riding, with virginia to be added to the list in January;
bike magazine, singletracks and all the other places that have confirmed for me that i’m not a weirdo for being so obsessed 😮
Happy Thanksgiving!Thanks, i will check those out!
i am prepared to spend about $500 on a light. i feel like it’s something that i will have for a long time and that i will need in order to survive night rides. it kills me to spend that much, but i fall every 5th time i ride during the day, so i can’t afford to cut corners on this purchase. should i get a handlebar and helmet light for that amount of $, or should i just get one super bright light? i have seen some with 700 or 800 lumens for that kind of $.
i really like my gary fisher hi fi+, which was more than you’re talking about spending, but an overall endorsement of Fisher in general. but if you could stretch the $ a little further, you might want to consider one of these used bikes. by all accounts, these are great bikes. i actually just rented one in boulder last week and it was very good.
http://www.westernspirit.com/used-speci … bikes.htmli forgot to mention…i do have a garmin Edge GPS, so i could never get too lost.
wow, you guys impress me. then again, some of you guys probably ride 30mi out of civilization, whereas in jersey, you’re never that far from a road (i exaggerate, some of the northern and southern jersey parks are pretty big, thousands of acres). but for me the key is whether i’m alone or not. if i’m not alone and it’s one of my standard 1 – 2 hour rides, i bring a tube, 3 tire levers, a pump that i stick in my camelbac, bug repellant "wet naps" if it’s summer, a multi tool with a chain breaker, a little flask with some hammer gel in it if it’s more than an hour ride, some baby wipes in a baggie just in case nature suddenly calls (well, you asked), and i think that’s it. i don’t bring a wallet or a phone usually. my car has keyless entry, so no keys either. if i’m alone, i bring a phone and i guess i should bring some ID (though my phone shows my home phone number on it). i guess i under-pack.
a used bike is probably a good idea for that kind of money, though i saw a review in mountain bike action magazine a couple of months ago for the best bikes under $1000. i think a giant full suspension came out on top and it cost about $850. re: used, if you can swing $950, i happened to come across this the other day:
http://westernspirit.com/used-specialized-bikes.html
a specialized FSR for $950 is pretty good i think. and i’m sure this place takes good care of them.ericTW is spot on. who are some of you kidding here? unless you’re about to be sponsored by Fox or Specialized or whoever, lighten up! when i see a 18" log on the trail, i go over it on my FS 26" HiFi Plus (though I admit i’m coveting the 29" hi fi deluxe on sale at our local shop). i could probably do it on a hard tail but why the heck would i? this is like saying that tennis players of today aren’t purists b/c they’re not using the old t2000 of jimmy connors. doing everything better and faster makes one a happier mountain biker, and if technology helps that, then buy all the technology you can afford. no matter how good i got on a hard tail or a 29er, i am sure that i will always find stuff to challenge me almost every time i go out there. if it became way too easy, i could understand the concern. but i can’t see that ever being an issue, so give me a smoother ride where i can go faster, climb better and tackle tougher stuff any day.
i do love my gary fisher hi fi+ 26er, but i’ve been coveting the "now on sale" at my local shop hi fi deluxe 29er. i tried it in the parking lot and liked it. the guys in the shop, who are totally not salesmen type, tell me they are selling a LOT of 29ers and that people love them. the one thing about them being not as great in tight sections…if you get a brand new 29er from a company like fisher who makes a lot of them, i bet it would be better in tight spaces than a 26er from 3 or 4 years ago. also ask yourself what % of the time are you really in tight twisty places vs. flats, downhill turns etc? that said, i visited marin county CA’s camp tamarancho last week and if i were on a 29er i might not have made it back due to all of the tight downhill switch backs! i’m thinking hard about it, to be honest.
aabiking, where are those links? did i miss them somewhere?
i’ve had the go pro hero camera since Christmas and i do like it. i only use it when i ride in new places. here’s a short video clip of my friend doing an endo when i visited him in Los Angeles:
http://gallery.mac.com/jbronko1#100017
that quality is uncompressed. when you upload it to youtube or other sites (like this clip i uploaded to ning)
http://njmtbcrew.ning.com/video/video/s … 8:Video:46
the clips are usually compressed so the hosting sites can save bandwidth.
both of those clips were taken from the helmet mount. i do have the handlebar mount and i had a battery issue the only time i used it. but during that 1 minute of use, it did seem a fair amount less shaky. there’s also a ‘high vibration’ or a ‘low vibration’ setting on the camera (when you go through all the "mode" menus), and one of them works better, can’t remember which. i am going to a new place in VT next week, so i will definitely be taking some footage. regarding batteries, Lithium batteries work far, far better than alkaline and rechargeable ones. when i used lithium, it lasted for more than 2 hours and maybe even 4 hours. it makes a world of difference.i’ve only been riding about a year, but i’m fairly aggressive and have the bruises to prove it (maybe i just suck tho?). seems to me that if i could go faster on the trails (due to more traction of the larger wheels), climb easier and go over obstacles better, i’d enjoy riding even more. as far as rolling over obstacles too easily, i’d just be even more aggressive and go over stuff that right now is too big for me to try on my 26" Gary Fisher Hi Fi Plus. as for agility, with the advances in technology, it would not surprise me if a good 2008 or 2009 29er (like a new Fisher) were as agile as the 2006 26" Stumpjumpers in the tight spots. My bike is only a year old, so my wife would kill me if i went out and spent 2500 on a new 29er, but i’m seriously thinking about it for a couple of years from now or if i have an unexpected windfall. Would love to spend some quality time on one soon though to check it out.
i would add a few other things to these posts…you are better off naked than with wet cotton on your body (at least according to that guy on Man vs. Wild). so i think one big key is the layer closest to your body. i have a bunch of techwick (EMS) shirts of various weights that wick away moisture, then i typically wear a fleece top and a very thin/light windbreaker. there are a bunch on the market but a decent one is going to cost you $100+. but they really block the wind and are usually vented to let escape the sweat that the wicking layer pulls off your body. for pants, i have 2 sets of tights. one is light and not lined, which i’d say i wear when it’s 45 – 55 degrees. colder than that i wear the heavier, lined ones. and warmer than that, i just wear shorts. for the head, i wear an open-faced balaklava if it’s colder than about 35, and noting but my helmet and my peach fuzz when it’s warmer than that. i have a couple of pairs of gloves, depending on the temp.
