[m@frit]

Thanks for the advice.  I bought the Park CCP-44 crank puller which worked really well, although I think my LBS over torqued everything, I had to just about stand on it to get it to budge.  It’s possible that they didn’t put any grease on the splines prior to assembly.  I then had to get the BBT-22 (bottom bracket tool) to remove the chainring from the crank arm.

After all that – SUCCESS!!  I now have a new, smaller chainring.  Now I just need to remove a couple chain links.  I’m sure there’s a tool for that (I already have master link pliers and a chain breaker).

(Apologies if this came across like a Park Tool commercial.)

[m@frit]

OK – this worked (paracord):

by the way, mine is not a self-extracting set up, so I haven’t yet figured out how to get the DS crank off yet.

[m@frit]

Have you found a solution yet?  I’m facing the same issue.

[m@frit]

I just picked up a couple pairs of these for warm weather:

mechanix vent gloves

[m@frit]

Badges?  WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING BADGES!!!

I had a refrigerator in school that we started to stick our Chiquita Banana stickers on.  After a couple years, it was just about covered.  Not sure about the effect on resale value, since the refrigerator wasn’t ours to sell.

What are these stickers?  Do they have sentimental value?  My son rode from MD to OR one summer and got stickers from local gas stations, restaurants and bars along the way.  When his bike got stolen, the stickers were the only thing he really wished he could replace, since they included a lot of memories.

[m@frit]

 

 

DONATE!

 

 

[m@frit]

I don’t know how anyone could be so cold.  Hopefully this gets so much attention that whoever stole it can’t profit by selling it or any of its parts.

His rig looks badass!

[m@frit]

REI is awesome (2 kids in scouts), Dicks is not.

Can’t all just go for a ride?

[m@frit]

Ask them if they’ll cover it under the factory warranty – usually a year.  Anything wrong should show up and be fixed in that period.

[m@frit]

Cutting through the bead without damaging the rim might be tricky (cutting off the tire would be pretty straightforward).  It’s likely that the sealant has dried, effectively gluing the bead to the rim.  A cheap fix might be to remove the valve core and add some very slightly soapy water through the valve.  spin it around to distribute the soapy water, then try to pry it off again.  Might need to let the water site for a while to loosen things up.

[m@frit]

I’ve encountered this phenomenon several time recently on the trail.  It’s as annoying as blasting your car stereo with the windows open.  No one else wants to hear your music.  You might think you listen to good music, but you don’t, I promise you.  You have bad taste in music.  Bad.

Get some earbuds.  You might think it’s not safe, but you’ll be fine, trust me.

[m@frit]

I just converted my Specialized Fuse (27.5+  3″ tires) to tubeless.  Wheels came already taped and I installed a Stan’s valve stem (with the rubber gasket thingy).  Removed valve cores, pumped up to seat the beads (with the help of a little soapy water), then allowed to deflate.  Added 120-ml (about 4-oz) of Stan’s No-Tube Sealant through the valve stems (with core still removed) then reinstalled valve cores and pumped up to 20 psi.  Bounced wheels around like a basketball for a couple minutes to spread the sealant around then put back on bike.  Two weeks and 50 – 60 miles in, no issues.

I recommend this rim tape, valves and sealant.

[m@frit]

I have 1-up rack that holds two bikes on a 1 1/4″ hitch.  It’s awesome, built like a tank and super easy and fast to load and unload.  The only thing that touches the rack is the wheels so I don’t mess up the heavy coating of mud usually covering my bike.

https://www.1up-usa.com/product-category/bike-racks/

Not too much more $$ than other brands.

[m@frit]

Yes, the most important thing is that you have them rotating in the correct direction for the tread pattern.  Don’t worry about the logo, it’s meaningless unless they make you go faster, like racing stripes.

[m@frit]

Lots of cool small mountain towns up there for shopping/food.  Several breweries within a 15 mile radius.  Tons of hiking.  Several rafting outfitters nearby.  Grandfather Mountain, Linville Falls and Cavern are all pretty cool.

I also highly recommend stopping at Pisgah for riding, which is sort of on the way.

[m@frit]

Regular old household air is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other stuff.  A compressor will remove some of the moisture in the air via condensation, but doesn’t change the amount of nitrogen or oxygen.

If you believe that nitrogen is better for pressure loss, I suggest filling with air.  When the pressure drops over time, this theoretically should be mostly the oxygen that is leaking out.  At this point your pressure will be low but the gas inside will be almost 100% nitrogen.  When you refill again with air, you’re replacing the lost oxygen with 78% nitrogen again.

Every time you refill with air, the nitrogen content inside the tire gets higher and higher IF the oxygen is preferentially leaking out.  If you don’t believe any of this, keep paying for nitrogen (the most abundant gas on our planet).  Air has NEVER let me down.  Wait…that sounds like a song.

[m@frit]

Have you weighed your wheels before and after filling with air?  I don’t think you’d be able to detect a difference. I also don’t think you’d be able to measure much of a difference even with something lighter than air like helium, since you’d be compressing it into a more dense format than what’s in a helium balloon for example.

I know there are a lot of cars out there with nitrogen in the tires, but that’s a bit of a scam (I can run through the math for anyone interested).  I like to use a mixture of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and various other gases.  It’s readily available EVERYWHERE.

[m@frit]

I’ve been using a Garmin 920XT for the last couple years.  Works great – GPS logs my rides and has a step counter for just walking around.  Battery lasts for about 3 weeks using the GPS 3 – 4 hours per week.

[m@frit]

Looks good!  Is the trailer long enough to put the bikes in without removing the front wheel?

This trailer with a fold-up canopy would be a perfect set-up.

[m@frit]

I’ve got a Garmin 920XT and love it.  It came with a chest-strap heart rate monitor, which I’ve never used, so can’t comment on that, but the watch is awesome.  I wear it everyday because it also has a step counter.  Battery is normally good for 2- 3 weeks between charges.  It’s been abused pretty good and has a few scratches and dings, but keeps on ticking.  Not sure if an apple watch would stand up to the abuse of off-road riding, the couple I’ve seen so far seem a little delicate.

You can also customize the 920XT with additional downloadable apps, watch faces, screen layouts, etc.  I do wish it had a native stopwatch, but there’s an app for that.

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