Bicycle

My friend Megan had a silly little get off on her new bike a while back. She tossed her bike off a bridge in China Camp. No real harm to her or the bike other than an issue in her brake lever. Somehow, the lever rod got messed up. Jammed and stripped. Don’t ask me … Read more

This caught me off guard today. I’m glad I found it it time. I was working on a 170mm Reverb Stealth B1. I set the IFP with the special tool according to the marks it had on it. I had to go upstairs to check the oil height for the valve as my notes were … Read more

Back sometime in the early 2010s, Mary Wragg-Moncorgé (my then girlfriend) and I went out for a nice singletrack ride with our friends Sonny and Roxy. We had just ridden one of the local gems and were doing a small road burn back to town. We were talking amongst ourselves about being sneaky in the … Read more

Here’s an interesting topic: What could you do if you wanted to build a great mountain bike while spending the least amount of money? What would you do if you wanted to build a great mountain bike without wasting money? They are two different concepts. One trims everything back to only what you really need. The … Read more

I’m setting up to start taking the play out of some of my RockShox Reverb dropper seatposts. Between break in and wear, a certain amount of play is created in the post. This leads to a saddle that has a bit of a shake to it. My goal is to have just enough room in the … Read more

I’m totally down to spoil my fiancée. She get’s some special attention. She spoils me, how could I not? She’s also a pretty legit rider. She’s ridden across the country East to West and North to South. More than I have. She’s not a shredder but game for almost any ride and she’s pedaling somewhere a … Read more

It’s funny to post this now as I am currently engaged. Ha. Anyway…. Bicycle ‘mechanics’ are generally very inexperienced riders. They spends their days in workshops talking trash and theorizing about this and that. They wax their beards and go out for beers with their boyfriends after work. Late at night, they gaze into the blue … Read more

A few years ago, I got a Whiskey No. 9 fork to put on a bike. It was one of the few options for that type of fork at the time. It has proven to be a pretty horrible fork. Not only is it stiffer than a girder and painful to ride but the cable … Read more

(JT shown here on a Raleigh MTi1000) I’m excited to post this bike just as the Philadelphia Bike Expo takes place. Certainly, this is becoming the coolest event to attend in the US for the custom bike crowd. I thought that I’d be able to attend this year but that didn’t happen. I’ve just been too … Read more

The second year of the Rockville Enduro ran again. It’s a nice local race in a cool place to ride. Rockville isn’t a huge place but it does boast some really cool trails and some runs that push riders and bikes hard. I tend not to go to the big enduro races as they are usually … Read more

 The repercussions of the SRAM 1x drivetrain system keep making changes in frame and component design. It’s even changing how we ride. For me, looking at building a few new narrow gauge dirt bikes, there is room opening up for larger tires and shorter stays. This is a good thing as long as the reduced … Read more

Ronen’s got a problem. We do a lot of very technical riding on some sick trails. Due to his height and fit, he’s been relegated to a 140mm seat dropper while I’ve been able to use a 170mm dropper (w/frame mod or custom bike). This has been a huge advantage for me. Adding to that … Read more

This is a bit of an update post. I posted a graphic online back in 2011. It showed the comparative leverage between a BB30/PF30 bottom bracket bearing configuration and a PF4186/T3568. It made it instantly obvious that geometrically, the PF4186/T3568 was 31% stronger than the larger, heavier BB30/PF30 configuration. The bearings had a superior working angle and … Read more

As I am in between DH bikes, I had to ride my big enduro rig at Northstar the other week. Obviously, I needed to bring a bash for the crazy rocks. It’s hard to find chainring protection for modern 1×11 drivetrains. In the hunt for lighter and lighter enduro bikes, some parts have lost meaning. Most … Read more

I like tubeless tires like most folks. Fixing them however is a messy pain in the ass. When a tire get’s a puncture in it, it needs to be repaired. I get a little rough on my tires sometimes (VIDEO), so I have to repair tires a lot.  My fancy Maxxis CrossMark 29×2.10 UST tire … Read more

A week or so ago, Doug Ballard posted a photo on PBMA‘s Facebook page of a cross bike with a dropper seat post installed on it. The bike had SRAM Force 22 HydroR controls. The bike was setup with a 1x drivetrain. The left shift lever was modified to actuate the dropper seat post, similar to … Read more

Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde SST Fox Alpha What happens when you forget what you thought you knew? Either you get broke or you break through. This is what’s been going on in my world lately — the latter. Breaking through. Supersonic! When I built RedFive I was pushing the limit of what I ‘knew’ would work on a bicycle. I … Read more

My feet have been hurting in my fancy bike shoes lately. I’m also trying to relax a bit with my riding and get my form back. The girlfriend is riding flats so maybe I should match. I’ve been playing with running flat pedals on trail for the first time ever. For jumps and flow and … Read more

I pulled the Fox 34 Grip fork (Part Number: 910-20-400) apart on Windy’s PinkFive this weekend. She’s a lighter rider and isn’t super aggressive. Because of this, I wanted to lighten up the damping to open the fork up for her. She wasn’t getting a lot of travel out of the fork. I removed a … Read more

San Francisco is such a cultural wasteland these days. It used to be a pretty cool place, full of; fags, junkies, losers, anarchists, and a cavalcade of sex workers. Today, almost none of that is left. It’s now the New Church of the Noob. Tech bros that know code and almost nothing else ruling over … Read more

Last Saturday, RedFive died. “I, the miserable and the abandoned, am an abortion, to be spurned at, and kicked, and trampled on.”Shelly I had done a nice ride on Tam. I was playing with some final changes before locking in a geometry for Concorde (the next itteration). At one point on the ride, I stopped … Read more

It’s been a long long time since I built a bike frame for a girlfriend…. Obviously, Pink Five was the only name a girls bike could take following RedFive. You can see the whole Pink Five saga HERE. (or on Amazon HERE) Windy is an excellent rider. She’s strong. She can ride all day. The myth … Read more

Everything is changing so quickly in mountain biking. I can barely keep up with things. Even new models coming out of embargo are two generations old. Some companies get it but are held back by consumers. Other companies are just blind. It’s a lousy time to be cutting carbon molds. I’m in an exciting place … Read more

Bent seat tubes on bicycle frames are nothing new. They have been used for years in both mountain and road bike design. The rear wheel often needs to be forward of what space would otherwise allow. The seat tube is adjusted to give tire clearance. In recent years, it’s become almost impossible to build a quality mountain bike … Read more

After the initial assembly of any new bicycle or motorcycle is complete, the shakedown starts. This is where ridingn starts and problems are realized, fit is adjusted, and tuning begins. On a new mountain bike, the first ride will include a pack filled with 2-3 stems, spacers, shock pump, tools and parts for a chainring swap, … Read more

The Incom T-65B X-Wing Starfighter in the Red Squadron of the Rebel Alliance. The call sign of this fighter in the Battle of Yavin, Red Five, became the ships name. This bird flies circles around Imperial TIE fighters and blows up Death Stars. Boom! I like to think about out running TIE Fighters and blowing up Death … Read more

I had intended to have raced both downhill and dual slalom at the Sea Otter Classic this year. That didn’t happen. Money and time. I’ve been making a push at building a few bikes that is eating up some resources. Whatever. I was able to get down to the event for a quick one day … Read more

I figured that I’d have a little fun with this since I, once again, worked out this system. I call it StepDown. It allows a frambuilder to design a rear dropout that is a little more compact than the existing IS would allow. Since most bikes and especially hardtails don’t need to ever run a … Read more