In reply to GameboyRMH :
Dude that facility looks amazing!
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Dude that facility looks amazing!
In reply to GameboyRMH :
I've been riding a bit between cold snaps & rain. I did a short 13-mile blast around town on the MTB last night, and 24-miles on the freestyle bike a couple weeks ago.
I worked a gravel race last weekend & now I'm thinking about picking up a Trek EX Sport. I started working part-time at the bike shop down the street last month, so I need to figure out what the price will be with my discount.
I've been out riding when the weather lets us, last weekend conditions were perfect on the snow. The mild weather that is back has us off the trails again though, we will see what the rest of the winter is like.
Had some unusually warm weather today at around 15C and went for a ride on a few nearby trails, first time riding outdoors for the year.
I'm really hoping this project happens, but have my doubts they'll get enough other people to buy one. So far its me and 3 others, they need 20. If any of you know super tall people with disposable income who are also interested in bikes, maybe send them this 36" wheel gravel monster: https://www.curvecycling.com/blogs/news/titanosaur-crowdfunding-project
Pictured is the bike in size L with a 6ftish person for scale
Had another unusually warm day earlier in the week (almost 20C!) and hit some more nearby bike paths. This year's rides are gonna look boring if I don't start taking public transit to get to other ride locations, gotta watch the gas budget like a hawk...
Seeing this thread pop back up and I actually have a few things to contribute. A few weeks back we nailed the weather window for an overnight trip on fat bikes. It froze up the night before we left and was melting as we got back to the cars in the early afternoon on day 2. About 25 not very serious miles. 
For three years we have been planning an end to end ride of the local large lake and for three years conditions have been too sketchy to make it fun. This was the backup plan this year.
I have not been riding much but I got up early this morning to take a ride before work and realized I need to ride more often. My goal is to get into good enough shape to do group rides and keep up with the pace so I have some work to do since my average speed was only 12.6 mph.
So my ultra-rare rear shock seems to have done this to itself somehow, a circumferential groove that's big enough to catch with a fingernail. Should I try to polish it out?
Got the bikes out and took my boys on this little 17 mile run to an ice cream shop and back. All paved trail starting and ending in my driveway, that's actually pretty cool.
So how do I fix my 2000 Manitou Mars 1 fork? It has no damping, probably no oil in it.
In reply to akylekoz :
My dad had one on his Klein Mantra and I tried finding replacement parts for it but couldn't find anything. We ended up buying a new Fox shock and replacing it.
Dang, it's on a Klein Attitude Race.
In reply to akylekoz :
I'm not sure if the 2001 fork is the same as the 2000 model, but the service manual is on the Hayes (who own the Manitou brand) website:
https://hayesbicycle.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360042446634-2001-Mars-Service-Manual
Unless something is actually broken, you can usually just take the fork apart, clean and lubricate the parts and reassemble and it will work a lot better. The damper is usually a sealed component and is often not serviceable without special tools and knowledge.
Anyone here have any interest in a comp style trials bike?
my knees and wrists don't like it even if I had the time and motivation. I've had it listed locally for a couple months and no hits. Thought I'd see if anyone here was interested.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Interest? Yes. I've always wanted to try one of these.
Need? No... so it would really depend on what you need to get out of it.
Mmm... I have fond memories of Magura rim brakes in the pre-disc brake era. And pre-V-brake era, for that matter...
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
How much are you asking? I doubt I'm your buyer either, but...
Time for the part of the year where I say I am going to ride more and then don't, but lets give it a try for 2025. On NYE Tom and I hit our local trails and I am hooked again. I am back out of shape for long rides but now I know the bike fits in the back of my new to me car so I have no more excuses to not get out and ride. 
One of the reasons I'm pushing to hit 300k in the Ody is that it's a great bike hauler. When I started running in 2013 I pretty much quit riding, but never lost the love. This summer I had time and $ so I picked up a 2018 Trek Top Fuel 9.8 and got in several rides before the cold set in here in SE MI.
out with the old: 2004 Specialized FSR-XC went to a new home the day after the Trek arrived.
First trail ride in a long time. I'm fortunate to have decent singletrack about 10 miles from home. Above, Maybury State Park. Below, idk the name of the trail but it's along Hines Drive in Plymouth / Livonia.
And I ventured a little farther to hit some trails I'd never ridden. Hickory Glen in Commerce Twp, about 40 minutes from home:
and the DTE trails a little under an hour from home:
I had a huge crash here, and my phone departed my jersey pocket. I didn't know this until we finished the loop and stopped to decide whether to do the next loop or head home. I reached for my phone, had an oh E36 M3 moment, and we rode another lap of the loop I crashed on. Found the phone right where I expected, and headed home when we finished that lap. We covered something like 18 miles that day.
I even managed to do some out-of-state riding while on a couple of trips this Fall. The first of these was in eastern North Carolina, about a 4-hour drive from where we thought we'd be riding in upstate SC. Stupid hurricane. My buddy Jim, another early retiree living in the GSP area, looked it up and found this trail system that was outside the storm path on our designated ride day (Thu 9/26):
We checked the weather radar post-ride, and decided to beat feet back to GSP while we could still make it pre-hurricane.
That was a good call, because we all know GSP and surrounding areas got horse-berkeleyed. So yeah, we drove 8 hours round-trip to ride for about an hour and a half. Friday went from a ride day to a neighborhood cleanup day, and I flew home Saturday.
Then on 11/17, while I was in MD for a class reunion, my HS buddy Evan took me on a ride through Schaefer Farm and a couple other trails not too far north of DC:
That's a lot of elevation change for a flatlander like me. It was a crisp cool day, perfect for trail riding. We followed it up with lunch and a couple beers and laughing about some of the stupid E36 M3 we did in HS. So yeah, I'm gonna do a bunch more trail riding in 2025. It is by far my favorite outdoor activity.
In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :
Hard to argue with a minivan for transporting bikes, the continence of being able to just throw a bike in the bed of a truck was nice but I always was worried about it walking away. I am happy now that I can fit the bike inside my car so its less tempting to people when I am stopped before or after a ride.
Asheville area has by far been my favorite place to ride but it might take some time for me to get back up that way after the storm did so much damage. We have a ton of trails around us here in FL and hopefully this is the year to visit a few new ones.
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