Tuesday, November 29, 2011

All Day

Those dudes you could watch shred it all day long, almost so long you forget to ride. I thought of this today while i was watching this video of Brendan Howey. This kid kills it like the place is his home trail.

Off The Radar - Brendan Howey from Mike Zinger on Vimeo.



This got me thinking about other people i could watch ride forever and the list quickly exploded, i wish i could build the ultimate playlist of these masters of steez and radness. Turns out thatd take forever so you can figure it out yourself. While my mind was wondering though this video popped into my head

www.lonewolfproductions.ca - Whipping with Brendan Fairclough from Matt Brooks on Vimeo.



and then i started thinking about all the local kids who kill it every time you go out to ride, and then i got stoked to ride. So point is when people kill it on their bikes, you want to kill it too. So go out and shred with the buddies, its whats its all about. And get pumped.

Hard knock life.

I fucking love hardtails.
Plain and simple.Mine is currently layed beside me with a flat rear tire,goose shit stuck to the front one,and hasn't seen a cleaning since the day it got built.The winter months are upon us and during these loomy dark times this bike sees the most action out of any of my fleet.My DH bike is in pieces awaiting it's new centerpiece and my trusty pedaly buddy,green machine,is a fair weather only steed.So when the rain hits hard but a sunny day off arives I always pick up my stiff friend.

I was once told by a ex-world cupper turned coach that a hardtail is one of the most versitile bikes you can ever own.And he was 100% correct.I beat the living hell out of my hardtail come "the offseason".Countless hours spent exploring local XC spots looking for abandoned horse trails.Tons of trips to the bikepark for some corner shreding goodness.Not to mention general razzing of short,mellow,backyard DH stuff.I can't get enough of the feeling I get when give my hardtail the beans.That placebo effect of going a million miles an hour on sections of trail that feel fully in control on a squishy bike.It constantly gives me an ear to ear shit eating grin.

I'm a firm believer that everyone who wants to start riding mountain bikes should start off on a hardtail.Now,let me preface that sentance by saying I didn't start this way...in fact I got my first hardtail about 3 years ago.At any rate,they'll teach you the basic fundamentals of riding a dirt oriantated bicycle.They'll tell you if you decided to take the wrong line,and that right there will make quick work of making you a smoother rider,which in turn will make you a faster rider.Also back to that mutiple use thing,go on a group XC ride one day,hit some jumps another day,and hammer a pump track the next.All of this while,more then likely,never making a peep and always working great.

If you've got a hardtail do yourself a favor,leave the full susser at home every now and again and go beat yourself up on it.You won't regret it,I promise.Personally i'm looking forward to these upcomming months spent mainly with Mr.hardtail.Alls I gotta do is fix a flat and we're off to gallop through some rocks,throw some roost and ultimately spend a lovely 4 days bashing gates on a hillside on Lagua Seca raceway in April.

Hardtails rule.

Knife to a gun fight.

So,i'll admit...I was a little late to the draw on reading that absurd Pinkbike article Cam posted about yesterday.I just navigated myself through that thing and felt like I got stupider.So,do yourself a favor and read it,then read this because here's a point counter point from the outside looking in.

Bigger contact patch-Yep.9er's do have this,and it does help.Espically since you just started "biking" 2 months ago and already got on "sponsored" and are,"on a team".

Wheel strength-Fuck you,Chris.How long have you worked in shops?Oh? never...ok.I don't know how many times I see out of true 9er wheels come through my doors.The second those wagon wheels loose the slightest bit of tension they're a ticking time bomb.I've ridden half a day at my local mountain with 4 broken spokes on an old 823 to Hadley set up and guess what,the wheel was arrow straight and stayed that way.Oh,and thanks for using Gravy as a referance.I'm pretty confident that my wheel builds are on par with that washed up fuck.Ohhhhh,you built wheels for Lopes when he was an up and comer,you don't need to have a chip on your shoulder about it.

Chainstay length-MY DICK you can get 29'' stays the same length as modern 26''.Espically if we're talking DH bikes.Here,Chris i'll believe you when you put right in front of my face exactly this.A working 8'' travel 29er that under full compression doesn't hit the seat tube,has roughly a 17.25'' chainstay with room for a 30+mm wide rim,2.5'' DH casing tire with good tread,and healthy mud and rock clearance.Also keep the geometry in the ball park of modern day race frames.I'll buy your hefty claim then,sir.

Will 29's take over?-Chris claims yes,and goes as far as saying he has "downhillers going faster on 29ers".I bet you gave your Twian catalog WFO to Brook McDonald and had him take it for a run down Shladming,right?Nope.what you did was give it to a local hero,sent him out on a fireroad and then claimed he was hella faster on it.

He then goes to claim that people that are nay-sayers haven't spent time on a 29'er before.Well,it may not have been a great deal of time but I have.Both full suspension and hardtail.My verdict?They were shit.They did roll fast that's for sure but the second I wanted to have any sort of fun I couldn't.Lay it into a corner?Nope,fucker wanted to highside due to wheel flop.Pre-load off of rocks,small bumps,and roots?Nope,wheel just plowed over them.The bike just felt dead.Think '04 first gen. V10 with a 5th Element dead.It wasn't alive,poppy,springy...it just didn't reract as well to rider input.Which is truly why I believe that 29er's do so well.The undertrained,undertalanted,rookie.Imagine slacking off all the angles of your standard 4'' travel 26'' trail bike,adding huge wheels and tires so bumps become non exsistant and voila...you have a crutch that makes beginners believe they can pedal like Julien Absolon and handle downhill duties like they're fucking Greg Minnar.

It's a farce,a sugar pill,a band-aid.I'm sorry that your company is based around lies,Chris.But it's the truth.When you finally do release your 29'' DH bike that you picked from a catalog in the far east how about you and all the stoned hippys that answer the phones at your company actaully answer the phones,handle the warrantys correctly,ship the product out on time,and make sure the product i'm recieving is the correct one.Cause you're gonna need it,hoss,cause that things gonna fail.Miserably.

Monday, November 28, 2011

A true friend.

Someone who's trustworthy,you can count on,and has your back when shit gets wild.
All of these things describe my friend the WTB Mutano tire.This rubber rim cover has been on and off the front of quite a few of my bikes for the past handful of years.I've never once met a trail condition that couldn't be handled by this knobby beauty.I've ridden everything from flowing rivers of shit and peanut butter mud,to bone dry sand and rocks.All with my little round buddy keeping me ever confident in the corners.I've tried many a tire,Minion,Weirwolf,Comp 32,Comp 16,High Roller,Ardent...nothing compared to my time tested friend.

I dunno what it is about said tire that makes it the perfect match for my riding style.Maybe it's the super square edged side knobs?The insanley fast rolling center tread?The DNA rubber?A combo of all that?Whatever it is,all I know is she flat out hauls ass.In her svelt 2.2 race case form,or the curvy and squishy 2.4 AM look.So...here's to you good friend,and here's to many more years together...



Hey everyone,meet Mutano.


Seriously

Alright seriously, if i hear about how 29 inch wheels are going to replace 26 because they "roll better" and "smoother over rough terrain" im going to shoot something. That being said, i do understand their purpose. If you love cruising around folsom lake then 29ers are for you. If you actually enjoy having fun and playing around on the trail ... well then you already know that 29ers suck.

Im ranting because of this: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Burning-Question-Will-the-29er-Replace-the-26-2011.html
some stupid industry jerks rambling about why well all be proven wrong when 29ers take over the world. If that day comes, i will return to my skateboard.

I know they have their place and they arent all bad, but just stop trying to shove down my throat how these larger than necessary wheels are going to change the way i ride and make my life better ... they wont, they'll just make it way more boring.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

FUN

I am Camden, i ride bikes for fun. Unlike Taylor i do not or have not ever worked at a bike shop. I am a bike nerd, but i dont have shit on Taylor. That being said i will be here for the fun. I enjoy ripping bikes, thats it thats all. I do have some strong opinions about this little activity we all enjoy and all the things that go with it, riders, companys, people, parts, trends, racing, contests, trips, all that good stuff.

Team Dumped is our crew of shredders. Just here for a good time on some 26 inch wheels ... and 20's too i guess.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

My standard standards are high.

Standard...
You know,uniform,all the same,and the like.
Not in "the industry".
BB30,BB92,12x142,12x150,12x157,SHIS headtubes,ISCG,15x100.
Holy shit.If you have a bike company,you probably have a so called "standard" that you dreamed up thinking it would solve everyone's problems.Well you didn't.You made me memorize 46 different ways to install a bottom bracket,made me buy a Cane Creek Gary Guage,and stranded with me 2 options for my rear hub.One of which is ungodly expensive,the other is unsealed with shit freehub engagement.

Now if there were some sort of bicycle industry cheif or something,and I happened to be this fellow this is how frames would look...

Downhill-
-12x150 rear end.
-83mm English BB shell with intergrated ISCG 05.
-1.5'' regular cup headtube.
-31.6 seatpost.

All Mountain-
-12x135 rear end.
-73mm English BB shell with intergrated ISCG 05.
-1.5'' regular cup headtube.
-31.6 seatpost.
-Dropper post cable guides.

Trail-
-12x135 rear end.
-73mm English BB shell with intergrated ISCG 05.
-Tapered 1 1/8'' to 1.5'' regular cup headtube.
-31.6 seatpost
-Dropper post cable guides.

XC-
-12x135 rear end.
-73mm English BB shell.
-Tapered 1 1/8'' to 1.5'' regular cup headtube.
-31.6 seatpost.

Road-
-10x135 through axle rear end.
-73mm English BB shell.
-1.5'' regular cup headtube.
-31.6 seatpost.

Along with these set,unchangeable stardards all forks would be 20x110 through axle,with either a Maxle type system or the whole solid axle with pinch bolts set up.All seatposts would be tube shaped.Fuck you if you think your "aero tested" teardrop seatmast is better in any way shape or form then a 31.6 Thomson.Wheel size would be 26'' or 29''...with the latter only being allowed on road,and bikes with less than 4'' of travel.Bar diameter would be a set 31.8 across the board.25.4 is for people who run 125mm stems off road.

So there it is.My heaven.I guess for now I better stick to reading up on Cannondale PDF's and using my Gary Guage to find the I.D. of the headtube on your new Niner carbon full suspension frame.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Dream Machine-Turner DHR.

Oh jeeze...where do I start when it comes to this shapley piece of alumnium.
I don't know when or where the first time I saw a DHR was but it was probably one of the first couple of times I visited my yearly friend the Sea Otter Classic.There was something about that bike,maybe it was the yellow powder coat job,the twin top tubes,or the red spring on the Romic.Maybe it was the fact I was 13 and really wanted off of my Giant Warp DS1 and onto an 8'' travel wonder bike with a chain guide and dual crown fork.At any rate,I fell in love...little did I know that love would follow me for roughly a decade.

After I got my first so-called wonder bike (2001 Cannondale Gemini) I started getting the itch to go race these squishy machines.I raced for a few seasons and it wasn't until about the second or third year of racing  I noticed something.An evolution of my lover from years past.Gone were her twin top tubes,a beautiful vinyl sticker kit covered her from headtube to dropout,and that red spring was replaced with a remote piggyback-ed Fox shock.I was swept off my feet once again.I fell out of the MTB scene shortly after that encounter,racing and 26'' wheels in general were at the back of my brain.

I returned to adult sized wheels towards the end of the 2000's.I was racing again,and was loving it.I bought a few different frames from a few different companies,that was untill I decided I really wanted to try racing.Different states,travel,friends,new places.The whole bit.I pulled the trigger on my first ever,money was no object,100% new parts,no substitutions bike.At the time my friend was riding a DHR in the last incarnation I saw her in and he loved it.That inspired me to pull the trigger on a DHR as the center piece of this build.Whilst scouring the interwebs,I saw her.She'd lost quite a bit of weight,gained some curves and stole my heart again.This time around she'd lost the chunky square tubes and replaced them with thin,round ones.The head to toe moto inspired graphic kit was ditched,replaced with a subtle nearly transparent top tube sticker.The remote piggy back was gone,switched out for the standard piggy backed Fox DHX that was tucked nicley away in the frame.She had to be mine.A phone call to Turner,a smaller than I thought sum of money,and a few weeks later I had her all to myself.We spent plenty of time together.Sea Otter,a season of Northstar along with every race they had to offer,my first out of state race,and countless hours on the home trails.The both of us loved every minute of it.

But,every good thing has to come to an end at somepoint.I sold her smokey grey goodness at the end of that season to a kid in the Bay Area.It was a sad day,but new bikes,riding what your shop sells,and a never ending lust for bicycles masked that.I spent the next two seasons on a World Championship adorned French flyer.The whole time I was on said Frenchy,I couldn't help but notice that once again my lifelong lover was undergoing changes.This time it was big.She kept the round tubes,bailed out on the ever-lovely TNT suspension layout and went DW,and made herself longer,lower and lighter.She became the apple of everyone's eye at this point.

I've thrown a leg or 5 over my lady in her latest look and although the feel isn't exactly what it used to be and she's a spendy little cuss I can't help but still want her between my legs,getting sideways and shooting roost.It's not gonna happen this year,as I already have my lady of the season planned out...and boy howdy she's a looker.Right up there with my girl the DHR.

One day dream machine,one day...

The first version of my love.Circa 2001.





Round 2.Circa 2004



Round 3.Circa 2008.


Round 4.Current look.Circa 2011


Boredom.

Alright,so here it is.
Another blog-site dedicated to bikes.I'm not a local Cat-3 XC racer looking to post about how his last race turned out or plug his "sponsors".I'm here to ramble about things that have to do with bikes.
So,hopefully you like reading about stuff a lifelong rider and wanna-be racer who has spent most of their life in shops has to say about cycling,"the industry",racing,products,and people.