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More bicycle tinkering this morning. I swapped rear cogs around to give both bikes a 2:1 ratio (34:17 and 36:18). Test rides confirmed my hunch; a bit more effort on climbs and a lot less spinning out on flats. While I was at it, I went ahead and installed a DMR chain tensioner that I had on hand on Big Red. Unfortunately, the metal piece that the skewer goes through won't fit in my dropouts, so the tensioner is just bolted tightly (with Loctite) on my derailleur hanger. I'll carry the spare chainring with me in case I need it in a pinch as a ghost ring. If you look closely at Big Red, you'll see my bodged cog arrangement. I used almost all of my SS hub spacers on the Crossroads build, so to make up the difference, I took apart an old cassette and used a couple of the spacers and the two smallest cogs. Works a treat!

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More bicycle tinkering this morning. I swapped rear cogs around to give both bikes a 2:1 ratio (34:17 and 36:18). Test rides confirmed my hunch; a bit more effort on climbs and a lot less spinning out on flats. While I was at it, I went ahead and installed a DMR chain tensioner that I had on hand on Big Red. Unfortunately, the metal piece that the skewer goes through won't fit in my dropouts, so the tensioner is just bolted tightly (with Loctite) on my derailleur hanger. I'll carry the spare chainring with me in case I need it in a pinch as a ghost ring. If you look closely at Big Red, you'll see my bodged cog arrangement. I used almost all of my SS hub spacers on the Crossroads build, so to make up the difference, I took apart an old cassette and used a couple of the spacers and the two smallest cogs. Works a treat!

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I'd look into the cheap chain tensioner ($16-20) off Amazon/Ebay, it only needs to bolt into the derailleur hanger and the metal spring tension on it is quite good. Though I'd swap the gear cog with an alloy one for maximum durability (also $3-5 on Amazon/Ebay). I'd get paranoid not having things fit perfectly!
 
I'd look into the cheap chain tensioner ($16-20) off Amazon/Ebay, it only needs to bolt into the derailleur hanger and the metal spring tension on it is quite good. Though I'd swap the gear cog with an alloy one for maximum durability (also $3-5 on Amazon/Ebay). I'd get paranoid not having things fit perfectly!
This is what I'm using on both SS bikes: Cog & Carrier | Drivetrain | Problem Solvers
 
I went for another uphill morning grinder and this one is right in my backyard! While we don't have any real gravel trails in Los Angeles, we have quite a few dirt fire roads! Where the tarmac ends, my real biking begins! :D

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I'd love to have easy access to "roads" like that. I've watched a couple of videos in the past couple of days of Charlie Kelly riding his more modern bike down Repack about 10-12 years ago when he was in his 60s. "Anyone can ride down Repack." he said. "Riding down Repack isn't hard. Riding down Repack fast is hard.".
 
I'd love to have easy access to "roads" like that. I've watched a couple of videos in the past couple of days of Charlie Kelly riding his more modern bike down Repack about 10-12 years ago when he was in his 60s. "Anyone can ride down Repack." he said. "Riding down Repack isn't hard. Riding down Repack fast is hard.".
My goal before summer hits, is to ride to the local mountains and hit the snowy peaks straight from my house! From what I gather, I'll probably have to haul quite a bit of snacks, thermal clothes and several water bottles. Down hill on these fire roads are really fast, if I didn't have hydraulic brakes, I don't think I would even attempt to do these trails. Also I'm finding flat pedals to be more safer on these trails, I've had to use my feet on the more technical sections and when it gets too steep, just get off my bike and walk up!
 
From this morning's "out the front door" bike ride that ended up being mostly all road cycling, mainly because I was kicked off a hiker/horse trail! In my defense I did look for signs at that the trail entrance and didn't see anything that prohibited bicycles, but the horseback park rangers told me to beat it anyways! :eek: 🐴

First landmark is the infamous Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena also known as Suicide Bridge. In fact so many people have been jumping off, they've temporarily fenced it up to prevent more suicides! The second landmark is most famously known as the house of Doc Brown from Back to the Future, known as the Gamble House. Unfortunately I didn't see any hover boards or flux capacitors! :D

So far I'm really liking these WTB Nano tires. They seem to roll fast on pavement and grip well on the trails. I also looked online and they're not too expensive compared to other gravel tires, I might pick up a spare or two! ;)

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All of this is awesome.

So last week we rented a car and drove all the way to Ojai, CA to see some old friends who rented a house there for ~3 months, to work remotely and get out of Boston. We took a strap-on rear bike rack and 3 mountain bikes, because we saw on Trailforks (the best app for this stuff that I've found) that there were plenty of trails accessible from town.

It was fun, but a lot of these trails were either soft sand, big "baby head" sized rocks, or both. I am spoiled here in Oregon with nice firm damp dirt and flowy trails that let you focus some of your attention on the surroundings instead of being laser-focused on the rocks ahead of you. I took pics, actually thinking of this thread.


Daughter with her bike on the subway in Portland, on the way to renting a car:
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Stream crossing in Ojai:
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Crusing in town:
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Monday, when the girl was back at the house in Distance Learning, wife and I did a long MTB ride. Full disclosure: it was VERY steep and hot, and I got grouchy for a bit. Things turned downhill, finally, and I was fine. Stole the girl's bike, strapped camera bag on bars with canopy bungees (my usual setup).

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The long steep up-n-down slog in full sun. Beautiful though. It was "push bike uphill for 4 minutes" then "coast downhill for 15 seconds" then repeat.
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I tried something new this morning, something I'd only read about and wasn't entirely convinced it was a legitimate option. Instead of using a chain tensioner on Big Red, I used a spare 30T chainring as a "ghost ring" to keep the chain under tension. Despite my concerns of it jumping out of place, it worked like a champ, even when I had to dig into the pedals to climb a hill. It was so quiet I kept looking back to make sure it was still there.

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And it has the added advantage of looking astonishingly weird . . . as in: "I was pushing so hard going uphill that I broke the rear cluster . . . "

When I first saw this pic, I thought the caption would be: "and this is why it took me 7 hours to get home . . ."

Cheers, Jock

Cheers, Jock
 
All of this is awesome.

So last week we rented a car and drove all the way to Ojai, CA to see some old friends who rented a house there for ~3 months, to work remotely and get out of Boston. We took a strap-on rear bike rack and 3 mountain bikes, because we saw on Trailforks (the best app for this stuff that I've found) that there were plenty of trails accessible from town.

It was fun, but a lot of these trails were either soft sand, big "baby head" sized rocks, or both. I am spoiled here in Oregon with nice firm damp dirt and flowy trails that let you focus some of your attention on the surroundings instead of being laser-focused on the rocks ahead of you. I took pics, actually thinking of this thread.


Daughter with her bike on the subway in Portland, on the way to renting a car:
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Stream crossing in Ojai:
View attachment 252195


Crusing in town:
View attachment 252196

Monday, when the girl was back at the house in Distance Learning, wife and I did a long MTB ride. Full disclosure: it was VERY steep and hot, and I got grouchy for a bit. Things turned downhill, finally, and I was fine. Stole the girl's bike, strapped camera bag on bars with canopy bungees (my usual setup).

View attachment 252198

The long steep up-n-down slog in full sun. Beautiful though. It was "push bike uphill for 4 minutes" then "coast downhill for 15 seconds" then repeat.
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Nice! How long are you in Ojai? Did you pick up your rental car at PDX airport hence taking the MAX? :) I still need to plan my kids' spring break, this might be a possible destination! Regarding terrain that's pretty much how most of SoCal trail riding sounds! Lots of dirt and small pebbles. I just keep my gaiter on when biking nowadays, just because it keeps my face warm and for the dusty trails I'm usually riding on!
 
Nice! How long are you in Ojai? Did you pick up your rental car at PDX airport hence taking the MAX? :) I still need to plan my kids' spring break, this might be a possible destination! Regarding terrain that's pretty much how most of SoCal trail riding sounds! Lots of dirt and small pebbles. I just keep my gaiter on when biking nowadays, just because it keeps my face warm and for the dusty trails I'm usually riding on!

Was in Ojai for about 5 days, left a week ago. Was a nice, quiet little town.
 
Nice! How long are you in Ojai? Did you pick up your rental car at PDX airport hence taking the MAX? :) I still need to plan my kids' spring break, this might be a possible destination! Regarding terrain that's pretty much how most of SoCal trail riding sounds! Lots of dirt and small pebbles. I just keep my gaiter on when biking nowadays, just because it keeps my face warm and for the dusty trails I'm usually riding on!
Oh sorry - and yes, we rented in Portland, but downtown. So the CAT bus (Columbia Area Transit) picked us up out here in Hood River, and we rode that to Gateway Transit Center in Portland, then rode MAX for a bit, then a short bike ride to a Hertz. Our old 88 4Runner got to stay home. :)
 
Unrelated: I have a strat very much like the one in your avatar... No longer has that mini-hum in the bridge. '88 American Standard I've had since new.
Not wishing to hijack the thread but that’s a very nice looking guitar. Sunburst plus maple neck can’t be beaten.

If you can let me know how to pm you I will post you a whole view image of the sunburst. I have had to change my avatar as the original has been lost. This red one is the first of the Fullerton reissues (1983) using many of the original Fender employees and before the company moved to manufacturing in Corona.

Cheers Ian
 
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