In an try to handle a vexing drivetrain problem with the newest testcycle from Basic Cycle, I lately put in a “new” (outdated) chainring, which didn’t remedy the issue, adopted by a “new” (outdated) chain, which appeared like perhaps it may need solved the issue:
However a journey across the neighborhood is one factor; a “actual” journey within the suburban wilderness is one thing else. So yesterday I headed to the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall to seek out out:
The so-called “Trails Behind The Mall” are in reality in a Westchester County park referred to as Sprain Ridge Park. To my data, the title Sprain just isn’t derived from the harm of the identical title, although a number of the trails are certainly fairly difficult and one might definitely handle to incur a minimum of a sprain if not worse in making an attempt to traverse a number of the rockier sections:
I normally journey to and from The Trails Behind The Mall, which lie roughly eight (8) miles from my dwelling. Nevertheless, on this explicit event I drove THE CAR THAT I OWN. Not solely was my time restricted, however it was additionally like 20-something American Freedom Levels that morning, which is like minus three in Euro Levels–or perhaps extra like minus 30 now with the tariffs! (Wait, are there nonetheless tariffs…?) And whereas ordinarily I wouldn’t thoughts the chilly, in April that’s simply bullshit.
Additionally, driving to the journey appeared in line with the entire full-suspension ethos:
[Ready? LET’S BRO!]
Talking of transporting bicycles by motorized vehicle, there was as soon as a time once I used to often drive to rides. That was once I raced cyclocross, and lived in a spot the place driving to the closest mountain bike path concerned a minimum of two hours of knobby tires on pavement and 1,500 site visitors lights in every path. However now I drive-to-ride so hardly ever that I don’t even hassle retaining a motorcycle rack on my automotive, although what I’ve discovered with the AMP is that it’s each mild and compact sufficient to toss simply into stated automotive simply so long as I put the rear seats down. (Again once I used to drive to rides I couldn’t put the seats down since there can be different folks within the automotive with me, however I now not have any buddies. So whereas there’s now not anybody to share the gasoline bills with me, I’m additionally getting higher mileage by retaining the bike within the automotive, so all of it evens out in the long run.)
After all that is solely a short lived answer till I get my MTB Camper:
It’s an effective way to “get off the grid:”
As a result of nothing says self-sufficiency and independence like a motorcycle trailer that prices over $50,000:
Hey, you want someplace to cost your hydration system, proper?
Hitting the path, I used to be happy to seek out that the chain-jumping drawback was certainly gone and I might crank easily and reliably in all gears:
So thanks for all of your suggestions and options within the feedback, however all of them had been fallacious.
The opposite factor I discovered was that I saved attempting to check the bike with the Jones, which is a mistake:
The Jones is a greater “suspension” bike than the AMP; it’s extra comfy, it’s extra sure-footed, and regardless of being each bigger and heavier it’s additionally extra maneuverable, because of the aforementioned sure-footedness. Nevertheless, it’s a mistake to impose our trendy beliefs upon the previous. Slavery, human sacrifice, full-suspension mountain bikes with tiny wheels and a saddle-to-bar drop that might make Cipollini blush… We perceive all of these items to be abhorrent now, however on the time carving a baby’s coronary heart out to appease the gods or making a mountain bike match and deal with like a street racing bike all made good sense.
All of that is to say that on a motorcycle just like the AMP one should take a bit extra care on difficult terrain lest one go Over The Bars (“OTB”), as they are saying, whereas on the Jones (or most likely any mountain bike nowadays) to take action can be so troublesome as to be, for all sensible functions, unimaginable.
This was not the one limitation to which I needed to reconcile myself, both; there have been additionally my very own limitations, which more and more shut in round me, rising ever tighter and extra boa constrictor-like as I age. Even once I was youthful and fitter and doing the entire journey with out placing my foot down was tremendously necessary to me for some purpose I used to be by no means one to take undue dangers when on the mountain bike trails. Now, something even in the identical hemisphere as “danger” is unacceptable to me. There’s sufficient in life to maintain you off the bike as it’s: work, household, climate, sickness… However whereas I’m very happy to skip a journey as a result of my child goes to be in a present or one thing, and whereas I’m capable of settle for (begrudgingly) that there’s not a lot I can do about awful climate or getting sick, I refuse to overlook days, weeks, and even months of driving just because I stated to myself, “I wager I might journey over that rock,” and wound up being fallacious.
So between the bike’s “limitations” and my very own (largely my very own, the bike’s truly fairly succesful) I discovered myself strolling sections I used to journey over on my singlespeed with out even excited about, lest I clip a pedal and go tumbling over the facet of the path:
However the extra I rode the extra I relaxed, and the extra used to the bike I obtained. I don’t find it irresistible for the type of massive, pointy rocks the tires on the Jones can swallow proper up, however it’s nice for climbing up and over terrain like this:
I haven’t made any changes to the suspension or something like that…
…however to date it feels good to me as it’s. It’s clean, it doesn’t really feel such as you’re sitting on a waterbed when pedaling, and in keeping with the guide “no common upkeep is required:”
As a awful mechanic that’s maybe my favourite phrase within the English language.
So how does it evaluate to a contemporary full-suspension bike? I dunno. Right here’s my total full-suspension resume:
2021
2018
2014
2002 Possibly…?
[Pic from here]
I borrowed a demo full-suspension bike from the store and introduced it to Hartshorne Woods, NJ. It was a Specialised Epic with a Mind shock as I recall, although I could also be getting that fallacious, but when not it will need to have been 2002 as a result of apparently that was the primary yr Specialised provided the Mind shock and it was alleged to be a giant deal.
So in 20 years I’ve ridden 4 full-suspension bikes for a grand whole of one thing like 10 hours, which doesn’t precisely make me an knowledgeable. Come to think about it, it doesn’t precisely put me able to declare bike suspension to be evil, both. However hey, no matter, it’s the Web, proper?
Anyway, like evaluating the AMP to the Jones, evaluating the AMP to trendy full-suspension bikes isn’t truthful. The higher comparability can be one in all its contemporaries, just like the undamped Softride:
It’s positively higher than the Softride. That stem was horrible, like attaching your bars to a packing tape dispenser.
Anyway, who even wants comparisons? The journey was plenty of enjoyable, and the extra I rode the bike the higher it felt and the extra I preferred it. And I wasn’t the one turkey on the market, both:
See?
Birds of a feather flock collectively.
