Under My Thumb

Yesterday I loved an early morning experience by means of the suburbs, the place I took within the Halloween decorations:

I’m wondering if when Dad gathered the household to admire his handiwork anyone identified to him how disturbing that is:

He ought to no less than put some pants on that factor.

Talking of gaffes, do you know the bike business is capturing itself within the foot?

That is an odd comment from a media outlet that’s presently that includes this on its homepage:

I’m unsure it’s honest to say the bicycle business is capturing itself within the foot, although I might say the bicycle business and the bicycle media are partaking in mutual masturbation.

In any case, one of many issues the author laments is the disappearance of double- and triple-ring cranks:

Keep in mind these outdated viral 1x subtitled video clips, they did carry an uncomfortable sense of fact; “Let’s take away the chainrings and entrance shifters, inform them it’s higher, after which cost them extra for it”. Even some inside the business raised an uneasy eyebrow at these. Though 1x does have many sensible positives, so does the flexibility of double – and dare I say it with out being shot down with an anodized titanium firebolt – for a lot of common mountain bikers, the now demonised triple crankset is smart too, particularly for these further inbetweener gear decisions.

I don’t know which movies he’s referencing, however just lately I’ve been giving some thought to the drivetrain of the Jones, which I’m getting ready for trail-riding season:

At first I assumed I’d want to switch no less than the chain, although after the liberal utility of Dumonde (is there something that stuff can’t repair?) it appears to be operating moderately easily once more.

Nonetheless, I’ve at all times had blended emotions in regards to the single-ring drivetrain. This specific one has held up fairly nicely regardless of a number of use with minimal upkeep. (I’ve changed the chain as soon as, and aside from that I simply douse it in Dumonde.) I additionally admire the simplicity on mountain bike trails, the place entrance shifts aren’t at all times an choice in the event you haven’t deliberate them forward of time; in the meantime, with a wide-range single-ring drivetrain you’ll be able to entry your lowest gears even beneath a heavy pedaling load. And single-ring drivetrains do attraction to the identical a part of my mind that singlespeeds do (the simpleton half), and like many individuals I used to “curate” them earlier than they have been one thing you can simply purchase off the shelf:

So I admire that at this time you will get that very same mechanical simplicity, plus a a lot wider gear vary, minus stuff like chain catchers and bash guards–and cheaply, too.

What I’m not wild about is that on smoother roads and trails I’d often moderately make a single entrance shift than must clickety-click my manner by means of a bunch of gears. I even briefly frictionized the Jones for that very cause:

And talking of all these gears, there are twelve of them, which is quite a bit. As I say, total all the things has held up nicely, however by way of adjustment it may be a bit extra finicky than a drivetrain with fewer cogs. I actually don’t want twelve of them, even with only a single entrance chainring. (And sure, I do know there are different single-ring drivetrains on the market with fewer cogs, together with those that come on the present Joneseses.)

Fortuitously, regardless of being a contemporary, disc-braked, Enhance-spaced bike, the Jones doesn’t endure too badly from incompatibility. In actual fact, it even has a cable cease for a entrance derailleur (top-swing) and can take a double crank, plus the rear hub is Hyperglide-compatible, that means I can select from an unlimited array of cassettes. For that reason I’m fairly tempted to equip it with an ecumenical generation-spanning drivetrain full with thumb shifters:

[It looks like a face!]

And a Fast Rise derailleur:

The one factor I’d want can be a Enhance-compatible double crank, although these are additionally fairly low cost:

For the final word in defiance possibly I might even discover a huge sufficient spindle to get a sq. taper crank on there. Now that will be one thing.

Or I might cease Riv-ifying the Jones (I’ve been down this street earlier than) and hold having fun with it for the superlative bicycle it already is till one thing really wears out, which is a way more wise factor to do.

I’m simply dying to place these thumbies on one thing, although…

Talking of thumb shifters, yesterday I joked that 26-inch wheels are going to be the recent new wheel dimension, and guess what?

That’s proper, they’re again:

The Dakar makes use of a 26″ wheel and the J-Unit 34 Professional fork for a number of causes, however one of many larger ones is; entrance triangle dimension! The smaller wheel and fork combo make it so the entrance triangle may be bigger. An enormous entrance triangle means you’ll be able to run a bigger lengthy vary gasoline tank (full body bag) INSIDE of the triangle as an alternative of a tiny one on high of the highest tube (🤢). The opposite up-side to a 26″ wheel is it retains the bike good and snappy and maneuverable. It looks as if everybody desires to “shred” today, and the smaller the wheel the more durable you’ll be able to rip, for a mess of causes.

Now which huge firm would be the first to repeat them? They’ll simply have to give you a brand new title for them.

How about MicroDrive?

Oh, wait…