In an try to handle a vexing drivetrain subject with the newest testcycle from Basic Cycle, I not too long ago put in a “new” (previous) chainring, which didn’t resolve the issue, adopted by a “new” (previous) chain, which appeared like possibly it might need solved the issue:
However a trip across the neighborhood is one factor; a “actual” trip within the suburban wilderness is one thing else. So yesterday I headed to the forbidding Trails Behind The Mall to search out out:
The so-called “Trails Behind The Mall” are in reality in a Westchester County park known as Sprain Ridge Park. To my information, the title Sprain will not be derived from the harm of the identical title, although a few of the trails are certainly fairly difficult and one might actually handle to incur at the least a sprain if not worse in trying to traverse a few of the rockier sections:
I often trip to and from The Trails Behind The Mall, which lie roughly eight (8) miles from my dwelling. Nonetheless, on this specific event I drove THE CAR THAT I OWN. Not solely was my time restricted, but it surely was additionally like 20-something American Freedom Levels that morning, which is like minus three in Euro Levels–or possibly 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 trip appeared in step with the entire full-suspension ethos:
[Ready? LET’S BRO!]
Talking of transporting bicycles by motorized vehicle, there was as soon as a time after I used to commonly drive to rides. That was after I raced cyclocross, and lived in a spot the place driving to the closest mountain bike path concerned at the least two hours of knobby tires on pavement and 1,500 site visitors lights in every course. However now I drive-to-ride so hardly ever that I don’t even hassle retaining a motorbike rack on my automobile, although what I’ve discovered with the AMP is that it’s each mild and compact sufficient to toss simply into stated automobile simply so long as I put the rear seats down. (Again after I used to drive to rides I couldn’t put the seats down since there could be different individuals within the automobile with me, however I not have any buddies. So whereas there’s not anybody to share the gasoline bills with me, I’m additionally getting higher mileage by retaining the bike within the automobile, so all of it evens out in the long run.)
After all that is solely a brief 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 motorbike 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 search out that the chain-jumping downside was certainly gone and I might crank easily and reliably in all gears:
So thanks for all of your ideas and ideas within the feedback, however all of them had been improper.
The opposite factor I discovered was that I stored attempting to match the bike with the Jones, which is a mistake:
The Jones is a greater “suspension” bike than the AMP; it’s extra snug, it’s extra sure-footed, and regardless of being each bigger and heavier it’s additionally extra maneuverable, because of the aforementioned sure-footedness. Nonetheless, 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 may 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 highway racing bike all made excellent sense.
All of that is to say that on a motorbike just like the AMP one should take a bit extra care on tough terrain lest one go Over The Bars (“OTB”), as they are saying, whereas on the Jones (or in all probability any mountain bike nowadays) to take action could be so tough as to be, for all sensible functions, not possible.
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 after I was youthful and fitter and doing the entire trip with out placing my foot down was tremendously necessary to me for some motive 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 “threat” 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 more than pleased to skip a trip 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 guess I might trip over that rock,” and wound up being improper.
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 trip over on my singlespeed with out even excited about, lest I clip a pedal and go tumbling over the aspect of the path:
However the extra I rode the extra I relaxed, and the extra used to the bike I acquired. I don’t adore it for the kind of large, pointy rocks the tires on the Jones can swallow proper up, but it surely’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 this point it feels good to me as it’s. It’s easy, it doesn’t really feel such as you’re sitting on a waterbed when pedaling, and based on 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 Perhaps…?
[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 improper, but when not it will need to have been 2002 as a result of apparently that was the primary 12 months Specialised provided the Mind shock and it was purported 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 professional. Come to consider it, it doesn’t precisely put me ready 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 honest. The higher comparability could be certainly one of 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 trip was numerous enjoyable, and the extra I rode the bike the higher it felt and the extra I appreciated it. And I wasn’t the one turkey on the market, both:
See?
Birds of a feather flock collectively.
