|   Some pics of the just mounted RRalphs and todays ride... | Not Duckman
Jan 14, 2004 9:28 PM | | I'm just a pic whore i guess. Anyways, the tread looks..efficent, for lack of a better word. Also appears it might make just as good F as well the R, not giving up more for the other, which most/all do to varying degrees. Wil try the rear both directions before its over with. Note the shallow knob reinforcings, interlocking for the most part. Surely for more tear resistance where otherwise would be the weakest part of the tire regarding pure torque load potential, where the knobs met the thin-ass carcus. Like outta the saddle thru step tech stuff. Made this one large for detail action. tomorrow is the 4th above freezing temps. The ground has thawed and is trying to dry out somewhat, so it will be true mixed conditions for tomorrows ride. Trails are getting fast now.
""Evolution"". I think thats...cool. Thought i was gonna say "badass"a again didn't ya? Bad habit. Just having fun is all. Rode'm around the yard and the "hood" a few minutes ago. Still warm enough at 11pm to use shortsleeves for a short ride only. Amazing. Anyways, tire feels fast as sh@t. But thats crap until i get some real saddle time tomorrow.
profile pic action. .25" taller profile from my Explorer pros, for a size reference. Thats the casing, not the knobs. The fork jams man. I am amazed. 3lb.1oz(and thats with almost 9"s of steerer tube)and its pluuuuuuuussssh. 32mm nonflex'n sanction i'm talking about. I'm stoked..does it show?
Damn...sucked to be us today, eh? Yes indeedy. Invited my bud Ga K-man(diff from the other Kman here)to join me for todays ride. His Sugar is being warrentied from a cracked frame, and is bikeless for 5-6 weeks. I know, i'd have killed myself by now. So, my Moab wasn't doing anything again, and it was up and ready with some new Mythos fronts($18.95 a set sale tires)mntd at both ends.just wasting away. Hell, K even likes a sid up front, so he was a shoe in. Sooooooo(like the software saleman commercial:)...today was just a great day to whoosh thru the local single track. All along a ridge line thats tarraced but long since reforested. Good swoopy stuff man. My stable awaits Ga K-mans arrival. Wheres everyone at? Ha!! High 50s temps. Damn.
Theres no berms here. Good thing.
More playing. Wet Ga clay. My Fires hate this stuff. Lots of northshore jumps in the section, like 8-12 in a row, and all are built with multi buried 55 gallon drums. Too old and busted up for this cowboy. We're both mid 40s now, and i feel very lucky just to have the ability to ride still. Note the dog "just-a-get'n-it" along side. She loves to run.
Short but steep up. Dogleg turn. Steeper then it looks for this one.
Ga K-man. Good rider, and it seemed glad to get away from work and stuff and just..RIDE for a spell. I keep telling him he'd do good racing. But, when i tell him about all that pain stuff, well..LOL!! Just kidding man.
Yup, i know dude..today sucked for sure. K climbing while trying out the noleen fork. Damn slow focusing camera action here.
Climbing up the tarraced switchbacks.
What shoes are these? Older generation. Diff looking now.
Today was a good day. Whats the word..Bliss. Thats it. I ride most days solo since i'm on this exteneded vacation. So, its always a welcome change to have that rolling conversation as we step off for awhile again. Might sound dumb, but an old friend put it well when i was trying to put into words the feeling i got when i first disappeared into the forest and beyond for one of my many week long solo backpacking trips in the NC mtns. He said its sorta like going thru a looking glass away from the "world", and its stoplights, cell phones, pagers, excel spreadsheets, yada yada(do i sound bitter?:) The adventure of it all. Whats around the next turn. Nothing else matters after i leave the trailhead, at least as far as i'm concerned. While pack'n, that means..food, water, and shelter, for 7-8 days many times. Its hard to even go into a store or fast food on the way home after that kind of immersion. Shows how we live now. I feel riding in this respect is exactly the same. Just you, your faithful bike, and a trail to disappear down its path. Lifes tribulations aren't imposing its crap on you for those precious moments. May post a link over in Passion if i get time.
Oh, sorry. Got to rambling.
Yes, today was a good day...
On the way home. Made me smile again.
Duck |
| Nice... | The Retro Grouch
Jan 14, 2004 10:26 PM | | pics and write-up. You're right the weather has been perfect...a bit cool in the mornings but perfect by noon.
I was hoping to get a long ride in this Sunday, but it looks like rain is moving in Saturday. Oh well...
RG |
| How did the Noleen ride today and.... | DaFireMedic
Jan 14, 2004 11:07 PM | | what did your buddy think of it. I'm considering the purchase of one.
Thanks. |
| "theres no spoon"... | Not Duckman
Jan 15, 2004 4:37 AM | | "Set yourself free" man. ...or..um.."Luke..Luuuuuuke...go to the dark side luke"...
Don't give in to the masses mon(been 2 days and i'm preaching). The humanity indeed.
Oh, sorry man. Great riding fork. First fork ever to remind me of my beloved(and heavy)Vanilla R bought new way back in Sept of 02, and ridden hard since at varying travel settings(its in its box ATM tho). Immediately i feel the stiffer more controlled ride compared to any of my other 30mm forks. I hate to say that too, as i loved my 02 marathon on my other race nrs(the blue ride)at the moment. Now its looking like its going to the HT, maybe.
Wish the Noleen had a lockout, but no biggie. Dual air low pressure deal. 60-62psi for each fork leg for my 160lb weight. Since the rebound is air dampened, and controlled completely by the left fork, last night i ran up that side to 70ish psi, since the higher psi boost also impacts the rebound somewhat, and i lowered the right leg to 55ish psi to compensate somewhat. I gained "some" additional rebound it seems. Smooth stroke. The low friction nicklelCel plated 32mm sanctions are the reason me thinks. Noticeably less stiction then all my air forks except maybe the sid team by a small margin, and of course the Vanilla coil fork. True estimated travel(at the apparent 100mm setting) taking the somewhat compressable bottoming out bumper feeling thingie(did i just say that?)into acct as i compressed the fork with no air, maybe...93-94mm-ish? It feels like even more tho(the op from a sid). The rampup for an airfork is very linier(sp)feeling, at least for an airfork. I suspect its cause of the relatively low pressure large volumn dual air setup. I think this..and the fact its stiff as a mofo..is why it "alomost" feels as good as my VR fork. Same feel..the way you can all of a sudden feel like the fork can roll over anything and everything without biting back, ever. Can't say that about some other forks if pushed hard, and "then" have to suckup a mistake on top of that, maybe in line choice + speed kinda deal. The reviews are mixed. Grain of salt here. Take your chances. I've found that, like the sqeaky wheel, you sometimes only here the bad stuff. Take my damn sid team. Not my fav fork by any stretch. But...seems almost every review says it leaks, blows seal, breaks constantly. Mines not even needed air in either chamber in "months", and it gets ridden alot, plus it was raced a few times over the summer. Never ever lost any psi, oil, etc. Been the pinnacle of reliability for me even. See, ya don't hear about those. Still sucks as a real fork tho Ha! Before it was sorta worth it for the 1/4lb or more weight it can save over other LW forks, cause going up in racing is everything all said and done. Bet when i cut that steerer tube a full inch, take the aircaps off for some small alum caps, it'll be the same as my sid team..2lbs 15oz. All the good stuff and none of the bad. Is this a trick question? For $99-130 too. The only bad thing i see is its out of production. Shame.
K-man said he could instantly feel the stiffer steering, but couldn't do much else since he couldn't clip in. As he was climbing past me, he said he'd forgotten how much it helped to be clipped in and was hate'n it. He was on Eggs trying to ride them like flats as hes an shimano kinda guy. Not the best for much fork testing unfortunately.
On another note...nothing like fresh race rubber, newly cleaned and lubed BB, and of course, the new mega man fork. Already gearing up for todays ride. |
| "But I was gonna go into tashi station to pickup some power...." | DeeEight
Jan 15, 2004 9:28 AM | | Gee... I wonder why I own six of the things. :) |
| Nice words Duckman. - nm | Nikh
Jan 15, 2004 5:25 AM | | |
| Yep, it was a very good day! | GA K-man
Jan 15, 2004 6:03 AM | | Great weather, great trails, great loaner bike (thanks again!), and a great guy to share it all with! Thanks Duck! Really like that last pic, BTW.
DaFireMedic, if you're reading this, my impressions of the Noleen fork are basically what Duck said. I only rode it about 100 yards down a smooth section of trail, and then climbed back up, so wasn't a good test of the fork. I did like it though. Nice and stiff. Heck, for $100 bucks, I say go for it! ;-)
Hey Duck, FWIW, the link you posted over in Passion to this post doesn't work (at least not for me).
K |
| Duckman-about the Noleen | xctearor
Jan 15, 2004 5:57 PM | | Did it come set at 80mm? I don't fully understand how to change the travel. I am thinking of buying one for my hardtail. Your ride pics look great, plan on getting out tomorrow and giving the rollers a day off. Thanks
XC |
| It came set at 100mm already..thankfully | Not Duckman
Jan 15, 2004 6:34 PM | | You can order the white/grey or the white/red/bue model at Ebay. It seems the W/Gs come preset at 100mm, and the other 80mm. I was just lucky the 1st time. True travel at the sanction is 3.5-6"s. Might go more, but i don't think so. Never felt it bottom solid tho. The 2000 model had probs with the sanctions driving thru the crown from hard bottoming. 2001s(like these)are supposed to have addressed that. I think this .4-.5" travel loss was a result of this fix.
Could be wrong tho. :) Don't care. It doesn't need that travel since its "good" travel all the way.
It could use a neg chamber for its benefits. But, it tracks so true i don't care.
Note the amt of exposed sanction. The ones in the adds all look like 80s, even the grey/whites. All that D* has gotten were at 100mm also. |
| 75MM !!!! 75!!! NOT 80! | DeeEight
Jan 16, 2004 12:44 AM | | They never made those forks for 80mm. |
| Hey where can I get one of those 80mm forks? | KMan
Jan 16, 2004 7:31 AM | | Just messing with you!
anyway I just ordered one of the 110mm versions :)
KMan |
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