rant

In the beginning, there were axle nuts. They were simple and crude and required a tool to remove. They still exist today on many bikes, from cheapie department store numbers to the finest BMX bikes money can buy. They work and work well. Then came wing nuts. Racers needed a way to get wheels off ...

Hang on, hang on Yes, it’s the little things Yes, it’s the little things That do us harm I’m not a stranger Ain’t a mystery When we both get it wrong -“Hang On,” Dr. Dog The longer I ride bikes, the more it seems that tiny changes can make a big difference in my enjoyment ...

When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez And it’s Easter time, too And your gravity fails And negativity don’t pull you through —Bob Dylan, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” I like getting lost. Maybe that statement needs some clarification. Not lost like “starve to death in an old school bus” lost. More like I ...

Wheel sizes, tire sizes, suspension travel, frame material, suspension design, so many damn choices. And that is just from a single company. Add in everyone else making kick-ass bikes these days and it gets hard to think. How did we end up here? I’ve been thinking it is a case of deferred maintenance. Let me ...

“Put your head down, wipe the spit out your eye Ain’t nobody coming to your poor-me parade When trouble comes to your door, what you ignoring it for You’ll be standing there helpless when it comes on in” — Shovels and Rope, “Coping Mechanism” I really wanted to make this column about the problems facing ...

Originally published in Issue #192 “Respect was invented to cover the empty place where love should be.” — Leo Tolstoy, “Anna Karenina” Repairing bikes isn’t a great way to make a living. On average, bike mechanics are paid less than the average high school dropout. Pretty sad state of affairs for an industry that seems ...

From Issue #190 Throughout the evolution of the mountain bike, we’ve seen new technologies and ideas introduced at a very rapid rate. Just 30 years ago most of what we take for granted while riding now wasn’t even on anyone’s radar. Some of the technology has been discarded along the way, usually with good reason. Dual-control ...

Illustration: Stephen Haynes My event would allow only two bikes—any two bikes the racer wanted, but only two, with just tire swaps allowed between stages. No question, the Enduro World Series is a great racing event. It’s well run, truly global in locations and is attracting some of the fastest riders on two wheels. I ...

With my apologizes to Bukowski. Life continues to surprize me, and frustrate me, and bring moments of unmitigated joy. I quit smoking almost 12 years ago. It was cold turkey, and it wasn’t fun. I fell off the wagon a few times, including a few months of stress smoking involving hand rolled cigarettes and a ...

From Issue #187 “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is book I read in my 20s. Looking back, the thing I most liked about it was how it made me feel not alone. At the time, I was too young to really understand author Robert Pirsig’s battle with schizophrenia, marriage and fatherhood, but his ...

Originally published in Issue #182 Some people claim there is a “wheelie gene” and either you are born with the innate balance needed to wheelie or you are doomed to a life of dull, two-wheels-on-the-ground riding. I’m not sure if I subscribe to that theory, but I do buy into the idea that some of ...

From Issue #186 The axiom we hear is this: If we can make enough easy-to-ride trails, more people will ride mountain bikes, which will mean more trails and more access for everyone. My favorite trails have always been a mess. Hell, some of my favorite rides have involved me walking down stuff I found too ...

Take a look at the bikes above. They seem to share very few things in common. One is a stripped down rigid bike, or as they say on the in Internets, “ridged.” The other is a very modern all-mountain bike, able to survive weekend trail rides and the worst downhill tracks imaginable. What are they ...

Every morning I open my inbox to Google alerts of the word “bicycle” and every day someone is injured to near-death or killed on a bike, or while just walking along by a vehicle. The sad fact is Andrew “Bernie” Bernstein is no different than all the other people mowed down by vehicles on a ...

Change is inevitable, and for the past decade, it has been extra inevitable in the world of mountain bikes.  For a sport that is still relatively young, especially one that is so dependent on equipment, that is to be expected.   Taking a step back and examining these changes, it can be easy to think ...