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Q: How big is too big? A: 39 inches.

Hittheshowers, I know what you mean about comparisons in price from a while ago. I bought my current bike in '05: A Gary Fisher Cake 2 DLX. It's mostly XT with carbon seatstays, Fox Float R fork and Manitou Swinger shock - not too bad, I suppose. It was one step down from the best bike they made at the...

I never raced bikes, but I am a fairly accomplished MX racer and I have a similar philosophy as the OP - don't kill your self in practice. Use it to find lines, work on the kinks and warm up.

Here are a few things to consider: 1) Was that $800 bike a current model? If so, did the bike company allow their employees to purchase it at a loss? (It's possible.) 2) What's that company's distribution like? They have to sell it to a distributor, at a price which is likely to be more than the $800 they offered...

Are you sleeping in the car or in a hotel room? Put the bike in the hotel. Problem solved! Or, make sure your rental car is large enough to keep the bike inside of. Cover it and lock the doors. Insure the thing if you're nervous about it - it's never a bad idea.

This. I have extra-bony ankles and I often get a bloody spot on my right-side one. A padded sock might be cool.

I don't mean to unnecessarily bump my own post, but I just want to point out how bummed I am that I can't hire David Bowie now.

OK, I'll play. I'd pay to get a ton of kick-ass musicians together to do a supergroup album. Team 4-5 of them together at a time to do one song each as miniature supergroups. Proceeds would go to charity. We're talking strange but beautiful combinations, like David Bowie plays with Bootsy Collins and Buckethead. For MTB, I'd spend a ton...

Bach's works transcend rock & roll, but he'd certainly appreciate most good rock.

It has to be Zeppelin, but I'd vote Kashmir.

Likewise. I want a slack-ish 650B with 6" travel. It kind of sucks for me that the bike I wanted in 2005 (more upright body position, not necessarily cross-country oriented) is now the most popular thing around. Everyone told me, "no, you need to be hunched over or the bike won't pedal at all!" Really guys, I'm just doing this...

Sweet, thanks! Yeah, my valves look like the ones on the left, so I'm golden.

OK, newb question here: how do you remove a valve core on a Presta valve? Do you loosen the nut all the way and then keep turning counterclockwise or something? I have the tool for a Schraeder valve but I hove no idea how those little ones work.

It's cool that you know him. I went absolutely apeshit when "God Bless, Devil You" came out. I still can't get enough of "Two Propellers." Love that band. Tell him it's about time for a FWH reunion! (Hey, NoKnife just played at the Casbah a few weeks ago, why not?)

Fredlikestrikes, have you heard of First Wave Hello? That was Jacob Turnbloom's band in San Diego. They were the touring band behind Ken Andrews when he released a recent solo ablum. He also produced their first album. (Probably a result of the Failure connection.) Speaking of Failure, I am loving their new album, The Heart is a Monster. Good stuff...

There's a place for these. Maybe not in all places a regular pedal bike can go, but definitely more places than my 250cc 2-stroke. We just need to figure out the access restrictions and self-police. Let's not forget that we MTBers are often looked down upon by "purists" who hike or ride horses only.

Just FYI, if you come to SoCal we usually have dry weather until January. All bets are off this year for the Super El Nino, however! (Look it up.)

Lucky! Would you take it off any sweet jumps? I'm pretty stoked on the Commencal Meta AM4, myself. I'm a bang for the buck kind of guy.

I need to preface this with an admission that I know nothing about the pike fork, but I doubt it would be as simple as replacing a nut on the bottom of the fork leg. There's a reason one fork is cheaper than the other and it isn't just because they want to charge you for the extra feature. There...

Hi guys, I'm a long time lurker here and a medium-time poster from over at the Vital MX side. (Let's get the "STFU Noob" stuff out of the way now... OK, we're done? Great! Haha.) We've faced this kind of problem on the motorcycle side for decades. All the really cool riding areas get encroached by development, then the new...