Monday, April 18, 2011

What Dreams Are Made Of

I'll be the first to admit: I'm a total deluded mess. This pump track thing. Oy. My mind's eye truly believes I can "shred", or "pin it", or "kill it", or something. Off the deep end would be a step back from where I'm at.

But since I'm already there, this is the bike I fancy . . .


No worthless gears or unfortunate front brake. None of that mushy, power-robbing gobbledy-gook garbage between the head tube and front axle, just plain cro-mo steel. Clean and mean. Massive direct transfer of flowing power! Layin down the pump, bro!!!

Feel free to laugh out loud, whatever. The world is full of critics. You can't even believe how many g's I'll be pulling. Then we'll find out who's laughing.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Go for it! I'll come over and ride

Andy D. said...

So what brand of bike is that, anyway? I'd been thinking about the virtues of something like the SE Stout. I showed my wife the video that you posted about a pump track a while back, but the response has been NIMBY-ish. I think the tactic to pursue is how much cheaper and more practical a pump track is than a sports car or a sail boat.

Unknown said...

use what you have. eventually, you will get to be skillful enough that your bike is holding you back.

no offense, but i bet that you are not there yet. also, after you get good at pumping using whatever bike you have, you will probably have developed a pretty strong opinion of what you want out of your pump-track bike. then you will have a strong case for getting a new toy, too.

Pat S said...

BDD, it's a 2011 Specialized P.1. It has 26" wheels and falls into more the dirt jump/urban bike category as opposed to bmx. Keep working those angles with your wife . . . I'll let you know if I come up with any more good selling points!

Andrew, no offense taken. Your advice sounds good but the only thing I have in the stable right now that is even close to useable is this 29er hardtail. From what I've read/seen, no one is using 29ers on pump tracks because the wheel base is too long and they're not nimble enough. I don't want to try to learn on something that's gonna make it a lot harder because the geometry's all wrong. Whaddya think about learning on a 29er?

Unknown said...

here is what i think of you trying to ride the hypothetical pump track on your HT 29er:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ahUPE7j4Ks
(i don't know the rider)


the way i see it, as long as your tires are tracking straight and contacting the ground, you shouldn't feel much of a difference.

i imagine that the increased mass moment of inertia would be an issue when you start lifting the tires off of the ground and trying to flick the bike around. e.g. bunnyhops.

as long as the tires are on the ground and not slipping, i think that (rolling) static friction would overcome the inertia for you.

John Speare said...

two words, four syllables: Spokane Mini