Kiteboarding has been cancelled

pdxmonkeyboy · Thu Dec 15, 11 12:36 pm

yeah Klein's are sweet...oh wait, I mean, they were sweet as they haven't been made since 2005 or 2006.

yeah, "real men" ride uphill for sure. Real men also wear tight spandex shorts, weigh their food, and frequently pucker up and ride around the big jumps.

Just had to google and find a photo of THE ugliest bike ever built.. the klein mantra. It is offensively ugly. I would ride a da-hon folding bike before I ever thought about pedaling this thing.

Classic though, look at the geometry and suspension on that thing! yikes, glad they don't make them like that anymore.

ericvs · Since 05 Jul 2008 133 Posts Stoked

Real men actually ride w/o any suspension or gears. That shit is for pussies.

I think the worst all time rear suspension idea was Treks, however. This baby, with it's un-dampened rear suspension 'elastomer', would rebound your ass to the stratosphere.

quenyaistar · Since 21 Oct 2011 416 Posts Cougar, WA Obsessed

I have been mt. biking since the early 80's, bmx bikes before that. Started with a diamondback ridgerunner with bullmoose bars, the thing weighed at least 35 lbs. I would ride and push that thing up Hamilton Mt., in the gorge across the street from Beacon Rock, and bomb back down the hill. I was hooked, so I bought a bridgestone mb1, kind of the first mass production cross country bike with the good frame geometry everybody wanted at an affordable price. I rode the shit out of that bike, had a disc cover over the rear spokes, it was a very fast bike. I sold it to a friend and bought a klein pinnacle frame, and hand built my first bike. I spent almost 4 grand on that bike back in the late 80's. That bike got stolen, but I had renters insurance so i got to build another klein, free to me. I rode that bike so much the down tube split in half from metal fatigue. It was so perfect you could not see it unless you got off the bike and stomped the pedal to flex the frame. I knew something was wrong when the bike started shifting itself while I was riding, the shift cables are routed through the down tube. Back then klein was AWESOME and had lifetime warranties on frame, so they sent me a new one. I have that bike to this day, it has the BEST parts money could buy back in the late 90's. I took her to a shop last spring to get her tuned up, havent rode much in the last few years, and the bike shop dudes were blown away by my museum quality piece.

Honeybadger better start riding up some hills or we might have to bury you lying down Wink

Nak · Thu Dec 15, 11 6:02 pm

If we're doing bike porn, here's what real bikes look like... Very Happy

Nak · Thu Dec 15, 11 6:26 pm

Or this:

Nak · Thu Dec 15, 11 6:28 pm

Just giving you guys shit, I'm a fan of all bikes. But yeah, to me downhill means tucked in to the aero bars at 70mph.

pdxmonkeyboy · Fri Dec 16, 11 10:57 am

Yeah the Klein's were the shit back in the day for sure. The Bridgestone was also classic but the head tube was soooo steep. Mega squirrelly at speed. If your stoked, your stoked and in the end that is all that matters.

To me, anyone can sit and mash on the pedals till your thighs explode. It takes more fitness than skill. A guy could ride a trainer bike in a dark basement all winter and emerge a solid xc rider. On the other hand, landing a 30 foot gap jump, negotiating a tall skinny, or making it down a rock and root infested erosion gully takes a great deal of skill, confidence, and mental toughness. That is the draw for me. It isn't challenging in a VO2 max or recovery way, it is an entirely different ball game. It's more about risk and reward. I find that over coming my fear and the feeling of flight much more rewarding than I ever found my epic xc rides to be and my bike handling skills are always improving and progressing. I mean, it's all good, go out and do what you enjoy, but just coming out an dissing another riding style right out of the gate just seems to be what xc guys do best.

jdk · Since 21 Dec 2005 333 Posts Obsessed

Go bigger with the DH shocks, looks fun!!

quenyaistar · Since 21 Oct 2011 416 Posts Cougar, WA Obsessed

I enjoy talking mountain bike in any of its forms.

There is a good long downhill on Mt. Hood, Timberline Lodge to Rhododendron. Park at the campground across from the Dairy Queen in Rhod and drive up to Timberline lodge from their then bomb it back down. I think it is about 20 miles with about a 1 mile uphill in the middle

An old buddy of mine, hippy, would bring an empty gas can and we would drop me and the bikes at timberline and he would drive back to Rhod park my car and hitch hike back with the gas can. He got rides with no wait what so ever, priceless memory for me he loved to talk to strangers. Danial my brother got struck and killed by lightning a few years ago near Mt. Hood bidding a tree cutting job.

We did a lot of epic morning to dark/barely make it back to the car rides back in the day. Even his kids were hardcore, they were home schooled 2 boys and a girl, the boys would do some of these rides with us and never complain even after a crash. The youngest boy was 12 and would ride his bmx bike instead of a mt. bike sometimes.

One more Danial story, we were doing the Loowit trail around Mt. St. Helens in a day with all 3 of his kids, about 36 miles when you count the access trail in and out and about 3 quarters through the hike we take a break with some other hikers on the trail. We were all worn out25+ miles into our hike eating quietly like you do at these times except Danial he was chatting up the strangers about our trip around the mt., and one of the strangers looks at Danial and say your being hard on your kids. Danial just laughs and tells the guy how he and his kids climbed to the top of Mt. St. Helens the day before(which they did, I did not) and it was the kids idea (which it was). Then we all got up and finished our hike.

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Whistler! Oh yeah! This dumps you into a steep chute. Really fun run called In Deep.

melokitegirl · Since 28 Oct 2008 396 Posts Where the wind blows Obsessed

You guys are crazy & talented...I'll take my whoopdy doo's & scenic trails with my wussy full suspension Trek. I do enjoy hiking up Deer Valley to watch the NMBS downhill race. Wicked fun & spectacular crashes. http://mountainbikevideos.org/nmbs-downhill-race-deer-valley-08/ The bummer about this video is that most camera people didn't want to hike where the best technical jumps are. No Go Pro/Contour then.

Since you all dissed a Klein - which I thought was very cool back in the day...just wondering if any of you noticed that Seinfeld had one hanging in his apt (set). Brilliant product placement...And yes that's Kramer.