Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with mountain

Bike Filter-Old mountain bike, upgrade or not??

MiggySawdust — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:12:09 -0800

Bike Filter-What should I do with my old mountain bike? So, I was rummaging through my storage and found my old '94 or '93 GT Pantera. I had pretty much forgot about it and obviously haven't ridden it in years. Of course, it isn't ridable right now since the tires are flat and rotted, chain is rusted, wheels are all out of true and the BB is messed up. I already have a hardtail urban/street bike (Surly Instigator) and I am building a trail ride (SC Bullit), so I really dont need it.

But I really used to like riding it and am having thoughts about making it a single speed commuter/utility/beater bike. Most likley it would stripped down the bear essentials-no derailleurs, rear break only, single speed, a rack or two on it...etc. I dont want to spend more than a few(100-200 MAX) dollars on it.

Would converting it to a single speed be a good idea? I would have to put a little money/time into it this project, but would that money/time be better spent on a newer commuter/utility bike (Not really a commuter, since I have to drive a work truck for my job) It's not like I am going to trick it out with XTR components or anything. I want to make it a low maintenance bike that I can ride around to the store, the park and casual rides in town with my friends.

Or should I just get rid of it?

Thanks,

MS

ps. A few of my friends ride fixies and suggest that I make it a fixed. Im not so sure. Any input?

Headed out on the trail - help equip our sing-a-long arsenal!

jofuu — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:52:51 -0800

My girlfriend and I are hiking the Appalachian trail for two weeks at the end of the month. We're taking along a Martin Backpacker (guitar) and a small set of bongos. What are some very excellent blues/folk/bluegrass/mountain songs that we should learn before we go? We're also bringing a hand held recorder so we can remember all this.

I'm looking for more traditional rootsy stuff as opposed to anything by contemporary artists. Obviously, I won't reject any ideas though so throw them at me.

Thanks in advance Metafilter!

Oy the commute! From Saratoga to Mountain View

bananafish — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:26:11 -0800

My fiance and I like Saratoga and Los Gatos. He works in Mountain View off 101/Shoreline. He'd like no more than a 25 minute commute. He works normal 9-5 hours generally. Google maps indicates that this commute could be done in less than 30 minutes even with traffic. He's extremely skeptical. He's tried testing the drive, but on those days he's done the drive he's felt traffic was unusually light. (Usually there are backups on 101, but on the days he tried driving the commute 101 was flowing like water). So is there anyone out there who has done this commute who can provide a realistic picture of what it would be like? Thank you!

First there is a mountain then there is no mountain, then there is

youthenrage — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:52:15 -0800

I'm going to japan from march 9 until april 6, and I want to climb Mt Fuji, from the bottom to the top. How much snow should I expect? How cold is it going to be? Do I need to bring boots and 3 layers of technical outdoor clothing or a warm jacket and sneakers? My lonely planet says its doable, but thats pretty much it. If you feel like throwing in some other "Can't Miss in Japan" places to visit, feel free.

Please help me climb Kili on a volunteer's budget...

allkindsoftime — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 06:59:16 -0800

Kilimanjaro-filter. I want to climb it. I don't want to pay $3k pp. Help, please. A friend and I are looking to do a Kili climb in mid-to-late March. Problem is we're a bit awash in the number of tour operators, options, and the big swinging price-range. We will likely be coming to Kili from Johannesburg, SA (returning to the same).

Flights right now look to be around $1k US and the cheapest climbs I've found are around $1.5k, and 2.5 is about .5 higher than my budget. I don't want to skimp on the operator we go with, but I would like to get the best deal for our money. We can't do a very long trip - only 5-6 days on mountain. I can't fathom paying $2k plus for just the climb alone.

I've seen packages from SA for under $2k US including flights, but they look to be budget-operators going up the Coca-Cola route. We're both in great shape, experienced backcountry / climbers (and familiar with our acclimation rates), and would like to do something a bit more off the beaten path, but still a relatively fast climb.

Anyone got any experience with this? I only found 1-2 previous questions on it. I'm particularly interested in what operators you went with, what your impression was of them, what route you took, and how much you dropped on the whole thing.

Yes, I know we are late season. Yes, I know our timeframe for climbing will limit our summit attempts. Yes, I know I don't want to go cheap on a budget operator.

THANKS.

Help identify cool mystery bike rack?

de void — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 07:53:18 -0800

Help me identify/locate the manufacturer of a cool hitch-mounted bike rack I saw last summer. I want one. The google goggles, they do nothing. Saw a really cool bicycle rack at a mountain bike trail parking lot last summer. Wanted it then, want it now, but can't find it.

As stated, the bike rack is a hitch mount (plugs into a square trailer receiver). The rack I saw carried 2 bikes. I suspect there may be other longer models that carry 3 or 4 bikes.

It had a center frame/bar that had a "stretched/flattened Z" profile when viewed from the side; the end that connects to the hitch mount is lower than the bike carrying end.

It carried the bikes in "V" channels that were mounted perpendicular to the center frame. The bikes were secured to the rack by ratcheting straps that locked the wheels down into the V channels. I seem to remember that there were no attachment points or risers for the bike frames and that all the securing was done at the wheels, but that doesn't seem feasible. Perhaps there were folding fork braces that I missed.

The whole rack had a dull silver color that suggested it was made of aluminum alloy.

It had a plate riveted to one of the channels with the manufacturer's name and the web site. It was not one that I had heard of before (Thule/Yakima etc.). I remember thinking that it sounded like a small shop, and that I should write the web site down because I would forget it. I didn't, and I did.

what is the best mountain bike under 10k

edtut — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:12:41 -0800

i want to rediscover the joys of mountain biking - what bike should i buy (in china!) ok, i got into road cycling and it led me away from my old passion of mountain biking. i previously owned a super V raven, which was a great cross country bike but the travel was a bit small. i also owned a giant, but it was rock shocks and i found it to be a bit sloppy. money is literally no consideration, except that i will travel with the bike, so probably would not spend 10k on something that might get a little knocked around.
i weigh around 76kg, but will drop a bit once i get my kms up. i want a bike that i can use around town, but will be a stellar performer off-road. any opinions? i dont ride crazy stuff, but want something sharp and thrilling for quick cross country rides.
i would consider a cannondale dualy again, but want to get some advice before i go around trying everything.
part 2 - also, ill be based in china this year, so if anyone knows the slightest info about buying a bike in shanghai, please advise

The Rotating Prison in the Mountain

aeschenkarnos — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 18:29:49 -0800

I'm looking for the title and/or author of a story I read years ago. It was about, or had in it, a description of a terrible kind of prison, a vast multilayered cylinder carved inside a mountain, that would rotate slowly around its course from the efforts of the prisoners inside. The only way to free those inside was, according to the story, to keep adding new prisoners to the vacated cells to keep pulling the thing along. Obviously, it was an allegory for self-perpetuating undesirable institutions in society; while everyone might want it to be abolished, without a steady flow of new arrivals those inside would be trapped. I don't remember much in the way of other details, except that there was some mechanism for getting food and water to the prisoners and removing waste (maybe it involved passing food and water along, for everyone's survival was required to keep the cylinder moving). The ruler who built it may have ended up in it himself.

Fountain pens and climate change, two great tastes that go well together

b1tr0t — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:28:02 -0800

Why is Mont Blanc's height so stable? The pen company has been marking 4810 on their nibs since at least the 1930s. Just this year, it measured 4810m tall.

Where can I park over the weekend in Mountain View, CA?

I like to eat meat — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 23:20:38 -0800

Hello everyone. I'm going to be taking the caltrain from SF to Mountain View every weekday for work, and I was wondering if anyone knew where I can park my car in Mountain View over the weekends? Preferably near the Caltrain station. I'm OK with paying for a spot. Thanks!

Not a mystery, but a question

macinchik — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:11:20 -0800

Looking for the origin of a quote referenced by Dennis Covington in Salvation on Sand Mountain as being something he "read somewhere": "Mystery...is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend." Does that ring any bells for anyone? Is it just basic Christian doctrine?

so tasty, and no calories! win/win!

Lucinda — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:48:42 -0800

Western New Yorkers! Do you have Diet Mountain Dew Code Red? It doesn't seem to be available anywhere in Rochester, NY. I've seen it while on vacation in Cincinnati, OH and Winston-Salem, NC, but I'd like to not have to drive hours and hours to get it.

Bonus points if the location is somewhere that I could convince my family to go on a day trip sort of thing (kid stuff, historical stuff, etc.)

Where to find similar deliciousness to freeze-dried granola?

Addlepated — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:25:15 -0800

I adore Mountain House granola with blueberries and milk. Where can I find similar deliciousness in a less-expensive package? For some reason I have a real thing for freeze-dried Mountain House granola. It's a little chewy and a little crunchy and the blueberries hydrate up really nicely. Is there a cheaper alternative for daily consumption? I'd eat the stuff every day if I could.

Reviews of Georgia Team Building Event

GrumpyMonkey — Tue, 29 May 2007 08:32:49 -0800

Has anyone around Atlanta participated in the Stone Mountain Corporate Team Building activities? Or been to any other event put on by the InnerWork company? This seems like a fun event for our company to do this summer but the $3,200 price (plus food and park fees) seems a little steep for what they are providing.

Need bike.

Kiwi — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:16:35 -0800

Good independant cycle shop in London please. My girlfriend is after a mountainbike, through the cycle to work scheme.

She would like decent advice, so that rules out the likes of Evans. Mosquito don't seem to do MTBs anymore, Condor never really did. A central London location would be a bonus.

Although I know a fair bit about MTBs, I've never bought one here.

Where/what is this unidentified, extremely mountainous "tourist" trail.

loquacious — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:09:20 -0800

Where is this "tourists" mountain trail, and where can I see more pics and find out more about it?

EXTREMEly suspicious drinking story

junkbox — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 11:56:29 -0800

Did Dave Eggers write a [fabricated] feature story on extreme mountain climbing under a pseudonym for Details magazine 7-8 years ago? Circa 1998 (during an extremely lad-mag phase) I read a feature article in Details that turned my bullshit detector up to 11. A few years later, I read Dave Eggers' book A Heartbreaking Work of... where he discusses "selling out" and getting paid $$$$ to write fluff for Details. Ever since then, I've wondered if Eggers wrote that unbelievable article.

Premise: a NY-based freelance writer is given a wad of money and told to book himself on an "extreme" mountain-climbing guided tour (adventure tours were a hot trend at the time) and write about it for Details.

I remember the following claims from his thrilling tale of adventure, for those who care:

-- After buying all his expensive gear, he ran out of money and had to buy his boots at KMart. They worked fine.

-- He was told to spend several weeks "training" on a treadmill with his backpack, to condition himself for 2 weeks of grueling climbs. But he was too busy partying in NY with his friends, getting really drunk and high every night, to bother with training at all.

-- Most of the people on his tour (in South America) were serious amateur climbers who took these trips a couple times a year. The only person who wasn't was a middle-aged former hippie, travelling by herself, who'd saved up her money and left her teenage kid behind while she took this aweome trip. Hippie Mom became Freelance Writer's only friend on the adventure, and they got along like gangbusters.

-- Their first night in South America, the whole group was treated to one of those big "local culture" dinners that tour companies arrange. After dinner, all the serious climbers knocked off early, while Freelance Writer and Hippie Mom sat around with the locals smoking some powerful ceremonial hallucinogens.

-- Freelance Writer and Hippie Mom successfully ascend their first peak despite extreme hangovers from the night before.

-- For the next 2 weeks, Freelance Writer and Hippie Mom consume copious quantities of alcohol, marijuana and other recreational substances at night, then get up and climb tremendously tall mountains in extremely cold temperatures the next day. All of the other Serious Climbers sit out at least one of the peaks on the tour due to injury or poor climbing conditions; Freelance Writer and Hippie Mom are the only ones who climb every peak with the guides, because they'll never have the chance to do this stuff again.

-- Freelance Writer concludes that extreme mountain climbing is cool, provided you carry enough party supplies with you to make it fun. But training is for suckers: the best training is smoke, drink and party as much as possible beforehand.

I'd love to know who wrote this, and if there's any reason to believe that he (or she) ever left NY to research it. The Dave Eggers angle is just a theory, since it could have been concocted by any number of other writers.

What do I need to get in to mountain biking?

JPigford — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 14:49:05 -0800

I'm wanting to get in to mountain/off-road biking. What do I need and what do I need to know? Since moving out here to Colorado (I'm in a suburb of Denver) I purchased and mid-range (quality...not distance) mountain bike (no clue what kind...got it from a friend who fixes up bikes, but he assured me it's pretty decent quality and I trust him).

At any rate, I'm wanting to get more in to the off-road/mountiain (think Xterra) side of biking but have no clue what sort of gear I really need for that or what I need to know as far as any "known" rules or whatever.

I also need a way to find out where good trails for that sort of thing are.

Mountain bike to comfort bike conversion

wezelboy — Tue, 30 May 2006 14:24:48 -0800

I'm thinking about converting my mountain bike into something more like a comfort bike. Am I crazy? I have a nice 2003 Giant NRS 2 cross-country mountain bike. I love it, but I've found that I'm doing less trail riding. A couple years ago I borrowed a friend's comfort bike for Burning Man and loved the upright riding position.

I'm thinking of getting a taller stem, smoother tires, perhaps a wider seat and converting my NRS into a full-suspensioned, disc braked comfort bike. I don't want to buy a new bike, and I don't want to get rid of the NRS either. Am I crazy? Will a taller stem on this bike give me the sweet upright position, or is this simply blasphemy?

Any tips or comments are appreciated.

Is mountain biking good cross-training for road biking?

neilkod — Tue, 02 May 2006 10:16:16 -0800

Is mountain biking good cross-training for road biking? I'm wondering if trading in some of my road rides for mountain rides will actually help my road riding. Now that some of the (Utah) mountains are thawing out, I'm trading some road rides in for mountain rides. It seems that all of the road riding have helped my performance on the trails, especially during the long climbs - Other than the overall fitness increase, can I expect to notice any benefit in my road biking through riding mountains?

If it helps, my mountain rides always begin with 1 - 1/2 hour climbs.