Captain Fastbastard Mayhem

As Grease Monkey said, we used to run 2.5's on 19 & 21mm internal rims before we "knew better" but we weren't able to run them at the same pressures we can at the moment on our wider rims. What I'd suggest is the 2.3 aggressor which, while it's narrower and less aggressive than the 2.5 aggressor (has shorter knobs), will fit your rims much better and will offer levels of grip that the Ikon can only dream of. Then an Ikon for the back, 'cos that's where it belongs.

No, an Ikon is NOT a good front tyre for your average MTB rider. Still building confidence means that they'll require superior levels of grip, far more than what an Ikon would be able to give in inexperienced hands. Yes, the green belt is a trail. But it's just one of the many trails in CT, and has everything except loose-over-hard & gravel. It's got roots, rocks, loam, mud, sand, hardpack and everything inbetween, so your best bet would be to get a tyre that excels at all of those. That is NOT an Ikon. That IS something like the Ardent 2.4 (which I personally dislike) and the Aggressor, Mary, Minion DHF and so on. You CAN opt for lighter casings such as the Exo, Grid or Snakeskin from the various stables, but to tell Joe Average that the Ikon is a great all-round front tyre is foolish and misses the point entirely, unless they're only doing gravel grinding or are at the pointy end of the field where weight is prioritised over grip. This is 2019, when good, grippy tyres are available at decent weights, and you're telling them to get a fast-rolling XCM/XCO focused tyre which offers nowhere near the grip levels that an average Joe requires in order to facilitate confidence & skills development and progression.

Exactly. I mean, I know my go-to recommendation is a Mary, Mary or Mary (to continue the joke) but I can and do make different recommendations for different circumstances. To recommend an Asseguy DD to someone only doing gravel grinding or XCO would be foolish. Just like recommending an Ikon to your average trail rider. It's just NOT a good tyre for the vast majority of riders. Not nearly as much grip as a proper tyre: weak sidewalls, low volume etc etc. Garden variety "trail" riding - Mary snakeskin / DHF exo / Eliminator Grid front, DHR exo / Slaughter GRID / Rock Raxor Snakeskin etc. All the grips, decent weight and lots of volume for better grip characteristics. Better rolling characteristics for the back. EDIT: I'll add the 2.5 Aggressor to this list as well. Looks like a really nice tyre, and much better looking than the 2.3.

No, other way around. Read again....

following that logic, it should be scaled on a per km ridden basis, if that's what he's worried about (extra use / impact) IE the fitter you are, and more distance you cover, the more you need to pay for trail maintenance. My answer to that: fkoff. A single pricing structure is key. If Joe Bloggs who rides an e-bike needs to pay R 1,500 per year vs my non e-bike's R 400, then no. What if JB has an e-bike AND another bike? Some sort of middle ground? What if JB on the e-bike still only does the same amount of distance as I do? Or if I do more? That means I, the non e-biker, does more distance and "has a higher impact on the trails" - do I pay more, then? Just... No.

Traffic isn't nearly as large a driver of trail wear as you think it is. It's mainly improper technique and weather. Yeah, okay - more **** riders = more wear, but it's only a portion of the driver ito total trail wear. As for the Maintenance Model, it's perfectly fine at the moment (except at Tokai where there's no money for maintenance thanks to Parks) and Patrick et al do a good job given the amount of trail they need to maintain. IMO they actually do too MUCH maintenance of trail at the moment, especially on trails such as Cobra which run far better when they're open to the elements and not smoothed over every 6 months. The maintenance requirement won't increase as a result of e-bikes being allowed on the trails. What will increase it is excessive rain, wind, bad braking practices (creating ruts) & more distance on the trails. Still - in response to your assertion of unequal pay for different riders / classes of bikes, it's a solid no. Will your model allow for the extra impact that skinny tyres have due to their smaller contact patches and lower levels of grip (which encourages skidding etc)? Or faster riders? A cost per lap? Per kilogram over a certain level? No. A single cost per user will always be the best option.

erm, no. Are we going to make the faster / fitter riders pay more? I'm pretty sure Nino would have done the same amount of distance as Nixon on a normal training ride, without having assistance. Builders build and maintain. As a previous member of the TokaiMTB committee, and part-time volunteer builder of many of the trails in Tokai, I would help maintain & improve the trails. A guy who knows how to ride, riding an e-bike, would have far less impact on a trail than a noob who drags his brakes all over the place, or the rain that falls on the trail. Making an e-biker pay more just because they cover more distance in the same amount of time is ridiculous. The ONLY place they make up time is on the uphills. Down, it's all the same unless you're able to put a couple of pedal strokes in out of the corners and get a teensy bit of assistance to get you back up to speed. Maintenance is maintenance. You're not going to need to do more just because more riders are on e-bikes. You're going to need to do more when there are more beginners, more weather, more braking where you shouldn't and so on. Plus, the requirement for maintenance never stops. Charging one subset of users more than another just because they cover more distance is ridiculous.

Get him to buy a stronger tyre for the back as well. Stiff sidewalls save tyres. And rims. Fact.

Just come back from riding Tokai, doing hill repeats. While I was there, Mr Masters World DH Champ Chris Nixon himself just breezes past me on his new trek e-bike, doing his own repeats. He's normally blisteringly quick on the uphills, but with the essistance it's just insane how much trail time he actually gets. In the time I'd done 4 repeats, he'd done about 8. Chatting to him about it and he reckons it's drastically changed his training regimen. He still works as hard, he just manages to cover twice the distance that he normally does. So he still gets the same workout, but gets double the descending. Which is what fosters skills development as well.

????

Something I can't fit my legs into...

This is the only solution

83... But would watch em all again.

Captain Marvel. Don't believe the critics. Excellent.

I need to watch Layer Cake again. And Matrix. And Pulp Fiction. And and and.

Not yet. Tomorrow, probably. And - the critics view is that it was Green Lantern, but in drag. Woefully inadequate when compared to WW, which really did take the cake in terms of female superhero "origin" movies. A stocking-filler, rather than the big flashy PS5 under the tree. Will definitely still watch it, though.

OMFG YES!!!!! LOVE Hellboy. One of my favourite franchises, and every one to date has been a hoot.

They're up. Not coming down. gonna re-hem them again one eve this week.

Nah, that's for the curtain that was removed.

I'm sitting at home, at my desk, thinking that my biggest concern over the past 2 weeks (after $$, of course) is that the label on my recently purchased curtains was wrong. Instead of being 2.1m wide and 1.5 tall (like on the diagram with the tick box on the packaging) they were 2.1m tall and 1.5 wide. Didn't have the energy to take em back, so I'll just take 'em up and have heavy hems on my curtains. LOL.

I think that was Miller. It was his foam seat pad, and its removal screwed with weight distro so much that it caused him to overcook his front tyre way earlier than normal.

if those buttons and paddles are hardwired into the controls, I'll be even more impressed

Jeepers, D - not cool! Hope you heal up fast and stronger than ever...

That was EPIC!!!

That is a DESPICABLE rendering. OMFS, my eyes!