Finishers registration closed last week, and the Rookies filled their class last Monday. Since then, six lonely entry spots for Veterans have been dangling out there, waiting to be picked off.
As far as I know, one of those is going to get nipped by a T.I.V7 vet today. (Promised overnight letter I was alerted to should show up today) That would leave 5 entries. If those go unclaimed by Vets, then at midnight Saturday night, the first five names on my Waiting List will appear on the roster to fill them. Of course, those will all be Rookies.
That will leave at least 15 names on the Waiting List for T.I.V8. If I get anyone on the Roster that can't make it to T.I.V8 , and they let me know before January 31st, 2012, the Waiting List #1 position would get first crack at a chance to claim the spot, and so on. If your name doesn't appear on the Roster this weekend, you are on the Waiting List. Stay tuned....
Short Stay Syndrome: I got a few great comments on the post this week about short chain stay "all mountain" hard tails. Now I want to share a few more thoughts on the subject in terms of full suspension bikes.
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| DeVinci Atlas 29 FS: 16.9" chain stays |
It isn't that you can't have short chain stays, but you will have difficulties with regards to front derailleur overlap, and any decent tire clearances.
The Atlas 29 was sporting really short, (for a full suspension device), chain stays at sub 17 inches. However clever the seat tube and linkages may be, the tire clearance was limited to sub-2.3" tires, (at best), and a triple chain ring set up would probably only barely work with XC-ish tires on board. The bike was shown with a 2X set up at the show, and narrow, XC type race tires.
And the Atlas was not the only bike showing the compromises made by designers. The much lauded Yeti SB 95 with its short-ish chain stays, barely had much more room than the shown Racing Ralph 2.1"ers were taking up. On the other end of the scale, the new Salsa Cycles Horsethief, with plenty of tire clearance, room for a triple crank with ease, had almost 18" chain stays.
It's easy to see that other bikes with shrinking chain stay measurements are also making similar compromises. (Kona Satori, Rocky Mountain Element 29) So, the limitations of design seem to indicate that, (as of now), there is no easy answer for riders looking for the shortest chain stays and a full suspension design. (By the way, the same limitations exist in hard tails as well.)
About Three More Weeks: That's how long it is until 2012 and there will be some big changes coming for some things I am involved with. I can not let all the details loose right now, but I am excited to see how a project I and a colleague have been working on behind the scenes will come out. So far.......so good! I am hoping everything else goes smoothly so this can come to a fruitful ending and I think many of you will appreciate the new things coming as well.
In other news of end-o-the-year happenings, I made a goal at the end of April this past spring to set a personal record for blog posts on this site this year. You know.....just to see if I could do it. Well, I am smashing the old record to bits, and it is likely I will never post as much as I have this year again. Maybe. I don't know....maybe I will. It isn't like I am going to shut this down, but I may return to "normal" levels for 2012. What is happening on some other fronts may affect that.
Well, that's probably not very interesting stuff to a lot of you, but thanks for reading! I appreciate it.
And get outside this weekend! Stay out of the malls, big box stores, and shop local, ya'all. Take some pics, and go on an adventure.
1 comment:
Will do. Thanks for all the great reading this year!
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