u/DrtRdrGrl2008

Hey fellow riders. My friends are in France on their bucket list honeymoon trip doing the Trans-Savoie and on the night of day #2 of the trip they locked up their bikes in a recommended bike cage at the hotel. That night their bikes were stolen by thieves in ski masks and goggles. The bikes were later found but one of them (the smaller Propain Spindrift) had been in the process of being disassembled while the thieves were looking for air tags. The pivot bolt and the flip chip were lost in the mayhem. Now that bike is unrideable and they have another week of the tour to complete plus time in Finale Ligure to ride more trails there.

They've called Propain to see about another bolt and chip but there's no answer. Since these are likely proprietary parts its going to be tough to get a replacement but they are looking for a unicorn here so that they can salvage the trip and not have to rent a bike for two weeks.

Does anyone have a connection, a brilliant idea, or a spare part somewhere in the area of Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France that can come to their rescue? They don't have an account so I'm posting for them to try to help out. I went through the same debacle a few years ago during a race and luckily found someone with a spare shock bolt to help me out. Please message me if you have any ideas and I'll make sure that the connection is made. Thank you in advance!!!

We are looking at heading up to Whistler for some riding and to take in a DH world cup in September. Never having been to a world cup race, what kind of ticket prices and charges should we expect for general admission style spectating on the course? We'll already have five or ten day lift passes for the time we are there so lift access shouldn't be an issue. But we would like to take part in the general spectating for the three days of practice and the actual race day.

I'm planning on attending the Velo City conference in Ehime, Japan next May. I've never been to Japan before and its going to be a whole new experience trying to plan this trip. I'll be flying from the Rocky Mountain west/US into hopefuly as close to Ehime as possible but I'm open to a bigger city and taking a train to the smaller town.

Which airlines are the most reliable? Tips and tricks for navigating the trains? Is it generally easy to get to other places in Japan by air (I have a good friend who lives in the islands south of Okinawa that I'd like to visit as well if possible). I'll have the four day conference and three total weeks around that commitment to travel and explore. I will also potentially have a Brompton folding bike for local transportation once in a town or city.