u/aDuckedUpGoose

I've linked the alltrails page for what I'm looking at doing. I've been reading about this route online, and it seems like the main difficulty of this OHV trail is towards the end. It also seems like there should be spots along the road to park up. I'm hoping to drive up to save some distance if I can. I have a Ford Maverick Tremor which has 4wd, a small lift, skid plate, and all terrain tires. I've been able to do about a mile on the cony flats trail and make it to the end of halfmoon lake trial near leadville.

My goal, based on what I've read, is to make it along 251 stopping near the junction with miller creek, north empire creek, and bill moore. From there I'd carry on on foot. It seems to me this should avoid most of the real difficult sections.

Has anyone been in this area willing to share their opinions?

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/breckinridge-peak-and-mount-flora-via-north-empire-creek

I've linked the alltrails page for what I'm looking at doing. I've been reading about this route online, and it seems like the main difficulty of this OHV trail is towards the end. It also seems like there should be spots along the road to park up. I'm hoping to drive up to save some distance if I can. I have a Ford Maverick Tremor which has 4wd, a small lift, skid plate, and all terrain tires. I've been able to do about a mile on the cony flats trail and make it to the end of halfmoon lake trial near leadville.

My goal, based on what I've read, is to make it along 251 stopping near the junction with miller creek, north empire creek, and bill moore. From there I'd carry on on foot. It seems to me this should avoid most of the real difficult sections.

Has anyone been in this area willing to share their opinions?

First, why am I looking to replace such a new vehicle? Well, I might actually not. It's a GDI engine, so I was trying to do an induction cleaning to prevent carbon buildup. I've experienced pretty significant issues with oil consumption in a 2014 Hyundai Elantra GT at around 70,000 miles. I'm pretty confident it was due to carbon buildup as a known issue. Due to Ford's incompetence, it seems impossible to loosen a pipe clamp on my throttle body to do the cleaning. It's butted against the engine, and I can't get a tool on it. I've reached out to a mechanic who can hopefully do better than I. Depending on how that goes, I'll see how my frustration develops. Ultimately, I just don't want to have this be a regular headache.

Budget: There's 20k mi on my maverick, and kelly blue book indicates a roughly 30k dollar trade in value (29-32). I'd like to keep within this trade in value, but could be willing to cough up an extra 5k of my savings for the right vehicle, I'm just not sure what exactly that is. Let's call the budget ideally 30k, max 35k out the door.

Criteria: I work remotely, and almost only drive for road trips, camping, and hiking often with my girlfriend and our dog. The Maverick has been great. The perfect amount of storage, 28 average MPG, just enough offroad capability for what I'm doing, and a rather comfy highway cruiser. Those are really my main points. Ground clearance and good tires are key for the rugged driving I do. I have used the 4wd a few times and was unable to progress without it. I've also scraped the skid plates a few times, so I'm happy to have them. I like how it looks, the interior layout, and I love android auto. That has become a requirement for me. I'm not a fan of crossover/SUV styling, but my current frustration is making me more flexible. I'd really like any future vehicles to be in some color.

What I've looked at so far:

Honda passport trailsport:

This seems like the closest overall to my tremor providing the ground clearance, all terrain tires, and skid plates from the factory, if I'm not mistaken as well as a similar AWD system, though I don't believe it has 4WD. The trailsport is more expensive than my tremor, so even with a few years and a decent amount of miles, I would be stretching my budget. I like the interior more than mine, and the exterior is fine. It gets a bit lower fuel economy. Not a deal breaker, but not my favorite thing.

Subaru Forrester and Crosstrek:

The Forrester seems like the closer comparison. The crosstrek is smaller and more fuel efficient. I think it will be ok on space, but could be a bit too limiting in longer road trips. Both seem to have a solid wilderness trim, though they lack 4wd and skid plates, the ground clearance and AWD systems are good. I'm not sure based on the subaru website if they come with all terrain tires. I do really dislike the styling of more recent models, particularly the forrester. I really dislike the interiors of both. The interior styling ultimately disqualified them when I initially bought the maverick. Now, I am more flexible.

I also looked at the ridgeline, and most of my thoughts on the passport apply here too. I think the ridgeline is due for an update, so between this and the passport, I'd lean to the passport, though it seems the ridgeline could save some coin.

I also looked at the newer Mavericks given that 2025 and newer has a port and direct injection engine which would alleviate my carbon concerns. However, Ford, once again, shit the bed and made the maverick way overpriced. Looking at used 2025s near me, I would be stretching my budget to get into a 2025 without any color. I have a blue maverick, and I would hate to end up monochrome. Plus, I really don't want to reward Ford for their incompetence with the throttle placement or pure DI design. I know design is always a matter of compromise, but this feels like their engineers left the brain cell at home.

What else am I missing? Something like the ranger or equivalent is a bit too much truck for my needs, and likely would blow my budget without going too old. I don't think body on frame is right for my needs, but I'm open to opinions. I'm now more hesitant than ever to buy american. Ford blew it for me with this carelessness.

I need to do some induction cleaning for carbon buildup in my car, and my apartment doesn't allow oil changes and stuff, thus I no longer have these tools. I need to access the throttle body, and Ford was dumb enough to bury it at the bottom of the engine.

I anticipate the job will be about 30-45 minutes, but should be no longer than an hour. Famous last words!

I'm going to try and access it from the top. I think it should be doable, but I'd love to have a backup if there's any extremely kind strangers out here!

My mechanic quoted me 300 dollars for what is a 35 dollar bottle of cleaner at O'Reilly's. I might be able to shop around, but I doubt I'll find someone to do this for less than 100 dollars, so I'd really rather do it myself at this point. I should've checked where the throttle is, but it's always been right on top of every car I've ever owned. I had just assumed there'd be more than a few brain cells at Ford, but it seems they didn't really think maintenance through.

I've had a brisket dry rubbed in my fridge since yesterday, and I'm stoked to roast this bad boy. I'm planning to use my countertop convection oven as it did amazing with ribs last week, better than my regular oven. I was planning to do the exact same method for my brisket until I decided to look up some recipes today (a bit late).

I saw that every recipe called for the fat to be trimmed, the brisket to be covered, and cooked low and slow for about 4 hours. I did the ribs for 4 hours at 250 with a little bbq sauce and broil at the end. I figured the same method would work well with the brisket.

Obviously, it's too late to trim the fat, but in the future, would this be good to do or does it not really matter? I imagine it'll taste better with all the fat, and I imagine it won't need to be covered with all the fat. Do you think I should cover it during normal cooking then uncover for broiling?

Finally, I am (also late) realizing that the brisket isn't on the bone and the ribs were. It's about the same weight, but I probably would overcook the brisket doing it the same amount of time as the ribs. Do you agree with this, and what's a good internal temp to shoot for before I sauce and broil the brisket? Or should I just go for a time target? It's about 2 pounds of meat.

I've had a brisket dry rubbed in my fridge since yesterday, and I'm stoked to roast this bad boy. I'm planning to use my countertop convection oven as it did amazing with ribs last week, better than my regular oven. I was planning to do the exact same method for my brisket until I decided to look up some recipes today (a bit late).

I saw that every recipe called for the fat to be trimmed, the brisket to be covered, and cooked low and slow for about 4 hours. I did the ribs for 4 hours at 250 with a little bbq sauce and broil at the end. I figured the same method would work well with the brisket.

Obviously, it's too late to trim the fat, but in the future, would this be good to do or does it not really matter? I imagine it'll taste better with all the fat, and I imagine it won't need to be covered with all the fat. Do you think I should cover it during normal cooking then uncover for broiling?

Finally, I am (also late) realizing that the brisket isn't on the bone and the ribs were. It's about the same weight, but I probably would overcook the brisket doing it the same amount of time as the ribs. Do you agree with this, and what's a good internal temp to shoot for before I sauce and broil the brisket? Or should I just go for a time target? It's about 2 pounds of meat.

I live in a condo with a rather restrictive HOA. They don't let us do any bike washing or maintenance outside. I actually know someone who got fined for doing this. I used to go to Cassiopia to wash and lube my bike, but now that's not an option.

I believe community cycles has a place I can wash my bike, but I'm pretty sure that's for members only. I don't think membership makes sense for me since I already have a decent amount of tools, and most bike jobs are clean enough that I can do them inside my place with a bike stand. Cleaning is the only thing I really can't do here.

Is washing it in my bathtub my best option? Is there somewhere similar I can go? I don't mind going outside of boulder if I have to. I don't think my bike even fits in my tub, but I haven't really tried yet.