u/littleSquidwardLover

Everyone talks about DTE, Merrel, Fort Custer, Yankee Springs, etc. But one that's almost never talked about is Maple Hill. It's genuinely one of my favorite trails in the state, I think it has arguably the best dedicated downhill sections out of any other trail (maybe Merrel beats it, but some of the jumps are not beginner friendly). The jumps are super chill and forgiving while being capable of getting big air, and you can carry some serious speed down the trails.

The climbs (depending on the day) aren't too bad and the whole system isn't that large. I was able to do 4 laps of all the trails before I was wiped. But another good part is that both trails meet at the top, so you can just take the easier climb for that day, and cross over to the other trails downhill section.

Every time I go there on the weekend there's like at max 10 cars and they're usually locals. I just wanted to spread the love for Maple Hill and say it's a super underrated MTB trail imo. Go check it out!

Hello! I'm looking for a tent for just myself that can fit a twin size air mattress and room for some extra gear. Weight doesn't matter too much because I'm normally camping right out of the car, but I'd like it to pack down relatively small as I don't have too much space in my car. I've tried looking and there are just so many options and I don't really know what I'm looking at. Looking to spend around $100 or less, thanks!

So I bought a Specialized bike from a dealer mostly for dealer support, but I really like the bike anyway. First I had a small issue with a clicking I was positive it was from the headset, so took it to the shop and their older mechanic, we'll call him John, said it was the seat post. It clicked when the bars were turned while there was weight on it...what else could it be. I let it go because it didn't really bother me and I fixed it later with some grease. Oh side note, a third mechanic told me that I should degrease my chain only every SIX MONTHS which seems absurd. I live in the Midwest so that's once a season. I do it like every other wash.

​

Then I noticed a crack in the chain link, at that point the bike only had probably like 150 miles, so I took it to the shop to see if they could find out why that happened. Their younger mechanic was working that day, we'll call him Danny, and he was great. I didn't expect them to but Danny threw on an Eagle chain for free under warranty (about 7 months after purchase, didn't ride during winter). I thought that was awesome.

​

Now I have this issue after a park day with a clicking in the middle gears while pedaling. When I looked I thought it was clear the derailleur was bent. But I took it to the dealer and John was working. He said it looked fine and spent some time messing with the barrel adjuster and what not. I took it for a ride and it seemed fine. The next week when I was getting ready to go for a ride I noticed the clicking this time, quite loud. Went back to the dealer and John was working again. He still insisted the mech was not bent, but he spent the better part of an hour fiddling with adjustments and having me ride it. He told me that riding with the clutch off might help because it takes some tension off the chain, but to turn it back on when I go off road... which is quite literally 100% of the time because it's a MTB. In my mind that's like if I brought a Jeep into the shop because there was a knocking coming from the front diff while in 4x4, and the dealer just says don't go off road. I told him that Danny had put a Sram chain on (it's a Shimano group set), and if that could be it. So he ordered a Shimano chain, I was highly skeptical but it's free so whatever.

​

Anyways, the clicking seemed to be gone in my ride that day but when I washed it the next day I noticed when I shifted it the smallest gear the chain was WAY too loose. Like almost falling off. John had made the b tension way too loose, so I fixed it.

​

I've gone a few rides since and the clicking keeps coming back, quieter but it's there. So I took it to a smaller shop that's closer to me and they IMMEDIATELY identified that either the hanger or mech was bent. They tested the hanger, but found it was the mech that was bent.

​

Just after all these small mistakes I've reached the conclusion that my dealer might not know what they're talking about, at least John. Or am I being too harsh, is this something you guys deal with a lot with your bike shops? I don't want to stop going there because their warranty is awesome but I have little trust.

So yesterday morning I woke up and sat on the couch for about an hour, then I went to wake up one of my parents where I laid on the bed for a few minutes. I then got up and went out to the main room where I noticed a spec on my leg and flicked it into the carpet, till I saw it crawl around and realized it was a bug. I inspected this bug pretty well because I had never seen one like it before, but didn't think too much of it and flushed it. Then a few minutes later I wondered where the hell that came from, and put it together, bed and bug, bedbug. I looked up a picture of one and I'm damn near positive that's what I saw, like 95%. I told my parents and they don't believe me or don't want to, they just said it could have been any bug, which is true. But I hadn't been outside at all, just the couch and their bed, so genuinely where else could this bug have come from. But they told me if it was one then more would come and I should just relax.

I searched my room pretty well, checked the head board, mattress, carpet under the frame, the bench at the foot of the bed, and the window frame (my bed is up against the wall), and of course nothing. I'm pretty minimal and there's not much clutter in my room, so aside from the closet there's not many places they can hide I'd imagine. My parents room however has a lot more stuff, and their bed frame is also much more intricate.

Anyways, during the day I came to peace with the idea that we might have bedbugs, but when I went to bed last night I hardly slept. Every hair twitch I felt I thought was a bug, I took my phone flashlight out like 10 times in the night trying to catch one of the fuckers in the act, but of course nothing. I told myself I wouldn't get worked up about it when I first found out, but I can feel myself slowly getting more and more paranoid. I think the not knowing is what's really getting me, the thought that there *might* be bugs somewhere in the house is driving me mental. Summer is just starting up and I really want to go on camping trips, but now I'm terrified of bringing them with me and infesting my sleeping bag and car.

I just want some advice on how to stay calm, I just feel like I'm starting to lose it, especially since no one believes me.

I just recently discovered it's common practice to grease your threads on a bike, which is something I've never done when working on something. I just went through and greased all of my pivot bolts, I did put grease on the shaft part of each bolt but not the threads. I've also never greased axle threads, but I'm gonna start because my rear axle has been a bit of a bitch to remove.

My main question is have I been doing damage to my threads this whole time? Or is it just a thing people do to make it easier to remove later?