u/sprashoo

Bought my first set of flat pedals and MTB shoes last year (used to ride clipless). Pedals are RaceFace Chesters, and shoes are FiveTen Freerides. I weigh about 170 lbs FWIW.

After 1 year, with fairly moderate use (riding every other weekend or so, from about April until October last year... rest of the year it's frozen here), the soles of the shoes look like this. There's even an actual hole on one shoe:

https://preview.redd.it/vzwgtkgaymbh1.jpg?width=3818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=129a7543b12f1712d3d9d818c15850949cf66853

Is this normal? The rest of the shoes look almost new, but the soles are a wreck.

Are there other brands with more durable soles?

I'm a novice to hammock camping I will admit, but I know the basics like about lying diagonally so you aren't like a banana. I've slept overnight in hammocks a couple times, but past experiences were marred by being freezing cold - I just had a cheapo big box store hammock (no ridgeline) and no underquilt. The actual hammock felt fine on my body though.

I decided to bite the bullet and get a proper setup, so I bought the HammockGear Wanderlust kit (https://hammockgear.com/product/the-wanderlust/) with Burrow quilt and Incubator underquilt (both 20º rated). I figured with this I'd be set.

I did a test night in the backyard a couple days ago, and it was a disaster. Part of it was my fault - it was 63º and I was sweating like a pig. Obviously using 20º rated insulation at that temperature was dumb. I ditched the top quilt at some point and switched to just a thin fleece blanket. The underquilt was also verging on too warm, but tolerable.

But the big problem was my back. The curvature the hammock was forcing my spine into started to get unbearable after a few hours, no matter how I wriggled around. I was trying to stay diagonal but the hammock material was slippery so I'd keep waking up finding that I'd slid back more in line with the hammock, and my back aching. I was wearing pajamas - probably not what I'd wear when actually backpacking, and maybe bare legs wouldn't have slipped as much, but still..

Around 3am I gave up, went inside, and lay on my bed. The flat bed was major relief. My back is twinging though, even a couple days later.

So... umm.. is this normal?

I'm 5'11", so not too tall for this hammock. With the ridgeline, it's not possible to adjust the 'hang' of the hammock, I think. It's definitely less tight that I would have hung a non-ridgeline hammock, and I think this might be part of the issue - it hangs really low.

Also, the underquilt. Do people use the same underquilt in warm weather, and just hang it looser, or do they have like 'summer and winter' ones, like sleeping bags?

The insulation thing I can figure out, but man, I'm almost scared to try sleeping in the hammock again because of the back pain.

Here's the setup. I kept the foot end (close to the tree) a bit higher than the head end, and I'm pretty sure it's all normal:

https://preview.redd.it/d5ae3tq6qb6h1.jpg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a487c052fbee9278f76aff5882662736050e5120

In the market for an upgrade for my wife, and we tried out the Surly Sorceress at a local shop. I was surprised how much it reminded me of my Norco Torrent S2. Seems like a very respectable hardcore steel hardtail from a major (alt) brand. Also has about 10,000 mounting points for stuff, which is nice (my Torrent has only a single bottle cage mount, I really wish it had 2).

Anyway, seemed pretty sweet but currently it's also quite pricey ($1,000 just for the frame).

Anyone riding one? How do you like it?

My partner is getting more advanced at mountain biking and her mid-oughts era hardtail with steep geometry, 27.5 wheels, 3x8 drivetrain, and no dropper is starting to hold her back. We ride mostly blue/black trails in Minnesota, so a lot of singletrack, with scattered rock gardens, mild drops and jumps... Personally I'm happy with my aggressive steel hardtail on this kind of stuff, although full suspension is the norm on the trails.

Looking around for a good deal on a more modern bike for her, I realized that I have most of a full drivetrain and wheels in my parts bin - so started thinking about finding a decent frame and fork and building up from there.

She rides a 16" hardtail right now, which is, I believe, a size small in modern parlance...

Would be looking for boost spacing, thru-axle, tapered head tube, modern geometry. Hardtail is fine, she's not into jumping or super high speed stuff (although a trail oriented FS is fine too...)

Price range is... flexible. Kinda hunting for a good deal, so would be willing to go up to $1k on the frame if it's a sweet deal, but in general thinking maybe $300-600-ish. Would probably build up with decent but not fancy stuff - Deore 12sp mechanical, Stans wheels, an entry level air fork like a RockShox 35 Gold or something...

Anyone know of some good deals right now on something like this?