Colorado 2017-18 Colorado Weather and Stoke

[Michael R.]

It's been in the high 30's at night here, no white stuff yet though. Hiked up to the top of peak 6 (starting at copper side) last week at 6AM, man it was cold.

 

[jmeb]

Aspens changing as far south as the Blanca / Little Bear / Linsdey group. Lots of frost in the alpine basins. Starting to feel like fall hiking up there. Don't leave your fleece at home.

(And no matter what route you think you're going to take, download all options onto your phone. Saves you a lot of route finding headache when your partner gets too spooked to downclimb the route you went up.)

 

[Blue Streak]

It has been beautiful up here in the Vail Valley this weekend; however, it would be nice if the smoke cleared.

 

[Doug Briggs]

The snow has melted down to almost nothing all over the 10 Mile Range, but Billy's Bowl still holds some. This is one of my favorite vistas on my bike rides. Note the changing leaves. Yay.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Thanks for the mention, @nay and I'm glad you weren't parched.

But I never forget where I leave my Banquets.

 

[nay]

I remembered it was Banquets after the post .

Fantastic weather on St. Mary's...and good conditions. For Sept.

 

[nay]

We rode bikes from Frisco to Vail today with my entire family and some friends. First stop at Copper West Village...this was just...there. So.

 

[Monique]

I have mud in my yard. I have seen mosquitos.

There is liquid snow everywhere it seems. Must still be summer. Still useful to keep ski rigs in shape.

View attachment 27975

I just keep staring at the angle of that rear wheel. I didn't realize it would do that!

 

[Doug Briggs]

I just keep staring at the angle of that rear wheel. I didn't realize it would do that!

That vehicle is not stock. If I tried that in my stock Tacoma with factory TRD upgrade I might only have 3 wheels on the ground.

 

[Monique]

That vehicle is not stock. If I tried that in my stock Tacoma with factory TRD upgrade I might only have 3 wheels on the ground.

@nay what is it? The gumby mod? (Seriously I have no idea, but curious)

 

[BGreen]

I have mud in my yard.

Ih8mud.

 

[mikel]

@nay surprised our paths didn't cross on Sunday. We headed over to Vail with friends also. We decided to drive over and park in that fiasco. It was pretty crowded. We did head out to China Bowl and there were not many out there. It was an absolutely beautiful day and weekend for that matter.

When you were at Copper did you check out the new Alpine Slide under construction? I'm sure you saw the whole re grade and new lift construction in the West Village. And RFID has come to Copper. Well, at least the passes. Nothing to use them with yet.





Just started noticing some yellow today

 

[nay]

@nay what is it? The gumby mod? (Seriously I have no idea, but curious)

Solid axles instead of the independent suspension found on all (modern) cars, CUV, many SUV now. As one side compresses the other will droop - it's referred to as articulation and is directly related to available suspension travel. Here's a better visual of the front and rear suspensions crossed up (opposite corners compressed and extended) - look at the axle angles and you get those tire angles:



Most Toyota trucks these days (since 1998) have a solid axle rear and independent front suspension design - like our new to us 3rd gen 4Runner. Seen here on Peak 10, the rear suspension is flexing fully and the front is not - that right front tire picks up off the ground around a very tight switchback, but it stays stable.



So this works well until both ends of the suspension have to flex a lot to retain contact with the ground. If you want a new factory vehicle in North America with solid front and rear axles you have one choice: the Jeep Wrangler. Well, maybe a dually, too. Everything else has a car suspension on at least one end.

 

[nay]

@nay surprised our paths didn't cross on Sunday. We headed over to Vail with friends also. We decided to drive over and park in that fiasco. It was pretty crowded. We did head out to China Bowl and there were not many out there. It was an absolutely beautiful day and weekend for that matter.

When you were at Copper did you check out the new Alpine Slide under construction? I'm sure you saw the whole re grade and new lift construction in the West Village. And RFID has come to Copper. Well, at least the passes. Nothing to use them with yet.

Just a pit stop for us, and we did notice the West Village work. We ended up staying right along the bike path as a result - why the skiing pickle board right there? Don't know. Just a bit behind us here.



We probably did cross paths . And it was a good beer after a 30 mile ride, crowds notwithstanding. Plus the rubber ducky race.

 

[dbostedo]

... the skiing pickle board ...

What's a "skiing pickle board"? (Or any kind of pickle board, for that matter...)

 

[Doug Briggs]

Solid axles instead of the independent suspension found on all (modern) cars, CUV, many SUV now. As one side compresses the other will droop - it's referred to as articulation and is directly related to available suspension travel. Here's a better visual of the front and rear suspensions crossed up (opposite corners compressed and extended) - look at the axle angles and you get those tire angles:

View attachment 29159

Most Toyota trucks these days (since 1998) have a solid axle rear and independent front suspension design - like our new to us 3rd gen 4Runner. Seen here on Peak 10, the rear suspension is flexing fully and the front is not - that right front tire picks up off the ground around a very tight switchback, but it stays stable.

View attachment 29161

So this works well until both ends of the suspension have to flex a lot to retain contact with the ground. If you want a new factory vehicle in North America with solid front and rear axles you have one choice: the Jeep Wrangler. Well, maybe a dually, too. Everything else has a car suspension on at least one end.

So... is your Green Machine older than 1998 or did you replace the suspension with a one piece axle?

 

[nay]

So... is your Green Machine older than 1998 or did you replace the suspension with a one piece axle?

It's a '95 - the 80 series Land Cruiser ran from 92-97, with '93 seeing an engine upgrade and '95-97 on the current OBD-II diagnostics standard (that check engine light stuff).

'93-97 were available with electric front and rear locking differentials (your TRD has the rear locker?), making the 80 series one of only two true four wheel drive vehicles ever sold in North America, the other being the current Jeep Wrangler in Rubicon trim.

The SAS (solid axle swap) is a great conversion, but there's more complexity than it seems on the surface so it's either time and energy costly if you can do it yourself or its $$$$ at a shop. Still, we just paid $3,500 for a 2000 TRD Taco for my other son who can drive that was just about fully outfitted including the factory locker and custom front and rear bumpers and rocker panel sliders, so depending on what one wants, the cost of new cars makes other things look cheap by comparison. Especially when the primary use is ski, mountain, and high school parking lot wars.

 

[Doug Briggs]

I do have the rear-locker. I'm not planning to do any off-road upgrades. Getting to 4th of July Bowl and high on Baldy are good enough for me. My plan is to use my truck for travel soon. I presume the suspension I have with struts(?) is a better long distance road vehicle than your Green Machine. Do I presume correctly?

 

[nay]

What's a "skiing pickle board"? (Or any kind of pickle board, for that matter...)

I don't know what they call those things you stick your head through to take silly pictures of like being in Lederhosen at Oktoberfest.

This one was all by itself in the middle of summer and is a skiing pickle. Because once isn't enough:

 

[nay]

I do have the rear-locker. I'm not planning to do any off-road upgrades. Getting to 4th of July Bowl and high on Baldy are good enough for me. My plan is to use my truck for travel soon. I presume the suspension I have with struts(?) is a better long distance road vehicle than your Green Machine. Do I presume correctly?

IFS (independent front suspension) is generally (much) better for handling and ride, i.e. street miles - with rack and pinion steering it's a lot more precise, at least until the steering rack starts to wear out. IFS can be better for high speed overland travel as well with some front end upgrades.

My Cruiser can eat up the highway miles - the way Toyota designed the front end with "radius arms" for the axle control arms is nice on the highway and incredibly stable over rough highways like we have here, but it's not the most refined thing these days and really needs a supercharger, turbo, or V8 swap for its weight.

But I'd drive it anywhere - it's just ridiculous how civilized it is for wearing 37" tires, not even close to being a trailer queen.