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Welcome to RideSmarter.com! What is this page here for? We're doing this to help you be smarter about your bike, how it's set up, how to maintain it, and how to ride it. We think that's to our advantage, since we think well informed riders will like our stuff. We're also doing it because we like to do this sort of thing. It makes us think. It'll make you think too. And it lets us in on what you want to know, a complex form of a market survey. Who's behind it? Keith Bontrager (aka KB) is the author of most answers. Why ask him a question when you can just post it in the newsgroups? KB has been around bikes for a long time, thinking about them, designing them, and riding them. He answers questions about bikes everyday, and most people find them helpful. He doesn't know everything, and he isn't alwasy right (hence the fine print) but he usually explains what he is saying in a way that you can check it out for yorself. We think his replies can be useful to a lot of riders, so we're putting them up here. His replies can also be a lot more useful than what you will find on the newsgroups. He doesn't make things up, qualifies answers when he isn't positive about them, won't flame you if you are inexperienced, or doing something dumb, and he won't try to sell things to you mercilessly, though he'll plug his stuff every now and then when it's appropriate. Check out the rants section on the Bontrager site if you want to see some of his stuff. He's also posted quite a bit on the bike related newsgroups over the years. He'll do his best to give you the information you need. If he doesn't, you know how to get in touch with him. How does it work? You can ask a question whenever you want to. The best ones come from a situation you are puzzling out, not just something you dream up, but send either type if you want to. Send it to: keith_bontrager@bontrager.com Or you can just click on the "Submit a Question" button on the left. KB will get it, check it out, and, if it is a good one, post both the question and his answer here for all to see. He'll do it as soon as he can - one or two good ones a week is what we're hoping for. That will go up or down depending on the weather (if it dumps snow, it might go way down for a while...). We're trying for Quality here, not Volume - KB doesn't get paid by the word. You can ask anything you want. But not everything will be answered in public. So, if you want to see your name in lights and contribute to the knowledge of cyclists everywhere, keep the question real, interesting, and relatively profanity free. Also make sure you say whether you want your name or address to appear in the reply. Anonymous is cool if you want it that way. Use an e-mail address that works too. KB will follow up to make sure the reply makes sense to you and ask more questions if necessary. Please don't submit questions for your friends without their knowledge or approval. We'll be checking... Cool? Well, maybe. A lot of it depends on you. Ask good questions. Get useful, informed answers. Free. Seems pretty cool. Useful? We hope so. You can also send KB comments and suggestions if you think of something we are doing wrong or can do better. We are keeping the page format very simple. Fast to load, easy to read, images as required, no frills. We know it's a little unusual in this day and age, but it suits our style, and we hope it works for you too. Happy trails from the Ride Smarter staff.
Fine print: The opinions expressed herein by Keith Bontrager are in the nature of general observations and should not be relied upon in your specific situation. Your question, problem, bicycle or component, may be different than the one he is discussing. This Page (Web Site) is not a repair manual and is not a substitute for having your bicycle examined and repaired by a qualified bicycle mechanic. It is not intended as a tutorial or course in how to safely ride or use your bicycle. See your local library or bicycle store for publications regarding how to ride and repair your bicycle. Think of Keith like your Aunt Edna. You wouldn't really do what she tells you to do, now would you? Bontrager Cycles is a division of Trek Bicycle Corporation. Bontrager and Trek are registered Trademarks of Trek Bicycle Corporation. Copyright, Trek Bicycle Corporation. All rights reserved.
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