Do You Mountain Bike?

Sidewalk

Sidewalk

My bikes have pedals now
I would never ride a full suspension bike without a chain guide, upper and lower. Even with a narrow wide.

My trail bike is a 1x10 conversion from Sram X01 2x10. I used a Sunrace 11-42 cassette and put a 34 up front (650b). I'm happy with it but would rather have a 36 and 11-46 in the back or 34 with Sram 10-42 (preferred). I rarely spin out though.

The derailleur should be compatible as a 10s or 11s, just the shifter that makes the difference. So you can swap shifters and cassette later for 1x11.

Regardless, I'd definitely go with at least a 42 in the rear if you ever climb anything. I know a lot of people on a 30t or even 28t with a 42 rear.
 
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Sidewalk

Sidewalk

My bikes have pedals now
On a related note, I recently tested an AB oval on my XC bike. Comparing my race time to the winner (who I've raced all season), I don't see any improvements. But going by feel, I like it. So the jury is out until I get more data. I'm keeping it at least for now.

I'm not sure I'm sold on it outside of XC racing though. I've noticed that when I'm giving a hard effort, I don't feel the oval and seems to show the most benefit then. But at partial power just cruising along it feels awkward.
 
ndirienzo

ndirienzo

Well-known member
Good to know about the ovals. I have a buddy that swears by them, but they don't really appeal to me.

Also, I've actually never dropped a chain when running a N/W + clutch combo. I've been tempted to get a small upper guide given they're cheap and only a few grams, but I don't see the point of a full guide with the tech we have now.

Was messing around at the only decent downhill here in Chapel Hill. Didn't realize I picked up a straggler until after checking the video!


youtu.be/bFsOwLdCSJw
 
kelsodeez

kelsodeez

2wheels good 4wheels bad
I rode Northstar for the first time ever this weekend. holy shit that was fun, although i feel guilty riding the chairlift to the top and then just bombing down the hill. i prescribe to the idea that you should have to work for your descent. nevertheless, it was an awesome time and i cant wait to go back. my full squish chinese carbon 29er did awesomely and i had no problem keeping up with my buddies on downhill bikes. i crashed about 4 times, but they were all slow speed crashes and one of them was a result of me not unclipping in time and falling on my right side. all in all 10/10 weekend. would do again

23sJvdl.jpg
 
Mike95060

Mike95060

Work In Progress
I got to ride a carbon frame, carbon wheel, Santa Cruz 5010 (aka solo) this past weekend in Downieville. It was a well set up demo bike my friend who works there scored for me. Holy shit balls are modern suspension bikes good. Too good. It felt like I was cheating. I am a novice rider at best and I was riding faster than I had any right to and didn't crash once. Its amazing what you can get away with nowadays. Fun times.
 
Sidewalk

Sidewalk

My bikes have pedals now
Well, I am thinking about adding another bike for next season. Going to add an XC full squish to my XC HT. I was going to try and get a left over Cannondale Scalpel and move my parts over (but keep the frame for future use). But my LBS isn't happy with them right now and isn't planning on bringing in any more bikes from them. He wants to put me on an Epic.

Good news is, I will get a great discount. Bad news is, I can't port any parts, realistically (I don't want to change out the hubs on my race wheels). So I basically need to buy a complete bike. So, now I have to decide if I go all out and go S-Works (non Di2) with a near 10k MSRP (I won't be paying that, but still not cheap) with the possibility of selling it at the end of the season before 2019 is launched or go with a lower spec bike, like the comb aluminum which is 3k, but build it up how I want and keep it long term as an XC and trail bike (I find long travel unnecessary)?

Luckily, I have a few months to decide. And a few months to try and figure out how to pay for it...

Mike95060 said:
I got to ride a carbon frame, carbon wheel, Santa Cruz 5010 (aka solo) this past weekend in Downieville. It was a well set up demo bike my friend who works there scored for me. Holy shit balls are modern suspension bikes good. Too good. It felt like I was cheating. I am a novice rider at best and I was riding faster than I had any right to and didn't crash once. Its amazing what you can get away with nowadays. Fun times.
Click to expand...

Yep, pretty amazing.
 
Sidewalk

Sidewalk

My bikes have pedals now
PhoS said:
uhoh, the XC guy is going full Endurbro over here. :thumbup
Click to expand...

Yep. Was trying to avoid it, but reality set in. After my trail bike fork broke (which is at MRP now) I was just being too abusive with my XC bike. And after realizing that I was doing more and bigger hits on my XC HT than basically everyone I know, I started thinking it might be a good idea to just get the right bike for the job.

After pinch flatting my tubeless tire in a rock garden after a day of hitting doubles that i watched a bunch of long travel bikes roll over, it settled it.

I really want a FS XC bike, but the bike I race now is a great bike, and I this was going to be an N+1.

But this bike is letting me take a few things I was skipping before. I've got one drop I still haven't gotten the bravery to try, and a relatively big step up jump that I'm afraid of too. The drop is my fear of heights, the jump is me thinking about having to pay bills...
 
Canadianjerkey

Canadianjerkey

Well-known member
Anybody hear anything in regards to the Lake Cunningham Bike Park? The website says opening September 2017, and last I checked that's now.
 
Sidewalk

Sidewalk

My bikes have pedals now
PhoS said:
Have you seen the new Scott Spark? That line between trail and XC is getting pretty blurry these days. Looks like a fun bike.
https://www.scott-sports.com/us/en/product/scott-spark-700-tuned-bike?article=265249007
Click to expand...

This is the trail version. 130mm travel with modern XC geometry. My old trail 130mm 650b bike has what we now call XC geometry, which is pretty slack. The XC race version of the Spark is still 100mm.

I don't think we will see more than 110mm, likely all will stay at 100mm. Anything more just isn't necessary for racing, just more comfort at the cost of efficiency.
 
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