Barel in a kilt - legend.
Enduro thread
- Thread starter Tomasis
- Start date
nice to see kurt still killing it...
and seeing his rear tire choice just made me not question as much the 2.35 larsen tt i just threw on the back of my reign...
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I don't care what teh Monkey thinks, I'm digging this "new" discipline. The racing seems legit, and the scenery is awesome. It's even motivating me to sign up for one somewhere... maybe the ESC enduros... hmmmmm....
I really like the rule about having to finish on the same frame, fork, rims you started with. Pushes the manufacturers to build more dependable components, and cuts the marketing bullsh!t...
I really like the rule about having to finish on the same frame, fork, rims you started with. Pushes the manufacturers to build more dependable components, and cuts the marketing bullsh!t...
I dig the fact that it's pushing forward on climbable DH product design, especially tires.
Is that a horny toad?! I knew that'd get a rise out of someone...
but you can't hide behind results... witness Clementz defending his choice of running Maxxis rubber after flatting on the Mavic stuff.
but you can't hide behind results... witness Clementz defending his choice of running Maxxis rubber after flatting on the Mavic stuff.
This more than anything is why enduro racing deserves to live.
Have ENDURO tyres actually developed anything decent yet? What should I be buying?!?! I've got my clutch mech and my Reverb - need MOAR!
Enduro tires? Maxxis DHF 2.5 Exo. Sure you gotta avoid putting a sharp rock right through the middle and for some stages they're a little draggy but they're close to perfect.
endurrrrrrr-bro
They're good tires for sure, but not the best thing for hauling through rock gardens with tubes. You either need to run really high pressure or constantly feed em tubes. On the flip side if you run em tubeless you're risking having your tire peel off depending on how well it gets along with your rim. What do you expect from an 850 gram tire though? I'd rather see them closer to 1000 grams with beefier sidewalls and a tubeless bead - ie similar to what Michelin is doing with their Advanced Reinforced tires and Schwalbe's Super Gravity tires.
What I'd really like to see is for someone to go back to the drawing board on the tubeless rim/bead design and come up with something that will alleviate you from ever having to worry about burps or tires blown off of rims again, even for WC DH. With enough pros doing face-plants someone will step up to the plate (my money is on Mavic/Michelin coming out with some sort of UST V2). Another option would be something like what Nuetech has for moto - http://www.nuetech.com/index.shtml; I'm pretty sure I've seen these for bikes before but I don't remember who made em.
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So, I might as well ask here.
I need some opinions on my "Enduro race bike", as I'd like to start doing the Enduro races in the UK next year.
I'm a bit torn on which bike to go for, as I'm pretty much stuck between two bikes.
SO, forum opinions wanted!
I'm very torn between the Evil Uprising and the Banshee Spitfire and keep on swaying from one to the other. Which one would your gut feel go for, if you were in my position (someone who has a DH bike in other words)?
Couple of quick pros and cons
Spitfire:
Pros:
SUPER adjustable
Great geometry
Can take 650B if I fancy giving it a blast
I can got it at a very cheap price WITH a CCDBair
140mm travel
Cons:
Relatively heavy, will build to 30-32LBS with dropper post
Gut feel: I love the rough and readiness of it, not really a looker but just begs me to abuse it
Evil Uprising
Very adjustable
Great Geometry
It's pretty much the same bike as my DH bike (Evil Undead)
It's light and will build to 27 - 29LBS with dropper post. It's carbon.
Cons:
It's so similar to my DH bike, it might be a boring choice having two of the same?
No option to try out this whole 650b malarky
Little more expensive
Gut feel: It feels a bit too posh, and has a little more travel than I wanted @150mm. Riding the Shan of Hazzard (slack steel HT) at the mo as my AM bike, I'm starting to think of having an AM bike with less and less travel. That said, my DH bike (Evil Undead) is a nutter and an absolute blast to ride.
Spitty:
Uprising:
I need some opinions on my "Enduro race bike", as I'd like to start doing the Enduro races in the UK next year.
I'm a bit torn on which bike to go for, as I'm pretty much stuck between two bikes.
SO, forum opinions wanted!
I'm very torn between the Evil Uprising and the Banshee Spitfire and keep on swaying from one to the other. Which one would your gut feel go for, if you were in my position (someone who has a DH bike in other words)?
Couple of quick pros and cons
Spitfire:
Pros:
SUPER adjustable
Great geometry
Can take 650B if I fancy giving it a blast
I can got it at a very cheap price WITH a CCDBair
140mm travel
Cons:
Relatively heavy, will build to 30-32LBS with dropper post
Gut feel: I love the rough and readiness of it, not really a looker but just begs me to abuse it
Evil Uprising
Very adjustable
Great Geometry
It's pretty much the same bike as my DH bike (Evil Undead)
It's light and will build to 27 - 29LBS with dropper post. It's carbon.
Cons:
It's so similar to my DH bike, it might be a boring choice having two of the same?
No option to try out this whole 650b malarky
Little more expensive
Gut feel: It feels a bit too posh, and has a little more travel than I wanted @150mm. Riding the Shan of Hazzard (slack steel HT) at the mo as my AM bike, I'm starting to think of having an AM bike with less and less travel. That said, my DH bike (Evil Undead) is a nutter and an absolute blast to ride.
Spitty:
Uprising:
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That frame is really 3lbs lighter??So, I might as well ask here.
I need some opinions on my "Enduro race bike", as I'd like to start doing the Enduro races in the UK next year.
I'm a bit torn on which bike to go for, as I'm pretty much stuck between two bikes.
SO, forum opinions wanted!
I'm very torn between the Evil Uprising and the Banshee Spitfire and keep on swaying from one to the other. Which one would your gut feel go for, if you were in my position (someone who has a DH bike in other words)?
Couple of quick pros and cons
Spitfire:
Pros:
SUPER adjustable
Great geometry
Can take 650B if I fancy giving it a blast
I can got it at a very cheap price WITH a CCDBair
140mm travel
Cons:
Relatively heavy, will build to 30-31LBS with dropper post
Gut feel: I love the rough and readiness of it, not really a looker but just begs me to abuse it
Evil Uprising
Very adjustable
Great Geometry
It's pretty much the same bike as my DH bike
It's light and will build to 27 - 28LBS with dropper post. It's carbon.
Cons:
It's so similar to my DH bike, it might be a boring choice having two of the same?
No option to try out this whole 650b malarky
Little more expensive
Gut feel: It feels a bit too posh, and has a little more travel than I wanted @150mm. Riding the Shan of Hazzard (slack steel HT) at the mo as my AM bike, I'm starting to think of having an AM bike with less and less travel. That said, my DH bike is a nutter and an absolute blast to ride.
Spitty:
Uprising:
Supercow,
I'm in the same boat mate. Been considering a spitfire because of the reasons you listed, but the weight has me a bit scared off. I'm going to need an XL frame, and while the spitty XL is sized very well for what I need the weight is going to be a massive increase over my previous ride, even though I'm downsizing travel.
What other bikes do folks recommend in XL (26 or 27.5) that are sized well for us big boys?
I'm in the same boat mate. Been considering a spitfire because of the reasons you listed, but the weight has me a bit scared off. I'm going to need an XL frame, and while the spitty XL is sized very well for what I need the weight is going to be a massive increase over my previous ride, even though I'm downsizing travel.
What other bikes do folks recommend in XL (26 or 27.5) that are sized well for us big boys?
I doubt there are too many people outside of sponsored racers who know how well the Uprising pedals. I know General Lee has spent time on a Rune and an Uprising. I would be interested in hearing a comparison between the two.So, I might as well ask here.
I need some opinions on my "Enduro race bike", as I'd like to start doing the Enduro races in the UK next year.
I'm a bit torn on which bike to go for, as I'm pretty much stuck between two bikes.
SO, forum opinions wanted!
Spitty:
Uprising:
Just saw a picture, the sharpied Maxxis makes it's return!!!
Kinda funny that a week or two after the debut of an Enduro Specific tire, one of Mavic's biggest sponsored riders isn't ridding them.
Serious question for you enduro enthusiasts, why didn't people just ride DH bikes at this last race in Val d'Allos? to my understanding, the race was entirely lift access, most modern carbon DH bikes like the v10 could easily weigh 32 with a reverb and single ply tires, and with a 1x11 drive train small climbs would be pretty easy. Are there rules that limit suspension or something like that?
more pedal + less pitch = less travel^faster
Are you saying that the enduro WC courses resemble pump tracks? jared graves suggested that they were "like two world cup dh tracks back to back".
EDIT: Turns out there's quite a bit of climbing on the transfers.
Damn, Enduro is gnarly!
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I've been on a v1 Spitty since nov, 2011 and am blown away by it's handling. Not only can it shoot out of corners, it can tighten up the radius as quick as you can think it. It doesn't fight you when you try to correct. Never had any other bike that could do that.
The only draw back is the pedal strike issue due to running it the low BB setting. Way worse than an SX-Trail. But having to learn to time pedal strokes on roots and rocks is a fair trade off for it's cornering prowess.
The suspension design makes the bike feel much lighter when climbing. Especially noticeable coming from a four bar design. I think my Spitty weighs 29.5#-30# and has more climbing capability than I do.
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I bring my DH & Enduro bikes to the races and judge which is faster. At Angelfire I chose the DH. For Crested Butte the Enduro was the clear choice. Most sponsored riders don't have the option though. Their sponsors want them using the products being pushed for enduro. For imsnance all Fox athletes must use 34 forks, no 36s.
if you can win on a dh bike, it's not an enduro race
There's also a good bit of climbing on the descending stages of a lot of them.
Those courses from the series this past weekend looked fast as hell but you don't need 8" of travel to roll fast. And it sucks a lot of momentum everywhere that's not down. So not even counting the transfer stages, a guarantee you those trail bikes are faster down. Those aren't full blown dh courses.
watching the videos of Allos, I was surprised to see smooth trails. In the lead up to the race everyone was talking about how gnar the courses were, like back to back WC DH runs. Only the Dirt edit shows of bit of tricky, off camber, rocky rooty stuff. Maybe it has more to do with what is "filmable" and looks good in a video, but I'd rather see dudes hitting the gnar on little bikes than see them pedal furiously on epic single track. I've always found pedalling bikes looks stupid on video.
It's on the bucket list for sure. considering I have family in Les Gets and Morzine, I'm pretty much set for any alpine bike (or ski) trip I might want to take. Only problem is convincing my girlfriend to be on the same continent as my mom...you could take a trip there and ride / get impressionThey said that last stages are quite gnarly.
Bike and real one. I'd move immediately to mom.i did 3000ft of climbing in 10miles this morning to get to a 6mile singletrack descent..
aside from one or two really gnarly rock sections i would prob be faster on the trail bike...im still trying to get the bike dialed in..my corner speed isnt what it used to be...im not totally comfortable on the descents yet but i think once its setup correctly it will be a different story..air forks and slack HAs are still new to me after not riding for 6 years..
if i rode a dh bike i would have spent half the day in the car shuttling on windy mountain roads...next year i might even do some of the Ca enduro races...dh racing doesn't interest me anymore...too much time and $$ to race for 5 minutes...
aside from one or two really gnarly rock sections i would prob be faster on the trail bike...im still trying to get the bike dialed in..my corner speed isnt what it used to be...im not totally comfortable on the descents yet but i think once its setup correctly it will be a different story..air forks and slack HAs are still new to me after not riding for 6 years..
if i rode a dh bike i would have spent half the day in the car shuttling on windy mountain roads...next year i might even do some of the Ca enduro races...dh racing doesn't interest me anymore...too much time and $$ to race for 5 minutes...
I think you are taking the comments of back to back WC DH runs too literal. The times of the stages are like running multiple courses back to back not that it's actually two full on gnar WC DH tracks stacked. By the time they are down the course they are as tired as if they had run the DH tracks on DH bikes.
I am stoked that we the common people get to enter the same races on the EWS. I've entered the Crankworx race, going to be interesting to see how the format will change from last year now that it's a EWS event. Last years race the transition stage times were pretty short. Rumours of Top of the World into Khybers Pass as a stage are awesome, we rode it as an enduro stage last year for an event and it's got everything. You'll see your chunder, steeps and gnar if that course gets used.
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Sam Blenkinsop had a great day... "It's a good new sport, especially for the guys who used to race downhill. It's good for us, as it's kinda a back up plan. "
good coverage from PB: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Crankworx-Les-Deux-Alpes-Enduro-World-Series-Round-3-Finals-2013.html
good coverage from PB: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Crankworx-Les-Deux-Alpes-Enduro-World-Series-Round-3-Finals-2013.html
HB gives Nico tips on how to cut the course.caption this.
"naw man... it's not that bad. you just... cut it. it's really simple"
Dirt TV Les 2 Alpes round up
Atherton at 17:59 in stage 4 is full throttle moto. No wonder some of the American's have said that Euro Enduro is a completely different sport than American Enduro races have been (mostly referring to Oregon Enduro Series I think).
I'd say last year's Crankworx Canadian Open Enduro was a mix of the two, I see Kinnard is over organizing the Les 2 Alpes round so I think we can expect the EWS round at Crankworx to get a lot more Euro gnar. Time to get serious in knocking out chunder DH laps on the trail bike in prep instead of just fun trails.
Atherton at 17:59 in stage 4 is full throttle moto. No wonder some of the American's have said that Euro Enduro is a completely different sport than American Enduro races have been (mostly referring to Oregon Enduro Series I think).
I'd say last year's Crankworx Canadian Open Enduro was a mix of the two, I see Kinnard is over organizing the Les 2 Alpes round so I think we can expect the EWS round at Crankworx to get a lot more Euro gnar. Time to get serious in knocking out chunder DH laps on the trail bike in prep instead of just fun trails.