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Plow bike round-up

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
anything with a high pivot/rearward axle path that is slightly overweight.

I had that brooklyn racelink that I swear I could sip tea while going through the gnarliest shiznittysnipsnapslam. That was a rad bike, I hope the superbro hushmaster comes out soooooon. The chromo had a bit of a damping effect, too. I notice that I feel way more "stuff" on my sunday than I did with the BMW. Think of it as comparing a honda civic to an audi. One feels high quality, stable, planted, the other feels jittery and cheap. The sunday is a rocket comparitively though...
 

time-bomb

Monkey
May 2, 2008
957
21
right here -> .
That right there is about the plowiest bikes out there!:thumb:

Oh and too the karpiel guys that travel is a small amount of rearward like 2mm then vertical/forward and bucks on square edge impacts. Unless its changes I used to ride the karpiel armageddon and it was a fun bike a fast bike but not a real plow bike! Slaughtered single track though, damn that thing killed corners and fast in and out berms....
try the new one, it is a different beast then older models. it takes square edge hits extremely well. the lower link is longer and in a different place than the old ones. it has more than 2mm of rearward travel. you certainly can't put it in the same category as a high pivot bike like a BB7 or Superco but then again, neither is a V10 or M6 or a lot of the other bikes mentioned. In fact, the Yeti 303 has no rearward travel, it goes straight up. the new karpiels can still carve too. they are definitely worth a look.
 

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,740
470
Those R9's can be pretty mean...

Shockers, 303's, Oranges have the axle paths you want. So do Stab's, but they're not a real performance bike like the others (yeah yeah, Fabian Barel blah blah blah - his frame was FAR from stock). I owned one for a while - great budget bike.

You feeling the need for a real go-fast-no-matter-what bike after Saturday Adam??
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,134
7,680
Transylvania 90210
Those R9's can be pretty mean...

Shockers, 303's, Oranges have the axle paths you want. So do Stab's, but they're not a real performance bike like the others (yeah yeah, Fabian Barel blah blah blah - his frame was FAR from stock). I owned one for a while - great budget bike.

You feeling the need for a real go-fast-no-matter-what bike after Saturday Adam??
Feeling old and slow. I miss the 3.0 Gazza on a Shiver + 9" reward-path Avy travel of Canadian goodness. Of course, I don't miss the extra 10lbs that bike hauled around.
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,134
7,680
Transylvania 90210
There you go, pretty much any bike someone doesn't own is a plough bike.

Glad we could help :)
Was beginning to feel that way.

What's the word on the BMW Racelink? I know the Superco is the next generation, but seems to be barely above vaporware. Any point in the current round of "new" BMW Links? Are they as good as ever, or just a flimsy knockoff? I'm assuming if you can find a used one that they are safe to buy 2nd-hand.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
Was beginning to feel that way.

What's the word on the BMW Racelink? I know the Superco is the next generation, but seems to be barely above vaporware. Any point in the current round of "new" BMW Links? Are they as good as ever, or just a flimsy knockoff? I'm assuming if you can find a used one that they are safe to buy 2nd-hand.
Well, the RL is still a sweet ride but the geometry is dated for a modern racebike. For me the TT was always too short, and having switched to a more modern frame, it feels way more natural. I would really like to see the superthrow have a 1.5" headtube for geometry adjustment too, but that's not as big of a deal. I would probably still be on mine but the combo of the short TT, heavy weight (as built) and avy fork offset never sat well with me. I think I could deal with the steeper than average HT and the tall BB, but at 15.5", you're about 2" higher than current scrapers. I ran mine with dual 24s (as well as dual 26s, at times) and it was really good...shame that the small wheels had other negatives. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one used. Mine was ~7 years old when I bought it.

The newer "slope ranger" bikes are different and not very many have time on them...KONKRETE here owns one and may be able to tell you what to do (or sell you his). The layout is quite a bit different, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. My only concern is a friend who visited the BMW factory and spoke with the designer, who swore up and down that a falling rate was the bee's knees...whereas the Link bikes had progressive/rising rate linkages and rode sweetly for it.

The superco is being crafted by the wizard of welding as we speak, and as I understand it, he takes his damn time making sure the things are perfect before anybody else gets one (seen the hardtails he makes?). Who knows when they'll come out, but hopefully it will be soon and I will be wealthy when it happens... I truly miss the ride quality of the RL, and if I could get the same bike with modern geo, I would in a heartbeat. I had for a while tried to figure out a way to craft the RL lower and slacker, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it.
 

time-bomb

Monkey
May 2, 2008
957
21
right here -> .
I had for a while tried to figure out a way to craft the RL lower and slacker, but couldn't figure out a good way to do it.
26" up front/24" in the back? It would drop the BB slightly and slacken out the frame. I would be willing to bet the cons of a 24" wheel are less apparent on a bike w/that much rearward travel. I run this on my mini-DH bike and it is sweet. But that is for smoother tracks. Anyway, worth a shot if you haven't tried it already and still have the stuff for it.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
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borcester rhymes
That's actually how I ran it most of the time....the problem was that the avy fork had oodles of rake, plus a very slack HA, turned the bike into a tank slapper on the trail. On top of that, the higher from end effectively shortened the TT, so it was even more uncomfortable.

The twofours were great someplace like plattekill, where the bike turned into a motarded little plaything; super flickable and easy to control (felt shorter in WB too) but I paid the price going over the moguls, so in the end I parted with it.

If I could get one back for like a grand, I would in a heartbeat, but I feel that modern offerings are more versatile, although I'd keep the suspension.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,921
borcester rhymes
Kind of one of those things...if you have the opportunity to pick one up, I would highly consider unless it's at "collector's" pricing. The race amazingly, but it makes for a better east coast bike than a west coaster (higher, steeper, shorter).

I found that the bike RULED at plattekill, but suxx0red teh dixx0r at highland.
 

mandown

Poopdeck Repost
Jun 1, 2004
20,134
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Transylvania 90210
gotcha. i had a quick parking lot pedal one back in my BB7 days and it felt good to me then, but i didn't get to bomb it down A-Line or the Garbanzo runs. I hear ya on high/steep/short - I had an Iron Horse SGS back in the early days and that is how that bike felt... but they are/were an East Coast Brand.
 

Prettym1k3

Turbo Monkey
Aug 21, 2006
2,864
0
In your pants
I'm not going to tell you that my bike is better than anyone elses. But I frickin' love my Zumbi F44 Ti. It's built just the way I wanted it, it looks cool (IMO) and it plows over anything and everything. It's plush, but still pedalable, especially for a 9" bike. I like the wheel path, decreasing shock rate, and simple but smooth looking design.

But again... that's just me.

 

time-bomb

Monkey
May 2, 2008
957
21
right here -> .
I'm not going to tell you that my bike is better than anyone elses. But I frickin' love my Zumbi F44 Ti. It's built just the way I wanted it, it looks cool (IMO) and it plows over anything and everything. It's plush, but still pedalable, especially for a 9" bike. I like the wheel path, decreasing shock rate, and simple but smooth looking design.

But again... that's just me.

If this thing performs similar to/as well as my PDC 8TWO5 did then I give it :thumb::thumb:. That thing was a pretty rad ripper.

I dig the matte black look too.