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Guerrilla Gravity, badass frame manufacturer in Colorado

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
Agreed with HAB, the bike is awesome. I've been on mine for a couple months now so I figured I should write a review. First the boring bits-I'm 5'10" and about 140 pounds without my pack. I like to ride bikes. The downhills are the best part (of course) but I don't mind climbing to the top so I like my bikes to be good descenders and at least competent climbers. I spent three years on a Mojo HD 140, then several months earlier this summer on a Yeti SB-66a. I've also put a couple hundred miles on a good friend's Santa Cruz 5010c over the summer so those are my recent references. I live in Seattle so most of my riding is around here but I've done trail rides in Squamish, Whistler, Tahoe, Bay Area, Bend, and Hood River this summer. A good all 'rounder is my favorite kind of bike and my favorite kind of ride.
Here's my medium 26" build:

View attachment 118887
Looks good but I think you are selling yourself short not utilizing Gravity Mode at least every once in awhile....I could see not having the climb switch making it less attractive but I think you are missing out not using it...at least try Super Gravity so you can get the geo for descending...
 

ire

Turbo Monkey
Aug 6, 2007
6,196
4
I just my deposit down on a Megatrail! They have been great to deal with so far and answered a ton of my questions before I put the money down. Can't wait to receive it!!
 

Olga_icannot

Chimp
Aug 16, 2014
41
37
Seattle
Looks good but I think you are selling yourself short not utilizing Gravity Mode at least every once in awhile....I could see not having the climb switch making it less attractive but I think you are missing out not using it...at least try Super Gravity so you can get the geo for descending...
I'll get there but I want to have trail mode dialed first. Weather's been pretty nasty lately and I'm getting soft in my old age so not much riding happening.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,287
854
coloRADo
Just tried gravity mode for the first time. This is my 5th ride on the MT. And it was pretty freakin sweet! It was on Ginny Trail (for those in CO). Which is a nice, long, rocky and flowy trail. Excellent mix of tech, turns and gnar bashing.

I was a bit concerned about the BB height being so low on this particular trail as there are a lot of sniper rocks to snag your pedals, even while cranks are level. And although I did smack a rock or two and even hit my bashguard once, it was totally worth it!

The slack head angle mixed with the larger wheel size cruised over rocks that typically eat your speed. Especially while cornering. That was an extremely pleasant feeling. I can go on and on how fun it was, but I don't want to make you jealous ;) But it does slide, carve, slarve, drift so predictably. Oh what fun it is to slarve!

I still have to get used to where my wheels/tires and cranks/pedals are due to the new sizes. And I've still got some suspension tuning to do. I'm thinking gravity mode needs a little moar pressure in the shock? Or just put it in super gravity mode? Thoughts?
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
I'm thinking gravity mode needs a little moar pressure in the shock? Or just put it in super gravity mode? Thoughts?
May also want to try moar compression, notably HSC if you have a CCDBa. Or if you have a CCDBa and plan on leaving it in Gravity Mode most or all of the time during descents, you can add some volume reduction bands in the air can.
 

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,596
5,894
in a single wide, cooking meth...
Leaking air or oil? According to the ever wise Dogboy, RS has increased the lubrication spec on the Monarch, which can result in excess milky white shock spunk accumulating on the shaft. This condition may be exacerbated on the Megajizz.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,287
854
coloRADo
Haha that would be a lot cooler story.

But no, it is leaking air.

So I topped it off from being low last Tue and rode Tue. Rode Saturday and was fine until end of ride where I thought it was blowing thru travel. Hence the "increase psi in gravity mode?" question above. And today I checked and it was at 195. Should be at 235psi. It's also pretty obvious when you sag so much you're past the gradient lines on the shaft :D
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,627
12,918
Cackalacka du Nord
Leaking air or oil? According to the ever wise Dogboy, RS has increased the lubrication spec on the Monarch, which can result in excess milky white shock spunk accumulating on the shaft. This condition may be exacerbated on the Megajizz.
On a "normal" bike it would "result in excess milky white spunk accumulating on the shaft." But it's teh Megajizz (tm) we're talking about here, and from what I've heard from you fanbois, and especially based on the recent leverage curves I've seen here, if this was the problem on the MJ it would be shooting the spunk across the room onto your GF, it's so powerful.

AKA "pearl necklace mode."
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
Haha that would be a lot cooler story.

But no, it is leaking air.

So I topped it off from being low last Tue and rode Tue. Rode Saturday and was fine until end of ride where I thought it was blowing thru travel. Hence the "increase psi in gravity mode?" question above. And today I checked and it was at 195. Should be at 235psi. It's also pretty obvious when you sag so much you're past the gradient lines on the shaft :D
I check my psi/sag every ride on the MT..I've found a few psi either way is pretty noticeable where on my old bike anywhere in the ballpark produced the same mediocre results...I'm in gravity mode all the time and I run my fork stiff and the rear end a bit softer and slower which for the really rocky stuff I'm riding I feel works best..I run the recommended 14mm of sag in the rear but measure it while standing in attack mode instead of seated...running about 16-18% sag up front on the pike..
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
The first monarch I ever rode had the same problem. I just used one I got from an auto parts store that costs on the order of many cents.
I've always just gone into a bike shop, grabbed a flat schrader tube out of the garbage, and used that.

By always I mean the like 1-2 times that this has come up.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Certainly not a big deal, but just an FYI for anyone who's thinking about the new XTR Trail M9020 brakes, the Megatrail brake mount needs some filing down to get them to fit with a 160mm rotor.
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
And, that's on the list of future revisions, I'll add a bit more clearance in that area. Thanks for the heads up.
 

ianjenn

Turbo Monkey
Sep 12, 2006
2,998
702
SLO
I still have to get used to where my wheels/tires and cranks/pedals are due to the new sizes. And I've still got some suspension tuning to do. I'm thinking gravity mode needs a little moar pressure in the shock? Or just put it in super gravity mode? Thoughts?
I have been using Super Gravity the last few weeks it is pretty sick running about 18% sag on it.....
 

imbecile

Chimp
Sep 9, 2008
57
30
Bulgaria
Congrats on the new website, looks nice! Still think the geometry should be in a "regular" chart with all the popular measurements though (cm/inch?), would be much cleaner and easier for comparison.
P.S. Less sag for Gravity Mode, more for Trail...is that a typo or am I missing something?
 

SDet

Monkey
Nov 19, 2014
150
42
Boulder Co
Demo'd the yellow bike with carbon wheels. Was a great day, the suntour fork is pretty nice. Nobby nic rear in the snow? Interesting
 

mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
Thanks for the feedback.

For sag, and base tunes in general, we tend to update them over time when we find better setups. Sag is a baseline of course, and it is encouraged to try a few different setups, as what works best for one rider in one locale doesn't always work best for somebody else riding elsewhere. What we have found is that depending on local terrain, some riders spend more time in Trail mode, or others spend more time in Gravity Mode. And others tend to switch back and forth a lot.
Based on feedback from riders (including a handful of folks from here on RM), we've refined our recommendations. You don't need to adjust the shock pressure when you switch from Trail to Gravity, but if you spend more time in Trail Mode, people tend to prefer a slightly different sag than if you spend most time in Gravity Mode. Make sense?
 

imbecile

Chimp
Sep 9, 2008
57
30
Bulgaria
Yep, makes perfect sense to have different sag depending on modes usage. I was looking for a technical reasoning behind the recommendation, but if it's based on rider's preference - to each his own :)
I've noticed that switching modes from Trail to Gravity results in slightly more sag, i.e. a couple of mm. or approx. 5%. Given my type of riding (50/50 Trail/Gravity), setting up sag at 25% in Trail and getting approx. 30% in Gravity is just ideal! :)

P.S. I noticed in the "Owner Info" for the Megatrail that both links for base tunes point to DB Coil on Cane Creek's site, even though you can select the Megatrail from the drop-down menus you'll get the default tune for the DB Coil :) Which could be confusing for some.
 
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mtg

Green with Envy
Sep 21, 2009
1,862
1,604
Denver, CO
P.S. I noticed in the "Owner Info" for the Megatrail that both links for base tunes point to DB Coil on Cane Creek's site, even though you can select the Megatrail from the drop-down menus you'll get the default tune for the DB Coil :) Which could be confusing for some.
Ah, thanks, we'll fix those links.
 

wydopen

Turbo Monkey
Jan 16, 2005
1,229
60
805
If anyone in southern Ca has been wanting to check out a Megatrail I'll be at the Fontana race this weekend if you want to pedal it around....I have a medium 650b built up pretty nice if I say so myself..
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,006
Seattle
Can someone remind me of the shock hardware sizes? I was going to make some offset bushings at work today but forgot to measure the hardware before I came in.