[protijy]

Ok so about a year and ahalf ago I moved from the Northeast to San Diego. back in the NE I was a lazy freeriding fun loving guy

I was spoiled by lift access ect ect....

I've since tailored my Hardtail more toward all trails (seat up 4" fork 11-32 cassette) and I .......... bought a road bike!


Ok so now it comes to my '02 Bighit (4 bar linkage version not the single pivot)
like so

Now here is socal there is well no lift access at all! But there are a few great shuttle runs! but there is def more pedaling involved and def some uphill.

I have swaped out the single ring chain guide front for a 2 Ring setup and am running it at 5"and5"........ I still need to lightem this thing up a bit!

I'm sure the DH tubes and Uber thick Maxxis tires are not helping, I also need to rebiuld the rear wheel so maybe I could grab soem wheight back there from the Rynolite XL back there, but what else can I do (besides get fitter) to make this bike more managable on the flats and ups (cause it still feels great on the down!)

-Thanks

 

[urbaindk]

If you don't have one already, a telescoping seat post would be nice for pedally uphill sections.

I'd start with the tires and tubes. See if you can get away with running a lighter trail tire and regular tubes rather than a DH tire. You might have run higher tire pressures to avoid pinch flats. I swap back and forth all the time depending on where I am riding and the number of rocks I expect to encounter. A tubeless setup might shed some weight if you don't want to ditch the DH tires. You could also swap the steel spring on the shock for something in titanium.

Don't discount the fitness thing either. It's a whole lot cheaper to loose a pound off your body than a pound off your bike.

 

[protijy]

If you don't have one already, a telescoping seat post would be nice for pedally uphill sections.

I'd start with the tires and tubes. See if you can get away with running a lighter trail tire and regular tubes rather than a DH tire. You might have run higher tire pressures to avoid pinch flats. I swap back and forth all the time depending on where I am riding and the number of rocks I expect to encounter. A tubeless setup might shed some weight if you don't want to ditch the DH tires. You could also swap the steel spring on the shock for something in titanium.

Don't discount the fitness thing either. It's a whole lot cheaper to loose a pound off your body than a pound off your bike.

yea I think I'm gonna suck it up and try and get fitter. Last year at this time I walked a whole uphill section on my now favorite ride, last week I rode 85% of it. Little more fitness and I can porb get thru the whole thing

 

[Transfer]

Don't ditch your Rhyno XL unless you really must. It's actually one of the lighter strong wheels out there. Check your gram weights.

 

[PepperJester]

do you still hav the stock shock on the bike? if so upgrading to a stable platform shock such as a Fox DHX would do wonders in the helping the bike move around on the single track.

 

[scrublover]

a cheap and easy way is to run regular tubes, but keep the dh tires. that could easily end up over a pound right there.

maybe try a non-dh fatty tire on the front, and just keep the dh one in back, too. there are quite a few options for this kind of tire now. 2.5" or larger sizes, in not quite full on dh heft.

 

[psychobiker]

single crown long travel fork also

 

[dante]

move back east. it's still great out here...

 

[DHS]

move back east. it's still great out here...

bah, san diego is most fun. so much to ride here. just pedal more

 

[ATOMICFIREBALL]

How can you afford San Diego ?
wow..

Hey, look up Mark Wier & read up about him. He rides a FS long-travel bike everywhere.Single chainring too..I used to do that alot & it will put the fitness in yo azz....!
I noticed a TITANIUM coil spring makes a noticeable reduction in weight -depending on how large the original spring is your replacing..