Agreed – this is very regionally specific. Where I grew up, there are very few DH and long travel bikes. Lots of 29er xc/trail.
Future Of Geometry? Grim F@#$IN DONUT
- Thread starter ianjenn
- Start date
I'd always wondered about this.
I have a friend not far from Valencia I visit. I bought a cheap hardtail to leave out there (but sometimes I take my roadbike over as well). The hills around her place have pretty nice natural singletrack trails so I climb into the hills, drop the saddle and have a blast down them. The only other mtb riders I ever see are riding exactly the sort of bikes you describe and wearing full lycra and XC lids. None of them even have dropper posts. and I haven't seen a single one descend well. I just thought they were in some sort of timewarp. As that's what you'd have found in the UK 25 years back too.
My Ebike would be amazing over there but you can't fly with the battery so it's a non starter.
you can ship an ebike battery ahead of your trip to your destination, there are regulations and labeling/shipping requirements that must be followed.
Shipping large lithium packs is super expensive. Can’t just do it at a regular UPS or FedEx outlet. Need a hazardous materials broker.
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I rarely see XC race bikes where I ride. And when I do, they are descending the fire road that everyone else climbs to access a singletrack descent.
I don’t frequent XC race venues though.
There’s gotta be double the amount of gravel bikes than XC race bikes around here.
I don’t frequent XC race venues though.
There’s gotta be double the amount of gravel bikes than XC race bikes around here.
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which is why i referenced regulations.
a probably easier option is to see if there's a shop at your destination that rents ebike batteries.
We have those riders here as well. Carbon hardtail, going down Belcher Hill road after an invigorating climb.
hmm
Im a seat slammed forwards guy.
I like steep seat tube angles.
I also ride MX and super moto where you do slide way way forward on the seat.
with steep seat tube angles, you can go hella faster seated through flat sections without having the front end like way the hell out ahead of you with no weight on it. Im talking about on climbs where it flattens out for a corner or two and you can get going fast... but you don't really want to stand up and mash or rest by cruising...
what?
i think spain must be another planet?
a long legged xc bike gets sketchy if you take it on proper down hills or go full pinned on enduro worthy trails.
It seems like here in California enduro and all mountain/trail are by far the most popular,
Almost everyone I know that was into down hill bikes has fully swapped over to trail and enduro bikes to be able to ride without depending on shuttling. But a trail bike works good for this too, an XC bike mmmmmm noooo.. no.. the point is to party on the way down like the ol DH days.
Enduro bikes seem to work better than DH bikes at most of our bike parks or at least they are just as fun, or more fun in a different way, and a trail bike does pretty good at a park as well, but an XC bike with xc geometry Ive done it, and NO THANK YOU.
If you insist on long legged XC bikes........... down country makes so much more sense than true xc because it rids you of that garbage road bike geometry and lets you go a lot harder on the way down.
but i guess roadies will cling to whats familiar....
just like clinging to the notion that weight is the most important aspect.
its not always.
You can rent a battery in some shops. Valencia is a pretty good place for EMTB and there are a lot of riders there.
And Lycra has an explanation!!! Remember that here 90% of the people has a roadbike, so everyone has a lot of roadbike clothing. What are you supposed to do, double your wardrobe so you can ride with your MTB??? No way, lycra works fine for XC and all the XC top riders wear lycra, so it's the way to go.
I guess everyone here hates Roadbikes, but around my town we have something like 300 Km of beautiful mountain roads with almost zero traffic. I you live in a big city surrounded by highways then you are fucked, but in the right places roadbikes are pretty cool.
And by the way, I just got a Bafang Kit for my roadbike. Almost silent compared to my Shimano E8000 EMTB and 50km/h speed limit so it's a lot of fun.
It is not only about the weight, it is about the snappiness of a light, nimble XC bike. In its element it is hard to beat by anything else. Same as a proper DH bike, nothing is faster and if your enduro bike is then your trails are not real DH trails.
Right tool for the job kinda thing. All mountain, down country, enduro, trail bikes all try to hit a more middle ground approach to appeal to more people because of their versatility. That is why they master many things, but not excel at the extreme ends.
I like how a video of a ridiculous Enduro bike in a downhill forum has turned into an argument about XC bikes.
Thought I would come back and find some more about donuts, but nope.
Hopefully you missed the part where someone just defended spandex.
In a roundabout way it did provide me with the answer to why there aren't shit tons of ripping fast spanish dh racers.
I'd definitely welcome race coverage.
Not sure if its the stupid name or fugly looks. But eff the grim dough shit.
There, i said it.
How about some dh racing coverage that has been going on in france that no one has covered?
Weak sauce
Wasn't David Vasquez Spanish? And the Misser brothers?
My only memories from Spain were 50 cent beers and sangria on a beach full of Spanish and Scandinavian women. If i lived there I probably wouldn't give a shit about racing bikes either.
don't forget the value of spandex!
Since XC and xcercising is so hot right now....and I live on another planet too, just not the same one as @Vrock.
I’ve had the humbling opportunity of getting my doors absolutely blown off on the downhills by Nino Shurter, a few times over the years working at Scott. My perception of XC is something like, »how in the fuck... » or « how is that bike still in one piece »
You can see him riding some of his home trails in here.
If you guys had to choose, XC bike or Ebike?
David Vasquez at the beginning of this one
Nino is a different case entirely... and probably the only pro XC rider of the last decade that a lot of us could name.
Not really, most lazy potato-chip eating enduro-riders have no idea how fast expert XCer riders push their XC rigs downhill. They rationalize their life as "I may not be first to the top, but I rip the downhills"...but really, they don't rip the downhills. They are equally slow there. The stereotype is that these XCers can't ride technical or downhill fast. That's generally because said gravity riders are pacing the slowest XC riders that are so far behind that they represent the absolute bottom of the XC riders, the people who just started mountain biking a few weeks ago or that never go faster than 10mph. So yeah, those XC rider suck at DH, but the ones that are near the top do not. It's a common to hate on them, but every second you lose on a downhill is one more to make up on a climb. Sure, climbs matter more, but putting seconds on people on the downhill is "free time" that other people have to make up exerting themselves. You won't win an XC race due to superior DH skills, but at the same time, you can't give up time here either.
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Yes he is and he is a really nice guy as well. Spent a day with him at Schladming right before the first WC there, was fun and educational.
Hot Spanish women...
shouldn‘t matter when you are no longer pedaling on your own.
dickies with a chamois enough for you?
Dickies with a Chamois
Cut-off Dickies have been our clothing of choice for Summer river shreds and beer stops for many years. And for many years we have fantasized about how they could be improved for our distinct purpose. We prefer adequate pockets for items including: wallet, phone, keys, multi tool, pump, small...
www.squidbikes.com
That's ahndy to know, Thanks. Do you know which shops? (particularly Shimano E8000 batteries)
No. I absolutely love roadbikes. Always have.
This was my ride yesterday...
in full lycra.
I actually do have an entire wardrobe of road kit and another for mtb kit. But yeah, I have worn lycra for mtb too (Even DH in the early 90s).
I'm only 10miles from the edge of our capital city but live rurally surrounded by farmland and have miles and miles of very quiet roads from my door. hills to the South, Coast to the North so miles and miles of hilly or flat terrain to choose from depending on your mood.
For me, a motor would ruin a lot of what I love about roadbikes. Pretty much every roadride here has sections of 40mph+ descent. And I genuinely enjoy climbing a nice light roadbike to get to them.
For commuting some sort of E-roadbike would be great but to be of any real advantage it'd need to be pretty obviously de-restricted. I already commute 20miles on my Emtb. riding time is similar to a fast roadbike (in lycra) but on the Emtb I can ride in work clothes without sweating and pull sweet mannies for da laydees in the City. with the added bonus of feeling fresh enough to go straight out for another ride on a normal bike. Kinda Win Win.
Au contraire. Oh wise one.
It matters even more.
Both. but my XC bike is a 4X hardtail with a 450mm seatpost and a QR collar
Chapter 3 (7min40) is EXACTLY why I still love short sketchy little hardtails.
Apart from the longer stays proper XC Hardtails are still pretty close to DJ hardtail geometry in the smaller sizes and handle similarly with the seat slammed and a riser bar. Lopes later on in the video killing it in 4X is pretty much riding a small GT Zaskar (an XC frame). I think the only difference between the Lopes 4X model and the regular 16" Zaskar frame was the slacker head angle.
DH in Earthed 3 looks pretty mental now with all the riders hanging off the back of the short sketchy DH bikes we all rode. (and I foolishly still do).
Thanks for posting
Well it's mounted to a Scott, so you're probably fine. Never had any troubles with the two inlines I owned. Pretty sure most of the problems you hear about are due to that eternally stupid design special-ed uses to mount shocks.
there was actually some design issues which CC did ultimately cop to, but yes certain designs were less prone to manifesting failures as a result.
believe it or not that scott is actually a pretty fun bike.