[mastercycleman]

I Plannin on going to mammoth this summerover the 4th as well as later on, im just wonderingwhat you guys would suggest i bring, for my bike as well as other things, i have been snowboarding there but not biking, btw , i am planning on riding cross country and Super-D
would you suggesti bring spare parts for my bike, i beleive im runing pretty solid stuff,(XT, and LX)or will they have stuff there, i was thinking about geting another derailure hanger, is this a good bet

Thanks alot

 

[Bicyclist]

If you mean the 4th of August you will encounter a lot of snow this year.

Just bring a derailleur hanger, extra shift cable and housing, spare tubes, tools to fix your brakes/shifting/other things, etc.

Mammoth is a blast, if you're there later in August I'll see you on the trails.

 

[mastercycleman]

well i was planning on going the forth of july, and then again after summer schol gets out, what kind of bike will you be riding, and would you suggest i use clipless or just flats

 

[Zutroy]

IF your going JUly 4th weekend, you'll only be able to get on the lower lower part of the mountain, it's mainly XC/Super-D kinda stuff. Clipless would be the way to go, as it'll be nothing tech and much flatter than the upper mountain is.

 

[merrrrjig]

if you are going on july 4th, you should just go snowboard, it will be better than the biking, but I think lower bullet (pain to get to) and shot gun will be open, off the mountain there is lower rock creek which is good.

 

[mastercycleman]

when would be time when there wont be any snow, would that be in August or something

 

[merrrrjig]

ya, it should be good by late july/early august

 

[SBDHrida]

when would be time when there wont be any snow

Probably never

 

[Bicyclist]

Probably never

True dat. Last year in August when I went it was snowing. Yes, as in snow coming out of the sky.

 

[EBasil]

Some other stuff to bring: if you're running hydro brakes, bring a bleed kit. If you set up your bike down here near sea level and use DOT fluid, it will outgass at altitude and present a real bummer when you grab a handful of brake. The simple fix is to do a quick bleed to extract the air...and that's done. Just do it in the parking lot outside your cabin. Also: if you're going early in the season: a singlespeed. The lower part of the mountain is great for SS riding..just go in from Juniper Trail and work your way up, then turn around... Heck, I had two dudes on singles climb up and past me as I was descending from the top of Skid Marks. So, bring weapons to kill mutants, too.

 

[mastercycleman]

im a complete n00b when it comes to hydros,where can i get a bleed kit, and how hard will it be to do,i dont want to go up there and skrew up my whole vacation trying to "fix" my brakes. also how much do blled kits ussually cost, as i have never done this before. What if i were to take it to a "professional" and have them do it, or is it very hard.

 

[wikitypooshlag]

it's not really difficult if you take the time to do it right. i think most bleed kits are around 20 bucks. once you have one you can just buy regular old brake fluid from kragen or whatever.

 

[mastercycleman]

so what your trying to tell me is that everyone who goes up to mammoth with hydrolic brakes bleeds them, is it a nessesity to bleed them before i ride, how come you dont have to do this on cars.

 

[merrrrjig]

I have never had to rebleed my brakes there, I have seen ppl do it though, and have seen more problems w/ brakes up there.

 

[mastercycleman]

what kind of brakes do you have, mine are hayes nines and are a few monthes old and broken in, hopfully i wont have to mess with them

 

[Bicyclist]

Dude, chill on the brakes. No biggie. Worst case scenario you have to adjust your brakes. Big whoop.

If you're incompetent at mechanical stuff take your bike to Footloose, they know what's up and they're cheap.

 

[Fshflys]

If you're incompetent at mechanical stuff take your bike to Footloose, they know what's up and they're cheap.

Thumbs up on Footloose, They've always helped out, quick service, many times same day service. Used them for years.

 

[BillT]

Only the lower part of the mountain (from the main lodge down) will probably be open on 7/4, but they expect just about everything by the end of July though there will probably be some snow on Skid Marks and Bering Straits all biking season this year. They just started clearing the trails with snow blowers, etc and have cleared a good portion of Uptown and Downtown.

I've shipped my bike into Mammoth from Florida 4+ times and never had a brake issues that required bleeding...the only brake issues I had were related to having the wrong pad selection while going down the Kamikaze. Any problems with your bike can be fixed quickly and cheaply at Footloose.

When you go in July, be sure to check out Lower Rock Creek which is about 20 miles outside of Mammoth towards Bishop. I'll be out there the first week of September.

 

[mastercycleman]

also, i need new tires, i think i want to do the tubless thing, but dont know what tires, thinking about going with nevegals front and back, would this be a good choice for thier as well as in the rest of So Cal, sorry bicyclist about the brakes thing, i just dont like suprises and have no idea what it takes to bleed brakes.

 

[merrrrjig]

Kendas are good, spend your money on something better than going tubeless

 

[mastercycleman]

why is it really that expensive, i have the tubless rims, and what else would i need besides the tires,besides i need new tires anyways

 

[Fonzie18]

why is it really that expensive, i have the tubless rims, and what else would i need besides the tires,besides i need new tires anyways

If you have tubeless compatible rims then there is no reason not to run tubeless tires.

I would suggest Maxxis tubeless tires. If you have ridden and like Michelin, then go with them. Kendas are awesome, but the largest size they offer in UST is 2.1. Either way you can't go wrong.

 

[mastercycleman]

do you think i need any thing wider than a 2.1, im riding a light 5" cross country trail bike, I think i will go with the Kendas, but what hapens if you get a flat from thorns, would i just have to take the tire off and throw a tube in or what?

 

[EBasil]

You'll like tubeless up there. If you can fit 2.3's you'll be glad you did on the upper mountain. Pick something with tall lugs, since you'll be riding in sections with moon dust, pumice or both.

The brake bleeding thing affects a lot of bikes, and the shop at the Lodge re-bleed a lot of brakes every year. This affects hydros running DOT fluid, rather than mineral oil brakes like Maguras, btw. It's very easy to de-gas your brake fluid, and even easier when you're at 9,000'.

 

[mastercycleman]

weel i think im going to be riding the XC and the Super-D, is the Xc riding at the top of the mountain

 

[EBasil]

The XC stuff is all over. If you put Stan's in your tires, you're not likely to flat from anything unless you tear a sidewall. There aren't a lot of thorns up there...it's usually sharp rocks or rattlesnake fangs that cause the flats. Er, strike that second one.

 

[Zutroy]

weel i think im going to be riding the XC and the Super-D, is the Xc riding at the top of the mountain

You won't be able to get up very high on the mountain is they will still be skiing on the upper part. Everything from the main lodge down is suppose to be open. They are hoping to have some of the upper mountain open Mid July.

 

[Fonzie18]

weel i think im going to be riding the XC and the Super-D, is the Xc riding at the top of the mountain

You should be golden with the 2.1s for all around trail riding. Kendas run a bit wider than the conventional tire. I would agree with Basil, stans will keep you rolling...even if you puncture the tire with thorns, small sticks, blah.

And yeah, if you puncture a UST tire and it will not seal up with the STANS/SLIME you can just toss a tube in.

 

[mastercycleman]

not the rim strips, just the slime like stuff right, also are tubless tires real hard to set up

 

[Fonzie18]

not the rim strips, just the slime like stuff right, also are tubless tires real hard to set up

No rim strips. If you have UST compatible rims then all you ned is the STANS *sealant* and/or tubeless slime. Tubeless are easy to set up.

 

[mastercycleman]

could you explain briefly how you do it

 

[old ol]

Don't worry about brakes. Worry about the volcano that is supposed to go off any time in mid august....

 

[mastercycleman]

ya thats likely to happen
hahahahaha your sooo funny....

 

[dft]

IF your going JUly 4th weekend, you'll only be able to get on the lower lower part of the mountain, it's mainly XC/Super-D kinda stuff. Clipless would be the way to go, as it'll be nothing tech and much flatter than the upper mountain is.

humm? what mammoth are you talking about. i have ridden mammoth liek 5 times, almost all the technical stuff is on the lower moutnain. velocity, bullit, etc etc. the top is high speed loose cruizer trails (yes upper velocity has one good sections). but jumps/techno are mostly on the lower 1/2.

 

[Zutroy]

humm? what mammoth are you talking about. i have ridden mammoth liek 5 times, almost all the technical stuff is on the lower moutnain. velocity, bullit, etc etc. the top is high speed loose cruizer trails (yes upper velocity has one good sections). but jumps/techno are mostly on the lower 1/2.

By lower.....meaning main lodge down...there is no lift service period at the moment....

 

[mastercycleman]

wait, right ow they are not even running the lifts,
so what if i wanna bing my DH bike

 

[mammothpunks]

You can ride lower bullet for some short dh and shotgun for a less techinical dh run. I will be out there tomarrow. the gondola is open, but no trails from mid are even close to opening. If your planning a trip - I would say go mid to late august when everything will be open, and the new dh/fr trails they are claiming to make might be open

 

[mammothpunks]

if it wasnt clear in that last post, the gondola is only open for skiers in the morning and senic riders in the afternoon. no bikes. top section of kamakaze is snow free, but there is probebly too much vehicle traffic to open it

 

[renorider40]

Riding on the 4th would be a little weird. I was planning on possibly boarding at mammoth sometime around then.

 

[renorider40]

Is mammoth going to have the lifts running for bikes this season? I didn't think that they were going to be open at all for bikes.