New Whip? New toys for the dependable steed?
- Thread starter mykel
- Start date
Someplace I have a photo with half a moustache, after being bitten in the face by a chainsaw...
Back on a dedicated DH bike again. Don't love the color, but the price was right. May get it stripped/raw'd out at some point. Planning on swapping out the rear shock pretty quick, leaning towards a EXT Arma.
Thinking about getting one of these for commuting, talk me out of it.
This past weekend me and my son ran into a flock of gravel grinders at our local trail system. Fully decked, with skate style helmets and shit. They were sprinting on a rural road, shouting my son off their path. When we crossed them again, deep in the forest they were complaining about how steep the trail was.
On a 20 ft height difference. A 20 ft steep even my 7 YO son, on a 20-inch, fully rigid bike didn't hesitate to drop in.
There, here's your reason to avoid buying one. Don't encourage such d-bags into the trails.
On a 20 ft height difference. A 20 ft steep even my 7 YO son, on a 20-inch, fully rigid bike didn't hesitate to drop in.
There, here's your reason to avoid buying one. Don't encourage such d-bags into the trails.
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hmmmm interesting point it is a weird phenomenon this thing wouldn't see much actual trail trail. My ride to work is about 5 miles of road and 5 miles of actual gravel stuff so it really does probably make sense for me. Riding one on singletrack just sounds terrible unless it's basically flat and smooth.
Can confirm.
Back when JBP was already ancient and the locals and I were building our own rides there were no such things as mountain bikes. Assuming you lived out in the country or in a small town - If you were lucky you had a road bike - a 5 speed cassette for the at the low end or in sprog size and 10 speeds for the big people. You most likely had some type of modded Schwinn Stingray (CCM in my case) or similar in 20 or a beach cruiser in 24 for trail use. At one point I had broken my frame and had to ride the road bike for a spell. Trail riding, riding (attempting) to ride moto berms and jumping a drop bar road bike on chewed up dirt are things unto themselves.
Truth be told, in the open field swooping in and out of the woods, the road bike ruled, and I absolutely smoked the pack, however as soon as it turned the least gnar, then my lead was extinguished and soon I was sucking dust. It was fun (kinda?) for a few weeks, but I was so happy to get the welded and gusseted trail frame back.
If I had a smooth trail section / rail-trail, or fireroad / mixed commute, it would be a on the short list.
IME, the ONLY thing the gravel grinder bike gets you is less wind resistance due to aero riding position and skinny wheels-as long as you are actually riding gravel and not asphalt. On roads, the skinny tires let you go fast, but then, you should just have a road or cross bike anyway. And then if it gets even slightly technical with potholes, I'm freaking gone on my fat-bike. Fun tricks I employ are getting them to draft off of me, then riding through the potholes, going into the shoulder of the road during descending turns, riding through baby-head chunk, etc...I'm not sure what the point of the gravel bike is. Everyone I race in these events says I should get one...ok, when I stop getting top ten on a fucking fatbike.
lol gravel bikes
lol gravel bikes
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I saw a couple guys on gravel bikes while I was out on a mountain bike ride a couple weekends ago. They were descending the fire road I was climbing. Ran into them near the top, going down at about the same speed I was going up, full white knuckle on the brakes. Saw them again, still descending, when I was heading back up for a second lap. Still looked terrified. 
I like my touring bike with disc brakes / commuter precisely because there is zero crossover with the mountainbike. Whatever terrain is enjoyable on one is going to be horrible on the other.
That bike you posted looks stiff, fuck that noise! I have a Soma Wolverine, all steel with a lugged, steel fork. It has 45mm tires and a mtb drivetrain. It has all the braze ons for panniers and bike touring, which is cool if I ever get a chance to go for a bike tour. Its a sweet ass swiss army knife bike.
Not so sure. I agree on the aero thing but also have the feeling the gravel/cross bike puts me in a better climbing position, especially for out of the saddle climbing. I would also say a gravel bike sit in between road and cross with the cross bike being closer to a MTB. I use my gravel bike (32 mm GP 4 Season slick tires) mainly for rural paved roads (read: not smooth) and gravel roads but when the loop includes trails I pick the cross bike (knobby tires).
Also you guys forget that often the riders on the gravel/cross bikes are roadies that "cross over" (pun intended). If a competent bike handler rides these bikes you can squeeze so much out of them.
I would say go for it, but get a titanium one! ;-)
Poor photo, but whatevs... Been slowly upgrading the Mega 290 as parts fail and weak points become apparent. More recent updates include;
- DVO Jade, non metric to get somewhere around 170-175mm travel. Huge improvement over the RS Super Deluxe Air, but needs a revalve since the damping is far too light in compression and rebound. Rebound is effectively fully closed and the compression knobs hardly do a thing.
- Wheels were originally NP Neutrons. The Novatec freehub blew up. Warranty replacement blew up after a couple rides, and then Chainreaction warranty replaced with their Horizon wheels. The Horizon/Novatec freehub is definitely better. The freehub seal kind of is terrible and requires a lot of maintenance to minimize drag, but oh well. Rims on these wheels are some version of WTB i29's. The rear dented beyond repair, so I got a pair of DT Swiss E532's. Only laced up the rear, but so far very impressed with this rim.
- Replaced the original double down HR2's with some 2.6" Vee Flow Snaps. They were an interesting tire and an improvement to the HR2's for general purpose trail bike squidding....however they were pretty terrible for anything beyond that. The casing was too light and they were like bouncy balls when doing downhill type things. Replaced them with some Wild Enduros. I'm now in my happy place.
- Put a 180mm air spring rod in my Yari and pulled out the 2 volume spacers. I honestly feel this is a pretty ok fork. Stiff chassis and stays pretty high in its travel which keeps it predictable and keeps the bike handling consistent.
- Replaced the Deore calipers with my old Zees.
Feel no need to get a new frame as I really am gelling with this bike unlike anything else I've ridden. With the cold season coming I'm considering some additional tweaks. I'm through with one season Shimano brake levers and calipers and will probably go with Maguras. May also consider an angle reducing headset and maybe an eccentric BB adapter to go a little slacker and lower. Have mixed feelings about this as the current geometry and new BB drop works really well for trails, but I'm curious about perhaps compromising some and seeing if some adjustments would be a net positive or negative.
Otherwise, I'll probably get a revalve and get on with it for another year. Maybe try to coil and mod the fork as well....
Oh yea. I was an idiot and paid money for Tannus inserts too at one point. Good riddance those are gone.
I did it once a day for 3 days straight. So yea, it was definitely fun.
Very fun riding up in there parts. Hope to hit Mont Sainte Anne next time I get up there for some more of the high speed chunder riding.
The Quebecois know how to make a trail. Highly recommend going up there. The trail riding is 200% full enduro, but its definitely not sanitized much and includes lots of janky and technical elements. They have a great scene up there.
Mainly this:
along with an ultra soft 2.35 Magic Mary for the front and some Trickstuff pads. Wouldn’t have minded the tire being as wide as the 2.5 Minion WT it replaced, but 2.6 on a Schwalbe seemed a bit much.
along with an ultra soft 2.35 Magic Mary for the front and some Trickstuff pads. Wouldn’t have minded the tire being as wide as the 2.5 Minion WT it replaced, but 2.6 on a Schwalbe seemed a bit much.
Gravel bikes are road bikes for mountain bikers. They offer more tire clearance, relaxed geo (as compared to road bikes), all kinds of mounts, lower BB and longer wheelbase than CX bikes. They're actually pretty awesome if used for roads and gravel paths. Not so much on singletrack, although I know people that do silly things like that. If I were commuting by bike I'd take a gravel bike over a road bike all day long.
The combination of POV, lens and bar surface in this pic is so perfect that the Spank logo looks like it was belatedly photoshopped in.
I’m starting to wonder if there really is an Avalanche cart in that fork.
Thanks.
Now I will never again be able to look at that picture without seeing the weird ass floating in space Spank logo.
PS
- Busted - actually Woo stopped by, and its really a charger damper that he shoehorned in there. He is on some sort of mission, he camo'd it up as an Avy, said keep quiet about it, then stopped, looked at the wall blankly for about a minute, then just stood up and left muttering something about long live 26" and carbon fiber pants.
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How do you like this thing? Any negatives?
Also, do you ever trail ride it, or lift-access only?
Thanks!
Also, do you ever trail ride it, or lift-access only?
Thanks!
I am contemplating going to shorter cranks (165 from 175). I used to be able to get years from my pedals, but since switching to a longer/lower/slacker bike, I barely get a season out of them. Have any of youz guys made the switch to 165 cranks for mountain biking? Any downsides?
(I'm thinking of Shimano M8000. for the price and the weight, I can't find a better deal. And I think I prefer 4-bolt over cinch-style for the lack of creaking)
(I'm thinking of Shimano M8000. for the price and the weight, I can't find a better deal. And I think I prefer 4-bolt over cinch-style for the lack of creaking)
I switched a few years ago. I'm not sure if it makes a major difference in the number of rock strikes I get, but I feel better about it. It's also easier on my knees. No real downside. I guess technically there's a slight decrease in leverage, but I don't notice it.
No downsides for me either, I have them on my trail bike.
i went from 175 to 170 when i got my nomad. still a few more pedal smashes with the lower ride, but all in all it's been good.
Must be a trend.
I too went from 175 to 170 on the latest trailbike build.
DH bike is 165.
I too went from 175 to 170 on the latest trailbike build.
DH bike is 165.
Are any of you on 170s for the trail bike 6' or taller?
I'm considering the switch also.
I'm considering the switch also.