[canadmos]

Never understood the popularity of the Ardent, I tried it once and was "meh", but shops stock them like crazy and seem to sell them...

They used to make them in DH casing which is what I used. They were okay if it was dry.

I think I mainly used them because Jenson or Pricepoint had them on sale for around $17 per tire in 3C. So I purchased a whole box of them... and that was back when the Canadian dollar was somehow worth more than the US. Those were the days...

 

[buckoW]

Yeah, but still relatively new, 2019 model, from a certain monkey residing in the Swiss Alps.

It was a moment of weakness.... I only have one left!
I did see the 831 has those lowers so maybe it’s still available?
https://www.ridefox.com/family.php?m=bike&family=36831

 

[MrBaker87]

Just built this up. Temporary wheels while I finish lacing some Hadleys up. Took it out on a shakedown line at the local steep, rocky PNW loamshelf zone. Feels good. 2020 Commencal Furious.

 

[rideit]

One of the new bikes for ‘21.

https://www.bikes.com/en/bikes/altitude/2021-0

generally favorable impressions

First Ride: 2021 Rocky Mountain Altitude - More Travel, More Options - Pinkbike

The Altitude gets updated for 2021, with more travel and more wheel size options.

www.pinkbike.com

 

[jonKranked]

True true. I guess you're right. That Transition was amazeballs in every way, except the stupid integrated headset. Bromont would make it wiggle loose every weekend.

That same which brought so many memories and skills also funded my first year of college, after selling it. Which has now allowed me to continue on with more and more bike purchases.

If you have a headset coming loose with a dual crown fork you're doing something wrong. Sorry eh

 

[Jm_]

If you have a headset coming loose with a dual crown fork you're doing something wrong.

Or it's a Chris King.

 

[englertracing]

No pics,
so it didn't happen

I had a set of 31.8mm renthal carbon bars on my dh bike.
always though they were really stiff when pedaling it around
or at the end of the run where it feels like the wrist i broke last year is coming apart.

I bought a set of oneup bars, with an oval profile, compliant vertically and stiff horizontally.
Dont have my 35mm DM stem, or one that will work anyways.....
so I slapped the one ups in place of my stock pivot carbon bars on teh 5.5 trail bike.
They dont do anthing out of the ordinary. People ask "isnt the flex scary" um its not detectable.... my pivot bars are 760mm and the oneups at 800... you notice the leverage of the 800 when cranking out of the saddle, not any lack of stiffness.

my friend bought a 31.8 set of spank spike vibrocores and pestered me into trying them.
to me spank is like neon green garbage, my friend brought me a rear hub where he had gotten his aluminum thruaxle siezed in the hubs axle. the hubs axle was steel, and rusty AF.... I had to bore the aluminum axle out of the steel one for him..... wasn't impressed.
I was prepared to be underwhelmed
parking lot test says they aren't that stiff, but really the stems stack is hella low and I suspect he stem is the flexible bit.
ride says its of average vertical stiffness, but maybe not as horizontally stiff as i would like. I did one lap of the Wednesday night loop and had to hurry to catch the big group I ride with for their lap. On lap two i forgot about them completely. Then at the end I realized my hands felt great, normally they are battered at the end of a lap.

I did some more musical handlebars, swapping back to the pivot bars, then back to the vibrocores....
the vibrocore is my favorite it works. makes me describe the pivot bar as abusive, and the rental as torturous

 

[Nick]

Hope these don't try to kill me.

 

[Salami]

Hope these don't try to kill me.

They won't try and kill you but they definitely will make you bleed. The weird part for me is it is always the back of the leg, almost always when I am stopped or walking with the bike. I wear shorts a lot at work and there is always a coworker asking me WTF happened. Like Freddy Krueger without all the death.

 

[Nick]

They won't try and kill you but they definitely will make you bleed. The weird part for me is it is always the back of the leg, almost always when I am stopped or walking with the bike. I wear shorts a lot at work and there is always a coworker asking me WTF happened. Like Freddy Krueger without all the death.

I've been on a set of these for a while now but cracked one a few weeks ago. My legs constantly look like I'd been bit by a small dog.

 

[iRider]

I did some more musical handlebars, swapping back to the pivot bars, then back to the vibrocores....
the vibrocore is my favorite it works. makes me describe the pivot bar as abusive, and the rental as torturous

A bike mag stuck vibration sensors on a regular Spank bar and the Vibrocore. No measurable differences. So maybe your other bars are just not as forgiving as the Spank aluminum bars?

 

[englertracing]

A bike mag stuck vibration sensors on a regular Spank bar and the Vibrocore. No measurable differences. So maybe your other bars are just not as forgiving as the Spank aluminum bars?

yes maybe i just need aluminum bars?
but interestingly..........

the one up carbon bar is reported to flex more vertically and less horizontally...
do you have a link to the mentioned article?

 

[canadmos]

If you have a headset coming loose with a dual crown fork you're doing something wrong. Sorry eh

The top headset bearing sat right on the aluminum frame - no bearing cup. First run down a hill and it came loose and fucked itself. It kept creaking unless it was kept packed with grease or locktite.

Pretty sure Transition changed that the year after.

 

[Inclag]

No pics,
so it didn't happen

I had a set of 31.8mm renthal carbon bars on my dh bike.
always though they were really stiff when pedaling it around
or at the end of the run where it feels like the wrist i broke last year is coming apart.

I bought a set of oneup bars, with an oval profile, compliant vertically and stiff horizontally.
Dont have my 35mm DM stem, or one that will work anyways.....
so I slapped the one ups in place of my stock pivot carbon bars on teh 5.5 trail bike.
They dont do anthing out of the ordinary. People ask "isnt the flex scary" um its not detectable.... my pivot bars are 760mm and the oneups at 800... you notice the leverage of the 800 when cranking out of the saddle, not any lack of stiffness.

my friend bought a 31.8 set of spank spike vibrocores and pestered me into trying them.
to me spank is like neon green garbage, my friend brought me a rear hub where he had gotten his aluminum thruaxle siezed in the hubs axle. the hubs axle was steel, and rusty AF.... I had to bore the aluminum axle out of the steel one for him..... wasn't impressed.
I was prepared to be underwhelmed
parking lot test says they aren't that stiff, but really the stems stack is hella low and I suspect he stem is the flexible bit.
ride says its of average vertical stiffness, but maybe not as horizontally stiff as i would like. I did one lap of the Wednesday night loop and had to hurry to catch the big group I ride with for their lap. On lap two i forgot about them completely. Then at the end I realized my hands felt great, normally they are battered at the end of a lap.

I did some more musical handlebars, swapping back to the pivot bars, then back to the vibrocores....
the vibrocore is my favorite it works. makes me describe the pivot bar as abusive, and the rental as torturous

Cool to hear. I'll tell you though, at least for me the biggest difference I made to reducing arm and hand fatigue was just lots of hydration.

 

[djjohnr]

do you have a link to the mentioned article?

Nie mehr Arm-Pump mit dem Spank Vibrocore? - Test 2016: Spank Vibrocore

An MTB-Lenkern wirken hochfrequente Erschütterungen, die Schmerzen und Ermüdung verursachen können. Spank will das Problem mit der Vibrocore-Technologie in Lenkern gelöst haben. Ist das gelungen?

www.bike-magazin.de

Not sure on their test. Spank marketing states vibrocore doesn't damp vibration, but shifts it to a higher frequency instead.

 

[jonKranked]

No pics,
so it didn't happen

I had a set of 31.8mm renthal carbon bars on my dh bike.
always though they were really stiff when pedaling it around
or at the end of the run where it feels like the wrist i broke last year is coming apart.

I bought a set of oneup bars, with an oval profile, compliant vertically and stiff horizontally.
Dont have my 35mm DM stem, or one that will work anyways.....
so I slapped the one ups in place of my stock pivot carbon bars on teh 5.5 trail bike.
They dont do anthing out of the ordinary. People ask "isnt the flex scary" um its not detectable.... my pivot bars are 760mm and the oneups at 800... you notice the leverage of the 800 when cranking out of the saddle, not any lack of stiffness.

my friend bought a 31.8 set of spank spike vibrocores and pestered me into trying them.
to me spank is like neon green garbage, my friend brought me a rear hub where he had gotten his aluminum thruaxle siezed in the hubs axle. the hubs axle was steel, and rusty AF.... I had to bore the aluminum axle out of the steel one for him..... wasn't impressed.
I was prepared to be underwhelmed
parking lot test says they aren't that stiff, but really the stems stack is hella low and I suspect he stem is the flexible bit.
ride says its of average vertical stiffness, but maybe not as horizontally stiff as i would like. I did one lap of the Wednesday night loop and had to hurry to catch the big group I ride with for their lap. On lap two i forgot about them completely. Then at the end I realized my hands felt great, normally they are battered at the end of a lap.

I did some more musical handlebars, swapping back to the pivot bars, then back to the vibrocores....
the vibrocore is my favorite it works. makes me describe the pivot bar as abusive, and the rental as torturous

i've been on oozy vibrocore bars for a while and am a fan.

 

[iRider]

do you have a link to the mentioned article?

@djjohnr posted it already.
But wouldn't you be able to detect the higher frequencies of vibration with the test setup as well?

 

[djjohnr]

@djjohnr posted it already.
But wouldn't you be able to detect the higher frequencies of vibration with the test setup as well?

*Not an expert here*. They were measuring acceleration force. Changing the frequency alone shouldn't change total force.

 

[englertracing]

Nie mehr Arm-Pump mit dem Spank Vibrocore? - Test 2016: Spank Vibrocore

An MTB-Lenkern wirken hochfrequente Erschütterungen, die Schmerzen und Ermüdung verursachen können. Spank will das Problem mit der Vibrocore-Technologie in Lenkern gelöst haben. Ist das gelungen?

www.bike-magazin.de

Not sure on their test. Spank marketing states vibrocore doesn't damp vibration, but shifts it to a higher frequency instead.

Crap,
I'm massively disappointed in the way they have plotted the data.
Would prefer to see fequency x amplitude.
I'm not a vibration expert, but the plants I work at have 2x 4000hp air compressors 2x 4000hp nitrogen compressors and 2x 8000hp nitrogen compressors. All monitored by proximity probes at each bearing. This vibation data is trended historically. We do periodic readings with a triaxial accelerometer, and send in the prox data to a 3rd party analytical company. They process the data and its graphed on what they call a fast fourier transform, which is frequency vs amplitude.

Now,
I'm not an expert... so i don't know that making this type of graph is possible with a randomized input(mtb) vs a steady one (like a running compressor) I think its possible.

To prove or disprove that the vibracore has an effect with this type of graph, one would look for reduced amplitude at 5hz-20hz, on a couple of FFT graphs that would be quite easy to spot. And according to spank an increase would be seen from 20hz up as they claim they only shifted the resonance up.

Some Interesting reading on spanks findings playing with a vibration table and some accelerometers

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=[URL]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2363/5997/files/Spank_VibrocoreTM_Frequency_Analysis_Test_Report.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj_76uwid3rAhWUu54KHT60As4QFjANegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3S3BI3DVK7cZy7vXrJUwBR

[/URL]

 

[englertracing]

Cool to hear. I'll tell you though, at least for me the biggest difference I made to reducing arm and hand fatigue was just lots of hydration.

I dont really get arm pump.
And my hands don't feel too bad on the dirtbike...
Hmm aluminum bars.... hmmmm
they just get really sore after 20mins of chunk on the trail bike which isn't the plushest bike around its like setup foar going fast (its particularly awful if for some reason I have to ride it slow). Its tolerable it doesn't slow me down but I notice it. On the dh bike I notice it at the end of a run, and whince at braking bumps.... it doesn't go away regardless of tire pressure or suspension settings.....

The wrist I fractured gets irritated by odd things like an air grinder puts my had to sleep immediately.
The supermoto bike buzzes like a bitch from 6000-8000rpm, also puts my hands to sleep, which is different from what I'm experiencing on the mtbs...
Maybe I should squirt some MOAR FOAMZ in them BARZ for the DAMPING

 

[jackalope]

No pics,
so it didn't happen

I had a set of 31.8mm renthal carbon bars on my dh bike.
always though they were really stiff when pedaling it around
or at the end of the run where it feels like the wrist i broke last year is coming apart.

I bought a set of oneup bars, with an oval profile, compliant vertically and stiff horizontally.
Dont have my 35mm DM stem, or one that will work anyways.....
so I slapped the one ups in place of my stock pivot carbon bars on teh 5.5 trail bike.
They dont do anthing out of the ordinary. People ask "isnt the flex scary" um its not detectable.... my pivot bars are 760mm and the oneups at 800... you notice the leverage of the 800 when cranking out of the saddle, not any lack of stiffness.

my friend bought a 31.8 set of spank spike vibrocores and pestered me into trying them.
to me spank is like neon green garbage, my friend brought me a rear hub where he had gotten his aluminum thruaxle siezed in the hubs axle. the hubs axle was steel, and rusty AF.... I had to bore the aluminum axle out of the steel one for him..... wasn't impressed.
I was prepared to be underwhelmed
parking lot test says they aren't that stiff, but really the stems stack is hella low and I suspect he stem is the flexible bit.
ride says its of average vertical stiffness, but maybe not as horizontally stiff as i would like. I did one lap of the Wednesday night loop and had to hurry to catch the big group I ride with for their lap. On lap two i forgot about them completely. Then at the end I realized my hands felt great, normally they are battered at the end of a lap.

I did some more musical handlebars, swapping back to the pivot bars, then back to the vibrocores....
the vibrocore is my favorite it works. makes me describe the pivot bar as abusive, and the rental as torturous

Even tho it didn't happen, I concur with your assessment of the Vibrocores. Definitely helped out my paws compared to other bars I've used (crab0n and aluminum). Fork setup is also important of course, and I get a reminder of that when I ride my hardtail, which has a miserable Sektor on it, filled with D30 gel apparently. It feels nice and compliant in the parking lot, but on the trail it just obliterates my hands no matter how I adjust the knobs (that don't do much of anything anyway). Probably gonna get a Vibrocore bar for that bike and throw on a Girvin fork with an 11/6 crammed in there. All the damps!

 

[toodles]

Probably gonna get a Vibrocore bar for that bike and throw on a Girvin fork with an 11/6 crammed in there. All the damps!

I snorted. Fuck I'd love to see that.

 

[Westy]

Crap,
I'm massively disappointed in the way they have plotted the data.
Would prefer to see fequency x amplitude.
I'm not a vibration expert, but the plants I work at have 2x 4000hp air compressors 2x 4000hp nitrogen compressors and 2x 8000hp nitrogen compressors. All monitored by proximity probes at each bearing. This vibation data is trended historically. We do periodic readings with a triaxial accelerometer, and send in the prox data to a 3rd party analytical company. They process the data and its graphed on what they call a fast fourier transform, which is frequency vs amplitude.

Now,
I'm not an expert... so i don't know that making this type of graph is possible with a randomized input(mtb) vs a steady one (like a running compressor) I think its possible.

To prove or disprove that the vibracore has an effect with this type of graph, one would look for reduced amplitude at 5hz-20hz, on a couple of FFT graphs that would be quite easy to spot. And according to spank an increase would be seen from 20hz up as they claim they only shifted the resonance up.

Some Interesting reading on spanks findings playing with a vibration table and some accelerometers

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=[URL]https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2363/5997/files/Spank_VibrocoreTM_Frequency_Analysis_Test_Report.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj_76uwid3rAhWUu54KHT60As4QFjANegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw3S3BI3DVK7cZy7vXrJUwBR

[/URL]

I used to work for a company that made vibration test equipment, including human factor setups. First of all Amplitude vs Frequency is possible and is the standard fro such a test. Actually we test a lot of stuff using random inputs only as a pure sine wave could find the resonant frequency of something and break it. With random noise that resonance is there, but a lot less energy is going into that frequency over time and is less likely to break anything.

While I am not saying that the Spank bars don't help with fatigue, I would say that test is garbage, it doesn't represent how the "system" performs when someone is holding the bar. A person holding the bar will have a significant impact on how it performs, both with a damping response and a frequency response.

If the Spank bars help, it probably has more to do with rigidity and it's resonance frequency when someone is holding it than it does with dampening. Your hand is going to have more of an effect on dampening than most anything they can do with the bar. Meat sacks do that. Of course that means different bars will work better for different people, Someone with massive fat hands may have a better experience on one bar while a different bar would work better for someone with small scrawny hands.

 

[Rhubarb]

I fitted a set of Burgtech grips at the start of Summer and found they made a big difference to hand comfort. Partly the diameter (bigger than Ruffinas but smaller than Rogues) which I find is on the money, but I think a lot to do with the “ribs” that run the full length of the grip. I haven’t messed with bars but the grips were an unexpected fix for me.

 

[Rhubarb]

Hope these don't try to kill me.
View attachment 149563

Tried a set of pedals with that inboard bearing setup and couldn’t get my foot positioned correctly. I don’t have any rub marks on my cranks so it’s not like I need my foot to be smacked up against the crank, but the bearing housing seemed to put my foot just too far out.

 

[Flo33]

Hope these don't try to kill me.
View attachment 149563

Curious what your experience regarding bearing life will be. Riding buddy I ride the most with is on his third set of bearings this year...

I fitted a set of Burgtech grips at the start of Summer and found they made a big difference to hand comfort. Partly the diameter (bigger than Ruffinas but smaller than Rogues) which I find is on the money, but I think a lot to do with the “ribs” that run the full length of the grip. I haven’t messed with bars but the grips were an unexpected fix for me.

Same here, but with ESI silicone chunky grips. Made a huge difference for me, no sign of arm pump anymore.

 

[Nick]

Curious what your experience regarding bearing life will be. Riding buddy I ride the most with is on his third set of bearings this year...

Weird. The pair I'm replacing have two full seasons on them and are without a problem (other than cracked) , and another set of the hardtail are also without any bearing issues.

Then again, everyone rides more than me, so....

 

[6thElement]

Curious what your experience regarding bearing life will be. Riding buddy I ride the most with is on his third set of bearings this year...

I wonder if the plastics have different bearings to the metals as I've got about 1000 miles on my set of plastic on the trail bike without issue. The pair on my fat bike have much fewer miles but no issues.

 

[SuboptimusPrime]

I'm a big One Up pedal fan. Have a set of alloys with 1k+ miles that is in fine shape despite being on my mud and winter riding hardtail that endures many harsh landings from a 200 pound idiot. The rest of my bikes have plastics, which I actually find grippier (I hypothesize due to the threaded rather than smooth pins). They have also all been awesome. For the money, I can't see why one would not run One Up plastics.

 

[scrublover]

Bits for the garvel bike. Stuff to minimize stuffing the stuff into my shorts. Tubeless/tire repair kit on one side, bunch of zip-ties shoved into the bar and covered by a Pro bar cap on the other. NAHBS last year, Shimano was giving them out like water.

DHR II moved from the back of the big(ger) bike to replace the beat down Bontrager SE3. Big(ger) bike now with the Michelin wondertire. Sure, it'll be slow/draggy on the back, but I already own it, so...Had bought it for front use, then mulletized all the bikes. Rear tire it is!

Discovered these old Dangerboy bar/grip caps in the bottom of a box.

 

[buckoW]

Do you mind sharing a picture?

Those Hope brakes! I remember had to turn that dial on those brakes while descending with my thumb all the time to keep the bite point mildly useable. I bought it from Chris Herting (3D) when he used to work at Yeti And Yeti was in Durango still. It had one 170mm and one 175mm crank and the paint job from a DH8. Parts bin special when Yeti was closing. I never managed to keep oil in that shock for more than a day.

I rode that Yeti on a lot of these trails when I studied finance at Ft Leisure, haha.

 

[HardtailHack]

One of the new bikes for ‘21.

https://www.bikes.com/en/bikes/altitude/2021-0

generally favorable impressions

First Ride: 2021 Rocky Mountain Altitude - More Travel, More Options - Pinkbike

The Altitude gets updated for 2021, with more travel and more wheel size options.

www.pinkbike.com

Huh, just realised that there are two Mikes at PB, I thought Levy must have the Rona as he sounded a bit less excited than usual, and his tattoos had fallen off.
Guess I do just skip to the riding bits most of the time....

 

[Jm_]

View attachment 149949

Those Hope brakes! I remember had to turn that dial on those brakes while descending with my thumb all the time to keep the bite point mildly useable. I bought it from Chris Herting (3D) when he used to work at Yeti And Yeti was in Durango still. It had one 170mm and one 175mm crank and the paint job from a DH8. Parts bin special when Yeti was closing. I never managed to keep oil in that shock for more than a day.
View attachment 149950


I rode that Yeti on a lot of these trails when I studied finance at Ft Leisure, haha.

Damn it's a mind-F to see how far POV cameras have come and watch guys trying to hold their bars straight with 650mm risers.

 

[iRider]

View attachment 149949

Those Hope brakes! I remember had to turn that dial on those brakes while descending with my thumb all the time to keep the bite point mildly useable. I bought it from Chris Herting (3D) when he used to work at Yeti And Yeti was in Durango still. It had one 170mm and one 175mm crank and the paint job from a DH8. Parts bin special when Yeti was closing. I never managed to keep oil in that shock for more than a day.
View attachment 149950


I rode that Yeti on a lot of these trails when I studied finance at Ft Leisure, haha.

Nice! I do know of the turquoise/yellow and yellow/black base color schemes but never have seen a red/black one before. Thought only the Yeti-made Schwinns were red. Interesting that it has the piggyback version of the shock too.

 

[Bikael Molton]

Here's the new 50lb XC / Freeride bike. Frame, shock and fork are new, the rest is parts moved over my YT.

I'm digging the 2009 polished vibe... maybe I need a basketball jersey to go with.

It's a size L short-shocked with a 60mm stroke for about 150mm of rear, and the 38 is 160.
38 seems plush and I'm nowhere near bottoming it. More twiddling required.
Ohlins shock seems amazing, though it's under sprung right now, and it's been years since I've ridden a rear coil, so it may just be the drastic difference in feel.
Riding it mullet at the moment while I decide on a wheel set. It's pretty ripping like that, but I believe the BB may be lower than I'd like for rock gardens.
Everything about it is so much different than my 2018 Capra 27 that I can't really say much more until I get more time on it and the rear spring sorted.
The STA is clearly way better for seated climbing up steep stuff, and it also makes the Reach seem shorter and comfortable while seated. I nearly always pedal up these days, so those things matter to me, and don't affect the descents when the seat is out of the way. The Capra's STA was barely passable and sucked if the climb wasn't smooth.

Most of my local trails are shut due to fire so really sussing it out will take a few more weeks as I fiddle with the suspension.

If anyone else is on the 38 and has settings to share, please do.

(It's not really 50 lbs.)

 

[Nick]

That looks wicked fun.

 

[SylentK]

Super nice!

 

[rideit]

Got to ride around the new Altitude at my shop today. I’m gonna like mine when it comes. But that might not be until March...

 

[canadmos]

New rim for the rear wheel is finished. Dropped it off on Sunday and in typical fashion, the wheel builder said it'll be done on Thursday probably. He messaged Monday and said it was done. Free beer for him!

Didn't bother with an insert this time.

 

[Westy]

Put an angle set into my trail bike to get the HA somewhere around 64 degrees Felt pretty rad but creaked like a mother fucker. Busted out the loctite bearing retainer 'cause I ain't got time for that shit.