[toodles]

yeah alu sight or the new meta tr both look dialed. and i see the meta is available polished in frame only...

still on small(er) wheels. apart from the want for new trinkets (which is held firmly in check by my miserly ways), i've no reason to replace the trusty old jalopy (yet).

Of the local riding crew here, there's at least 10 people who got either carbon or alloy Norco Sights this year, plus a couple more on the new Optic. All love them. I've done a few runs on the Sight now (not sure whether I'd go M or L) and they've really done a stand out job on those bikes. I'm a bit iffy on the 29er rear wheel due to my corgi sized legs, else I'd probably shift my Patrol and get one. They're not light - even the carbon ones are heavy-ish but they ride so well, and they're literally $4500 less than the equivalent spec from any of the 'boutique' brands.

The new Commencal is definitely another killer IMO, although I'd wait for the reviews/test rides to confirm. The geo numbers and features make it bang on. I know they say mini enduro, but I see no reason I wouldn't race one for mid pack Masters glory.

It's great to see the affordable manufacturers bringing decent geo to the masses at an accessible and realistic price point. In the case of the Commencal, they've actually got better geo than many of the boutique manufacturers are still cranking out to the fanboys.

 

[Lelandjt]

Okay, this one's gonna be controversial. It could be bagged on as overpriced, unnecessary, and then there's the name... But hear me out.
I'm in a parking lot last week checking our bikes' air pressures before a ride and thought, "My digital shock pump is so quick and easy to use and small enough to easily fit in my travel toolbox. My tires only ever need like 1psi added but to do that I need to bring a pump in addition to my toolbox and after pumping I need to put my digi gauge on, let out some air, and repeat until it's good. Why can't there be a little pump with built in digi gauge that fits in my toolbox and makes setting tire pressures as quick and easy as suspension pressures?"

The next day a coworker at my shop found Fumpa Pumps and it was just what I'd imagined except more money and it does the pumping for you. I got the toolbox size one today and it's great. The pocket size one doesn't have a gauge but I imagine it could be more useful to bring on a ride instead of a CO2. Yes, they're kinda pricey if you're paying retail instead of wholesale but for any of you who cashed out your stocks pre-Covid check'em out, and for you poorer slobs, here's hoping prices come down in the future, or someone puts a digi gauge on a cheap little tire pump.

Order direct or through bike shops cuz they're distributed by QBP.
https://www.fumpapumps.com

 

[kidwoo]

seems legit

I think you posted in the wrong thread

 

[xy9ine]

It's great to see the affordable manufacturers bringing decent geo to the masses at an accessible and realistic price point.

for sure. tbh, i really see very little tangible benefit to the more expensive carbon iterations.

 

[Flo33]

Okay, this one's gonna be controversial. It could be bagged on as overpriced, unnecessary, and then there's the name... But hear me out.
I'm in a parking lot last week checking our bikes' air pressures before a ride and thought, "My digital shock pump is so quick and easy to use and small enough to easily fit in my travel toolbox. My tires only ever need like 1psi added but to do that I need to bring a pump in addition to my toolbox and after pumping I need to put my digi gauge on, let out some air, and repeat until it's good. Why can't there be a little pump with built in digi gauge that fits in my toolbox and makes setting tire pressures as quick and easy as suspension pressures?"

The next day a coworker at my shop found Fumpa Pumps and it was just what I'd imagined except more money and it does the pumping for you. I got the toolbox size one today and it's great. The pocket size one doesn't have a gauge but I imagine it could be more useful to bring on a ride instead of a CO2. Yes, they're kinda pricey if you're paying retail instead of wholesale but for any of you who cashed out your stocks pre-Covid check'em out, and for you poorer slobs, here's hoping prices come down in the future, or someone puts a digi gauge on a cheap little tire pump.

Order direct or through bike shops cuz they're distributed by QBP.
https://www.fumpapumps.com

Why not buy a decent pump with a pressure gauge that actually works at a proper pressure range? I know Special-Ed is not the comp we all love around here but their mtb floor pump does just that, big volume and a usable pressure gauge ranging from 0 to 5 bar (72 psi). It's showing the exact same numbers my digital gauge does.

 

[Lelandjt]

That would be an improvement over the crappy gauges of most floor pumps but it's still a big thing I have to bring in addition to my toolbox. I envisioned a little tire pump the size of a shock pump for just setting pressure. The only time I ever have to entirely fill a tire is when putting a new one on.

 

[Electric_City]

Diamondback and Raleigh are what's right. The LBS has a carbon hardtail by DB with a Fox 36 (or 34, I forgot) with good mid range components and a dropper for somewhere around $2200. Entry level bikes for $350. Not everything is about the elite levels that we like. A dual suspension for $2500 with mid level stuff. Do we really need XTR? They're about getting people out in the woods on good bikes, not about racing WC I guess?

 

[jonKranked]

Diamondback and Raleigh are what's right. The LBS has a carbon hardtail by DB with a Fox 36 (or 34, I forgot) with good mid range components and a dropper for somewhere around $2200. Entry level bikes for $350. Not everything is about the elite levels that we like. A dual suspension for $2500 with mid level stuff. Do we really need XTR? They're about getting people out in the woods on good bikes, not about racing WC I guess?

at this point i want less people in the woods, because all these self entitled fucks that now have a mountain bike have taken it upon themselves to sanitize any trail feature they can't ride.

 

[6thElement]

at this point i want less people in the woods, because all these self entitled fucks that now have a mountain bike have taken it upon themselves to sanitize any trail feature they can't ride.

The number of go arounds which have appeared in the last few months is pretty much every feature you can go around...

 

[jonKranked]

The number of go arounds which have appeared in the last few months is pretty much every feature you can go around...

i'm talking things that we wouldn't even consider features. like a 6" log. or a tiny rock or root. the most basic of trail elements of mountain biking.

 

[6thElement]

i'm talking things that we wouldn't even consider features. like a 6" log. or a tiny rock or root. the most basic of trail elements of mountain biking.

As was I.

I appreciated that someone had moved 60+lb's of rock to block a line yesterday.

 

[jonKranked]

As was I.

I appreciated that someone had moved 60+lb's of rock to block a line yesterday.

there's one particular trailset near me (the closest one to my house unfortunately) that i've pretty much written off because of how bad its gotten. its a bunch of crybabies over the slightest feature. one of the guys complains on FB doesn't even live in this time zone anymore, but he thinks he's entitled to guide the direction of the trail because he built there 15 years ago. dude was crying that someone built a trail through a hundred year old rockwall instead of taking his ancient XC line with shitty decreasing radius turns (this dude wears short sleeve lycra xc jerseys if that tells you anything about him). that turned into a cry fest because people were altering a "historic" rock wall. seriously? you can't swing a dead cat in the woods without hitting a rock wall in most parts of PA. and the real kicker is that the only thing "historic" about the land the trails is on is that its down the hill from one of the oldest superfund sites in the country. one of the trails literally traverses adjacent within feet of the fence for the superfund site.

 

[jstuhlman]

As was I.

I appreciated that someone had moved 60+lb's of rock to block a line yesterday.

haha - i did that the other day after people kept moving the branches i put across the cheater line around a small uphill rock ledge.

 

[Sandwich]

Diamondback and Raleigh are what's right. The LBS has a carbon hardtail by DB with a Fox 36 (or 34, I forgot) with good mid range components and a dropper for somewhere around $2200. Entry level bikes for $350. Not everything is about the elite levels that we like. A dual suspension for $2500 with mid level stuff. Do we really need XTR? They're about getting people out in the woods on good bikes, not about racing WC I guess?

agreed. I've had two diamondback bikes and both were cheap and really high quality bikes. I upgraded the shit out of one but the other was entirely stock aside from big wheels and I was fairly happy with it.

 

[Leafy]

Diamondback and Raleigh are what's right. The LBS has a carbon hardtail by DB with a Fox 36 (or 34, I forgot) with good mid range components and a dropper for somewhere around $2200. Entry level bikes for $350. Not everything is about the elite levels that we like. A dual suspension for $2500 with mid level stuff. Do we really need XTR? They're about getting people out in the woods on good bikes, not about racing WC I guess?

Diamond back was a good deal on experticity like 3 years ago. But they're not a great deal now, the reach are all hella short, seat tubes long, 11 speed drivetrains at the price point that you get nx or SLX12 on now and that's discount DB vs normal price discount brands like vitus, cube, and nukeproof. At this point they're not much better than bikes direct for actual value.

 

[HAB]

It goes both ways. We've got one trail in particular around here that's got a bunch of good sections, which are interrupted by shitty 270 degree turns around the wrong sides of trees. I know the builders, and frankly the issue is that they're just not riding fast enough for those turns to be an impediment to them, but a better rider can carry way more speed through the chunky sections before said corners. Of course, someone like that can absolutely get around those corners okay, but being able to charge through something only to have to shut things down to derp around a tree for no good reason is dumb. On a couple of them, if you're actually moving out you can just double it up and cut the corner without actually touching tires down off the original line at all. The builders still got butthurt and piled up a bunch of brush to enforce their shitty routing.

 

[mykel]

It goes both ways. We've got one trail in particular around here that's got a bunch of good sections, which are interrupted by shitty 270 degree turns around the wrong sides of trees. I know the builders, and frankly the issue is that they're just not riding fast enough for those turns to be an impediment to them, but a better rider can carry way more speed through the chunky sections before said corners. Of course, someone like that can absolutely get around those corners okay, but being able to charge through something only to have to shut things down to derp around a tree for no good reason is dumb. On a couple of them, if you're actually moving out you can just double it up and cut the corner without actually touching tires down off the original line at all. The builders still got butthurt and piled up a bunch of brush to enforce their shitty routing.

Folding army shovel in the pack for the morning ride and a bit of elbow and you can pack a nice takeoff into that brush and continue to GAP IT

 

[HAB]

Folding army shovel in the pack for the morning ride and a bit of elbow and you can pack a nice takeoff into that brush and continue to GAP IT

I've solved the problem by just not riding that trail anymore. Tons of better ones in the area, I don't miss it.

 

[StiHacka]

at this point i want less people in the woods, because all these self entitled fucks that now have a mountain bike have taken it upon themselves to sanitize any trail feature they can't ride.

The number of go arounds which have appeared in the last few months is pretty much every feature you can go around...

Same here. So many rocks dislodged and kicked to the side of a trail. And the number of people on competent FS bikes with no handling skills and riding without helmets steadily increasing.

 

[jonKranked]

So many rocks dislodged and kicked to the side of a trail

a bag of quikrete before a rain storm will fix this.

 

[kidwoo]

As was I.

I appreciated that someone had moved 60+lb's of rock to block a line yesterday.

Trail Karens.

Everywhere in 2020. I tore into one and its husband pretty hard a few weeks ago. The mate was human. The trail karen kept indignantly throwing debris into a line I'd bedded in.............. while making eye contact with me, scrunched nose and pursed lips. Because she showed me!!!!

 

[fwp]

Sounds like a trail center near me, every time there is rain in the forecast they close the trail, in the winter for months at a time. No riding in the rain due to erosion, come on its supposed to be mountain biking?
Its in eastern pa so there is no elevation gain or loss but the trails were well built and had good flow until the trail builders decided to make 30% of the corners bermed and every rocky stream crossing has been smoothed and built into a rock sidewalk.
The bermed corners only make sense in half the places they put them, and alot of them just ruined fun flat corners.

 

[maxyedor]

at this point i want less people in the woods, because all these self entitled fucks that now have a mountain bike have taken it upon themselves to sanitize any trail feature they can't ride.

This is why I can't stand the constant "grow the sport" mantra. Why, why do we want to grow the sport? I'm not opposed to cycling growing, but there's a difference between the sport we do, and a bunch of fat fucks on ebikes complaining that the hills are too steep and noobs who think a blue trail is too scary so they demand it gets paved.

 

[Electric_City]

Sounds like a trail center near me, every time there is rain in the forecast they close the trail, in the winter for months at a time. No riding in the rain due to erosion, come on its supposed to be mountain biking?
Its in eastern pa so there is no elevation gain or loss but the trails were well built and had good flow until the trail builders decided to make 30% of the corners bermed and every rocky stream crossing has been smoothed and built into a rock sidewalk.
The bermed corners only make sense in half the places they put them, and alot of them just ruined fun flat corners.

Nox?

 

[kidwoo]

This is why I can't stand the constant "grow the sport" mantra. Why, why do we want to grow the sport?

the only people who ever said that have bike industry jobs

 

[jonKranked]

Nox?

nox as in nockamixon?

 

[jonKranked]

This is why I can't stand the constant "grow the sport" mantra. Why, why do we want to grow the sport? I'm not opposed to cycling growing, but there's a difference between the sport we do, and a bunch of fat fucks on ebikes complaining that the hills are too steep and noobs who think a blue trail is too scary so they demand it gets paved.

the problem isn't "growing the sport" the problem is when the Industry Lizards™ say "grow the sport" they mean "grow their sales figures" without growing trail mileage or access to account for the increase in users. as a result there's more riders cramming into the same amount of trail mileage.

 

[englertracing]

Same here. So many rocks dislodged and kicked to the side of a trail. And the number of people on competent FS bikes with no handling skills and riding without helmets steadily increasing.

Riding with no helmets is rare around here.
I saw a high school kid riding a huffy or something on a horse trail no helmet the other day, he was putting a dropped chain back on he hopped on and was spinning like crazy till it dropped again. I went by and did my loop, came back across him on the way out, he was pedaling down some pretty tame downhill sections, tire had about 6psi maybe 8, he was probably doing 25 i passed him. At the exit I waited when he showed up i told him man if your going to go that fast you really should wear a helmet, head injuries are not a joke.

 

[Electric_City]

Diamond back was a good deal on experticity like 3 years ago. But they're not a great deal now, the reach are all hella short, seat tubes long, 11 speed drivetrains at the price point that you get nx or SLX12 on now and that's discount DB vs normal price discount brands like vitus, cube, and nukeproof. At this point they're not much better than bikes direct for actual value.

The reach is something that you might not like being an experienced rider, but for most riders who go out on occasion, I think it makes for a decent position. The average Joe doesn't give 2 shits about headtube angle and chainstay length. That's where these bikes are great- inexpensive, but gets people on bikes. I ride some of the same trails as I did 25 years ago. My bikes have changed, but my level of fun hasn't. I loved it back then and I'll love it on whatever bike I have in the future.

It's great that other companies are doing the same. The better part of DB/Raleigh is that the customer can view the bikes online and order them and the LBS still gets paid to assemble them and make a percentage of the sale. Instead of stocking 200 bikes and hope they sell, have the right size, color, model, they show up at the shop without any overhead. It's like they still care about the LBS or something?

 

[canadmos]

Tons of obvious n00bs out there around these parts without helmets as well. The best are the parents out with their kids; the kids have helmets but the parents don't. Think your kid will be able to figure out what to do when you bonk your head off a tree or rock?

The best was a week or two ago, while taking a break at the top of a hill before going down the "DH" trail, out comes this guy up the DH trail (have never ever seen anyone go up it...) on an old clapped out Cannondale and just a bandana.

 

[jonKranked]

The best was a week or two ago, while taking a break at the top of a hill before going down the "DH" trail, out comes this guy up the DH trail (have never ever seen anyone go up it...) on an old clapped out Cannondale and just a bandana.

this reminds me of an old dude i used to see riding in college. old bike. bars end kicked up. radio on the handlebars. knee pads, elbow pads, no helmet.

 

[6thElement]

on an old clapped out Cannondale and just a bandana.

COVID mask at the ready on top of his head!

It's useful that I'm a bald cnut who has worn bandanas under my helmet for years. I now need 3 every ride, one for my head and wife and I both use one as masks when having to go past oxygen thieves.

 

[Westy]

This has turned into a bitching thread too?

Hoping snow levels and weather will align and allow some more remote backcountry rides next week. No flow trails and pussies who think trails should be designed for them, just mountains and chunk.

 

[HAB]

Hoping snow levels and weather will align and allow some more remote backcountry rides next week. No flow trails and pussies who think trails should be designed for them, just mountains and chunk.

Whatchu got in mind?

 

[Westy]

Whatchu got in mind?

Will probably start off with Kachess or some of the 410 stuff.

 

[Fool]

Grow the sport! So wrong, it's right. Backwards-cap tank-top finance bro in a Range Rover and an eGiant turned up at a local 5mi loop to tackle the 10s of feet of elevation change. Somewhere in his ride hilarity ensued as he showed back up later looking like he slid head first into home plate and came up short by a few feet.

 

[Jm_]

Will probably start off with Kachess.

Can confirm, is decent.

 

[6thElement]

Grow the sport! So wrong, it's right. Backwards-cap tank-top finance bro in a Range Rover and an eGiant turned up at a local 5mi loop to tackle the 10s of feet of elevation change. Somewhere in his ride hilarity ensued as he showed back up later looking like he slid head first into home plate and came up short by a few feet.

At cunny? On an e-moped?

 

[jonKranked]

Somewhere in his ride hilarity ensued

 

[Westy]

Can confirm, is decent.

I've ridden there a few times. May try to find the wrecked plane up there next ride.