Around here the bike started to feel like a normal bike, until i got it out to Moab. Last time i was out there I was on my Kona Coilar with 6" of travel. I did the Hazard, Kokopelli, UPS, LPS, Porcupine ride and felt pretty beat up from it. Well, this time around, I didn't feel as beat up. The 29er was completely different out there than my old 26er. Those bigger wheels rolled over all of those square edged rocks so damn easy. It was way faster cruising through all of that rough stuff on Porcupine, and my 29er has an inch less travel than my old Kona. Man, i couldn't believe the difference out there. That 29er motored through the sections where it opens up to double track. My friends on the 26ers had to pedal to keep up. Once those wheels got rolling, they just hauled a$$ (granted, I am heavier than my friends that went, so I'm sure that helped too). My stumpy FSR ruled out there. It made Moab seem so much smoother in some sections that used to beat the tar out of me. The road back into town was easy as eff too. I'll never go back to a 26er for trail riding again.
Took my 29er to Moab over the weekend.......
- Thread starter Leppah
- Start date
I agree. The 29'r is the perfect bike for Moab. I rode a Shinobi 140/120mm travel 29'r) and a Mojo HD (160mm travel 26'r) back to back on the same trails and the Shinobi was the better ride.
Norco Shinobi
Ibis Mojo HD
Warner Lake at the start of Hazard
Bottom of Porc
Norco Shinobi
Ibis Mojo HD
Warner Lake at the start of Hazard
Bottom of Porc
Nice pics. Unfortunately we didn't really take many while we were out there. Just a few from the look out around Castle Rocks. I think there was one group picture when we started at the top of Hazard. I've never done Burro. Just heard it's pretty tiring and hard to breathe.
I love that last section where it's all singletrack. That trail just gets better the further you get into it.
Hazard has a lot of new berms on it now. It was hard to rail them though. When you're heavy like me, you have to ride your brakes the whole way down that trail or else you get going too dayum fast. It was such an awesome day. 81 degrees, hardly any clouds. I want to go back to try my like around Thanksgiving weekend. That place is a ghost town that time of year. The only bad thing is that there's sometimes snow up on UPS and LPS.
I love that last section where it's all singletrack. That trail just gets better the further you get into it.
Hazard has a lot of new berms on it now. It was hard to rail them though. When you're heavy like me, you have to ride your brakes the whole way down that trail or else you get going too dayum fast. It was such an awesome day. 81 degrees, hardly any clouds. I want to go back to try my like around Thanksgiving weekend. That place is a ghost town that time of year. The only bad thing is that there's sometimes snow up on UPS and LPS.
That Norco looks sharp. What are the details on the geometry on that thing?
Agreed. Although I've never riden a 26 out there. When I rode fruita-moab my RIP really shined on UPS-LPS-Porcupine. Carrying the speed through the rough was the most amazing aspect and where I really fell in love with the big wheel/bike. I'll have to dig out pics when I get home.