Mountain Bikes!

Better than one of the online German bike parts sites?

 

those are the one(s). there's 2 of them. as long as you check there first you're good.

 

nope, well not technically. free bike box from a shop, bubble wrap, pay the oversized baggage fee, done and done. i've done it probably 10 times now, only once did Air Alaska or Canada i forget which, lose my bike for 3 days. every other time has been no sweat. hassle as far as balancing on top of my rolling suitcase as i weave thru idiots at the airport to check-in? debatable.

the bus back to the lot when i got back home was crowded and a little awkward, but people were nice haha.

 

I buy quite a bit out of there. Maxxis, Magura, cockpit items, even a Newmen wheelset. Saves a bunch. Even cheaper than shop cost sometimes.
Just can't get Shimano from them any longer. They were the last two block it after sram and fox did so.

 

yea man. last Spring, the XT cranks i wanted were on super back order and bike24 had them the whole time. fricken annoying as shit. this last time when i traded up for 165's, i found them pretty easily. the other thing i remember being insane was on the last bike when i had red DT comp spokes. they were like $4.50 everywhere, and at bike24 they were like $1.50. saved a bunch of money on that wheel build. i've bought like 20 Magic Mary's one time with 3 other dudes when they were like $20 a piece from bike-discount haha, then we just split the shipping. just depends on what it is i guess, but these Hayes were like $320 for both, MT7's are like $260 for both haha. unbelievable how many people had Maguras at Whistler and all i kept thinking was how many of them paid $550 for them like a bunch of fools.

 

hmm, just looked on Bike24 and says rockshox and shimano items not shippable to the US? lame.

 

Sram, Fox and Shimano have embargoes. You have to buy from a U.S. vendor. Shimano joined Sram and Fox in that a couple years ago.

 

Had this thing sitting on a rack for 9 months, finally getting some miles on it. At the time I bought it, I was riding basically downhill trails, and even planned on putting a dual crown on it. Ended up moving to Phoenix and built it back a little lighter with a Manitou Mezzer up front, and a Rockshox SuperDeluxe with a MegNeg on the back. Then went full Broome with everything else. Ended up at 30.1 pounds for a 170/170 smasher that is surprisingly playful on the trails while still keeping real tires on it. Still probably more bike than I need for the trails around here, but I will be hitting bike parks, and with it being so light, I don't think I'm hindering myself too much otherwise. It's definitely a lot of fun on both the nasty chunk and the "flow" trails they have around here. And in AZ, when they say "flow", I think they just mean devoid of rock gardens. It's definitely different than the riding I'm used to in the PNW.

 

I run tubes in half of my bikes still. I run 20 ish in the front and low 20's in the rear if I'm doing anything except hitting the jump spot. Then I add a bit just for roll speed. I'm 200lb, never once had a pinch flat. There's no need to run 30 for any reason while trail riding in my opinion, tubes or otherwise.

 

I raced my buddies Sentinel up at Beech Mt NC this past weekend. Has the same shock but with the Cascade Link and a Lyric Ultimate. Butter!!

 

Yeah, I think the Sentinel would be a better all around bike than the Spire and really not give up much in the extreme stuff. But, I already have the spire, and it's fucking purple so I'm keeping it. I'm really surprised at how they managed to keep the Spire so sporty feeling for a giant bike. I really like how the geometry keeps me comfortably weighting the front without having to think about it. I had to actively push myself forward on the Megatower. The cockpit just feels way bigger and easier for me to move around.

I do have a Bomber CR coil sitting on the workbench, that I was going to send off to Avalanche for custom tuning. However, the air shock is really surprising me and I may end up just leaving it on. I need to get my fitness and skills back up again to where I'm really charging before I make a final call on that I think. Hopefully I can get out to Angel Fire in about three weeks, and hit Sunrise on the way back. The local enduro series doesn't start until October here, so I have plenty of time to figure this all out. Feels great being on the trails again though.

 

low 20s on tubes??
That wont work on my local trails that are extremely rooty... Ive seen them knock all kinds of tires off the bead... tubeless or not.

Even during low tide on the beach or on the miles of coquina sand trails, nobody around north FL, with any experience, is riding that low of a tire pressure on a full squish MTB...

 

I ride Graham Swamp regularly and Mala and Tillie occasionally. I run the same pressure tubes or tubeless. Pinch flats or blowing the bead just isn't an issue in my experience. When I raced Beech last weekend I ran 17 in the front and 18 in the back but the rear had a cush core.

 

My buddies Sentinel has a 170 fork and the rear is 165 I think how it's setup now so super close to a Spire. He says the Cascade Link made a huge improvement. It was just perfect going down the mountain! I have a first gen Scout, his Sentinel turns and does everything just as well but obviously much more capable than my bike with seemingly no trade off. Incredible.

 

Oh yeah, Sentinel with a Cascade link at 170 is basically a Spire with more progression. Absolute weapon.
Next to the box for the coil I have for mine is their link for the Spire, bumps it to a 180mm rear and supposedly like the one for the Sentinel, all
Positives and no negatives. I think I’m going to wait a bit to mess around more though. I’m thinking of getting a Spur for all the other trails we have around here now as well.

 

Any of y’all spent a lot of time on some of the more well-known full-suspension XC bikes? Like the Spark or Blur?

My current bike is a full suspension trail bike with 150/140 travel that I ride with flats. It has been a sweet rig and I enjoy it. But, I’m thinking I may be better suited to something a little more focused on speed everywhere and fitness vs. just bombing downhills. I’ll probably get out to the bike park once a year or so, but see myself being a frequent park guy and most of the airtime I get is pretty modest.

Nearly all of my riding is in or near COS, so lots of kitty litter and lot of uphill to go downhill.

Anyone else make a similar switch? Maybe this is just the old roadie in me taking over.

 

here was my progression over the past 10-12 years or so:

130/120 26er Fuel EX



to a 170/165 26er Intense Tracer 2



to then a 200/180 Commencal Supreme FR and a 140 Ti hardtail 29er



to then keeping the Supreme and trading the hardtail for a 140/130 Commencal Meta 29
to now selling both and having the current 170/160 Commencal Meta AM 29er





I'll say this... there was a time, where I was riding DH every weekend and doing jumps and such. that's when I went from the Intense to getting an actual DH bike.
That Intense was a rad bike, I rode it everywhere on everything and jumped it a bunch, but it cracked and I wanted to get more funky.
The hardtail 29er was like 24lbs. and it was a rocketship, but also cracked the stays on it and its def harsh on your ass over more than an hour in rocks and roots. I had a 130 or 140mm Pike RCT on it and it was kinda slack for a hardtail, and it had short ass stays, so it was mega snappy.
The Meta 29 was like my daily bike for almost 6 years. The shock sucked, but not enough to replace it when I had the DH bike too for actually gettin' it. it was like 32-33lbs. the Supreme was 36lbs. with a Float 40 and CC DB Air.

This new 170/160 bike is kinda back to the Intense for me, cept new geometry and 29er, but same feel. It'll do everything. It weighs 35lbs. so it doesn't climb that fast, but it climbs anything, especially with the 12 speed. I haven't touched the 52t gear yet ever, but its cool that its there I guess. More over its still fun on downs. I just did Whistler with it for a week and it never skipped a beat. I sold the 2 bikes for going back to 1 all-arounder Enduro bike because I haven't been going out to ride pure DH much at all the last 2-3 years and the DH bike was just sitting. I WOULDN'T however, go to less travel than this one for the fact that it would still see black diamond DH and a few parks a year.

If you're good enough, you can take anything anywhere. There's dudes at Whistler with full sus DJ bikes but they're way better than me and still i imagine that's miserable on tech trails and deep braking bumps. if you go to a 120mm XC bike that weighs 25-27lbs., its gonna be fast as shit and fun for the ups and downs training, but its gonna be weaker and less fun when you to the park. there's no way around it.

Personally from what you describe, I'd keep the same kinda bike you have now. i coulda taken my 140/130 to the park, and it was fun for small jumping while still being the "workout" bike. Also consider, if the goal is working out and getting exercise/in-shape, lugging the heavier bike up the hill is probably doing more for you haha. that's how i look at mine at least. i'm in no hurry to go up as long as it goes up and its a workout. Desires may vary though.

 

I'm building a new Giant Trance 29 right now for sort of something like you're talking about. It's 120mm rear, I'm sticking the new Pike Ultimate on it when I can get it next month. I'll set it at 140 and roll. A do everything trail bike. XC bikes are growing in travel anyway.

 

on a 2.35 29er tire?
Graham is the perfect example... when the sand gets dry you need to bag the tire down... when its damp, packed, & rolling well the pressure needs to go up.
I hadnt ridden any of the inserts yet. Lots of gravel riders around here seem to love em.

 

Correct, 2.35, or 2.4. Actually heading to Graham in the morning I think for a chill ride and beach dip. I'll prob ride my 27.5 tomorrow. My 29's are all hardtails right now, my ankle is having a hard time riding a hardtail anymore unless it's somewhere super smooth. My 27.5 is tubeless right now. Prob run 20 front and 22 rear, maybe a bit more cause I love blasting that last jump before the parking lot. I just think telling someone to run 30 is gonna lead to a miserable ride, rough and no traction. I run in the middle somewhere, half the people at my local trail are running 14-16 ish. I'm too fat for that I hate the way they feel that low anyway. Wallowing mess.