Mountain Bikes!

Hey I didn't buy it so don't yell at me haha! I just was impressed with the performance. I'll stick with my e-mtb instead.

 

You're not wrong on the Lauf vs. a full fork. Depends really how much additional weight we're talking about. While I love the fat bike in the winter/snow months, that rigid fork (even with it being carbon) makes it less than ideal when the speed cranks up and you feel the trail/bumps/etc. in the summer. You can dial it out a bit with tire pressure, but yeah, it's just not the same as a fork with spring/comp/rebound. With that said, you can still fly on a fat bike as you can get them down to 23-24lbs. nowadays.

The Diverge future shock is hydraulically-damped, more than just a spring. It technically requires rebuilds/refreshes at specific intervals (over 6000 miles and I haven't touched mine yet). Specialized went even further with the concept this year, adding a similar setup to the rear. It's interesting and more than BNG, but I question it being faster overall than fully rigid in the back:
https://www.specialized.com/us/en/diverge-str

While the future shock helped with hand/wrist/shoulder pain over the course of the season for me, I can't help but think about N+1 and wanting something like a Crux (full rigid gravel race bike) that's a bit lighter weight (1-1.5 pounds lighter?), for gravel racing specifically.

 

Lynskey carbon fork - 454g claimed
Lauf fork - 850g claimed
Fox Gravel Fork - 1211g claimed
400g = 14 oz

I put an older fork and wheel on the Cannondale while I wait for the SID to come back. What a hoot to ride and climb. Nothing climbs like a hard tail.

S

 

That's the route that I took. I like but haven't had a chance to put it through its paces properly.

https://forums.13x.com/index.php?threads/mountain-bikes.367641/page-45#post-6062267

 

pulled trigger on another Ebike today.. sweet and high end Giant, wammy jammy Fox "Live" suspension (literally has wires leading to the top of the forks and the shock that adjust while ya ride, or with phone app can quickly go from "comfort" to "firm" or whatever), more torque motor than my few year old Giant and bigger battery (ride longer). WAY more bike that i can use, but go big or go home And of course had to have my buddy Dave (owns Bikesport Oldsmar) throw on some sweet Michelin Ewild tires
(link to this model from Giant for specs) https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/trance-x-advanced-eplus-0

 

You make a good point and this was a concern prior to buying the bike. I can tell you that it definitely rides much better than a rigid fork but without that sluggish feel of a true suspension fork. I have a lot of time on road bikes and I wanted that snappy feel of a road bike but with a bit more comfort for longer gravel rides.

 

The new I9 Enduro S rear wheel has been fantastic. Great ratcheting performance. Plus I like the hub noise.

Have any of you moved from a longer travel trail bike down to one of the new-gen short travel bikes? My current bike has 140F/135R travel and is a heavy ass sled to pedal around at 36.5 lbs. The vast majority of my riding doesn't really require that much travel, and getting something in the 120-ish range like an Ibis Ripley/YT Izzo/Evil Following or even an Epic Evo is kind of enticing, and those seem to settle into the 25-30 lb weight range.

 

Is it the weight youre concerned with? You can add tokens for less travel for low dollars

 

Yeah I have a few tokens in the rear shock. Could use maybe another one in the front.

Weight, general responsiveness really. There is a shop near me that rents Revel Rangers. I'll probably rent one this summer and see what I think.

 

Just add an electric motor and the weight isn't a concern anymore haha!

 

I've actually thought about picking up one. I've been riding a lot lately and there are days I'm totally wiped but still want to ride. It would be great for those days. And friends can ride it too when they're in town.

 

Anyone have a lot of time on either a CBF or DW-link bike? I'm leaning short-travel 29er for my next bike as my trails have a lot of pedaling and technical uphill. I'm also a little tired of hauling my 37 pound elephant of a bike around.

I'm considering something like an Ibis Ripley or Revel Ranger, maybe even an Epic Evo if I want to go even heavier into the XC side of things. Sub-30# trail bike is the goal. DW-Link seems very interesting in terms of responsiveness and climbing capability.

 

I love my DW-Link Ripmo AF. That said, it's not light, but it doesn't really bother me. Honestly, I wouldn't change bikes to go from 35 down to 30lbs. But, a buddy bought a hardtail recently that came in at ~23lbs. That actually seems pretty enticing to me. I kind of like the idea of having a heavy play bike and a lighter bike for putting in the miles. It does make me think that the idea setup would be a longer travel e-bike and a light hardtail, but I really don't want to get rid of my Ripmo. It's such a fun bike.

 

Yeah the Ripmo is sick. I have a gravel bike for putting miles in, but would like something that isn't such a truck for the trails 10 minutes from my house.

Maybe I just need to ride the gnarlier stuff 30 minutes away more often.

 

I've ridden both the Ripley V4 and the Pivot Trail 429. Both are great bikes. I got along better with the 429, but also had a bit more time with it.
I also prefer the VPP of my Sniper T, but it's really all down to the leverage ratio, curve and tune to the shock. Horst, DW, VPP and single pivot flex stays can all be total garbage, and all have been on certain bikes at certain points. They also all have been tuned really well on certain bikes at certain points, etc.
Specialized dumped horst for flex stays a couple iterations back on the epic/epic evo line and tossed the garbage brain shock for the evo (and now the new epic world cup) since they don't need the brain to mask the issues they had with the horst link in shorter travel frames.

Really they all do the same thing in the end, it's all playing with patents and convincing the public one is better than the other. The DW and VPP are different versions of the same thing in the end, they both try to be single pivot on one hand and 4-bar on the other.
The Ripley and 429 have great ratios and climb well, I prefer the way the 429 feels on the descent. The sniper feels just a touch better to me both climbing and descending.
But that is personal preference, no way to absolutely say one is better than the other.

That said, I hate the way the epic evo rides. Although it's better than a brain-equipped epic.

 

What did you not like about the Epic Evo?

You're right about the suspension tuning making a huge difference and it's why I'm always a little skeptical about the value of a demo ride unless I can spend multiple days with it and really get the fork and shock to where I want them to be.

 

It was primarily the difference in how it descended and traversed faster trails.
The initial feel on the bike is OK, I am comfortable with the reach, position in the bike, etc. It should be since specialized very closely copied the new-school XC geometry started by others like intense, but I couldn't get the rear end to stay composed through roots and rocks. Even small drops would bottom and have it get squirrely.
It climbed well, tracked fine on a rooty section I like, but the overall feeling of fast chatter, root and rock chutes, it just isn't very good at responding there.
It's a very popular bike around here with the NICA kids and some parents though, as two of the largest selling shops are big specialized pushers, so I do get to try it out frequently.
Actually had one of the parents swap for a month last fall when my shoulder was recovered enough to ride. I tried all kinds of changes for a couple weeks, could not get comfortable at all even at reduced speed.

 

And that s the real issue with demo rides - even taking it for a day you won't really get all the answers you want. You'll know if you are comfortable with the stack/reach/fit in the bike and size, but that's about it.
They're really all good bikes, do little things differently than one another, but all fine. Some like the epic evo, I just happen to not.
Get one with current geo, try the sizes to make sure you like the fit and feel, then you can adjust from there.
Now things like forks can make a huge difference, but again you have to try them on.
My bike is at just under 26 pounds, it could be a pound lighter with the 34 stepcast, but after riding with the Sapphire, there is no way I am going back to a "suspension" fork like the stepcast. Yes, it's light. But that's about all it has going for it.

 

Thats what I did ... got the 22lb FSi and the 32lb Strive... one for playing/jumping/bashing, the other for setting my times and blasting through some trails

 

i thought i recognized your user name over at mtbr.

What are you running for a shock on the Sniper T? The factory DPS?