Mountain Bikes!

I was suggesting as a starting point. Easier to bleed off than to pump up.
On the skinny 2.3s most guys/gals around here are 20ish on FS. Plus sized wheels are a lil lower.

 

The whole "tires roll better at higher pressure" myth is always funny to encounter.
Plenty of data on the subject, but the best general advice for tubeless pressure is as low as you can get without pinch flatting the sidewall/bead, or rolling the tires off the rim.
To give an actual number without knowing the tire, rim width and type, etc. isn't really possible.

As for current geo XC bikes, the blur and spur are great. The new Spark has that interesting in-frame shock, which would help keep it nice and clean, but I can't get around how it makes it more annoying to adjust and rebuild.
Pretty little nit to pick, plenty of people like them.
The Epic is popular around here, mostly due to a couple more prominent shops being shills for that purely shit company. The brain shock system is outdated and a crutch for building a rear triangle with crap kinematics. They finally updated to real world geo (almost a dead copy of the Sniper), but everyone I know with them swaps the brain fork for a non-brain SID.
Not much they can do about the shit rear shock, but two guys I ride/race with bought a second brain so they can keep riding every time they have to take one of those junk brain shocks back in to get rebuilt.
I let one of them borrow my Sniper for a weekend and he got PRs on every trail he rode. Needless to say, both are looking to dump their epics.
I personally have an Intense Sniper T for my xc/general trail riding bike. I love everything about it - climbing prowess, handling, downhill stability, etc. They were one of the first to go to the new geometry and now pretty much all of them are going to 120 mm travel and real world geometry.
I just finished my Intense Tracer 279 build for my gravity bike. Got tired of waiting for the Carbine version.
My son rides his Strive for almost everything these days since selling off his Sniper race bike. But he has borrowed my Sniper a couple times.

 

Anybody ride a Revel in here? I have 2016 Giant Trance and love the fuggin thing (only trail riding, no parks yet), but I have the itch for a new bike. I've been looking at Yeti's, YT, Banshee, etc. but I really like the Revel Raid. Nobody around here has one that I can get my mitts on, so I'm hoping one of you guys can give me a first had account. Thanks!

 

I rode one, can't remember the model off the top of my head. Trail bike though, nothing gigantic. Great bike, I liked it! If you have a Trance now try the 22' Trance 29. It's got a new frame, bit more rear travel at 120 now and is awesome to ride! I just sold my 19 and have a 22 frame I'm building. I also have a 17 Carbon Transition Scout that's my go to jumping rig for the fun trails. These new 29's are really just as good now though.

 

Do you mean the Revel Rail? If so, I’ve ridden one. It was a solid bike and can’t say I really have any complaints outside of the wheel size. It was a rental and I know they can take a beating.

I would take a good look at the GG Shred Dogg. That was the most playful bike I rode from the local shop. Very similar to a 5010 in feel. A bit less travel than the Rail.

 

WOW, That’s sweet. I’ve always been amazed with people that can paint.

 

That's slick

 

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.[/QUOTE]

This is why I like my Intense Tazer so much. I can ride easy XC trails and its super nimble and with the juice you can run it on eco and it makes it feel like a light XC bike. But if there is a bunch of climbing you can turn up the juice and the geometry climbs amazingly well but you can also bomb down hills and the suspension is insane and can handle anything you can throw at it. The extra weight down low also makes it feel super stable and doesn't bounce off the rough stuff. It is a far better all around bike than I ever imagined.

 

Rail, that's it! Nice, I'll look at the GG's

 

Well, two rides into this season, 28/30 psi hasnt caused any flats yet. And I figured out when going thru turns it helps if I put my body rearward. Which reminds me my legs are freaking out of shape!!

Next up is finding some different trails. Im enjoying the ones where you can carry some speed but the one in the park Ive been riding at is half closed off waiting for new trees to grow.

 

Depending on what size GG you will be needing, we will be selling my wife’s shred dogg when her Reeb Sqweeb gets here. We’ve had every possible GG setup and all super fun bikes. On the Revels, we both have the Ranger. Short travel trail bike that have replaced our more xc based full squishy

 

The Ranger is such a nice bike.

I’ve also ridden their Rover gravel bike and loved it. I didn’t think I’d be one for gravel but I really enjoyed it. It feels like a rally car on two wheels.

 

well thanks, but yea... had some problems with one layer of vinyl for the name that i tried to salvage peeling up on the edges. also because i was trying to preserve raw carbon to show thru, i had to tape/paint it way dumber than i would normally do. then went about the different glitter layers wrong. i had bought some colors in spray cans and matching glitter way back, before i took the class or bought real equipment or anything. i wanted to use them still. problem is, tape don't like sticking to glitter when you try and mask off one color and go on to the next. was gonna leave the black raw carbon with black glitter clear, but i got a bunch of runs on shitty tape and so on. painted it to salvage that too. what i SHOULD have done, was white glittered the whole thing like most people do (with silver), clear, sand, then use red/black/gold/bronze candies over that. would have been done in half the time with better results. i was literally wetsanding up until 10:30pm the night before i had to get on the plane. there's some peel still in some sections of the clear too. if i wasn't rushing i woulda taken more time to triple check all that and make it flawless, but i was dying. burned thru on 2 tiny spots too. also i left the border tape on the entire time for the head and face openings, which then after like 10-12 coats at the end, was terrible to take off. creates a ridge on the paint and i had to razor around the edge to get it off. what i should have done, was retape after every 2-3 coats of whatever so it wasn't buried, OR, taken the rubber off, painted, and re-glued at the end. that still wouldn't have solved the hard plastic around the face.

anyways... all that for the next one, was nice to learn on. AKdrift gonna send me one i think in the fall and i already got a good idea for his. expecting it to go smoother and look better.

 

@Sweatypants you k no ow the problems, it just looked good to me. Is akdrift still in the Pacific Northwest?

 

yea man, just went to Whistler with me. still alive and kickin.

 

I'll need a large, so if that's what you'll be moving definitely shoot me a PM!
Im going cross-eyed over here looking through all the options available. Now I'm thinking maybe a 29er is the next bike, although I've never swung a leg over one. Maybe I'm old and don't like change lol. It took me forever to get off my Cannondale 26 and onto that Trance. It was a huge adjustment and completely different bikes. Hated the Giant at first, but it was so much easier to ride. Now they've all gone and changed up geometry again lol. And fuck me, $5k bought me a carbon bike with XT components and top end Fox suspension 6 years ago, it gets me a mid range carbon bike now!!

 

Her GG is a size 2 and would be too small for you but it is a sweet ride.
DVO diamond and topaz
Full XT build with 4 piston brakes
Mix of oneup and raceface cockpit
Industry Nine trail 270 wheelset.

What is pretty cool with GG, their frames are modular.
The main triangle is the same across their line and you can swap to a "new" bike with a new stay kit and the needed suspension.

 

I went there once on a sales call,in the mid 90’s, sure is beautiful. It wasn’t during ski season, so I didn’t get that opportunity. Man, Vancouver and that entire area up there is very pretty.

 

its the best man, especially to escape the miserable DC summers with its bullshit humidity. abnormally rainy/snowy still for this time of year, but we still had fun. the mountains and amount of greenery gets me every time. my wife thinks its too gloomy haha, and prices up there are out of control. i dunno how all these aussie backpackers and ski/bike bums even find a bed to crash on up there, but there's a million of them working every damn coffee shop.

 

This is the most accurate, which is why n+1 is a real thing. But there is a lot of truth in buying a bike for the terrain you're actually going to ride.

The Supercaliber I ride (XC style) is the perfect weapon for 90-95% of the single track here in Michigan. But going out to CO, I'm renting a bike again with proper travel that will just make riding that much more fun/enjoyable. Even some of the stuff in the UP here in Michigan, I'd prefer a bigger fork/more travel/slack/etc. It all makes a difference ..

I saw some comments on pressures. On a 29" setup, I run 19 front/21 rear for some tight single track and up to 22-24/24-26 for more wide open double track/single track. That's 2.25" wide Schwalbe tires, tubeless also, for reference. For gravel rides, 32/38 and up to 42/44 if there's going to be pavement (Panaracer Gravel Kings). I keep going lower and lower which makes the ride more comfortable and with less bouncing around, actually improves rolling resistance. The lower pressure is great on group rides where we hop from gravel roads into some double track trails and need to be able to handle a variety of terrain.

With all that said, I've pumped the SuperCal up to 30psi to ride out to some single track, then just left it at that. It does make for great handling practice.