Mountain Bikes!

Anybody watch UCI DH? Track this weekend is rough.

 

Yup

 

One of our local buddies has been demoing Esker bikes every time he's out in Colorado, looking forward to checking one out. He raves about them.

 

Gee Atherton posted some onboard footage on his IG. Pure insanity.

 

Watching Andorra mainly for XC. That DH is gnarly.

 

Has anyone had an opportunity to ride any of the bikes from Evil? I’m casually shopping for a new Enduro bike and the Wreckoning or Insurgent look pretty rad.

 

Hmm these are interesting. Looks like a variation of the DW Link suspension system. Their current promo is pretty solid too at $3,600. I like that the brakes are routed externally

An Ibis Ripmo AF is probably in my future, but it depends if they go back to DVO suspension. Not a fan of their current coil setup up front.

 

Seems like all the brands are having fat sales on bikes right now. I know some of my dealers are really blowing out Tazers and I see a lot of ads for smoking deals. It's a good time to buy!

 

Tbh, I see these sale prices just becoming the regular prices next year. The wind has really been taken out of the bike industry's sales post-covid and it may not ever get back to that high again.

 

Wait, you mean $15k specialized E-bikes weren't sustainable?!

 

The dentist bikes will still be there, but I think stuff that was selling at 5k in 2021 is going to comfortably be at 3.5k from now on.

Except for Commencal. Their prices have gotten ridiculous for alloy bikes with pressfit bottom brackets. And with no dealer support.

 

I'll be adding an e-bike to the roster before next summer. Out here in the inferno, it's just too damn hot to get any sort of vertical in safely in the summer. And even when I do, it takes me two days to recover from a two hour ride. A few of my friends have picked up e-bikes for summertime just for that reason. Though I'm leaning towards a Crestline to match my DH bike.

 

I been fighting the urge for an E-Bike hard. Really liking the duel crown Kenevo Expert for a “big e-bike” especially since it’s on sale.

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/kenevo-expert/p/199954?color=322160-199954&searchText=98022-3004

 

I have a Kenevo it's fun, but I'd much rather have a Kenevo SL. At the time when I bought it (early '21) the SL wasn't available. The FF Kenevo is a tank and to me feels more like a lightweight dirtbike on the downhills vs a heavy bicycle. If you ride with friends that have FF eBikes then get a Kenevo - if you ride by yourself mostly, get the SL.

 

I need to go look at what all some of the people I ride with are using. I believe one of the larger shop owners and his buddies are all on some new Giant, there are three of those. One of my friends has a Kenevo that he takes to the bike park often over his Stumpjumper Evo. Then a few people on the lighter weight Trek's that I usually see at the trailhead in the mornings. One guy has an Ibis that looks like a whale's penis . I mean seriously, I'm more of a function over form type of person, but that thing is fugmo.

I'll have to snag a ride on them and figure it out, but we only have another month or two left of scalding temps, so I have all winter to figure this out and see what happens with prices or any technology updates. Though the more I think about it, the more I think they are probably about as light as they are going to get. It's not like electric car batteries have gone down in weight or gone up in energy density significantly.

 

Yeah, if Specialized are anything to go by then it's not frame weight or even motor weight that is changing much, but rather trying to squeeze more power out of the smaller motors. Problem is people are already seeing a lot of their claims are bogus (at least with the '24 Levo SL) and that the supposed power increase is not a constant +20% increase because the BMS is kicking in and limiting the power output. The geometry of the '24 Levo SL and the frame aesthetics alone make them better than the Gen 2 SL though.

 

That'll be my family and I this weekend.

 

I would have thought the Kenevo was a mullet setup? Not a bad price but I know some of my shops are selling the tazer pro for about that price and you get full carbon and ohlins front and rear and it's a mullet.