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Do You Mountain Bike?

Plus having a 5" travel bike and doing the gnarly shit is always fun :D Anyone who says you need a 8" bike to do N*... come take a ride with me and I'll show you it's not necessary in order to rip down the gnarly steeps, rock gardens, and drops!!

immortal said:
i just completely shredded every trail at N* on my wildcard which had 160mm fork up front and 5" travel in the back.
it's a lot more ... lively. definately not as easy if ya had more travel, but i had a blast and it was mangeable.. just had to go fast and avoid big rocks


Plus having a 5" travel bike and doing the gnarly shit is always fun :D Anyone who says you need a 8" bike to do N*... come take a ride with me and I'll show you it's not necessary in order to rip down the gnarly steeps, rock gardens, and drops!!
:p
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Hmmmmm, .... Now I heard from someone that you were sitting at N* at one point looking like you just got the shit beat out of you chanting something about more travel. :wtf

Tell you what, I'm 45 yrs old, have had over 20 surgeries and can tell you that an 8 (at least 7+) inch bike is a necessity. Get back to me when your 45. Furthermore, as talented a rider as you may be, your chanting your schpeel to people that either aren't as talented as you are or are old fookers like myself. Tell ya what, when you can follow Matt Conderschaff, Matt Collins, or Ian Massey down anything even halfway knarly at N*, (all of whom will be on Glory's or 951's) .... Then you can tell me how competitive you are on a 5/6 inch bike.

And even more importantly, do it for a few years on your med-travel bike and think back on this when your 35 and getting out of bed in the morning sux so bad you don't even want to get up.

Good luck on you 6incher, If I see you out there, I'll be on my 10incher. Wave nicely as you go past me and please try not to run me off the trail. :teeth

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Rethinking my long winded answer, ... don't think I said you COULDN'T do it, just not the right tool for the job.

Take a ride on a well tuned DH bike and you will be singing a different song.

Happy trails regardless what you're on and I only hope that someday I'll be able to be there with my jaw dropped wide open watching you rail off great big shit that I'm just too sacred to hit. :thumbup

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I'd say min. 6" bike for N* , and that's still gonna hurt and be slow in the rocks. I had my 36 Talas 160 on and I was wishing I had slapped the 888 on.. It makes life easier. That said , my shoulders are facking killing me , me and Massey rode pump track till 10pm last night... :deadhorse
 
Haha I never said it wasn't EASIER on a longer travel bike, it definately is.... but I have way more fun ripping down the trails on my shorter travel bike and have no problems dealing with the rocks.

I sold my Scythe (8" FR/DH /w 2010 boxxer team) after just one day with it at NorthStar because I preferred my Wildcard over it. I was surprised. Of course the Scythe soaked up the rocks way better, but most of the trails I can go faster on my Wildcard.. like gypsy, boondocks, livewire, sinuous, little trees, SNS.. there isn't anything gnarly on all those trails (least not to me) and having a more agile bike that can bounce around is just more exciting .. and when summer is over, I still have a bike that can rip all the local trails. I mean come on.. my fork has 180MM of travel, just a couple years ago that was the biggest and baddest in terms of DH forks.. like the old boxxer etc. 6.5" in the rear is not bad at all.

The only trail that would give me problems with shorter travel and cause me to go slower is Dog Bone. Karpiel isn't even bad... I don't know any of those people, and I'm not an old fart :).. but having a small travel bike doesn't intimidate me on the rocky trails or make me lose any confidence. I probably could go faster on a pure bred DH race machine, but I like bouncing around and finding cool lines rather than just plowing through.

Plus it depends on what 5-6" travel bike we are talking about.. the Wildcard is tuned with a progressive leverage ratio to have a bottomless feel so it feels like it has more travel than it does.
 
oh and yea I was dead tired and had the shiat beat out of me.. but most of that was due to the fact that I went to bed at midnight, wokeup at 4:30 AM, drove to N*, rode all day.. and it was 4:30pm! My legs were cramped from pedaling, I wasn't sore or tired in my upper body.

I definately want a pure DH bike (which is why I sold my FR/DH bike) - but I just can't afford the one I want right now and have to make do with what I have. I did 3 days at N*, one with the Scythe and two with the WC .. and decided that there wasn't anything at N* I wouldn't be able to do cause I didn't have a 8"+ travel bike.

Plus all my friends that I ride with are slower, so I have to give them some kind of advantage to keep up :p
 

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zx6roxy said:
J-, I tried to get a video of SNS yesterday but didn't realize it was in photo mode.....GoPro FAIL!:thumbdown

See ya on race weekend!:)
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I'm not gonna make race weekend..F@#KSH!T!!!:(
I'll be there the following weekend though..
 
Got my first ride in today. Took a few years off after I broke my arm. Easy loop to test the bike. Had no brakes, front shocks suck and very little air in the rear shock but, it was GREAT



tazmon.jpg
 
jroymcd said:
Got my first ride in today. Took a few years off after I broke my arm. Easy loop to test the bike. Had no brakes, front shocks suck and very little air in the rear shock but, it was GREAT
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If the shock just needs air, ... get a pump and do it, or borrow one from a friend. If the fork needs to be rebuilt I've got a guy in Lafayette that is awesome. If the fork is just old and out dated, ... :(

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DH Tire WANTED

Looking for a 2.7 DH tire for NorthStar.
New, Used, ... Whatevva.
Let me know if you've got one/some. :thumbup

PS. DO NOT want smaller tires. I've got plenty. Hell, if you need anything from a 2.3 to a 2.6 I'll gladly trade ya.

Oh, and I've got a 2.8 Michilen that is a bad ass tire used exactly once by me. (that I'll sell/trade) That's how I know that the only place it doesn't work well is at NorthStar with a very light-weight ridr on it. :(

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Harpo said:
If the shock just needs air, ... get a pump and do it, or borrow one from a friend. If the fork needs to be rebuilt I've got a guy in Lafayette that is awesome. If the fork is just old and out dated, ... :(

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I got a pump. just not sure how much it needs.

Dont want to put much money into it. If I really get back into riding I will buy a new bike.

Looking for a decent new or used front fork under 200. no more than 100mm
 
jroymcd said:
I got a pump. just not sure how much it needs.

Dont want to put much money into it. If I really get back into riding I will buy a new bike.

Looking for a decent new or used front fork under 200. no more than 100mm
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I've got Nuttin'. Might be able to find a Manitou Minute or RockShox Reba air for a really good price. Keep watching ebay.

PS. Search for the shock PDF online and it will tell you how much air max it will take.
 
im a big dude. thought coil might be better?

They even have a dart for 99. Might be better than the old bomber on it.

This bike just needs to last the summer. If I actaully put some miles on it I will go all out and get a new XC/Freride bike.
 
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