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Do You Mountain Bike?

Alright, quick first ride report. I need to get the cockpit setup better. I don't like the matchmaker stuff as it puts the shifter too close to my hands. Rear brake needs to be bleed better as well. Saddle angle was off as well. Ah, and the fork needs another token or two. So, I didn't feel 100% at home on the bike, but they're all easy things to fix.

Not surprisingly, the amount of traction is absolutely nutty. I didn't break the thing loose once. Granted, I'm still a bit hungover from last night, but still. I logged my 2nd fastest time on this one downhill without even trying. Everything is super loose here, so the extra traction in the corners makes a huge difference with carrying speed.

One downside was that I found myself blowing lines at times. Part of it was not having the brakes dialed and broken in, so I was unable to scrub speed last second. The other part might be the gyroscopic effect. You need to lean the bike a bit more to move it. I did feel like I was working a bit harder in some spots, but, hangover. Also, the wheel/tire weight is almost the same as my other bike (I9 hubs, Nox carbon rims, but 1000g enduro tires), so I'm thinking I just wasn't feeling too hot today.

Tire pressure I think will be way more critical on this bike. At first the front end had tons of traction, but didn't feel super precise. I dropped it from 13 to 11 and it all the sudden felt fantastic. I was running 14 our back, which I think i need to bump up a psi or two.


IMG_3424 by nicholas dirienzo, on Flickr
 
If you used the SRAM instructions when you bled those guides there's probably air in the calipers. There's an extra step you can do before hand to make sure you get all the air out of them. This MBR video covers it @ 4:35 https://youtu.be/Oid_MTcW1P4?t=4m34s :thumbup
 
PhoS said:
If you used the SRAM instructions when you bled those guides there's probably air in the calipers. There's an extra step you can do before hand to make sure you get all the air out of them. This MBR video covers it @ 4:35 https://youtu.be/Oid_MTcW1P4?t=4m34s :thumbup
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Sweet, thanks! Yea, I totally half assed the bleed. I just got some more barbs and olives, so I'm going to shorten the lines and rebleed them tonight.
 
Well, Trek is going to warranty it now - Fantastic!
 
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ndirienzo said:
So, Trek isn't warrantying this, even though everything about the breakage pattern suggests that it's an under built bolt. The shop said it was under torqued, even though I check regularly with a torque wrench and checked the other side before I took it to the shop - it was torqued to spec.

I'm pretty fed up with Trek at this point. They pulled the same BS when I snapped the rocker, making up BS reasons why it broke, rather than it actually being their fault.

So, what are the more durable bike brands? A Hightower seems ideal, but man, a frame is $3k. I want a trail oriented 29er that doesn't break every 2 months. YT actually said I should just get their enduro bike, but it's 650b. Others?
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Sorry to hear about this. Pure BS on Trek's part. Admittedly, I didn't have any issues with my old EX9. But I do love my current rig... a Yeti SB95C (XO1/Enve). Though I'd like to try a Salsa Pony Rustler Carbon 27.5+...
 
Son-of-Ricardo said:
Sorry to hear about this. Pure BS on Trek's part. Admittedly, I didn't have any issues with my old EX9. But I do love my current rig... a Yeti SB95C (XO1/Enve). Though I'd like to try a Salsa Pony Rustler Carbon 27.5+...
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Actually, they are taking care of it now and just giving me a new frame. So, they are 100% coming through now. I think once they got the macro photo of the snapped bolt they realized that it wasn't my issue.

So, good on them. The 2017 frame they're giving me has beefier hardware, so hopefully I have fewer issues.
 
Still seems shady they went straight to "your fault". My warranty brakes and warranty swingarm were a non issue.
 
Sidewalk said:
Still seems shady they went straight to "your fault". My warranty brakes and warranty swingarm were a non issue.
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For real. But, I got it taken care of in the end. Honestly, I get some skepticism on the shops fault. Some of these issues are rare, so they default to it being the buyer's fault rather than the products. Still, I would appreciate a bit more benefit of the doubt that I know what I'm doing and it's honestly breaking when I'm riding it.

slowpoke said:
Glad Trek is taking care of it. But the LBS saying the bolt is under torqued should not affect the shear strength of the bolt.
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Word. So I think it's an issue of how warranties are processed. Generally, the LBS take a cell phone picture, submits an online form, and some warranty guy at the company looks at it and says yes/no. This is fine for certain things like major cracks, split seams in saddles, that sorta thing. But, some stuff needs to be look at by the engineers, not the random warranty guy. Also, it often needs way better pictures, which the shop doesn't do. It's super obvious that the breakage was a shear assuming you take a macro photo. But, the right photos never make it to the right people, resulting in many manufactures rejecting claims. I had the same issue the first time I cracked the bike - I had to take pictures with my macro lens and convince the shop to send the pictures in. The shop didn't believe that it was cracked (they actually said "so, you're a carbon expert, huh?"). Yet, once the carbon people at Trek saw my macro photos they had a new part sent out the next day.

Also, Trek now uses a larger diameter bolt on the 2017 frames, which to me suggests they needed to be beefier in the first place. Overall I'm happy I have a new frame that should be stronger on the way. I love the bike and will be totally happy to keep ripping on it assuming it holds up. $3000 frames are not disposable items!
 
ndirienzo said:
Also, Trek now uses a larger diameter bolt on the 2017 frames, which to me suggests they needed to be beefier in the first place.
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Same with my swing arm. The 2014 got a larger swing arm after too many warranty 2012 cracks (mine cracked after WAY more abuse then the bike was intended for).
 
Trek has a long history of pushing the envelope on frame weight to the detriment of durability. Great bikes, but I know a lot of people that have frame failures. I personally cracked the TT of my Boone in a very minor spill.

In other news, still loving my rigid mtb. It's a blast on the right trails.

28138868033_9fb372718b_c.jpg
 
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j5m said:
Trek has a long history of pushing the envelope on frame weight to the detriment of durability. Great bikes, but I know a lot of people that have frame failures. I personally cracked the TT of my Boone in a very minor spill.

In other news, still loving my rigid mtb. It's a blast on the right trails.

28138868033_9fb372718b_c.jpg
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That Ritchey looks fantastic! Don't you want at least front suspension :teeth

What does it weigh?
 
I was considering going full rigid for XC racing to drop some weight and costs, but decided against it. I ride most of the time with my fork locked.
 
Whistler Day 3, still looking for my marbles.
eG0zhoY.jpg
 
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