Mtn Bike / mtb Shock Questions?

[Yo!Joe!!!]

fads are how you keep selling people bike shit, 26" 8spd was fine :|

Yep.

 

[J-]

:|

Now show the fire road you rode up on

though yeah long travel is absurd around here

Because there are no "fun" trails in the bay area?
I'm with Sonny. Who gives a rats ass about climbing fast as long as the descent rocks..Literallyarty

 

[lefty]

Now show the fire road you rode up on


Because there are no "fun" trails in the bay area?
I'm with Sonny. Who gives a rats ass about climbing fast as long as the descent rocks..Literallyarty

I agree with you on the idea that there are no 'fun trails' in the bay area!! WTF? He must have never heard of Henry Coe State Park or Purisma Creek, or anything off of Skyline or even Marin????

I enjoy climbing. I want to climb effeciantly though. This is why I've always had a hardtail. So, if I do get a f/s- it will be one with a GOOD lockout!!

I am 50 y/o- I cannot descend as fast as I used to. I've ended up in Stanford Emergancy Room due to bombing down the trails in Los altos Hills!!!

 

[Cycle61]

Chum's picture looks like a fun way to die arty

 

[mbsv]

i'm pretty sure chum has ridden 10x the number of trails i have and is at least 2x as fast, probably more downhill... he's the one recommending the ht for everything! i'm just saying some bikes with short travel suspension climb pretty well, even w/o a lockout...

then again i've ridden trails in marin on my road bike... it gets kinda sketchy when you pinch flat, which is the normal end result.

 

[sanjuro]

The deal is with full suspension vs hardtail is this:

(new pricing)
$500 entry level HT vs Walmart FS
$1000 very decent HT vs crap FS
$2500 very nice HT vs very decent FS

Also, I won't ride my FS bike (a Santa Cruz Blur Carbon) in really wet/muddy conditions. While the bike will hold up, and I rather keep the pivot maintenance to a minimum.

If you are willing to rebuild your pivots (and not necessarily replace the bearings) every 6 months, you can have a well-maintained bike. Mind you, I've seen people let their bike fall apart.

But if you ride very casually, you might enjoy riding FS everywhere.

I personally put in about 60-80 miles a week off road, so I want a hardtail with less maintenance.

Also, while hardtails do climb better than FS bikes, I use my FS bike in places where I need suspension up and down.

 

[CHUM]

Now show the fire road you rode up on...

it's a bumpy fire road up to BB....fugger

now the next day going down deer lake (with no front brakes) was sketchy - no pics, too busy trying not endo in a rock garden...and poop myself

I agree with you on the idea that there are no 'fun trails' in the bay area!! WTF? He must have never heard of Henry Coe State Park or Purisma Creek, or anything off of Skyline or even Marin????

I enjoy climbing. I want to climb effeciantly though. This is why I've always had a hardtail. So, if I do get a f/s- it will be one with a GOOD lockout!!

I am 50 y/o- I cannot descend as fast as I used to. I've ended up in Stanford Emergancy Room due to bombing down the trails in Los altos Hills!!!

there are plenty of fun trails in the Bay Area - and as you stated Henry Coe is awesome (specifically if you like to climb). It's about the only true back country experience you can get in the Bay Area on a MTB

You really need to hit SC and get your flow on....nothing like carving around a mess of giant ass trees

 

[CHUM]

i'm pretty sure chum has ridden 10x the number of trails i have and is at least 2x as fast, probably more downhill... he's the one recommending the ht for everything! i'm just saying some bikes with short travel suspension climb pretty well, even w/o a lockout...

then again i've ridden trails in marin on my road bike... it gets kinda sketchy when you pinch flat, which is the normal end result.

+1 - FS rigs are fine and dandy...I loved my 80mm Racer-X very, very much....and my S-Works Enduro...

 

[lefty]

it's a bumpy fire road up to BB....fugger

now the next day going down deer lake (with no front brakes) was sketchy - no pics, too busy trying not endo in a rock garden...and poop myself



there are plenty of fun trails in the Bay Area - and as you stated Henry Coe is awesome (specifically if you like to climb). It's about the only true back country experience you can get in the Bay Area on a MTB

You really need to hit SC and get your flow on....nothing like carving around a mess of giant ass trees

I do. I LOVE Wilder Ranch!!!! That is some EPIC singletrack!!!

I am bouncing back and forth between getting a (medium) Cannondale Jekyll 5 or a (large) Scott Spark 50. I have test ridin the Scott, and I love it. I am only 5'9", but my current bike is an 18" frame. I don't like a short distance between the seat and bars. I love a long top-tube, so I'm leaning toward the Scott.

My 1st bike was a Univega Alpina Pro (18"). It had a super long top tube and it climbed like a goat. Then I got (my current ride)a Giant Aluminum (18"). It is also an 18" frame, but has a different geometry than the od Univega. It took me a while to learn how to climb on it. So, that is my concern- getting too small of a frame that will be too twitchy on climbs and even more sketchy on fast downhills. Everyone says I should get a medium frame, but I kinda feel more at home on the large.

Any opinions?

 

[PhoS]

My buddy just "ovalized" his headtube on a Ibis Mojo HD, mostly because he's a masher riding trails over the bikes design.

Actually the problem was caused by his crap Chinese stem and finicky Chris king headset

 

[PhoS]

TLDR thread and @ Chum's pink spokes.

Buy a short travel fully. (120mm or less travel) Ride everything , your kneecaps will thank you later. 5'9 sounds like you need a medium.

 

[Critter]

I'm going to be a "homer" and say Cannondale 29er. I had a DS rig and promptly sold it because I never rode it as hard as I thought I would. Bought a hard tail and I'm as happy as a clam.

 

[stangmx13]

I do. I LOVE Wilder Ranch!!!! That is some EPIC singletrack!!!

I am bouncing back and forth between getting a (medium) Cannondale Jekyll 5 or a (large) Scott Spark 50. I have test ridin the Scott, and I love it. I am only 5'9", but my current bike is an 18" frame. I don't like a short distance between the seat and bars. I love a long top-tube, so I'm leaning toward the Scott.

My 1st bike was a Univega Alpina Pro (18"). It had a super long top tube and it climbed like a goat. Then I got (my current ride)a Giant Aluminum (18"). It is also an 18" frame, but has a different geometry than the od Univega. It took me a while to learn how to climb on it. So, that is my concern- getting too small of a frame that will be too twitchy on climbs and even more sketchy on fast downhills. Everyone says I should get a medium frame, but I kinda feel more at home on the large.

Any opinions?

for road frames, id much rather get a smaller frame and lengthen it w/ a longer stem as necessary than try to shorten a larger frame.

the Scott Spark is a longer frame than the Jekyll, ie Spark M effective toptube is 10-12mm longer than the Jekyll M (all specs are online). maybe better to compare the M to M. also, the Spark has a steeper headtube angle (rake), which may make the Spark L less stable than the Jekyll M even with its slightly longer wheelbase. again, when comparing M to M, the Jekyll will be more stable..... i dont kno MTNB frames n fit, but i know math

either way, i wanna c more pictures of bikes!

 

[CHUM]

TLDR thread and @ Chum's pink spokes.

Buy a short travel fully. (120mm or less travel) Ride everything , your kneecaps will thank you later. 5'9 sounds like you need a medium.

they are PURPLE...not pink

And a gift from my wife....

hrmph!

and I agree - short travel FS rigs are fun

 

[lefty]

for road frames, id much rather get a smaller frame and lengthen it w/ a longer stem as necessary than try to shorten a larger frame.

the Scott Spark is a longer frame than the Jekyll, ie Spark M effective toptube is 10-12mm longer than the Jekyll M (all specs are online). maybe better to compare the M to M. also, the Spark has a steeper headtube angle (rake), which may make the Spark L less stable than the Jekyll M even with its slightly longer wheelbase. again, when comparing M to M, the Jekyll will be more stable..... i dont kno MTNB frames n fit, but i know math

either way, i wanna c more pictures of bikes!

I switched my deposit to "THIS" bike. The Jekyll weighs 31.5 lbs. It is more of a d/h bike. The Scott is more of a Cross Country bike.

I'm having them put on a longer (0 degree) stem.

 

[fraz]

The bike has been sitting (with the new shock) for over 6 months. I just started riding again and this fork feels like a POS!!! I have been riding around with it on 'lock-out' for the entire ride. I spoke with a bicycle mechanic and he stated that I will ruin the shock by doing that. He said "increase the air pressure". I have increased the air pressure from 70 psi to 93 psi.

Assume you are meaning forks cause my Fox shock for example will max at 300psi. Air forks are usually lower pressure.

I still don't understand the full mechanics of modern mtb forks but I have heard similar about leaving them locked out. That said, some of the the higher end forks and my new ones have a lockout popoff setting. You can set the force at which the lockout will give in case you have an oh shit moment I guess.

As for usefulness of FS around BA... they sure make riding off curbs a lot better for us bigger/heavier kids

[youtube]Fr6Na4NH7J8[/youtube]

 

[J-]

they are PURPLE...not pink

And a gift from my wife....

hrmph!

and I agree - short travel FS rigs are fun

Now I get it. You spent all yer monies on I9's and couldn't afford the rear shock
It is a nice ride tho
One bay area trail example only. I rode Crack one day with a dude(very good technical rider) on a hardtail with a 5" fork.. let's just say he didn't clean it
I was on my 7" bike and it beat me up. Its much nicer on my Demo

 

[ohio]

Get full suspension. You will ride longer and faster. You will not notice the weight, and pretty much all modern FS bikes from reputable companies climb well on properly set up shocks.

I'm partial to horst link, dw-link, and split pivot setups because they brake so much better than single pivots and VPPs, but really the most important things are fit, geometry, and suspension setup.

If you don't air it out, it seems like a 29er on 4" of suspension is the hot ticket these days to be smooth and fast on rough and/or technical trails, though I think you'd be pretty psyched on a 26er with 5"/5" like that jekyll. I like to jump and ride stunts and treat my trail bike like a downhiller, so I'm still on a 26er with 6" front and rear (Enduro S-Works).

 

[lefty]

TLDR thread and @ Chum's pink spokes.

Buy a short travel fully. (120mm or less travel) Ride everything , your kneecaps will thank you later. 5'9 sounds like you need a medium.

This is what I have done. I will p/u on Saturday and post some pics and a ride report.

Ohio-

I've heard exactly the same thing you said. I have been resisting the urge to get f/s, until now. I just turned 50 and I have been wanting to treat myself to something-- so this is as good as, (or better) than some of the stoopid things I have considered buying, new car, new g/f, etc..

Thanks All!!!!

 

[Killroy1999]

Any one riding Sram XX1 stuff. My stuff is on the way. Its good to be employed again.