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  • in reply to: Mullet regrets #654526

    Rollover matters!  You probably won’t see XC racers riding mullets anytime in the near future.  Full 29 is just faster and a 29er XC bike is the fastest, which is what you were riding before.  A mullet trailbike is not the fastest.  Mullets are best for people with shorter legs and for tight twisty turns, not for going fast.  However, before you trade in your Stumpy, try putting on some lighter faster-rolling XC-ish tires.  I ride the Stumpy EVO which came with the same tires you are riding and I found them rather draggy and I’ve never liked 2.3 wide tires.  I use the 2.6 Maxxis Rekon front and 2.6 Ikon rear or 2.4 Rekon rear.  If you want to stick with Specialized, get a set of 2.35 Ground Controls.  Maybe a set of Schwalbe Wicked Wills would do.  Tires made a huge difference for me.  I easily ride 10-15% faster than with the stock tires.

    Also, spend some time making sure you’ve got the rear shock set correctly.  Multiple reviewers complained the rear suspension on the Stumpy is difficult to set up.  Too firm and the bike didn’t descend well.  Too soft and the bike didn’t climb well. The Stumpy has a very narrow sweet spot.   Some felt that they were never able to get it quite right.

    If you do sell your bike, you sound like the ideal candidate for a Transition Spur, Ibis Ripley, or Rocky Mountain Element.  Something a little more sporty.  You could also convert your Stumpy back to full 29.

    in reply to: How to tighten steering #639173

    You’ve got to loosen the stem. Then tighten the top cap. And then retighten the stem. Lots of youtube videos. Look it up!

    in reply to: Canyon Stoic vs Grand Canyon? #627607

    Given a choice, I would always pick the bike with the most progressive geometry. You can always put a set of light-weight fast-rolling tires on the Stoic if you want an XC feel. However, putting a set of aggressive tires on the Grand Canyon will not make it into a good trailbike because the geometry is jus too XC.

    I suggest taking a test ride on the 29er Trek Roscoe and Marlin. Those bikes are similar to the Stoic and GC.

    in reply to: How should I set my bike up? #623942

    Are you aware that a new fork and 29er wheel and tire for a mullet will cost $1500 or more. If you sold the bike and added that $1500, you would be a long way toward buying a new bike. Bikes are really holding their value right now and you might be able get close to what you paid for it. In general, it is nearly always cheaper to just buy a new bike if you are making major upgrades. If you’re going to buy new wheels, fork, and drivetrain, just buy a new bike.

    To able to give you any advice on changes you could make I would need to know the front travel, rear travel, headtube angle, and seattube angle? Doesn’t the Spectral already have fairly long travel and slack geo like maybe 160mm fork and 64* headtube angle?

    in reply to: Short Travel 29er – Heavy XC/Light Trail Advice? #623649

    I hated the 2.4 Dissector so much as a front tire that I removed it while it was only slightly worn and almost new. Total waste of money! The Dissector performs so inconsistently that it is useless. I’ve never had a front tire wash out on turns so often. They just won’t hold a line. Please don’t buy this tire for use as a front tire. Seriously, the 2.4 Rekon with smaller knobs performs better as a front tire.

    I now recommend the 2.6 Rekon or 2.4 Minion DHR as ideal front tires for a Downcountry bike and the 2.4 Rekon and 2.6 Ikon as ideal rear tires. I prefer the 60tpi-Dual Compound-EXO-TR version for all Downcountry tires. These 60tpi-Dual-EXO-TR Downcountry tires roll fast, grip well, corner well, descend well, last forever, and almost never puncture, slice, or tear.

    in reply to: Upgrading brakes #623645

    Even the cheapest brakes can be vastly improve by doing these things.

    Make sure the brakes are well bled. Even the smallest bit of air in the lines reduces braking performance.

    Install metallic pads. Metallic pads provide much more bite than organic pads.

    Install larger rotors (especially the front rotor). Bigger rotors equal more bite.

    However, Tektro brakes don’t have a particularly good reputation and even doing all of these things might not be enough. I would consider upgrading to 4 piston Shimano Deore brakes.

    in reply to: Adding travel to my Marin Rift Zone 1 27.5 #623644

    Are you pranking us? I can think of few bikes that would be less likely to make a good Enduro bike than the Rift Zone 27.5. You can’t really turn a short-travel Trailbike into an Enduro bike. If you put 150-160mm fork on the RZ, you will end up destroying the ride-ability of the RF and probably end up with a broken frame. The longest reasonable fork would be 140mm. Something like a 140mm Fox 36, Marzocchi 36, or Pike 35, some very aggressive tires, and maybe an angle adjusting headset is about as Enduro as the RZ can get. I hope you realize that a new higher quality fork is going to cost $600+. However, if you did install a 140mm Fox 36 (and an angle adjusting headset that slackened the head-angle by about 1.5 degrees), you would see a huge improvement in suspension quality and descending ability without destroying the bikes geometry. The Recon fork is pretty crappy so almost any thing you do will be an improvement.

    If you still have your Jett, take measurements on it and transfer them to your Orbea-E. Measure from the pedals to the top of the seat and then adjust the Orbea seatpost to get the same height. Measure from the back of the saddle to the center of the handlebars and then move the seat front or back to get the same distance on the Orbea. If you need more adjustment, get a longer or shorter stem so that you get the same saddle to handlebar distance. Then adjust the handlebar up or down so that it is the same distance above or below the saddle on both bikes. Measure how wide your new handle bars are compared to the old ones. The bars a probably too wide for you. You likely need to shorten them. However, I wouldn’t shorten your handlebars to less than 71cm(28in). Doing these things should get both bikes to fit about the same.

    I guessing the the Orbea weighs about twice what the Jett weighs. I suspect that muscling around all that extra weight might be causing some of the discomfort in your upper body.

    in reply to: Is it safe to upgrade my 130mm fork to 150mm? #618431

    There are two issues.

    Is you bike strong enough to handle a 150mm fork? In general, increasing (or decreasing) fork travel by 10mm is fine. However, increasing by 20mm may make it more likely that you will break the frame. I would check with Marin to see what they think. They will likely say that using a 150mm fork will void your frame warranty.

    What will a 150mm fork do to your frames geometry? It will slacken they headtube by about 1* which I would say is a good thing. However, it will also slacken the seattube by about 1* which is a bad thing. This will make the bike climb less well.

    If it was me I would play it conservative and go for a 140mm fork like a Fox 36, Marzocchi 36 or Rock Shox 35, Pike, Lyric, or Yari. This won’t alter the geometry much while still giving you a bit more travel and will increasing the quality of the fork. The Recon is a pretty low quality fork. Choosing any of the above options should be a good improvement. Even a 140mm Fox 34 would provide a good improvement though not as stiff. If you’re a heavy person, I wouldn’t recommend the 140mm Fox 34.

    in reply to: Short Travel 29er – Heavy XC/Light Trail Advice? #617489

    I tried the 2.4 Dissector/2.4 Rekon combo which I liked because the Dissector rolls fast. However, the Dissector is not a very good front tire because it is twitchy and washes out on turns easily. It takes a lot of leaning to get the side knobs to engage. However, it would make a great rear tire.

    My current favorite tire combo is the 2.6 Rekon/2.4 Rekon. The 2.6 Rekon is a much better front tire. It rolls almost as fast as the Dissector but corners much better.

    @ B2DBB, I looks like you did something similar with the Specialized tires you choose.

    in reply to: Decent aggresive hardtail for under $1800 AUD #616140

    Rocky Mountain Growler
    Trek Roscoe
    Specialized Fuse
    Salsa Timberjack
    Canyon Stoic

    Look for Hardtails that come with 29×2.6 tires.

    in reply to: Mtb visitor to Colorado #615959

    You have two issues here temperature and altitude. I’ll explain using these examples of great Colorado destinations.

    Fruita/Moab. Low elevation <5000ft. Good for visitors from low altitude. Good for spring and fall riding but too hot for summer riding.

    Durango and surround areas. Medium elevation 5000-7000ft. Some low altitude visitors may experience altitude sickness or breathing difficulties. Good for spring, summer, and fall riding. However, summer riding is best done in the morning.

    Crested Butte, Gunnison, Monarch Crest, Salida. High elevation >7000ft. Low elevation visitors highly likely to experience altitude sickness or breathing difficulties. Good for summer riding only. High possibility of snow in early June or late September.

    in reply to: Trail bike suggestions #614532

    Her is my short list of what I consider to be the best Downcountry bikes.

    Trek TOP Fuel

    Rocky Mountain Element

    Transition Spur

    Ibis Ripley AF

    Specialized Stumpjumper

    in reply to: Are you riding "too much" tire? #614101

    @ killer climb

    i40 rims are good for 2.6-3.0 tires but on any narrower tire not so good. The thing to keep in mind with 3.0 tires is that you don’t want get too heavy or end up with a tire that has a very slow rolling tread pattern. Heavy slow-rolling tires suck the joy out of mountain biking. Try to avoid tires that weigh more than 1000gm. And go with tires that roll pretty fast and have almost an XC tread, like the Rekons. A 1200gm 3.0 Enduro tire will be like riding through deep sand all the time. For myself personally, A 2.6-2.8 tire, like the Rekon, on an i30-35 rim is the ideal Plus wheel. Anything wider, rim or tire, is just overkill.

    in reply to: Pivot Mach 6 #612495

    My wife has your same dimensions and we had a heck of a time finding a bike with adequate standover. She needed bikes with a 680mm or lower standover. You can find this info on the geometry charts of all bikes.

    Here are some bikes that we had good luck with. Nearly all the Ibis bikes have low standover. The size-S Ripley AF and Mojo have very low standover and will probably work. The Ripmo might work? The size-S Yeti sb130 and sb140 have very low standover heights. Stay away from Trek, Santa Cruz, and Specialized as their bikes have high standover. As you have already discovered Pivot bike have low standover but are the most expensive bikes available.

    Ultimately, we bought a Yeti Beti, which is no longer made. However the SB130 and SB140 are quite similar to the Beti. The SB130 LR (Lunch Ride) which has 137r/160f travel would be the bike I would buy today. However, if you’re on a budget, the Ripley AF is an excellent bike for the money.

    in reply to: Begginer looking for a cheap full sus bike #611559

    Even though my general thoughts are that any bike is better than no bike, I can’t recommend buying this bike. For person of your height, you will likely be much happier riding a newer bike with 29er wheels and modern geometry. Try to find something that was made in the last four years to get something worth buying. Consider buying a modern Trail Hardtail.

    Salsa Timberjack
    Specialized Fuze
    Trek Roscoe
    Canyon Stoic

    in reply to: Opinions on the best hardtail for climbing #609116

    You don’t say exactly how you intend to use this bike. Will you be climbing steep gravel roads or steep difficult singletrack? Are you intending to stay on mostly gravel or mostly singletrack or a mix of both? After you make those climbs, what are the descents like?

    90% of what makes a bike climb well is that it is very lightweight, especially the wheels and tires. Geometry plays into it some, but not as much as you might think. All XC hardtails mostly have fairly old school traditional geo. So there’s not going to be much difference between brands. In my mind an XC hardtail is the worst sort of mountain bike made. They beat you up. Their tires provide lousy traction and they descend poorly.

    However, if you put a set of Gravel tires on an XC hardtail, I think that they make a better Gravelbike than the standard dropbar Gravelbike because I prefer flatbars, mountainbike drivetrains, and suspension even on gravel and pavement. I use a full-sus XC bike with 700×43 gravel tires as my Gravelbike and it performs pretty well up to smoother intermediate singletrack. Ultimately, the tires are overwhelmed when the trails get more difficult.

    If you’re looking to use an XC hardtail as an easy singletack bike and Gravelbike, then I fully endorse it and I don’t think it matters which brand you buy. Just look for something lightweight with the best components for the money. However, if your looking for a singletrack trail ripper, a progressive geo Hardtail with 29×2.6 tires will serve you better.

    in reply to: Upgrading an old Giant… #607836

    Older bikes are seldom worth upgrading because they lack everything that makes modern mountain bikes great like modern geometry, 29 or 27.5 wheels, 1x drivetrains, wider 2.4-2.6 tires, improved suspension designs, etc. So I would only spend as little as possible until you can buy a modern bike. That modern bike doesn’t have to be brand new. If you can get a used bike that is not more than 2-3 years old, that bike would be worth upgrading. You’re wasting your money upgrading a 20 year old bike.

    in reply to: Short Travel 29er – Heavy XC/Light Trail Advice? #607687

    @Knurrli

    I don’t agree with @taxonomy. Longer travel allows easier travel over rougher surfaces. Slacker geo allows more stability at faster speeds on steeper terrain and also allows harder braking because it is more difficult to go over the bars. If you ride a lot of high-speed steep terrain that is fairly smooth a progressive geo Downcountry bike would be ideal. There isn’t a right or wrong here. It’s a combination of what you prefer mixed with what trails you ride. I could probably be happy on 100r/120f travel bike as long as it had about a 800mm front center. I prefer light-weight short-travel progressive-geo bikes. My rides often involve just about every type of surface: pavement, gravel, doubletrack, and singletrack from smooth/flat to rough/steep. I want light-weight fast-rolling efficient pedaling for the smooth/flat and climbing—combined with all out capability for the steep/rough and descending. I think that the Downcountry bike fills this niche perfectly.

    in reply to: Noob: Keep old xc bike or buy new hardtail #605663

    I would be looking for a progressive geo hardtail with 29×2.6 tires.

    Salsa Timberjack

    Trek Roscoe

    Specialized Fuze

    Rocky Mountain Growler

    These bikes will be more comfortable and descend better.

Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 401 total)