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You guys are in my age group as well. Riding around Bend, OR is a lot of fun, everything from semi-techy XC riding around Phil’s to long shuttle descents down from the Mt. Bachelor area. Nice, mellow gradient trails like the Deschutes River Trail from near Sunriver (Start at the Lava Visitor’s Center and start with a nice 4-mile or so descent down the Black Rock Trail to the DRT). If you decide to stay on I-5, there is a lot of riding in the Ashland area, and in the Willamette Valley there is Alsea near Corvallis, and Black Rock West of Salem. Both of these areas are a little rowdier, long grind up gravel fire/logging roads to the trails and then hold on! I haven’t ridden Galbraith up in Bellingham, but have heard great reports – hope to check it out this summer. You guys should have a blast!
If you get a chance to. ride a Pivot Switchblade. I just recently got one and I’m blown away by how well it climbs, and makes descents get behind me way sooner than I want them to (almost). People will knock the 157mm spacing as not fitting their old wheels, etc… but I have had problems on bikes for DECADES with hitting my heels on the stays. Not on this bike… Massive tire clearance, it climbs, rolls, descends, is comfortable, overall just feels great. I’ve ridden lots of Pivots, Treks, Scotts, Salsas, Ibis, Santa Cruz, Giant, and this bike is my fave – I am a trail rider. I like to go at a good clip, but don’t have illusions of winning an Enduro race or DH. My ride yesterday was in tight, twisty, root-infested single track and the bike performed well at 5-6 mph. They day before was open, fast trail with speeds in the mid-20’s and it felt great there too (any good bike should…) There are a ton of good bikes out there these days, but try to find a Pivot demo and check this out. 135 rear, 150 front and feels like more. I went with the 27.5+ build, but rode a couple of them with 29″ and it was a hard choice…
As a former dealer of both bikes, I have this to say:
Both are well-equipped, good-riding bikes. That said, I’d go with the Scott. While we carried Trek longer than Scott, we had no warranty issues with Scott’s bikes and Trek had quite a few. The suspension design on the Fuel is a bit more advanced, but the Scott’s TwinLock system almost gives you three bikes in one. The differences between how the bike performs with the push of a switch is pretty amazing. Open suspension, the bike rides like a tank over most obstacles the average to rough trail will throw at you. In mid-travel it is more efficient, not quite XC-like, but great for long, technical climbs and rolling trails. Flip to “locked” and you have a great bike for the long fire-road climbs and pavement slogs to get to the trail. Also great for longer stretches of sand – especially on a ‘plus’ bike – where it is not rough and you want efficiency for getting through the extra resistance. So 0 you said your trails were mild-to-medium… If you don’t ever think you’ll ride rougher stuff, then the Trek might be a tiny bit nimbler-handling, and with a “standard size” tire may be a bit faster when you are really pushing it on a smoother trail – but the Scott will be a more versatile bike. The only downside to the Scott is the extra cabling in the front, which bothers some folks. I found that when I was riding the type of trails I like to ride I didn’t notice the cables at all.
Either way, you should have a good time. As far as the comment on “get it on-line – when I had an issue they told me to take it to the shop and send them the bill”: Sure go ahead – but don’t be too surprised that if you do, in a few years you may not have a shop to go to to do this. Our shop closed for a combination of personal reasons (health of a partner) and fighting the loss of business due to on-line sales. You have two places you can go to test ride the bikes, and have warranty or service handled – some of which should be handled no-charge to you without having to deal with a 3rd-party. You can’t test ride an on-line bike, and all the reviews in the world, and personal opinion won’t tell you which way to go ultimately. Which of the two bikes did YOU like the feel of? Things like saddle-to-bar position, and just the ‘feel’ can only be tested in real life. While I am making a decent living doing a service-only business these days, I truly wonder how long the retail market will survive in it’s current form. OK </rant> Enjoy your new ride!
Budget bike is a completely acceptable way to start. If you like it enough to stay with it, save up for a nicer bike next year (if you need to save…) If you go Full-suspension, my personal rec is to not bother unless you are willing to spend $2K or more. Giant and a few others make bikes in the $1500 range, but the difference in quality and performance for another $500 – $1k is huge. Keep the old bike for muddy days or a loaner/back-up. Nice to have a bike handy if you have a friend that wants to ride while visiting from out of town, etc…
As a professional mechanic for 40+ years, I would offer a couple of things to check:
1) It looks more like this wear is from the chain being cross-chained than actual “load” wear on the teeth. So – as far as user-related things to check – do you ride in that larger ring often with the rear being in the larger two or three gears? That makes the chain have to angle onto the front ring as it engages at the top, under load this will wear the outside faces of the teeth as you pedal. If this is something that you do (common these days on 2x drivetrains), when you approach a hill that you think you will need a lower gear to get up, shift to the smaller front ring BEFORE you get to the start of the effort, and run the chain in the middle of the range in the back or larger cog as you need. This will keep the chain running “straighter” and also slightly reduce the tension it is under as it comes off the teeth, reducing wear. (Be aware though, that the smaller ring may also wear a bit faster as it has less teeth, so they engage the chain more frequently…)
2) Your chain appears to be clean – that is good. Have you been lubricating your chain with a high-quality chain-specific lubricant? That will also help it “slide” onto the drivetrain teeth as you ride. Get a good, ‘dry lube’ style of lube (I have been a big proponent of the Boeshield T-9 lube), Rock’nRoll, Prolink, Purple Extreme and others work well too. Don’t over-lube the chain – I wipe mine off after each ride with a rag, and then rub my fingers on the chain after – if I get any sign of lube coming off on my fingers, I probably have enough lube for another ride. If the chain made noise while riding, or feels dry after wiping the dirt off, I lube AFTER I am done riding and let the bike sit – a quick wipe-off before I head out again (takes 30 seconds) helps make sure that no new dirt adheres to the chain. (Over-lubing the chain, or doing it right before you ride tends to attract dust and dirt and you will get some fast wear and a shitty-looking drivetrain!)
Get a chain-checker. Use it every few weeks/half-dozen rides and as soon as the chain checker “fails” on the first check level, replace it. You can usually get a few chains over a cassette and rings before they will need to be replaced. I use good quality but not flashy high-end chains. I consider them wear items that need to be replaced regularly. I buy high quality cassettes and chainrings, as a well-maintained and regularly replaced chain will make them last a long time. One other thing – if the above recommendations are already being done, have a qualified mechanic check the bicycle’s chain-line. Sometimes, the parts spec’d on a less-expensive bike (not sure what you have…) may not be optimum for the geometry of the frame and the chain will never really run at the best angle. This might be able to be changed with a part swap or two – see if the dealer will help you out with a discount on the parts, or even a warranty if this is the case. It’s rarer that this happens these days, but still not unheard of.
Enjoy your bike!
For that time of year, I would hit Crusty Butt and spend the week there! Couple of things to consider besides temps: Depending on where you are from, you will likely need a couple of days for your body to begin to acclimatize to the altitude (town around 9K feet, everything pretty much goes up from there…) and there are enough trails in that area to go and ride for a week with little repeat or doubling the trail. Fruita, in my experience is a little short of riding for a full week – and Moab, while loaded with rides, is a lot like Fruita, HOT and rocky. I love Moab, but the temps in the summer might be harsh for longer rides that you can’t finish before early afternoon. If it were my trip, I’d hit CB for the July dates, but if I was going earlier or later in the season, a few days in Moab and a few in Fruita and get my rock on. That’s my opinion after multiple trips over the years to all the locations – your desires and preferences/heat-soak ability, etc… might make you go a different route. Some friends are heading to Moab in late June, and just start early in the day and try to finish before 1:00, and hang and the hotel pool drinking the rest of the day. That can work too. Regardless, have a blast!
