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New Whip? New toys for the dependable steed?

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
16,102
13,348
Man, I can't wait for DH bike laps!

Record snow this year for Purgatory. They "opened" last weekend with just one flow trail because they shoveled it, and no lift. :bonk:
Trestle was supposed to open last weekend, but didn't due to the heavy spring rains and they haven't yet announced when they will open.
 

bullcrew

3 Dude Approved
We have our mountain open and it's been a blast, the jumps all have knifed edges so now you loft 7-8 above deck and if not carefull way out past landing ..still snow out of the trails on some of other peaks but considering it melted the shit show we had this winter is impressive. mammoth is debating skiing through summer.
 

Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
1,930
1,288
SWE
My boy's DH Ransom is finally ready.
Twinlock and dropper are gone
10 speed Zee drivetrain
27.5 wheels for better standover clearance
Freshly serviced suspensions
He will come home tomorrow after a week at a scout camp. I hope he will like it 8-)
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Brakes were awful to bleed. Cheap Shimano 4 pots. I flushed the rear brake with more than 20ml and it was still coming out dirty... :eek:
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,227
2,539
The old world
First attempt at assisted living and it’s larrydavidprettygood.gif.

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About as uncool an (e) mtb brand as you could get caught on over here, but build quality is very impressive and the geometry suits me well (64,5 HA, 75,3 SA, 470 reach, 445 CS, 1250 WB, mullet).

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So far I’ve only thrown on a 50mm stem and build a Shigura for the front, which has worked phenomenally so far. The crappy saddle will need to go and I’m waiting on a set of Nukeproof Horizons, otherwise the spec is fine, including the Fox performance elite suspension. The rear shock has some emtb tune, which I suppose means moar lsc. The rear end is not overly sensitive on smooth trails, but comes into it’s own in the rough, which is fine by me.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,227
2,539
The old world
We shall see, I have a good relationship with them. Mentioned in passing that I’m not crazy about the Bosch controller and had a new Kiox in the mail at no cost the next day.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,574
4,854
Australia
Grabbed a 2019 SC HT LT to play with..see if it's a good job bike for me..if not then try a megatower or a nomad.
Going to throw ohlins on it and make a few small changes..wheelset, cranks, coils rear etc.
Buddy of mine just sold his. He had it pimped with a slackset, and an EXT shock. Bloody good bike. He's gone for the mullet lyfe now though
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,574
4,854
Australia
That sounds like a shit ton of money to invest on a bike with sub-par leverage curve, according to Roskopp himself. Those 9.8 anglesets are pricey.
Yeah, he got a Commencal Meta SX in the end. I think he was just trying to make the HT more rowdy to suit bigger and bigger stuff.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,227
2,539
The old world
Well I'll keep the hightower for certain days and grabbed a v4 nomad and swapped some stuff today.
Yes mulleted...
View attachment 196435View attachment 196436
How much travel are you running in the 38 up front and do you know what head angle you ended up with? Will be interested to hear how it compares to your impressions of the Hightower, I still love my V4 with small wheels.
 

bullcrew

3 Dude Approved
How much travel are you running in the 38 up front and do you know what head angle you ended up with? Will be interested to hear how it compares to your impressions of the Hightower, I still love my V4 with small wheels.
180 up front It corners fast, put the flip chip in high...wasn't as sold on it in low for a quick initial set up...so it may be good with it in low just don't know yet.

The HT man it pedals super easy, and nimble...steering feels like it's light...can't wait to take it out and ride...it feels almost flighty how light it is...so used to my bikes being mildly dead feeling off the top for rocks and deflection...they move fast but are planted...still need to tune and go coil rear so there's that...

Going to ride the HTLT and evil back to back...
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,227
2,539
The old world
180 up front It corners fast, put the flip chip in high...wasn't as sold on it in low for a quick initial set up...so it may be good with it in low just don't know yet.

The HT man it pedals super easy, and nimble...steering feels like it's light...can't wait to take it out and ride...it feels almost flighty how light it is...so used to my bikes being mildly dead feeling off the top for rocks and deflection...they move fast but are planted...still need to tune and go coil rear so there's that...

Going to ride the HTLT and evil back to back...
That should amount to +3cm AC length compared to the 170mm Lyrik the bike came with plus the additional wheel diameter. I could never get along with the Nomad in the low setting, that led to just too many pedal strikes but it appears you have raised yours up quite a bit.
 

bullcrew

3 Dude Approved
That should amount to +3cm AC length compared to the 170mm Lyrik the bike came with plus the additional wheel diameter. I could never get along with the Nomad in the low setting, that led to just too many pedal strikes but it appears you have raised yours up quite a bit.
I'll flip the chip measure the BB and then in high settings well...I'll grab some head angle numbers today and post...wheelbase et
The steering felt weird but it could be I haven't tuned it and that rockshox shock only has rebound so I can't control the initial so maybe that's part of it...that shock is gone as ordering one tomorrow
 

konifere

Monkey
Dec 20, 2021
557
685
@bullcrew How are you finding Ohlins TTX22m.2 shocks with the stock tunes? I like fast rebound and relatively light compression (my stock DVO Jade X has been perfect on both aspects for my Meta AM), but I got a feel from reading reviews that the TTX22m.2 have quite a bit of damping. Is that right, or are they average in regards to rebound speed and compression damping?
 

bullcrew

3 Dude Approved
@bullcrew How are you finding Ohlins TTX22m.2 shocks with the stock tunes? I like fast rebound and relatively light compression (my stock DVO Jade X has been perfect on both aspects for my Meta AM), but I got a feel from reading reviews that the TTX22m.2 have quite a bit of damping. Is that right, or are they average in regards to rebound speed and compression damping?
They have a bit more damping and when at speed it's perfect...I'm heavier so I'm sure that plays into it...but I do prefer ohlins over my other suspension hands down...had some time on all types of rides now 5 days at park, tech DH, rocks, jumps, tight trails, pedalling with wife and I can't fault it at all.. it can be tuned lighter relatively easy like any shock..

Best way to explain it is damped over air or air over damping for the forks as far as control...fox is air over damping, ohlins and avalanche is damping over air...airs there to hold it up and let the cart or valving do it's job like MX, off road race trucks etc .

This works with spring too, but air is more pronounced on effect being it's progressive..

It's still light and semi poppy not like air but if your railing and want to lift and change lines on rear or get light it does it easily at speed ...I am ordering ohlins coil rear for both bikes...I have tunes and shims for them from ohlins...

Hope this helps a little, main thing is you don't feel like the spring or air is controlling the shock and damping is secondary...they are there to hold ride height and damping does it's job.
 

konifere

Monkey
Dec 20, 2021
557
685
That's good to hear, thanks! I just bought a TTX22m.2 coil but haven't installed it yet. Can't wait to try it! As long as I can have fast rebound on the stock tune I'll be happy.
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,227
2,539
The old world
Finally getting rid of the e13 cassette on the Nomad that I never quite got along with. I'll sacrifice some top speed and the XD driver in exchange for Shimano prices and hopefully smoothness. Also got some Nukeproof Horizons for the moped for 55€ from CRC.

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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,089
9,745
AK
I think I'm getting closer to getting this dialed. I think the "MSC" was dialed up a bunch initially, made it pretty harsh. There seems to be a fairly narrow range of rebound adjustment too where it is not enough and packing up, despite there being "24 clicks", it's more like 7-9 or so and seems to get bad pretty fast outside of that. The LSC at this point is around 7-10 and seems to be ok. During my first runs I wanted braking bumps to be a little better, I was running zero MSC and dialed that in a little and it seemed to help, but need to do some more runs. I wish it was more plush on the negative/far side of bumps and in general cling to that side of things a little better. This may be where the spring just can't compete with a coil...

I really like the Zeb chassis though, there's a particular jump to bank-g-out to another jump that I can just hold on to while the bike is experiencing significant sideways and downward forces and then I can just rail through to the next lip, vs. the Lyrik always puts me on a wacky line here because of the flex and not being able to hold it, so then I go off the next lip at a weird angle. That's one reason I'm trying to make the Zeb chassis work...although in other settings, the coil on the Lyrik is obviously superior and I can rail through some pretty intense off-camber rooty stuff just because it's clinging better to the roots.

The suspension overall was working "ok" today, like hitting roots and stuff mid-flight and not having them upset the chassis, keeping it in control. Out of the DVO and the Ohlins rear shock, the DVO seems to be winning. The Ohlins is back from tune, but still pretty harsh on chunky stuff. I didn't get a lot of time to mess around with the LSC though before my tire puncture a few days ago, so I'll put it back on and play around with it a little more.

So far, this is doing better than the HC97, not blowing my mind though, but I think I've finally gotten some baselines that I can now start from/go back to.

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Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
1,930
1,288
SWE
Fast SC4 cartridge.
Oh, you went for the whole cartridge. Fast also has the compression unit only that you can switch with the moco "damper". I don't know if they do it for the Zeb...?
I have an earlier version of their damper upgrade without the MSC adjuster. It is still sold by Novyparts as the Splug. It works great for me on my Yari