With two bikes each wearing Guides in our house, I buy the pads in the bag of 20 sets. Expensive outlay, but the cost per set is super cheap compared to buying a single set at a time.
New Whip? New toys for the dependable steed?
- Thread starter mykel
- Start date
What frame and fork are you using with them?Wheelset/tires for the sloppy slop. Not intended for hard riding.
Got the Shore out for its first ride in the dry after a muddy week. The thing fucking goes. Gonna need bigger brakes. 220 here I come.
I could see those being perfect for ‘snirt’ season.Wheelset/tires for the sloppy slop. Not intended for hard riding.
In other news, the new altitude freakin’ RIPS.
Harder than me, natch
Still have to dial in the suspension, but I am highly impressed.
Harder than me, natch
Still have to dial in the suspension, but I am highly impressed.
27.5 / 3.0 WTB Trail Boss in the front, MRP Ribbon
27.5 / 2.8 WTB Ranger in the rear, Canfield Yelli Screamy
Too bad about the Shimano driver.
I have a couple 11 speed drivetrains laying around plus I am hoping to find a magic SS gear.
I tried to justify microspline and figure I can buy the driver later.
I'm going to send my shock to Vorsprung for a rebuild, and order a new bearing kit for my 2016 Transition Patrol. Should be good as new. Also have a Tannus Tubeless insert to install. As much as I'm enjoying the fatbike season, I'm really looking forward to be back on dirt.
Got to ride my Tannus insert this last weekend on some Uber-chunky trails, turns out I only had about 8 psi for the ride. This was with big chunky rocks, and a bunch of climbing...and I barely noticed. There were no mishaps with an exo casing.
Color me impressed.
Color me impressed.
need to throw some new rotors on this, as the current ones seem to rub no matter what i do, but it's good enough for a test ride s00n. prolly get some better brakes as these are sub-deore level shimanos. but overall not bad for building up a mess around/pump track/sometimes-for-my-15yo/gonna destroy my back bike with spare/cheap parts.
That looks like the newer longshot geo Cotic. I tried one for a couple of weeks but found it too long, even with a 40mm stem. I can see it being good in the mountains but my intention is a Winter bike for local laps, BMX and pump tracks etc. I wanted something more playful so flipped it on PB. Interested to hear your thoughts once you get some saddle time.
need to throw some new rotors on this, as the current ones seem to rub no matter what i do, but it's good enough for a test ride s00n. prolly get some better brakes as these are sub-deore level shimanos. but overall not bad for building up a mess around/pump track/sometimes-for-my-15yo/gonna destroy my back bike with spare/cheap parts.
Fuck the pump track. Put a dropper on it and head to the mountains.
So my best friend spent the fall and winter quitting his bike mechanic/bike sales job at the "corporate" shop around here and opening his own bike shop. Its a close-knit community around here so when he took the 3 best mechanics in MD with him, well, business followed. I now had the challenge of needing to ride something he sells. The RidEgg Smash frame was sold and replaced with this.
Bumped the fork to 170mm
Installed AXS Reverb
Longer chain, longer rear brake line
Fresh Speccy rubber
First impressions? Chainstays are longer... like alot longer than the Guerrilla Gravity. A little harder to manual or pivot through a tight berm but definitely more stable in the chunk. I really really like this bike though. Like ALOT. It pedals and climbs just as well as my Smash but devours chunk like nobody's business. I'm also really happy to be back on a virtual pivot style platform again--I didn't realize how much it suited my riding style more than a horst link until switching back.
It is weird that the best bike you've ever owned is always the newest bike you own?
Bumped the fork to 170mm
Installed AXS Reverb
Longer chain, longer rear brake line
Fresh Speccy rubber
First impressions? Chainstays are longer... like alot longer than the Guerrilla Gravity. A little harder to manual or pivot through a tight berm but definitely more stable in the chunk. I really really like this bike though. Like ALOT. It pedals and climbs just as well as my Smash but devours chunk like nobody's business. I'm also really happy to be back on a virtual pivot style platform again--I didn't realize how much it suited my riding style more than a horst link until switching back.
It is weird that the best bike you've ever owned is always the newest bike you own?
The KS link design is the second best I've ever tried at smoothing out chunk, after high pivots. I was never happy with the long chainstays though. Overall most of my favorite bikes have been horst links with chainring level pivots. Not sure how much of that is down to the design itself, but they've all had a good balance of consistent cornering characteristics through their travel and decent bump absorption.
I'm convinced that this is part of the reason that 29ers are taking over the world so completely. I'm not saying that this is true for everyone who likes them by any stretch, but I do think that there are a whole bunch of people who bought their first 29er in the last few years, after geometry and suspension and... bikes in general got way better, and over-attributed the awesomeness of their new bike to the big wheels.
The Titan looks sweet though, congrats!
Hell yeah. I've had a couple spitfires and I've nothing but good things to say about Keith and Banshee. Great to hear that the new rigs are continuing the good tradition!
You're probably onto something there. I'm sure there's lots of others like me, who went from a 2013 27.5 bike (which even had very slack 65 HT, but 74 ST and a 418mm reach on a medium) to a 2018 29er (which was a Sentinel with 64 HT, 77 ST, and 450mm reach) and were like, "Holy shit this thing charges everything!" Only now a couple years later I'm starting to question whether I really need the big wheels since I don't race, and if maybe I'd have more fun not fighting the big wheel out back. Hence going to give the mullet a solid try, and to be thorough, also looking at takeoff 27.5 forks.
Hey, I'm 2mm faster and stiffer now!
and I put back on a reliable seatpost again.
Almost 31 pounds with the Zeb and inserts isn’t too bad.
and I put back on a reliable seatpost again.
Almost 31 pounds with the Zeb and inserts isn’t too bad.
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Not only do I agree with you, but I have proof. Ha, my 2 suspension bikes are 29er Norco’s. Both have dialed geometry, and work great. I recently built up an 853 hardtail and I chose 27.5 wheels because of two reasons. 1 I still love racing slalom and it is perfect for that, and 2. Fun.
I loved the bike from the very first ride and can’t stay off of it now. But the reason I love it has nothing to do with wheel size. The geo is perfect on this bike from the head angle to the steeper seat angle. And since it is not marketed as a “hardcore” hardtail, the tube set is really comfortable and fun to ride. If this same bike had 29 inch wheels, it would still be great.
I think you are right. People also like to share with each other how their latest purchase is more than justifiable. This snowballs the hype train.
A lot of brands have a 27.5 version in the lineup up until there are no orders at advisory meetings for the 27 version and a crazy amount of 29s then the 27 version gets cancelled. The brands won’t produce it if the distribution and shops aren’t preordering/buying. Dog chasing tail.
Isn't it more that the decision making in the bike industry is irrational? Every company tries to jump brainless on the next trend.
Case in point, as many euro-based bike brands missed the 29er train early on, they did not even think and hopped on the 27.5 one out of fear to be left behind again. The smart move would have been to refine your 26" bikes and try to catch up with the 29er development to get these sales back. Instead they released initially bad 27.5er bikes and, because of the resources locked in this area, it took them even longer to get to produce competitive 29ers.
Case in point, as many euro-based bike brands missed the 29er train early on, they did not even think and hopped on the 27.5 one out of fear to be left behind again. The smart move would have been to refine your 26" bikes and try to catch up with the 29er development to get these sales back. Instead they released initially bad 27.5er bikes and, because of the resources locked in this area, it took them even longer to get to produce competitive 29ers.
Don't all Shimano brakes perform the same?need to throw some new rotors on this, as the current ones seem to rub no matter what i do, but it's good enough for a test ride s00n. prolly get some better brakes as these are sub-deore level shimanos. but overall not bad for building up a mess around/pump track/sometimes-for-my-15yo/gonna destroy my back bike with spare/cheap parts.
we will see how i get along with the longer chainstays when the actual riding season hits. on a size medium the effect is certainly going to be more pronounced than a size LG or XL. I rode two different Giant Reigns before the GG so I am used to them to some extent but those were 27.5 bikes.
Thanks! In love so far! I agree with this sentiment. I've worked in shops on/off for the last 20 years and so always try to have a new frame or bike every year (as funds and industry discount allow). My GG Smash was my first 29er and also the first bike in a long while that I rode for two seasons in a row. The "new bike" syndrome I don't think was quite as strong for me personally with the move up in wheelsize but I did realize that it was also the only 29er I had ridden consistently in several years so therefore it by default wasn't objectively terrible (as opposed to previous era big wheeled bikes) and for the trails around here the 29" wheels do offer alot of advantages. I was vehemently anti-29 for myself up to the GG and so figured that would be a good platform to try something new on--it was a good move--i liked it. Having been sales for much of these last several years though I can also attest to the fact that a majority of people are convinced they need a 29" bike before they even walk through the door and it is a nightmare trying to talk them out of it, if the platform doesn't suit them. If you convince them otherwise and they end up with buyer's remorse its my fault and if I let them get it--they will be miserable pushing a huge bike around and that somehow also ends up being my fault for not convincing them 27.5 was better.
You’d think so but you forget the general public are just as stupid and irrational.
In the case of Specialized, my understanding is they tried to stick with 26” because they thought 29 was the future and 27.5 offered no real benefit. But nobody bought their 26ers – they had warehouses full of the things they couldn’t shift (especially in Europe).
So they had to rush their first 27.5 stumpy to market. It was a terrible bike but it had the right wheel size so people bought loads of them.
IIRC that stumpy used an existing 29er front end and had custom 27.5 stays. I suspect GG do a slightly better job of that
I definitely think there is something to the notion that at least some of the 29er love comes from just how good bikes are in general now. But I also still think it depends on how big you are and how you ride.
A 6'4" former roadie riding fire roads all day is probably always going to prefer the bigger wheels, whereas a 5'5" former gate racer will need you to pry his 26" hoops from his cold dead hands. For those somewhere in the middle there is no absolute right answer.
I'm 6'1" and have been on 29ers the last few years. I'm now considering a mullet for my next rig. It's not an easy choice but it's nice to have all the options.
A 6'4" former roadie riding fire roads all day is probably always going to prefer the bigger wheels, whereas a 5'5" former gate racer will need you to pry his 26" hoops from his cold dead hands. For those somewhere in the middle there is no absolute right answer.
I'm 6'1" and have been on 29ers the last few years. I'm now considering a mullet for my next rig. It's not an easy choice but it's nice to have all the options.
I for one wish all those in power trying to shove their 29ers down my throat a slow and painful death. I don't like the way they ride. I'm not a plow bike guy, and moving the big wheels around takes a lot more effort than their smaller siblings. While I reckon running 26" wheels in a modern, progressive frame might be worthless, I would very much like to have the option not to run 29 inchers everywhere. I have tested several 29" modern enduro and trail bikes and I'm still feeling like they are too cumbersome for me. I come from a dirt/street background so short chainstays feel natural. I know I'm in the minority here, but again, I feel like I'm being left out of the party.
Right strategy but their own marketing fail for so aggressively pushing the "benefits" of 29ers. Customers that did not want 29ers because too big but also did not want to get stuck with an old wheelsize hopped over to 27.5 and other brands. Because "best of both worlds". If Speci from the beginning would have marketed it as "the right wheelsize for you", "Body Geometry Wheel Size" or "Are you a 26er or a 29er" then this would have caught on.
Their last generation 26er Enduro was one light, well balanced, all-around bike for gravity-oriented riders that I do not think they have ever matched again. Some folks had them build to 11.xx kg with nearly no compromises.
Yeah, if those fuckers at GG would not make their bikes with so low BB heights I would buy one and stick 26" wheels in it.