Any mountain bikers out there 2.0

[missed]

Well dumbass me couldn't pass up a good deal on a Santa Cruz Bronson CC. It will be here tomorrow. I have got to find a 24" wheeled bike for my little riding buddy. Stuffs clicking fast for him and the 20" is cramped now. Trying to find a good 24 used is proving to be a challenge.

 

[jbell]

Missed, how tall is he? I ask because I started mine out on 26” mountain bikes before they were 5’ tall and they did great!

working on track stands:

After a few years on XS 29” single speeds learning to ride (lots of tears, and slow short mileage days) they are now on some super high end build XC race bikes and crushing it! It was so worth the time and effort! Plus it kept me building and modifying bikes, gotta feed the need!

 

[missed]

@jbell

He is 4'8" and 25" inseam. I bought one of the Trailcraft Timber 26 special winter builds today. He's just barely big enough for it. I bet he will be able to ride it 3-4 years.
I'm pretty impressed with the SC Bronson so far. Need to do some more suspension tuning, and tubeless the wheels. The place I bought it from had put tubes in for shipping. Next bike will be an upgrade for my daughter, she is on a Gary Fischer advance 13" frame right now. Hoping that will work for her till she is big enough for a small frame size 27.5".

 

[jbell]

Yep, @ 4’8” he still has a little growing to go before he is ready for a 29er. I have truly enjoyed the experience of teaching my daughters how to mount bike. They are now old enough so we can start justifying trips to riding destinations!

The Bronson is a sweet bike for sure, I really like all the current SC bikes. I have a 2020 Highball frame hanging on my stand right now that I am looking forward to building and racing his summer. I have been trying to decide if I want to stick with mechanical shifting or go AXS...

 

[missed]

I really wanted a Guerilla Gravity Shred Dogg, but running across this Bronson at the right price I couldn't say no.

I'm hoping to move them both to 27.5 or 29 around that 5'2" range. I think my daughter has about a year, and my boy has 3-4. The Trailcraft outta fix him up till then.

I had been looking at the electronic shifting. I think it could be sweet, I haven't ridden one with it yet. This bike has X01 Eagle on it, going to NXS wouldn't be a huge jump. What I really want is Fox Live Valve on this bike. I may call them after the first of the year and see if my 36 performance elite and DXP2 can be retrofitted or if I just have to sell those and buy there full kit with new fork and shock, which is like $3000. The LV would be awesome on some of our local trails as it goes from rocky stair stepped climb one second to going right back down, it would be sweet to have the reactive suspension to tighten up the valving and then open back up going down. I really like the frame geometry and suspension so far. It just eats up whatever you throw at it and you still feel comfortable pushing it harder.

 

[jbell]

Live valve is pretty coil, but I have heard reports of it being harsh off the top. Which may be great on an XC race rig (like I ride) but not for a trail bike. Of course the people who told me that are on a Pivot which is a DW link and the Bronson is the VPP so there could be a major difference in how it works.

 

[E. Bryant]

Signed up for the Lumberjack 100 MTB race in June:

OVERVIEW — LUMBERJACK 100

www.lumberjack100.com

I've done century events on road and gravel bikes, but never before on the mountain bike. Therefore, I self-selected the "10+ hours" start wave, because I really don't see myself averaging better than 10 MPH. Should be a good experience!

 

[missed]

I'm trying to get ready for the Dino Enduro

Southern Enduro Tour

SET

www.southernendurotour.com

We will see if I can get there. At least this is one of my home trails. I'm finally over the crud and have been back to riding. Gonna ride the track at the house tonight, go tear it up at Dinosaur state park Friday before the storms come in.

 

[missed]

Live valve is pretty coil, but I have heard reports of it being harsh off the top. Which may be great on an XC race rig (like I ride) but not for a trail bike. Of course the people who told me that are on a Pivot which is a DW link and the Bronson is the VPP so there could be a major difference in how it works.

It appears that it just goes from open to close, like you said that could lead to some harshness that would not be friendly on a trail bike. I was trying to see more of the logic on the control as the terrain here can have little punchy climbs that can be fast at the bottom and need suspension to soak up some of the rocky rooted sections. I'd hate for it to think I'm climbing and close up when I'm fixing to attack one of these spots. Well I won't have it in the budget for a while so I won't really have to worry about it. Current setup has been pretty awesome so far.

 

[jbell]

I'm going to do a few races this year (if we all don't die first from COVID19) on a geared bike as opposed to only on a single speed. So far I'm doing most on the SS (the same Pivot Les as last year) but I have one 24 hour race and one 100 miler that I'm going to race this bike.

Here it is:
-Santa Cruz Highball
-Fox 34 SC @ 120mm
-XX1/XO1 Eagle drivetrain with a 36t up front
-Syncros 1 piece bar and stem
-BMC high flex post
-Ergon saddle
-XT brakes
-XTR pedals
-Enve M525 / I9 Hydra wheels
21.4 pounds with pedals

 

[E. Bryant]

Dang, 21.4#? Sweet! I think my Les 29 is over 25#, but it's built with a 27.5+ DT XM855 wheelset, 130mm Fox 34, dropper, XT alloy cranks, etc.

 

[jbell]

Yeah, I could have gotten it down to 21 flat with a 32SC and a lighter weight saddle, but there is much more weight to be cut. I have tried the 32SC @100mm vs the 34SC @ 120mm on several bikes over the last few years and I much prefer how the extra 20mm slackens the HTA a little plus I can run it just a little softer on the top of the stroke without worrying about bottoming out so easily. Having it softer up top really makes a big difference after several hours on roots and rocks.

The HB frame is super lightweight which really helps. My Les is just over 22 pounds and that is all In the frame. I was tempted to try the new Les SL Pivot released, but to support our team and shop I really should be on a Santa Cruz. Not that I mind they make a killer bike! I really enjoyed the Blur I built up last year to train on.

E.Bryant, it sounds like your Les is built to handle some chunk! They sure are super sweet riding frames, I have beat the hell out of mine and it hasn’t even blinked.

Missed, I would love to see that GG when you get it built. Those are bad ass for sure!

 

[jbell]

This is from the new bike shakedown ride today, I took my daughters out for their first ride this year. It was on the road as most of the trails are still to wet and snowy to ride responsibly. They did great for their first ride after a long winter, just over 27 miles.

We found a place that apparently has toilet paper in stock, but it's an apple orchard of all places...

 

[missed]

I'm currently on a Santa Cruz Bronson. I have a Guerrilla Gravity Smash on the way along with the parts to convert it to a Megatrail also. Stupid virus has it delayed.

I'm looking forward to the races firing back up. We have been riding our trail here at home. I need to rebuild our pump track.

Damn #22 on the highball, I think my Bronson is #34 and the Smash and Megatrail will wind up about the same.

 

[E. Bryant]

E.Bryant, it sounds like your Les is built to handle some chunk! They sure are super sweet riding frames, I have beat the hell out of mine and it hasn’t even blinked.

More like it's built to handle a chunky rider I'm not a light guy, and the hardtail isn't my race bike of choice (that's my Pivot 429 Trail, which obviously is also not a lightweight whippet). It's just for screwing around, and it does that job superbly.

I did the lightweight thing with an Ibis Tranny 29 setup as a single speed, and while it was fun to ride, it just wasn't particularly well-suited to my preferred type of riding.

 

[jbell]

Ha! I gotcha

I had a Tranny 29 set up single speed and loved it, all but the steep HTA. I hope I end up liking this Highball as much as my Les. The Pivot Les is easily my favorite bike I have ever ridden.

 

[O-Town]

It's mud season here in Wisconsin. Makes for a 'fun' 2 hr ride when the bikes ends several pounds heavier than when it began.

 

[E. Bryant]

Yep, that looks representative of our current conditions as well. Although with all the snow that we didn't get this winter, the trails have actually be rather dry for mid-March except immediately after rain. Which comes every other day or thereabouts.

 

[missed]

That is about what mine looks like right now and only had two mud sections on the trail to go through. Some of our trails close up here with the slightest amount of rain due to the brown silty clay that turns to a mess with just a little water.

 

[E. Bryant]

Ha! I gotcha

I had a Tranny 29 set up single speed and loved it, all but the steep HTA. I hope I end up liking this Highball as much as my Les. The Pivot Les is easily my favorite bike I have ever ridden.

I had a 120mm Fox 32 SC on mine so the HTA was a touch slacker than specified, and honestly a steep setup works fine on most local trails. But the frame was so flexible that I never felt confident on it, and the "slot machine" adjuster was a pain to keep tight. So I went to the Les 29 frame which added about 10 oz, put on a Fox 34 fork which was over a half-pound heavier, threw on a take-off 27.5+ setup that is at least 1.5-2 lbs heavier than the skinny 29s, and suddenly I've got a bit of a tank. But it's fun to ride and has been bulletproof; just hose off the mud, apply some chain lube, and it's ready to go for the next ride.

I started thinking about getting the 429 Trail out this weekend, and found that it has a frozen headset Not sure if I should mess around with getting replacement bearings from Pivot (which I think uses FSA stuff), or do the right thing and put in a complete Cane Creek unit. And as long as I'm messing around with punching out and pressing in races, maybe it's time to experience with an Angleset. And this is why simple maintenance tasks go from $20 and 20 minutes to a couple hundred dollars and two weeks' worth of sourcing and re-sourcing parts.

 

[missed]

No kidding about maintenance projects growing! I need to figure out why mine isn't shifting that great though the mid range of gears. Chain only has a couple hundred miles on it. One of the private trails nearby is open again I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go ride there tomorrow. The home trail is getting more fun, there is still a couple days of trail work to make a rock crossing at one of the seeps, and completely rework the top section.

 

[Slambert008]

Hey all, I ride out of the Fayetteville area. My go to trails are Smith Lake, San Lee, Regency, and a few others. Here is my 2019 Stumpy 27.5” Sorry for the trash can. I had just installed my pedals

 

[E. Bryant]

So now that the weather got better, I did some general washing and a bit of chain maintenance. Busted out the trusty Park chain checker after scrubbing off a winter's worth of grime and found two that were over 0.5% and under 0.75% "stretch" (more accurately, wear) and so I've got a couple new KMC 11sp chains on the way. And since I'm ordering parts anyways, might as well buy a new carbon handlebar for the gravel bike

Stay tuned for next week's episode, where the need to replace a shifter cable turns into a new frame and fork.

 

[jbell]

Stay tuned for next week's episode, where the need to replace a shifter cable turns into a new frame and fork.

Exactly...

 

[Thorny]

E-Bike = pedal assist. After too many years of Hockey and some new knees, I can finally keep up with the rest of the family. Before kids, my wife and I raced in the NORBA series

 

[Slambert008]

View attachment 7289778View attachment 7289781 E-Bike = pedal assist. After too many years of Hockey and some new knees, I can finally keep up with the rest of the family. Before kids, my wife and I raced in the NORBA series

Don’t mind me, Im just drooling right now. ?

 

[E. Bryant]

My 5-year-old insisted on wearing his full-face helmet today:

He then demonstrated why he wore that helmet when he attempted to clear a log pile, got high-centered at the top, and augered into the ground face-first with a sickening crack. Good thing that chin bar took the hit instead of his jaw.

 

[Slambert008]

My 5-year-old insisted on wearing his full-face helmet today:

View attachment 7289926

He then demonstrated why he wore that helmet when he attempted to clear a log pile, got high-centered at the top, and augered into the ground face-first with a sickening crack. Good thing that chin bar took the hit instead of his jaw.

You’ve got a young ripper! Good on you. It’s good seeing kids out riding bikes instead of stuck behind video games

 

[missed]

My 5-year-old insisted on wearing his full-face helmet today:

View attachment 7289926

He then demonstrated why he wore that helmet when he attempted to clear a log pile, got high-centered at the top, and augered into the ground face-first with a sickening crack. Good thing that chin bar took the hit instead of his jaw.

Hell yeah full face for send it mode!

I need to get the kids full face helmets before the next bike park trip.

I got my Guerilla Gravity Mega Trail last night.

The Bronson is on the chopping block along with my extra set of Reserve wheels. I want to have two sets of matching wheels for the Megatrail setup. Then this summer I'm going to buy the Smash seat stay kit, fork shock, wheel sets to have the 29er smash setup.

 

[missed]

Haha next mod for the kids bikes

 

[missed]

Seat stay kit, new forks and shock on the way!!!! Big travel 29er enduro blasting machine on the way!
I'm going to the Manitou Mezzer and Mara pro shock. I rode a Manitou equipped bike over the weekend, I was instantly impressed with the handling and feel.

https://ridegg.com/products/gnarvana?option=Race

 

[E. Bryant]

Nice - I'm jealous!

I busted out the Mach 6 last week for a couple of early-season shake-down rides. Damn, that thing feels like poop after riding the hardtail all spring In all fairness to the bike, some of the local trails aren't exactly ideal for a 6"-travel sled. Proper use will need to wait for better weather and something resembling a return to normality.

 

[missed]

I bet its a hell of a difference after being on a hardtail! The GG's actually pedal really well, WAYYY better than the Bronson did. One of the things I liked and really didn't like about the Bronson is you had to ride it aggressively all the time, if you didn't it would understeer like hell, and had this catch point cornering, but when your pulled back trying to take it easy and conserve some energy or your just wore out it was a handful. The Megatrail I have been able to ride it however I wanted, now I have not been to the bike park with it. I am pretty confident it will be what I want at the park and in the rougher terrain. I have 2 friends with them and love them at the park. I have taken mine down our mini jump and berm track at the house and its just a hammer through it. I can't wait to get that rockshox lyric select off the front!

I had thought about building up a Trailpistol (the 120mm XC setup) also, which would just be a suspension change, seat stays, wheels. But the Megatrail does so good I will just keep it setup like that for now, and swap to the Gnarvanna setup when I really need it. Ill probably wind up with another frame and drivetrain next year so I can just grab one bike or the other and not have to swap stuff.

 

[BikePilot]

I ride most of the stuff in the CO front range, usually with my little dude. I built him up a 16lbs (really!) Flow last year and it's working really well. Super hard to find a kid's bike that's not stupidly heavy.

Here's the Flow build. I believe it to be the lightest bike of it's size around. Combo of BMX and MTB parts. Hardware is mostly aluminum with some Ti where strength is needed. Spokes are ti. Hubs are DT240S, etc. Really made a huge difference for the little dude and he shreds on it. Our neighborhood trail is a steep, rocky, black-rated affair and he rocks it.

 

[BikePilot]

And I'm on an older Intense Spider 275C.

We also ride dirt jump

And BMX.
the little dude crossing the finish line

For his birthday a couple years ago we rented the BMX track for his party. Here's three generations of our fam all getting some turns in together. Awesome time.

 

[bunk216]

Some good lookin bikes in here. Been riding my while life. Lean more towards flow and downhill stuff. Grew up on BMX bikes and dirt trails and jumps.

Here is my Nomad, her name is Candy. Spent waaaaaaay to much on her over the years.

 

[BikePilot]

Nice, I love Nomads. Rode the new Megatower in Sun Valley last summer and liked it also. Sort of a big-wheel Nomad.

 

[missed]

That PUSH 11-6 is awesome, I just wish it would fit on my frame, bottom eyelet on the new 11-6 is to large of a diameter, and hits the frame on full extension.

 

[BikePilot]

I bet Push could swap some parts on it to get it to fit. I'm seriously thinking about a Smash for a longer travel more gnar oriented ride to complement the light and nimble spider.

 

[missed]

I rode a Smash for a bit, I really liked it. I just needed the longer travel 29 for when the race season fires back up. I have been extremely happy with the GG platform. There is a Smash on Ebay for $4500 top of the line build! I have thought about picking it up for the frame and drivetrain.

 

[BikePilot]

Awesome thanks for the tip. I'm not racing anymore, but still ride fairly hard. I'm super close to Floyd Hill and Apex in Colorado. Floyd in particular is a spot where I could use a bigger gun than my Spider (a light 130mm travel 27.5 bike).

 

[missed]

Were hoping to make a Colorado trip late simmer if it goes back to reasonably normal. I will have to hit you up for some camping and riding places. It will be nice to try to escape the heat for a week or two.

 

[BikePilot]

Were hoping to make a Colorado trip late simmer if it goes back to reasonably normal. I will have to hit you up for some camping and riding places. It will be nice to try to escape the heat for a week or two.

Cool, sounds good. Honestly it's getting so crowded here, if you are traveling specifically for biking I'd go to Idaho. Happy to provide recs if you do come oyut this way of course!

 

[jbell]

Man you guys have a completely different riding world out west than I do here in Maine, I'm envious. Great to see some people who love bikes here on the Hide!

 

[BikePilot]

Has anyone here had a go on the fox 38 yet? Looks pretty sweet! https://www.ridefox.com/family.php?m=bike&family=38

 

[missed]

[IQUOTE="BikePilot, post: 8469218, member: 152197"]
Has anyone here had a go on the fox 38 yet? Looks pretty sweet! https://www.ridefox.com/family.php?m=bike&family=38
[/QUOTE]
My buddy has one on his now. He was a tester. I rode it over the weekend. I couldn't give it a full work over as he is smaller and lighter than I am. It is definitely more rigid than the 36 (better have been for 200+ grams heavier), especially with me being #200, the valving was not as harsh as the earlier Grip2 damper. My initial impression of it was good, I liked it, and if the Mezzer doesn't work out the 38 will probably go on my Gnarvanna setup. I still ended up buying Manitou Mezzers for the 27.5 and 29 . One they were on sale and available now instead of probably July/August for a 38. Plus we don't have big mountain terrain here, I think if I was going to be racing up in the mountains then I may have leaned to the 38 over the Mezzer, but no big mountains and I'm not anywhere near an EWS Rider. Manitou was having a sale and got 2 Mezzer forks and a Mara pro shock for under $2k.

 

[BikePilot]

Awesome, thanks for the intel! I haven't ridden Mezzers. Looks like a great fork as well. I took a spin on a MRP Ribbon Coil last year and was favorably impressed, but didn't get enough time on it to thoroughly evaluate.

 

[BikePilot]

Oh btw the Gnarvanna looks awesome, and killer name. I want one just so I have an excuse to say Gnarvanna more often

 

[dirthead1]

Here's my Yeti and some of the local scenery.

And these f'ers are everywhere right now....

 

[missed]

Awesome, thanks for the intel! I haven't ridden Mezzers. Looks like a great fork as well. I took a spin on a MRP Ribbon Coil last year and was favorably impressed, but didn't get enough time on it to thoroughly evaluate.

I prefer coil in the front and air in the rear, That is what kinda challenges me on the Fox, spend $1200 on the fork with a Grip2 damper, and another $400 with PUSH to get the coil. The Mezzer and IRT allows you to tune the entire length of the stroke. The sealed damper manages oil foaming and migration better and has totally seperate high and low speed channels (shock does too). FOX and Rockshox you get one or the other, Fox and a Grip2 you have better small bump (still not good) sensitivity with the new forks and grip2, really good big hit sensitivity, support on both ends of the travel. Rockshox Its the opposite, good on the small bumps good in the middle, to me feels like shit on the bit hits, feels like crap under braking. Hopefully Friday I will have it together with the new fork on it. Shock left Germany yesterday, who knows when the hell it will be here.