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The Mountain Bike Thread

95steel said:
What is he looking for? What size?
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He's my size 5'9" with a 30" inseam, so probably a medium or a small if the brand runs bigger. He is looking for something to go cross country riding with me, no DH, no jumps, bike parks, stunting or any of that other shit. Just needs a cheapish off road bike.
 
So I had some questions, lookijg for recent info.

1. Keep reading that you can buy a new vike for a VERY good price now - where? LBS stuff is silly
2. Is 26" still a thing? I just dont want a 29, is 27.5 the answer then?
3. Whats the big deal with updated geometry? Does a newer bike somehow make it easier to pedal? I dont get it, sorry.
4. Id like an aluminum frame, just dont want to deal with CF cracks chips etc.
5. Anything decent for 1500?
6. What year is too old? Looking at 2012 Trek Fuel, too old? Looking for some recommendationa. Seeing some Yetis and other fancy brands, but mostly CF. Specialized maybe? How about a 2018 Giant Glory? DH bike stupid? Would like 140-150mm travel min

Selling two of our Cannondale Bad Boys because we are near the mountains and we need different bikes. Currently also have a 2010 Trek Fuel 8, but may sell it too.

Thanks
 
Sea Otter-

My 6 year old's first DH race. Pretty rad. I got to give it a go on the old man class too.





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I've got a gopro vid of one of my practice runs somewhere on the camera. I'll see if I can dig it up tomorrow
 
Market research question. How cold do you guys ride down to?

Do you do snow biking or give up around zero like the rest of us?
 
fordguy said:
So I had some questions, lookijg for recent info.

1. Keep reading that you can buy a new vike for a VERY good price now - where? LBS stuff is silly
2. Is 26" still a thing? I just dont want a 29, is 27.5 the answer then?
3. Whats the big deal with updated geometry? Does a newer bike somehow make it easier to pedal? I dont get it, sorry.
4. Id like an aluminum frame, just dont want to deal with CF cracks chips etc.
5. Anything decent for 1500?
6. What year is too old? Looking at 2012 Trek Fuel, too old? Looking for some recommendationa. Seeing some Yetis and other fancy brands, but mostly CF. Specialized maybe? How about a 2018 Giant Glory? DH bike stupid? Would like 140-150mm travel min

Selling two of our Cannondale Bad Boys because we are near the mountains and we need different bikes. Currently also have a 2010 Trek Fuel 8, but may sell it too.

Thanks
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Unless you're pretty short, you want 29" wheels. They roll faster, over bigger rocks, and have a larger contact patch for traction.

Some guys run a mullet (29 front, 27.5 rear) to help them break the back end loose or, if they're shorter, to help them avoid buzzing their ass on gnarly descents.

Seems like right around 2017 and up bike mfgs figured out that a longer reach, shorter stem, and slacker head angle were the hot ticket to going fast on a mountain bike. This mainly benefits descending. Myself and a lot of people I rode with noticed a night and day difference between 2017/2018 bikes and those that were older with different geometry.

I'm not sure if the smoking deals that were happening a few months ago are still out there. I doubt anything decent that's full suspension in the modern geometry date range will be going for $1,500, but you can always keep an eye on the buy/sell section of http://www.pinkbike.com to see what might pop up.

I've had quite a few CF frames that have beat on pretty hard at bike parks and DH tracks, etc that haven't had any cracking issues. Last bike I broke was aluminum. I'll also say that there's something about an aluminum bike that feels more fun to me.

Lastly I'd say don't get a DH bike if you intend to do anything more than just ride a chairlift or shuttle. They're miserable to pedal uphill.

Transition makes aluminum versions of their bikes. Commencal, and I think Norco does as well?
 
fordguy said:
So I had some questions, lookijg for recent info.

1. Keep reading that you can buy a new vike for a VERY good price now - where? LBS stuff is silly
2. Is 26" still a thing? I just dont want a 29, is 27.5 the answer then?
3. Whats the big deal with updated geometry? Does a newer bike somehow make it easier to pedal? I dont get it, sorry.
4. Id like an aluminum frame, just dont want to deal with CF cracks chips etc.
5. Anything decent for 1500?
6. What year is too old? Looking at 2012 Trek Fuel, too old? Looking for some recommendationa. Seeing some Yetis and other fancy brands, but mostly CF. Specialized maybe? How about a 2018 Giant Glory? DH bike stupid? Would like 140-150mm travel min

Selling two of our Cannondale Bad Boys because we are near the mountains and we need different bikes. Currently also have a 2010 Trek Fuel 8, but may sell it too.

Thanks
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1. Second hand market has crashed. Online deals everywhere. Kona will be particularly cheap.
2. 26" is still used for jump bikes, commuters and kids bikes. Rest of the market is 27 and 29 or mixed/mullet (27 rear, 29 front). I much prefer 27". 29" are faster in a straight line but not as fun or manueuvreable.
3. Early 29" geometry straight up sucked, they got 27" geometry right about 2017-2018 and 29" geometry right a year or so after that.
4. Aluminium is well worth it. Carbon is landfill.
5. Depends what you want and how hard you look.
6. I wouldn't go earlier than 2018 in a bike you intend to ride lots or wear out parts on.
DH bikes don't age much. You can go out and thrash any of them. More modern bikes can downhill well and still pedal up.
 
DirtRoads said:
For some things. There are a lot of people on carbon frames who are doing just fine, myself included. I’d buy another carbon frame without thinking twice.
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Yep, never had an issue.

My last four long travel bikes have been carbon. I flogged them all with no breakage. In fact, on one I cracked the aluminum linkage on it, but the carbon held up.

The last three my wife was on were also carbon with no issues.
 
The only time I had issue with Carbon was when I quickly and semi-haphazardly boxed it to ship back to NJ, the axle covers came off the front wheel and the box got crushed bad enough by FedEx ground that the axle got pushed through the down tube. Bought $4k insurance for the box but FedEx refused to cover it, I should have gone after them money-wise. My uncle did carbon work at the time and wrapped that whole section of downtube in 3 or 4 layers of new carbon and then epoxied it. Turned out fine ride wise, but didn't look the best.
 
x whatever on no issues with carbon. Not only does mine survive being ridden hard-ish it has survived plenty of airline baggage handlers
 
Picked up this old Kona hard tail to do a cheapy e-mtb mid drive. My buddy gave me a ton of parts including an air fork, dropper post, hydraulic brakes, etc. should be a pretty decent bike when finished. Frame looks beefy.
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Sandy Johnson said:
Cathro is a cool freakin dude. We dorked out on the science behind trying to teach little kids to pedal (he's fighting that battle now, and my wife is the getting kids pedaling whisperer).
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Any advice on getting the kid to leave his feet on the pedals? Actually took him on some trails yesterday and it went good, except for him not listening when to brake and toe dragging down steeper (for a 4 year old) stuff.
 
My out of shape ass attempting to figure out how to get down the course in practice. I was cracking up in the starting gate because one of my riding buddies Tyler will belt that song out at the top of his lungs on trails.

 
Sandy Johnson said:
My out of shape ass attempting to figure out how to get down the course in practice. I was cracking up in the starting gate because one of my riding buddies Tyler will belt that song out at the top of his lungs on trails.

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Looks damned fun!
 
My only carbon break was a bad crash OTB into large rocks rolling one of the Cannel Plunge drops. I was clipped in with my weight leveraging the seat post tube against one of the rocks. It cracked the top tube length wise with the twist and did some minor damage to the seat post tube. Giant replaced the frame. I bought another carbon bike after without thought.
 
RedX said:
Looks damned fun!
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It was indeed fun. I used to stress about beating people, but this year I signed up, got as many practice laps as I could, and enjoyed myself on each run. Not ever day we get an air dh type trail to ride in our back yard. Now I know that's just something losers say while winners go home and fawk the prom queen, however, with kids and zero training, I wasn't going to be competitive for the podium anyway, so why not at least try to have a good time.

Best part was getting my oldest into it. He asking to go to more races, so maybe it'll be a thing we'll do.
 
Sooo...
73yo dad was looking at doing some famous century group ride to the coast in the beginning of june. As it happened I got signed up for it as well.:homer:
Its a road ride with a couple hills thrown in (about 4500ft elevation gain total) and a good chance for a lot of headwind.
I'm going to send it on the single-speed rockrider 26er with the following mods :
gravel tires
44x20 gearing
What could go wrong ?
I have so much fun being miserable on the climbs with the singlespeed, I have no idea when the stumpjumper will come out again.
At least until june I'll probably be singlespeeding exclusively. Or until my heart attack, whichever comes first :laughing:
Terrain is getting a bit drier at last, BTW :)
:beer:

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