Show off your Mountain Bike!!!

SBC is a great shop! I live about 5 minute walk from there! We're fortunate that we have a few great bike shops in town (Bluestone and Rocktown are the others). I bought my bike from Bluestone and have had all the work done there, but wouldn't hesitate to take it to SBC either.

 

I'm more and more thinking about trying to tackle this myself. I guess between paying attention when disassembling and YouTube, I could probably figure it out.

 

Replacing seals and changing oil is not hard, but it helps to have the proper tools. You'll need the proper oil and something to measure it with, and depending on your fork, you may need a modified socket to get the top nut off. Standard sockets have beveled inside edges and will tear up the nut. You can grind one down if you have a grinder. And having a torque wrench in the proper range helps, but if you pay attention to how tight it is when you remove it, you can get it close enough, but I am too OCD and torque everything to spec.

I had a Fox on a previous bike that never felt right, could never get all of the travel out of it, it just ramped up really fast. Made me wonder why everyone liked Fox. Did an oil change and seal replacement and found that they had put the LOWER leg oil in the air chamber. Put it back together right and it felt like a new bike. Pissed me off that I rode it for a year like that.

Rear shocks aren't bad either, but sometimes getting them off the bike requires additional bike disassembly, which may require even more special tools if you have to take the cranks off. You'll need a strap wrench to get the air can off. I use those plastic dental floss/picks to work the o-rings and seals off and on.

 

All the shops are top notch for sure! I’ve got friends at all of them haha. SBC was the most popular when I was a freshman at JMU so I stuck with them and try to visit every time I’m in town.

 

Picked up this used Trek Farley 5 today for some winter gravity fat bike racing. It's going to get a full makeover and a custom build. I'm going to drop it by the powder coater's when I get it apart in a couple days, but I'm not sure on the color. Maybe a candy red? What color would you do?

 

I’m a huge fan of the Trek Viper Red. I think a candy red would look good too.

 

I do a lot of trail work through the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition with Thomas (SBC owner and prez of SVBC). He's a quality guy. The great thing around here is that all the shops get along great and there's no animosity between them.

If you haven't ridden the Massanutten Western Slope in a couple of years, check it out. We've build some awesome additions to an already great trail network (the 4K trail is my favorite-4K because it took 4000 hours of volunteer time to complete!).

 

I really appreciate the advice. If I pull the trigger, I'll do it carefully. It would seem that you can easily create a mess if you're not careful!

 

One of my favorite places to ride and where I like to spend my summers. How long ago was this?

 

Yeah it’s my new favorite place as well and it was late summer last year.

 

I haven't seen the Viper Red specifically. I'll have to look it up. Just mainly depends on what color options my powder coater has.

 

Color match your Taco.

 

Thomas is great! Tim too! Have you seen Tim’s FJ? Thing is sick.

I haven’t ridden 4K, is that different from 2k hours or was it added on? 2k hours was one of my favorite trails in the area. We might have crossed paths at a trail work though! I did some trail work at massanutten and in the GW forest. I also did a bunch of the 6pack rides. I need to get out there and ride more.

 

Separate trail from 2K but we tied it into the bottom of 2K. It's not as rowdy as 2K but it's a lot of fun. More flow to it (as much flow as that mountain will allow!).

Next time I see Tim I'll have to ask him about his FJ! I've never seen it.

I did a couple of the six packs last year, but generally tied up with family stuff on Friday afternoons/evenings. They're a lot of fun!

 

Added a new bike to my stable: YT Jeffsy 29 AL Two. It's a '17 but the only difference between the '18 is a different part spec and paint scheme. Overall it's a hell of a deal for what you get, and I'm highly impressed by the bike.



I put my own bars, stem, and grips on it. I already converting it to 1x and putting a Cane Creek shock on it, but I put one ride on it as it came out of the box and it was great.

 

The YT was on my shortlist. Did you demo first, or dive right in?

 

I dove right in. I've only seen Capras around my area, but no Jeffsys. I based my decision on the reviews and I've demoed some Hightowers, a Spesh Camber, and a Scott Spark so I know that current 29ers ride a lot better than a couple of years ago when they felt like a road bike with tacked on suspension and a flat bar.

 

YT's are awesome. I've got a capra and a Jeffsy 27.5. Both bikes definitely live up to the hype and I couldn't be happier. Quality is on par with any high end bike out there and there simply is no better value for the money. I've had Yeti, Santa Cruz, Pivot and a handful of other great bikes but am in love with these YT's.

 

Both bikes look freaking sweet, perfect pairing!

 

I need to buy a full suspension this year. Hard tail/rigid bikes are fun but it would be nice to have some cushion. Ive done alot of demo on niner,ibis,rocky mountain cant decide what to get.