All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

Just booked a flight for a long weekend of riding in Phoenix/Sedona.

Anyone here have a rec on a good LBS for a rental (yeti, SC, pivot, really any newer full suspension 27.5) near Papago park in Scottsdale? That where my buddy lives.

 

Not a ton of expierence. I’m in good physical shape but in terms of real MTN biking (live in Florida) I’m pretty new. I would be going with 3-4 guys that are very expierenced though. I’m sure they’ll be plenty of hike a bike for me. I’ve watched videos and it looks gnar for sure but I need some gnar in my life I think.

 

looks great! Do you have a shopping list for it?

 

Not really, I already had the cheapo “cargo bar” thingy. I just grabbed some 1.25” u bolts and a 4” piece of aluminum 2” angle and bolted on the Delta thru axle mount with some 1/4-20 bolts.

 

Victory 4x4 bed rack and front runner rack on top with a side mounted thule t1 classic trek stache 5

 

That route you posted looks badass. Matter of fact after seeing that the boys and I are planning a trip to do the exact thing but minus Dupont.

 

My new Diamondback with my Taco!

 

Squamish + Ripmo = Good times.

 

2016 TRD Off Road and 2017 Giant Anthem Advanced

 

29?

 

27.5

 

Well I was hoping to knock the dust off my Stache today, but my rear brake calipers have seized again (second time). Stupid SRAM.

On the plus side, Trek just opened a new store a few miles from my house. The tech said it looks like I’ll be getting another new warrantied brake lever. Just another reason to buy local in my opinion.

Guess I won’t be riding for at least another week.

 

I've never rode a Mondraker but the setup that you have going on here is spot on. Those Hope brakes with steel braided cables.
I have a Rocky Mountain and our setups are damn near the same.
Happy Trails

 

Just ordered the front rail for my 3rd gen, and the Rocky Mount loball for my road bike.

Anyone use this setup with Bakflip MX4? Been thinking i'll get that cover as thats the only one that seems to flip all the way up? Then I can still use front rail? Question is, it sounds the MX4 lowers the OEM rails, will that leave the front rail too high to use or something?

Hope that makes sense!

 

I know we have a for sale section.....But If anyone is looking for a nice frame. I’m letting this go at a steal. Just want it gone. 2016 Kona Process 111 Large, Rockshock monarch shock. Has usual scratches. I bought it used on pinkbike. I upgraded to an 2018 frame only reason for the sale. Absolutely no problems with the frame. Konas aren’t cheap, this frame costs now around $1400-$1700. I’ll let this go for $400 plus shipping. Please pm me Juan.

 

Crappy pic but just upgraded my frame from a 2016 to a 2018 Kona Process 111. Kept it a 27.5 midfat with the 2.8’s

 

Just got my truck three weeks ago and Ive been working on my rack setup. I had an old Rocky Mounts tray and a Thule bolt on fork mount so I made them work alongside the tent on my KB Voodoo bars. In this pic are a couple of my trusty steeds. A 1994 Giant Allegré that is nearly original, the only exception being Compass Cayuse Pass 700x26s. I ride it every Sunday morning on a group/coffee ride. And a 2018 Giant Toughroad SLR GX 0 with Dajia Cycleworks 48cm Far Bars and (at the moment) 29x2.2 Conti Racekings.

 

I'm shopping for a new bike, what should I get?

Ok... story time! It all leads to more questions for you MTB wizards.

I come from a riding background of BMX, street and flatland (many... MANY years ago now). I recently got back into riding my first ever MTB that I got mainly for commuting to work before moving back to the U.S.. I just thought the concept of gears was a more efficient way to get to work and road bikes looked scary af and expensive. Shortly after that, we snatched up a cheap used bike for my wife... then moved back to America... where the bikes have been sitting in the attic for several years now (all of them). Here over the last couple months, the missus and I both had our first single track experience (and several since) and had a total blast, although I need to get back into shape desperately, haha.

Now, onto the problem and reason for asking the questions I have. Upon busting out the bikes, I noticed the fork shock was blown on my bike (cannondale headshok from 5 billion years ago). I replaced it with some rockshox stuff and a bunch of shit to reduce cannondale's 1.5" head tube to a 1 1/8 and fit a normal old headset/fork. Now it rides great, and will likely continue to do so once my wife takes it over. Oh, right... while doing my research, I found that I'm a little tall for my medium frame, I guess (6'1"). So I started looking at bikes to snatch up and I'm totally "deer in the headlights" at all the tech and options now. Holy progression, batman!

Here's the current bike at one of the local pump tracks (term used very loosely, cause it's just a couple sets of rollers with a table top or two).


Now, the questions...
First, for you full suspension guys... I've never ridden anything other than 20" bikes and the one above. I'm fairly comfortable on the bike and, as my stamina builds, I'm pretty confident I'll be doing plenty of dumb shit in the coming months on whatever bike I get.

Question 1: Is full suspension the bees knees and worth the price jump? I'd like to buy once/buy right to last a while (knowing full well there would be more maintenance if I went full sus) and don't mind spending a bit more.

Question 2: Would a full suspension bike be wasted here? Living in Texas currently, where there aren't any gnarly DH parks or anything. While a hard-tail would be perfectly sufficient... I still see plenty of full suspension bikes around here and kinda wonder if they are for more than just the heavy duty thrash trails.

Question 3: What's the best "bang for the buck" in full suspension bikes under $2500 or, even better, $2000? Still debating on spending for full suspension for a bit because if I'm just gonna ride once a month, I'll just jam a decent hard tail for $1000 and party hard every now and again. But recently, we've been riding three to four times a week, LOL, really enjoying it again. If I spend over $2k on a bike, I'm gonna need to justify that by riding the shit out of it.

Question 4: I'm a fairly large dude (225lbs and part of the reason I want to get back to riding a lot), if I go full suspension is it just going to suck and flatline all the time or can I pump the air pressure up to a bazillion to tune it for me?

Question 5: When does it stop being partly cloudy and start being partly sunny?

oh, and because this is tacos & bikes thread

The wife's tires have since been swapped for dirt tires

Cheers!

 

@IllTrucko Without quoting your whole post to answer questions. Full suspension does not mean gnarly trails. There are very light weight cross country race bikes that are full suspension. These days the lines are so blurred that its hard to determine what the right bike is, obviously, you've already pointed that out. My suggestion is to ride as many different bikes as you can. Don't buy a bike for a once a year trip to gnarly trails in the mountains. By the bike that you will enjoy the most riding the trails you ride the most because thats what will keep you riding. Most decent shops will demo higher end bikes for a reasonable price, $50 for a whole day or something like that and they will take your demo cost out of the price of a bike if you buy from them so its win-win. Try different brands, different travel suspension, 29" wheels, 27.5" wheels, try it all. Spend the money finding the right setup, don't spend the money on full suspension just because someone on the internet says full suspension. Same goes for hardtails or rigid single speeds or + bikes or fat bikes. What part of Texas are you in? I could point you in the direction of a shop that will help you out.

 

I'm in between Dallas and Ft. Worth (Yarrlington/Grand Prairie area). I didn't know bike shops did that kind of thing! I was looking around for bike rentals online, but all I saw was triathlon bikes or hard tails. And yeah, sorry for the long-winded post, haha. I tend to get carried away!