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

Can confirm: am in love with my Sentinel. Haven't even had the urge to look at a new bike since I bought it. Perfect for Wasatch Enduro riding.

 

160/150 is that sweet spot for travel I feel.

Why do I feel that way, because it's what I have.

 

With Transition being out of stock, I'll likely go Evil if I pull the trigger. That Sentinel does really look appealing though.

Right now, I'm leaning Offering and upgrading to a Push 11/6...

 

I ended up buying a Fezzari Delano Peak and couldn't be any happier with it. Granted it's not a big name in the bike world (at the moment), but with the carbon frame, lifetime warranty, and the perfect suspension for what I wanted (150/135), it hits all the check boxes. Can point it downhill and soak up all the techy bits if thats what you want to do while still being nimble to carve out a line.

 

It's funny, the Evil bikes pedal a bit like a smaller bike than travel would indicate. The Offering, to me, is not slack enough for real rowdy riding. The Wrecker honestly pedals a lot like mid-travel bikes do. That platform is super stable. I actually have a blast riding it on even more mellow trails like Crest, WOW, and even WOS. To me, it's a mid-travel trail bike with reserves when you need them.
I added the 11.6 to the Wrecker, and with the second tunable circuit, it really can feel like a full-on trail bike. It's a pretty light bike too, and fully set up it's sitting at 33 lbs (with pedals, pump, and DD tires).
If the Tranny is on your mind, keep an eye out. They will come up, just have to check regularly.

 

My pivot switchblade has been a blast. Another one to check out in the aggressive trail bike/milder enduro category. A lot of people compare it to the evil offering

 

I did get to Sports Den to check out both the Wrecker and Offering in person. I was surprised how light the Wrecker is. I think part of my hesitation (which is dumb) is that I just can't get over the fact that it's being ridden at Rampage!

I have heard that all the Evils pedal well, but I've also heard that the Offering rides downhill bigger than it is. For some reason I'm feeling like I want to be under-biked right now, which is why I'm leaning that way. Perhaps it's because I've been over-biked for the past few years on the Rallon. I've also found that I can ride any trail around the Wasatch front on my hardtail (Insurgent, Moose house, Black Forest, and Red Bull). That makes me feel like the Offering would be more than enough bike for just about everything, except maybe a trip to Squamish...

I have been on a Switchblade, and a bunch of other Pivots. They don't quite fit me right for some reason. Definitely great bikes though!

 

Im on the 160/140 V1. Works so well being shorter travel when most northern Utah trails are pretty buff on the climbs.

 

Give me sporty 130-150mm bike with good numbers over a soggy feeling enduro any day. The only potential downside to a more trail-ish frame for me is that they tend to have more progressive suspension which can make them a handful on fast or lippy big jumps. Otherwise I will happily ride something in that that travel range down any tech double black, bike park, whatever.

Out of what you listed I'd go for the Meta TR. Maybe a little bit biased since I've had two of them.... I can confirm it is an extremely fun and very capable bike. I'm real interested to see a final version of that new twin link bike they have been testing too. The offering's geo is a confusing to me, super long reach values , and a 66 deg head angle sounds like it would be a real twitcher.

 

bike is clean

 

I’m excited for WAO to release the 130 and 170 links, I’m excited to see how a 130 travel does locally.

170 link is what a lot of the EWS guys in the bike run with a Zeb 170 upfront.

I will say WAO did great in the U21 with Emmet from PBA and Johnathan Helly. One of their guys got an 11th in the elite I think.

 

Awesome info, thank you! I only have one day to ride and one day to fish, so I'll probably stick with the Flume suggestion for trails. As for camping, is there any particular nearby town or area you'd suggest I start looking for dispersed spots?

Thanks again!

 

It hasn't been mentioned yet, so I'll throw in a vote for my current ride that is frequently overlooked: Revel Rascal. It's only 140/130 travel, but extremely agile in all the ways I need it to be on blue/black trails around the country. I don't go to bike parks very often, so the 140/130 travel has been perfect for nearly everything else. Highly recommend checking it out if you get the chance.

 

I was actually thinking about trying the ranger, rascal would likely be too small for me.

 

Wet and wild turtle saving adventures… love a good storm to cool things down. Slick roots and rocks.

The chance of getting struck by lightening is what anyways, a lot lower than hitting a tree down bc of said storm.

 

I went out today for the maiden voyage of the Fezzari fat bike. All I got was a quick rinse off, then it got hot and humid and the damn bugs came out in force! I had a blast on the fatty, but aside from that, I like your adventure better with the turtles.

 

haha. My ride didn’t start till 6, so sun was in its setting point here.

 

Here’s the thing, we all know there’s no perfect bike.
That being said, I spend the early season riding my Django. Being a 140/120 bike with conservative geo it really means you gotta pay attention. By late spring I’m riding it on everything I ride my Wrecker on. Steep, deep, and fast. I fall in love with it every season. It’s fast, fun, poppy and engaging. Find new lines, poppers, transitions. My times aren’t even that far off my “big bike”, and I don’t know if I’ll even pull out the big bike. Might just sell it, this is enough bike for sure.
Then, around late June, I get the bigger bike out. “Ugh, this thing feels like molasses.” A week or two later my muscles adapt, my speed increases, features feel smaller, gaps get easier, landing in rocks is funny. “Oooohhhh yeah, this thing is fuuuunnn.” Just as engaging, poppy, and heart-thumping. Just different, everything is bigger and faster, marger margins of error means I can push limits. Try something that’s a bit scary.
Here’s the way I finally landed on this; Smaller travel bikes is like snowboarding/skiing on hard pack/groomers. Big bikes are powder days. Both are incredibly fun, just different. Me? I’ll take a powder day over a great groomer day. “Send it”.

The only bike out right now that I lust for. Everything else is “interesting”, that bitch gets my blood pumping.

 

Put your name on the list! I like in house made bikes and the Antidote bikes are just as amazing looking. There’s some others I lust for on PB as well, but those antidote bikes are something else as well. Ride Unno and Atherton are nice as well, but WAO and Antidote are the coolest in house bikes to me at the moment.

https://antidotebikes.com/product/carbonjack/

 

Depends what direction you're coming from/leaving from. There is public land in all directions around Tahoe. There is pretty much no dispersed camping in the Tahoe basin anymore but once you leave you don't have to go far.

If you want good fishing might be best to look south. West Fork Walker River along 395 has good fishing as does the several forks of the Carson River. Lots of dispersed camping in those areas, just look for forest roads away from towns and private property.