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

I put an absolute BLACK Oval on the HT when I built it… then I had to replace the Sram on the AM bike after that. I was sold after a month of riding.

 

Congrats buddy. Big move, hope it went how you wanted it to.
Stoked to see which way you go. If custom geo is your jam, what about Atherton?

 

out with the old. in with the new.. My Christmas gift to me! New Zeb! Now...what to do with an old fox fork........
maybe i should put it on a hardtail.......

 

Can’t hurt to have both… plus modern geo HT’s are pretty amazing.

 

That being said, I'm looking at some of the new hardtails.

 

Yeah. Hard tail would be a fun build. Cheaper than another full suspension. Now to find a frame. And slap a 170mm fox 36 onto. Lolol. That would be fun.

Or an aluminum park bike that i can rail on and not care about

 

I went with the Banshee Paradox V3 it’s been a lot of fun. I built it up for techie desert chunk, swapped the 160 Lyric air spring for a 140, and ran Onyx hubs, 29x35mm hoops with 2.6/2.5 tires. I’ll probably put the 160 spring in this winter just for giggles. It reminds you to pick a line and refreshes the fundamentals. Also make easy trails more fun, for the days your riding with less adventurous folks. That said I have no problem running on hard trails either, it just goes. Other plus is you have a loaner if you want to go ride with a bikeless mate.

 

Yeah. On a "cheap" hard tail, would be easy to lend out. And depending on how i do it, could even run it as a bike packing setup with storage. Or even a fun bar crawler. Haha

 

Soon as I hit mid life crisis I'm gettin a Ti full sus trail bike built with my preferred geo. Will be the last bike I buy. Then I'll just parade around town with it on top of my 911.

 

I mean you gotta have a little faith in who you lend your bike to…

Apparently I messed up the “cheap” part of the equation… The limitations on the build components wear 2021 parts availability. But it’s so much fun to ride. Now if I can only take one bike somewhere I take the Paradox.

 

I really want to build a nuieproof scout 27.5, I have a Vassago 29er hardtail but it's old-school xc geometry.

 

I think I'm hitting my midlife crisis but my bank account doesn't want to keep up with me.
But I would gladly sea suckered a custom ti bike onto a 911( or a c7 'vette grand sport w/ manual)
But for now I can pretend the taco is a sports car when I downshift and break the tires loose

 

I was looking for a while, watching Hardtail Party, and my LBS is a Banshee dealer. The geo of the paradox is similar to my Devinci Troy, and the mechanic let me ride his… so .
The mechanic at my LBS also introduced me to Onyx hubs with the sprag clutch which is a game changer. https://youtu.be/NbvNPLsc7fM

 

That’s why I just got my second Taco. Now I can midlife crisis the ‘02 into an adventure/expo rig and still have a daily.

 

I've seen Vassago's around. Pretty good looking bikes. I've thought about taking a commencal meta ht or some spec/trek something.

 

Do it.

 

Sad to admit it, but I think the Arrival just ain’t the bike for me. It’s already for sale. Haven’t ruled out mounting some fast rolling/light weight tires, but I think that may just be putting different colored lipstick on the same chick.

If anyone here is interested in the full build or frame/frame + parts purchase hit me up.

 

Would appreciate an explanation. I almost sold my Switchblade for an Arrival over the BF deals. Curious what bike you came from to the Arrival too.

 

Downs = fast AF; composed, balanced
Corners = like it’s on rails, point and shoot
Tech climbs = billy goat, loads of traction
Flat/Pedally = not fast*
Climbing = efficient for what it is, not fast*

*My local trails consist heavily of flat sections with abrupt ups/downs. Not a lot of sustained descending. This feedback is with the Vittoria Mazza Enduro casing tires. Lighter/faster rolling tires will likely improve some of this.

I’ll also mention all my previous riding experiences have been on sub 130mm travel bikes/hard tails. The Arrival is the only proper Enduro bike I’ve ever ridden. It very well may be an extremely efficient and great pedalling Enduro bike. My initial impressions are just that it may not be the right bike for me and the more mellow local trails I frequent.

All said, the bike is gorgeous and the brand philosophy is something I’m happy to support. I’ll swap on some different tires and see if reducing the sag changes my perspective. But in the meantime, she’s on the market.

 

Damn, that’s a beautiful machine! Love the looks of it, but I’m loving the Specialized and I’d probably get divorced if I bought yours. Hard tail will likely be the next bike in the stable.