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

Fort Ord. When everything else in NorCal is too wet to ride.

 

Dang, I guess if it doesn’t sell maybe you’ll give the 130 links a chance?

 

Probably, maybe. It’s a niche bike so I don’t see it selling quickly, and I’m not gonna take a beating on the price either.

No word from WAO as to when they’ll release the production 130 links. That’s another $500 investment, not including the necessary fork/shock changes or purchases. The current CC pricing on their non-kitsuma shocks is enticing.

You know as well as anyone there’s a lot to like about the Arrival. I certainly don’t intend to suggest it’s an awful bike or that I hate it. It’s much more agile than the geo would suggest. I have another dropper on order because I can’t get the stock Tellis low enough for my short ass legs. Honestly not being in a proper pedalling position isn’t helping my evaluation.

 

Bikes perform completely different out West than here on the East coast. If you look at most reviews, they echo what you said where it's very efficient and has lots of traction but that's for what it is. If you spend more time in the saddle pedaling than you do going down, a more conservative geo and stiffer pedaling platform is better. Hence why I can't get rid of this Switchblade. Not only because the bike market is trash right now

 

So I may end up working at northstar this summer, whether it’s lifty for bike park or getting on as a lift maintenance helper for the big projects. If I’m there, I’ll get tons of DH riding in. hopefully that’s still for sale for that price if that is the case. Much rather ride that than my trance 2 in the park. Although I wonder why so cheap

 

Sounds like a perfect Pisgah bike to me.

 

Yes indeed it would be. Recent years have me getting an average of 2-3 days in NC annually. Tough to use that terrain as a prerequisite for my daily driver.

 

I bet if you park that bike at Blankets this weekend with a 4 sale sign on it, it will sell the same day. It's a gorgeous bike with a great build. Post a link of where you're selling it.

 

It got quite a good number of stares and compliments when I was there last Thursday haha.

I’ve never cleaned all the rock/tech climbs on South loop counterclockwise in one shot before. But I did on the Arrival. No dabs, no hiccups. Just tractor.

 

Counter is tough on South Loop for sure. Clock-wise, there has been so much erosion on one section (just a little past Sniper) that I used to make pretty regularly but now is a LOT tougher to no-dab. The Arrival sounds a lot like my Knolly Warden. Will tractor up everything and is great descending. However, not as much fun in the bob and weave type riding we have out East.

 

I won’t be pushing the sale too hard. Gonna make a few tweaks (tires/new dropper for proper fit) and give it some easy rides. See if that changes my impressions while I wait on WAO to comment on the 130 link release.

Having the option to run multi travel links is a factor that was originally attractive to me about the Arrival. Was certainly hoping to get along better with the 150 version, and have a clearer picture of 130 release dates.

 

Bummer your initial impression wasn't as good as you'd hoped. But like you said, proper fit, the right tires, and some tweaking may get it to where you were hoping.
If you're on the air shock, definitely play around with the settings. Not only sag, but compression, rebound, and volume reducers. Do some bracketing, find the sweet spot.
A few years ago, I had a Devinci Spartan. I was able to really get that bike to feel very differently with some tweaking. Didn't even have to change to fork out, just adjust the settings.
If you're looking to make the bike livelier, a good place to start would be to get sag around 25%, add in some low-speed compression damping and reduce low-speed rebound damping, and add in some spacers.
For true bracketing you'll spend lots of time. Add ALL the spacers, turn the dials ALL the way (compression closed, rebound open). Then remove all the spacers, and turn the dials back all the way in the other direction. That'll give you a really good impression of which side of that spectrum you like.
Start back there and dial back in the other direction till you find that sweet spot. One change at a time, same trail. Take notes.

Honestly, the process can be painstaking. But you'll learn a lot about suspension, and what you learn transfers to other bikes in the future. I can now pretty quickly decide what I need to change based on the feel of the bike. The investment in time pays off. Much cheaper than buying a new bike.

 

I’ll probably invest in the 130, but I’ve also got everything else needed for the conversion I bought either used or close out.

I’ve been debating heavily between going back to having a dirt bike or getting an Ebike, I feel an ebike will make me not ride the Arrival as much, but a dirt bike will be a completely different experience and won’t have me debating what to do that weekend.

I think a dirt bike and a MTB compliment each other, the MTB gets the cardio up, and the dirt bike gets the jumping scares out of the way and speed senses up. Plus I’m itching to go ride Monster Mountain again. Sadly the biggest track, Millcreek, 30 minutes from Oak Mtn shutdown and it was a common Lorreta qualifying track.

Locally a ‘21 TC 250 with 80 hours sells for 5500-6000.

 

If anyone’s interested I’ll sell it cheap. It is not large bike/short bed friendly.

 

That is sweet, shipping would kill it for most though I’m guessing.

 

You should take it to Jarrods for one last rip.

 

I’ll get an estimate later. It’ll be light but a long box.

 

I'm all about two-wheeled diversity. The Ebike took the spot that would normally be a DH bike for me.(self shuttle) It sounds like you should get the moto, you're right they do complement each other nicely. All in I still ride the trail bike the most by far.

 

Agreed on all things above. I’ll be adding a moto to the stable again in the coming years. I’ll probably move down to one mtb, or at least move to a more reasonable full suspension.

Almost got my little bro a TTR50 for Christmas this year. He’s only 4y/o so we decided to kick that gift to next year or maybe the next. Once he’s on, I’ll be cashing in on my BluCru discount for a WR for myself

 

@whitedlite you probably saw it too on mtbr. Got a timeline on the 130s. Guess I’ll have to put up or shut up. CC in-line air is the current leading candidate.