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

I had an amazing ride on Sunday. If I asked for better conditions I’d be pushing my luck. On Saturday a rain / hail storm rolled through. This day overcast with predictions of rain late evening. I figured I better get out before the storm. Glad I did, a nice riding temperature at 68° with the dirt perfect. The Devils Backbone, Colorado drains quick and is usually good to go a day or so after a moisture event. Not many out after the first mile or so of hikers due to the overcast skies and rain predicted. It’s raining right now Monday morning.

 

Selling my recently purchased Trek Fuel EX 9.7

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2023-trek-fuel-ex-9-7-gen-6-medium.804076/




Because I recently picked up this:

 

Both sides of Burnt mountain are pretty friggin steep. Camera just can’t capture it. Even the stairs are more like ladders.

 

Yeah on video it sometimes looks groomed and fast. Last time we went the upper part of the descent was like ramen noodles, just floating roots with no dirt.

 

good work to them! FTB is a fun ride. couple buddies and I did it last year along with @Gunshot-6A ... 95 degree weather and sunny. Barely made it out of there alive.

 

Looks blue to me. Eh @Gunshot-6A ?

 

I believe RS actually starts with 0 tokens by default on the new forks (charger 3). They only recommend adding one as a last resort for bottom out issues, so definitely go check and remove any tokens if they're in there. I weigh 210lbs and only have one token in my Lyrik (ran three tokens in my previous 36). I've only bottomed out harshly once on the Lyrik, on a 5-6 foot huck to flat.

I heard it was brutal last year! This year was cool and wet (with some sleet too). I think the riders were happy with the weather, relatively speaking.

 

Managed to stab my hand saturday with a box cutter, so instead of riding I updated the Chameleon with a CC Hellbender headset and changed the travel to 140. The CC40 headset I was using has been creaking since day one and I recently replaced a cc40 on gf's Heckler thats was creaking with an i9 headset.

 

Interesting, transition's setup guide says 2 volume spacers but maybe that is with the previous generation zeb and mine with charger 3 actually has none installed. I'll have to check because if it does have 2 spacers in I may leave the pressure at 80 and remove a spacer.

 

Also on a separate note, doing a pivot service on the ripley AF is a pain in the ass. The bushing replacement isn't bad just mostly nerve-racking pressing them in knowing it's thin what feels like plastic.

The upper link replacement though...first of all the bearings that come in the replacement link feel like trash out of the box...second getting the bolts to align correctly is a nightmare. I ordered one of those low profile ratchets to hopefully make it easier to get the last bolt in... otherwise I'm going to be very unhappy

 

Please report back because everything I've read/heard about the Charger 3 is that it basically doesn't need spacers. I bought my Lyrik as a standalone purchase from my LBS and it had no spacers out of the box. I was going to immediately add 2 until I read this review... https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/c...on-forks/2023-rockshox-lyrik-ultimate-review/

"I initially installed three volume-reducer spacers – the same number I’ve installed in previous Lyrik forks – and set the pressure to 80psi: the recommended amount for my body weight.

I set all the low- and high-speed compression damping to fully open, and adjusted rebound to feel, which was also fully open. This setup gave me roughly 30mm or 18.75 per cent sag. Out on the trail this felt terrible, where the initial part of the fork’s travel was too quick to compress, while the spring-based ramp up was harsh and sudden.

Increasing low- and high-speed compression damping helped stop the fork from eating through the first third of its travel, but the ramp-up issue was still there.

At this point, I was concerned about the fork’s performance, but I spoke to SRAM, who recommended that I remove all the installed volume-reducer spacers because the redesigned DebonAir+ spring didn’t need them."

 

haha. yeah, I think I saw the weather. Was sorta jealous. almost raced it this year but registered too late and was on the waitlist and never came off of it so.... :shrug:

 

Random pic.. caught in the rain... Still it's waaaay better than a good day at work

 

I'm tempted to go check haha. I'm wide open on HSC/LSC and on the bottom end of the recommended pressure for my weight so I wouldn't be surprised if it came installed with 2 spacers from transition. I'll let you guys know.

edit: you can see in this picture how much travel I used. I’m not expecting it to bottom out at all on these trails but I’m expecting to leave maybe 1” from bottom out on the trails I was riding.

 

"Aqua de Marina"

 

Have a few rides on my IXS Trigger fullface now. Thing is incredible. Meets the DH safety standard, but def isn't a fullface for a fulltime parkrat. Works really well for riding some slick and rooty PNW trails though.

The posted specs say otherwise, but the thing is crazy light (600g), and I swear it feels lighter in hand than my POC Kortal half-lid does. Really gives some extra confidence on some tricky trails.

 

full faces have come a long way over the last few years, pretty cool being able to wear a full face without really noticing it that much.

It was probably mid 80s on saturday at the park and with my smith mainline it felt better to have the helmet on to keep my face out of the sun than to have it off with the sun beating down haha.

 

I really wanted the mainline, and almost got that anyway, but it had much more traditional FF padding like my moto helmets do, vs basically adding cheekpads to a halflid like the trigger. For more trail-style riding, that seemed to make the most sense. If I planned to ride more FF required trails, the mainline would have been my easy choice.

 

Yeah that makes sense for sure. This weekend was actually the first time wearing it since getting it a month back thinking I’d wear it during some enduro races. It probably would have been okay to wear since it actually flows pretty well. I’m super impressed by how it fits and breaths. It actually uses regular helmet pads on the mips liner then regular full face pads on the cheeks and back of neck

edit: you can’t really beat a light weight DH helmet like that IXS though, especially since it’s cheaper than the mainline

 

Got the DVO Topaz mounted up and on a shake down ride today. Shock is amazing! I got a custom tune when i bought it and i think they nailed it. It’s ridiculously supportive while pedalling, but soaks up absolutely everything. Very happy with the new shock!

 

Update to mtb newbie father and son ….
Took the new Canyon bikes out for some fire road biking, big difference with 29’s and 1x12 drivetrain and hydraulic brakes. Much more comfortable going faster and big climbs are less of a chore!! This is fun stuff!!

Bike pic with burnt post from past wildfires near Hidden Hills, California.