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

Did a night ride in the snow on the fat bike last night. Came across a lot of coyote tracks however one set is a bit different - all of the toes were forward with a meatier pad in the middle, always fun to play the guessing game. Either way, was great to pedal around with my music going and no distractions.

 

I think sizing is about normal. You can try my ripley out for sizing if you want, its a size large. It's a 2021 model year but I don't think anything has changed geometry wise since then.

which race are you doing?!

 

I went from a large Klein to a large SC Tallboy to a large Ripley. I demo’ed medium Ripleys twice; too small. So I think sizing is normal. A friend is about my size and I’ve ridden his DV9 (he also has an Exie) and it fit right too. They are local to us and very popular here, I know tens of people with Ibises, many with 3 or 4 of them, all happy owners, and customer service is great. Thanks for supporting our local small business.

 

Wife is strongly considering signing up for Point to Point this year. She's raced XC and Enduro the past few years and does well in those disciplines. We've also done a number of bigger rides together over the years; like 40 miles and 6000ft vert. I think she's fit enough and a good enough biker to at least complete the race without going too overboard on training. Wondering if anyone here has any experience with that race or similar that could weigh in.

 

don't have xc style experience nor the p2p experience but i've got a buddy who's done it and he legit said it was super tough. and he's super fit. definitely get your training in and prep mentally. 40 miles 6k is a tough number to stare at. hahah. but then again, there are sections of mid mountain you can just eat up miles and vert without batting an eye so...who knows. good luck to her! No bme this year eh? hahah.

 

No major issues i noticed with the shotgun seat. I added the handlebar as well.

 

Rails to River at Lake Fairfax, 2 laps.
Been getting plenty of mileage on the road so 2 laps shouldn't be enough to wipe me out.

 

Looking for some frame protection for my Spur with my soft AF paint Transition is known for.

Currently looking at the full Ridewrap kit, but does anyone have a recommendation for an alternative?

On past bikes Ive just bought a scrap of clearbra from a local vinyl place but its super tedious cutting to shape and all.

 

having done my spire with ridewrap, there is no way I would do a regular sheet of vinyl. there are so many competing angles on transitions that it would be such a pain in the ass to do it with a plain sheet of vinyl.

as for alternatives, I've never tried one. All of my bikes are either ridewrap or spot protection with a sheet of 3m vinyl. I can say that I dropped my spire on some rocks, it landed right on the swingarm and the only damage was to the ridewrap. It did a great job at protecting the paint.

 

If going full protection, I've applied Ride Wrap myself to 3 bikes now. It's a complete pain in the ass, but well worth it if you can get it done while the frame is clean.
For my other bikes, I just bought strips of 3M clear vinyl and protected the wear areas (downtube, top tube, back of the seat tube and maybe the forks). With the 3M, I only really messed with the straight areas and those frames came with chain stay protectors already.

 

I've tried some other brands and not had as good experiences as with Ridewrap. I'd just stick with them...

 

Ridewrap or bust. Invisiframe is good to, but I prefer RW. Fairly easy kit to install on the Spur as well.

If you’re super anal, the matte finish from Tranistion will give you a headache. I got some waves from my application on the larger sections like sides of the downtube that I tried to redo several times. All with the same results. Very well could be user error though. YRMV

 

what everyone else said. RideWrap. No question.

I've used invisiframe but it doesn't have the same thickness nor the same workability. it also doesn't adhere as nicely so it is prone to peeling. Stick to the ridewrap. Without question the best stuff out there for bike protection.

 

I have used the Lizard Skins frame kit on many bikes. It protects the high-impact areas and installs in minutes. They just came out with a new frame kit that I used on my new Transition Transam. It covers everything I wanted covered (top of top tube, bottom of downtube, rear of seat tube, bottom of BB) and still had pieces left over. I've never felt the need to cover every square inch of a bike frame...it's a tool not a jewel!

https://www.lizardskins.com/product...p-frame-kit&c=bike_protection&t=frame_kit&v=0

 

how do you like the transam?

 

It's pretty sweet! I've only had 1 ride on it between storms here in Utah. I love steel frames and this bike was super fun on my one ride. I can't wait to get it on some more trails and put it through the paces.

Many of the independent reviewers (hardtail party, bikepacking.com, etc.) say it was sluggish and heavy and didn't climb well compared to other hardtails. I totally disagree...You know, if I spent my days riding a custom Neuhaus or Moots or Tanglefoot and then got on the Transam, I might say the same things. The Transam doesn't compare to those boutique brands at all (and it really isn't a fair comparison). I had a blast on the TA and my first impression was that it felt a lot like my old Pivot Trail 429. I built the TA myself and it came out at 27.9 lbs...about 5 lbs lighter than the stock build. I think it's going to be a solid shred-machine on my local Salt Lake valley trails.

 

Such a slick build! Been seriously considering selling my chameleon and moving to the TransAm.

 

man that blue and kashima looks amazing together

 

I got my Spur during peak covid not long after the bike was released, and couldn't get my hands on any bike-specific kits. The clear sheets I normally use from a moto shop didn't want to stick.

I was on a time crunch before a trip and ended up using black gorilla tape. I have been surprisingly happy with it. I re-did the tape last year and pulling off the old there was just a bit of residue around the edges, otherwise it came off easy and clean. The tape does start to peel off a bit around the edges down in the BB area where smaller pieces were used to deal with curves and bends. I have the dark green frame so the tape also blends in well. Not sure I'd want to use it on the teal color.

When re-doing tape I didn't find any scratches or chips under the tape, so it's doing its job. I have a number of chips at spots not covered by tape. The Transition paint is definitely not very tough.

 

Love it, wonder how one of these would fair for double duty as a dirt jumper/pump track rig?