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

that would be my fear if I got another FS bike, even if it's short travel.

i think a HT would be the only "I'd still ride the stumpy" type bike. maybe I'm wrong

I gotta get some, but that's not me in the photo lol. I had some, that majorly failed me, and just haven't gotten another pair yet.

 

ST Hardtail and a longer travel full sus is the ideal 2 bike quiver.

 

that was kinda my thought, which prompted the first hypothetical question of what would you pair with my current stumpy.

but, now folks got me thinking...would I be better off to sell the stumpy one day for whatever I can get and go for a Ranger/Spur type all arounder. since I don't ride 5-6 days a week on varying terrain..

 

29er makes a big difference, but the HT is never going to feel faster than any of the short travel FS bikes you listed. It makes the trail more interesting though. You have to stand up a lot more, yes. You have to pick your line or air over chunky sections to keep speed.

In short, I like the HT because it's just as much fun at slower speeds. I find that I have to go fast on a FS to enjoy myself, but the HT is fun even at slow speed.

Why no carbon?

There's a flex/give to steel and TI that is hard to explain. It smooths things out a bit and has a sort of pop to it. This is all super subjective though, so take it with a grain of salt!

 

idk carbon just freaks me out. granted, I don't know enough about it, but you don't hear horror stories about non-carbon.

but my fav bike being that revel ranger, only carbon, kinda makes my comments make no sense haha

 

Haha, I have succeeded in giving you paralysis from analysis! I suffer from this all the time!

Carbon is strong and if you buy a bike new from a reputable company they will take care of you.

With that being said I stopped in Commencal's headquarters and checked out their Meta Trail 29 and it was a nice aluminum bike.

 

https://www.summitcycles.bike/product/troy-lee-designs-a3-mips-helmet-2021/

 

There are horror stories about every bike material out there! I'd be willing to bet any crash that would ruin a carbon bike would also ruin aluminum.

 

Only frame I’ve never seen blown up in person is a Titanium frame.

 

every bike manufacturer is different for sure.

And what's funny about that is the only ones i've seen blowing up are aluminum frames from certain manufacturers.

 

Titanium is tricky to weld! If you're buying titanium, definitely wanna stick with a frame builder that knows how to work with it.

 

I was REAL close to pulling the trigger on a Lynsky gravel bike for a while but decided on a Niner in the end. Maybe one day though....

 

The price on those Lynsky’s is so tough to beat when youre talking titanium

 

My boss has a Moots, dream bike.

 

Moots are nice!

I've personally been eyeing this Curve Downrock if I ever replace my current frame.

 

That would be sick, some day haha

 

Fresh tailgate pad.. Stoked to be able to get to handle easier and have the back up camera back!


Had few diggers last night on our group ride..

Yours truly had a zero mph tip over on a switch technical switchback. Living that Clipless life and then later on in the ride was going pretty good down some single track grabbed too much front brake lost the front end off the trail .... I ended up on the ground...Was good until I wasn't.....

My buddy really sent the meat bag on this flat XC section of trail..... attempting a Saran wrap? ya like that moto trick with your foot over the bars then you let go with a hand.... Things went south... Bent the shit out of his bars and wasted his brake lever. Landed on his back and head.... Somehow popped up with a few scratches and was good to go ?


All made it back to the trucks for a few sport sodas

Bad Lines Good Times

 

This commercial reminds me of all you hardtail lovers. Fast forward to 17 seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lItyRVUC17s

 

But if the end result is you riding a bike you think is more fun is it really a bad thing? Then sell the Stumpy and if you find yourself wanting for more enough go buy a true big bike. For your area and your style you could end up with the same situation on a HT. Hard to say until you try it.

I spent a few years with an aggressive steel HT as my only bike so I know what you mean. It also doesn't hold true everywhere. The area I was talking about has some pretty cool fun sections that are great fun on almost any bike. But they are connected by long sections of pedally rolling stuff with tons of roots. It's not "fun" to ride this stuff slow on a HT while your group is leaving you in the dust or gassing yourself to stay standing and riding active while you should be sitting and recovering for the actual fun stuff. Maybe this is a very unique thing to this area, but it was one of the major things that turned me off the HT. Get me to some fast chunky downhill on the HT and I would still smoke the same group because I'm just a faster downhill rider, but having to over work on the easy stuff was not my definition of fun. Then again I've always been a climb to descend kind of rider and generally don't love super pedally stuff anyways...just a means to an end. I tend to air chunk rather than plow it anyways. Not that I've ever had a real plow bike.

Which is why for me, I think a sort travel full squish would be the right move vs the HT. You still have to pick lines on technical riding and can't plow, still more engaging on the mellower stuff, but faster/easier where I want it to be faster/easier. That said, I'd still be quite interested in trying a good 29er HT. It might make enough difference to bridge the gap.

 

I would narrow it towards 2 options, using santa cruz to simplify the discussion:

1 high end mid travel bike like Santa Cruz Bronson CC X01

OR

1 long travel Santa Cruz Nomad (midrange build)
1 short travel Santa Cruz Tallboy or 5010 (midrange build)

owning 2 bikes is nice to introduce people to riding. But i'm starting to see why people ride $7k bikes because as I try more variety of bikes, I am starting to appreciate the higher end components.