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

Try the radials, gravity casing. The radial magic mary is better all around than the old ones. The Albert has been working well on the rear for me but its a solid front for more hard packed stuff too.

 

100%, same setup for me. MM/Albert, works excellent. Surprised how well the Albert works for the rear, the MM is just a perfect loose and steep tire. Tiny bit of squirm in slabs and hardback, but the radial casing provides so much grip it negates any loss of traction (for me).

 

I have been curious about the radials. I’ve got Assegai front and DHRII rear and really like this setup around here. Basically starting right around now when the rain stops we go into dust over hard pack though so I’d be worried about the MM based on your comments and reviews haha.

 

MRP has excellent CS.

 

Long trip report incoming.

Got out to Moab a couple weeks ago (4/24 - 4/27). Waited until a couple weeks before the trip to really start working on my Patrol. I shared some of the work and troubles I ran into; cush core install was a bitch, broke the axel in my rear hub, had to go to a shop to get my cassette off, put a new zeb in up front, didn't realize it only took a 200mm rotor and I was using a 180, too much fluid during a brake bleed so issues with new rotor and new pads, new dropper (one up from reverb) that required me taking the cranks and BB off, BB tool is fucked now but w/e, b limit screw adjustment and broke the eagle tool, probably more.

Doesn't matter because I got the bike working around midnight before leaving.

We left Colorado Springs Thursday morning. Stopped near Glenwood to ride South Canyon. My buddy driving has a cousin in the area and it was about halfway between Springs and Moab. A nice little stop to stretch our legs and get the bike dialed. My first chance to bed the brakes, adjust saddle height, lube my chain, change fork pressure too lol. This was a pretty fun trail system. The jump line Alpine Slide was sick. I would ride it again if I was in the area, but not really a destination ride. Could have done a few laps on the jump line to really learn the trail and what jumps landed where. The upper part of the canyon was still closed for the season, it opened a week or two later. The climb trail wasn't bad. The patrol is definitely porkier than the spur, especially with the cush core installed.

We got to our AirBnB in Moab around 6 or something. The other guys we were meeting were already there and at dinner. Since we were driving all day and the south end of Pipedream was across the street and led into downtown, we geared up and went for our first Moab ride. Pipedream is definitely a trail lol. Its very punchy up and down. Not many trails do I stay in eagle gear the entire way, but I didn't really need to shift at all here. The rock work on this trail was amazing though. A lot of work went into making the trail pretty smooth with multiple different rocks making the ramps up and down. Not really jumps, but up and down features. Some nice exposure near the northern part of this trail too. It was a pretty good intro to Moab trails though. We only did half the trail since we were mainly going to get dinner.
We went to Moab brewery based on some coworker suggestions. The food was mid at best. The beer was pretty good. Grabbed a couple tall boys to take back. Rode back to the condo through some neighborhoods on the east side of the main street. I had my two outbounds, but the other two guys only had one light each so we decided the roads would be easier. Glad we did. We would learn later the jeep road back near Pipedream is ass.

Friday morning the group got up and we all went over to ride Captain Ahab. Waiting in the parking lot for another guy to meet us, we were all getting ready and checking tire pressure and whatnot, a couple people base jumped off some rock. I guess they were parked in the same lot, but they landed a little farther away into the creek. Nuts to see in person. We started on the Hymasa trail climb up. The creek crossing at the beginning wasn't bad. No real reason to get off the bike. The water levels were maybe over the tires and rims so pretty low. I didn't realize the trail criss-crossed the jeep road up. Didn't matter though because there were mainly mountain bikers out, not a lot of motorized people that day. The trail climb up wasn't terrible, but took a bit. A group of 8 people with very different skill levels can take a good amount of time. It was one of the guys second ride this year lol. He ended up splitting and only doing lower ahab while the rest of us climbed up to do the full thing.
Captain Ahab isn't terribly difficult as far as technical features I think. The double black rating is definitely warranted though. I almost went OTB on one feature so maybe it was harder than I'm saying. I went back and did it again no problem though. While climbing the trail I thought the Spur would have been a better bike, but as soon as we started going down I knew the Patrol was the perfect bike out there. Some pretty fun side hits and wide open rocks to blast down. Some narrow sections of trail were super fun too. Weather wasn't bad, a bit warm.
I was gifted a couple of those Orion Rides "gravel" shirts a week before I left and they were super nice. Light fabric that breathed and didn't stay wet from sweat and they all have bikes in the patterns somewhere. Afterward we dropped the bikes off at the condo and went to the food truck corral in Moab. This was probably the best place to eat for sure, better than the brewery.
Back at the AirBnB and after only riding in the morning, a few of us decided to try full Pipedream since it was super close and right across the street. The northern half was mostly the same, just more dirt exposed trail. We should have crossed the main street and went back through the neighborhood, but I voted for the jeep road back that was on trail forks. This kinda sucked, just a wide, loose jeep road that was steep up but not steep down lol. We ended up using lights the last mile or so.

Saturday morning we all planned on riding Raptor Route. I guess this is a new descent for the Whole Enchilada? Instead of lower porcupine, you take this. I was hyped to ride LP, but was voted out. I'll just have to go back at some point and ride TWE from top to bottom and get lower porcupine in there. A few of the guys booked a shuttle, so they took off before us. The rest of us figured out how to self shuttle. We had a Tacoma and a Maverick and only 5 guys with 5 bikes. A couple other guys were meeting us there in their truck. So we meet at the Slickrock parking lot. While loading up the Taco to get to the top, one guy realizes he forgot his helmet lol. 20ish minutes later they get back and we start the drive up to Raptor Route. The road up wasn't terrible, mixed of pavement and paved. A little bumpy, but easy. We originally thought we were gonna have to park halfway up and pedal the road. The map they gave us when we went in showed parking right at the top. I missed the telling the driver we passed the halfway lot anyway and the top lot was wide open. Only 2 cars there and you could fit maybe 15-20.
Raptor Route was actually sick af. Its like 13 miles and only 500ish feet of climbing. It was so much fun just blasting down. One of the better long descents I've done in a while. The zeb up front was soooo nice. Rarely felt arm pump if I did at all. It just soaked it all up. I did make some adjustments after Ahab and Pipedream the day before and it helped a ton. The top of Raptor Route is Eagle Eye trail. This wasn't technical, just fast. Some sandy corners, but a really good warmup for the long descent. Things got a little more techy on Hawks Glide, the second trail in the route. The end of Hawks Glide had some double black signs, just steep bigger rock steps, but tons of fun. Falcon Flow, the next trail in the route, was pretty sick. Some nice optional rolls, but most of the climbing of the whole route. Amazing views throughout the first three trails. Kestrel Run, the last trail, was good but meh. Not terribly fun, but much better than riding the road down. Kestrel Run got pretty sandy at parts. There were quite a bit of families too, but they were very aware and would step off the trail, not that were were blasting by without a heads up. We should have parked at the bottom of Kestrel Run, but we didn't so we had to ride the road back to Slickrock. This is where the Maverick driver, who was supposed to take the two guys that drive back to the top, realized he left his keys in the Tacoma. Lol. Luckily he could open his truck with an app on his phone and we stashed a cooler full of drinks in there. So we grabbed a table under the shade and hung out while he flagged someone down to give those two guys a ride. Shoutout to the white minivan from Oregon that took them up.
The rest of the day was just hanging out. Made some food at the condo and used the pool and hot tub.

Sunday was our drive back day, but of course we had to ride. Slickrock won the vote and made sense since we had to pay for a week to ride Raptor Route anyway. Holy shit. If I thought Pipedream was up and down, Slickrock takes the cake. Very interesting with the grip of the rocks. The views were amazing as well. Might have been the best views, or we just stopped more after powering up some steep, short climbs. Rolling down the rocks were amazing too. The experience is unique. A long, sort of straight rock roll into another big rock. A few toilet bowl type of features where you see how high you can get. The painted lines are a god send, but I cut a few corners to get a steep line for a bit more fun. There was a guy doing it on a gravel bike too. He walked a few features, but still did the whole loop.
We stopped at Doughbird on the way out. Amazing chicken sandwiches and donuts. Highly recommend.

Overall amazing trip. No major falls, only some pedal and rock scrapes. I'd love to get back out there for TWE or the freeride area. Might try to plan something for late September or sometime October, but we'll see.

https://imgur.com/a/s1KS3Bg

 

It isn't a road trip if you're not working on your bike super late the night before : )

 

love me a good ahab rip! nice!

 

WR1 hoops are sweeeeet. Nice sled.

@mrtonyd ...excellent trail/Moab beta...thx. Headed there 5/21.

 

Thanks, it's a heavy SOB but pretty damn fun and durable lol.

 

Those frames seem neat. A friend just build one single speed to complement his dual suspension bike. I get tempted but we have a classic steel Honzo that with Nimble 9s started the trend. Just looking, it would be diminishing returns to do it. At my age I can have to use my dual suspension bike for a deteriorating body.

It's also hard to rationalize another build because I went fairly nuts with a Moots gravel bike a few years ago. With still recovering from last Sunday MTB crash, new tires, low wind, sun and moderate temperatures today I'm tempted to skip the single track and do an all/any adventure ride from my driveway.

I'm loving the Tufo tires.

 

Anyone here pretty familiar with the AXS transmissions? I don't personally know anyone with them, and outside of that it's asking people that are trying to sell them to me. Anyway, I'm about to pull the Treat Yoself trigger on a new MTB and was looking for something along the lines of a GX build. But, I found what I was looking for in a '23 closeout in a color I like better (on screen at least) - and it's got the AXS Transmission. Have there been changes/improvements over the years or is something from a couple years ago going to be as good as current year stuff?

 

I thought the only change/"improvement" they made to transmission was adding the wired groupset. No personal experience unfortunately none of my bikes have udh

 

I have XO Transmission on my Pivot Shuttle. It has been solid. It’s a e-bike and has handled the extra power with no issues. Some people don’t want the battery but I haven’t forgotten to charge mine, yet.

 

My wife has AXS Transmission, GX, on her gravel bike. She rides a lot and it’s been bulletproof, and she is picky, always fussing with the XT on her mountain bike. It did take her a while to get used to the shifting, Transmission seems to prefer shifting under load which is of course the opposite of what we’re used to. I have non-T AXS GX on my own gravel bike and frankly I’m sold on wireless … when my SLX Ripley needs new drivetrain I’d seriously consider making the switch, though it would not be Transmission as I don’t have a UDH.

 

I couldn't find anything about this sort of thing. The pics on the bike manufacturer site look like current model parts on the SRAM site; safe to assume current model stuff?

I was apprehensive at first about the idea but it seems like the vast majority with them like them; and problems tend to be "forgot/lost/didn't charge the battery" type stuff. That, or "I hate it and it totally sucks; but won't say specifically why." I love the internet.

So if it specs it as a "transmission" type, it does shift under power? This might actually be the best selling point for me, personally...I'm getting older, but I do think I am still capable of learning bad habits.

 

I always say you can find whatever answer you want to find on the internet. LOL

Some say it shifts slower than the previous mechanical or AXS (non-transmission), but I can’t really tell any difference.

That is one of the selling points for the Transmission line. I have definitely been pushing up a climb and shifted under power and it was much smoother feeling and sounding than the mechanical XO derailleur on my Florida bike.

 

Yea it's eagle 90 and 70 transmission that is mechanically shifted with a cable. It was announced late March, so it's almost a couple months old.
https://www.sram.com/en/sram/mountain/collections/eagle-transmission

 

Oh gotcha, makes a lot more sense - when you said "wired" my brain immediately went to electrical wiring, haha.