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

damn...so THIS is why I'm so slow...

 

Carbon frames for me purely for the stiffness. Weight second. Bragging rights last.

Carbon wheels deflect or aluminum? Never tried carbon hoops but it's on the list.

 

CompetitiveCyclist rep got back to me this time with 27.5% off the XT Carbon Ripmo. Tempting.. Anyone here really interested. I'm happy to hook a brother up. Size Large in Zapper Blue.

 

bOoMeR pAnSy checkin' in.

Truth spoken here.

 

Haha yeah exactly. Like we've all learned from our leaders if you don't like the answer just deny the results vehemently!

 

Haha, actually not really worried about the glue tbh, panel bond(for example) is some insanely strong shit. He says in the PB podcast the name had more to do with the band. Either way the bike looks sick and the geo is on point. Wonder if he'll be able to pull it off?

 

I always thought that many DH bikes were still aluminum because you actually want a heavy bike for DH. At the very least, weight is not as much of a penalty in DH as it is in other disciplines so why not save the manufacturing costs and use aluminum.

Apparently Commencal says it's an environmental and cost thing...
"In 2012 Commencal took a stand against manufacturing a carbon fiber mountain bike. Commencal feels that working with carbon can have a major impact on the environment and the health of workers in manufacturing facilities" https://theloamwolf.com/brands-commencal/

"Look through the line-up and there is a distinct absence of carbon in the Commencal portfolio. They did offer the likes of the Skin, Super 4, and Meta in carbon for a few years, but after visiting the manufacturer in China, Max decided to put a stop to it all. “I was so disappointed to see the bad, bad conditions for the workers... young people with the carbon dust, with only a poor paper mask. The owner was saying 'No, it is like this'... I wasn't comfortable with that.” That was the end to carbon at Commencal, but it wasn't just the humanitarian side that leaves the company as aluminum advocates. As Max explains, a carbon mold is expensive and leaves little room to tweak and change the design, something which Commencal are constantly playing with, especially with their race team." https://www.pinkbike.com/news/inside-commencal-20-years-of-a-race-winning-family-affair.html

 

That's the reason that my newest frame is 6 years old. I just update the parts.

 

There hasn't really been any leaps in the last 6 years anyway. Bikes design always seems to go to the extremes just to get reeled back in a year or 2 later. I feel pretty strongly that current trail bikes are about as good as they're ever gonna be and it's a great time to be a mountain biker. There is plenty of brands to choose from that are offering boutique level quality frames for half the price. Pick one and be a dick about it.

 

Ok MTBYumYum haha


It really is though.

 

Bikes have come a long way in the last 10 years, just in the last 5 there have been small advances in things like rim width, hub design, frame geometry, tire casing improvement, suspension design, derailleur improvements, that all add up as as sum to a better ride.
Not sure how many of you remember when derailleurs used to drop chain every time you jumped or ran into a chunky section fast. Or pogoing when pedaling up hills. Or raising and lowering your seat by hand every time you got the tough section. Or popping a tube in a tire running over nettle thorns. Tacoing a rim. But i havent had any of the above issues in years. I can ride my same enduro bike on DH trails and jump lines, dont need a separate rig for all the disciplines.
Fun times to be riding. Just rode downieville and mammoth last week. Get some!

 

FIFY.

 

Carbon is def stronger, but if you ride in an area with sharp rocks, etc, AL will def do better against sharp pointy impacts. Seems to be really the only downside of a woven material in this application.

Sold my Stache for a Pipedream Sirius. I love this steel bike so much, but I miss my stache every day all the same.

 

What do you miss about the stache? I kind of want something a little more versatile. Ride to the store, hit the pumptrack and do some light trail duty. Not that the stache can't do those things...but I kind of want something different, maybe a mullet hardtail? haha

 

Nice! A long time ago when they were just starting to use aluminum (and full suspension was a weird, new thing), I test rode a couple of hardtails in both steel and aluminum. To me, the steel just rides better on a hardtail.

I miss my Stache as well.

 

I have an orange crush, i love my enduro hard tail so much its tough to choose which bike i roll out with for the day. My other rig is a Santa Cruz nomad 4. The new nomad 6 is on order and looking to be delivered in the next couple weeks!

 

Have we really gone that far? Here's the bike I was riding 10 years ago.

Bulletproof carbon, 30mm tubeless wheels, 1x drivetrain, carbon bars, killer suspension, no dropper in this pic but I had one.

 

is that how you bought it or did you make upgrades over time?

 

Built frame only, I pretty much only buy completes if I want to swap the parts to my old frames to sell.