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

I was recently in the same decision-making boat as you...

I've been riding a Pivot Mach 5.5 for a year or so and I love it. Very similar to the Evil Calling. I wanted to have a 2nd bike, a "big hit" trail bike for park days and shuttling some other rides. I found a barely used Pivot Firebird 29 and scooped it up about a month ago (Firebird 29 is close to Evil Wreckoning). Long story short - I sold the Mach 5.5 last weekend.

The Firebird 29 climbs as well as the Mach 5.5 (maybe even better??) and absolutely slays everything on the downhills. So Much Fun! I rode one of my favorite loops back-to-back on the 2 bikes and there was just no comparison. The 5.5 is sold and I'm back to one bike. I originally considered getting a mid travel trail bike (like an Evil Following) for the days that I just wanted to pedal, but I don't think it would get much use with the Firebird sitting beside it.

These new long-travel 29ers (Wreckoning, Firebird, etc) can really do it all. I don't feel like I'm sacrificing anything in the twisty-turny-pedaly-climby areas while on the Firebird...definitely not sacrificing any fun!

Choose wisely and enjoy!

 

Interesting. So much depends on the terrain. Like I said previously, if it's just big climbs to big descents I think I'd be fine with a big bike. But I ride a couple trail systems regularly are more mellow with short punchy ups and downs with tight twisty pedally sections. I just can't imagine the big squish bike would be super fun and engaging there. I ride them enough that I feel I'd be doing myself a disservice by buying a bike that wasn't fairly well suited.

 

If I had the money, I would for sure have a couple different bikes. Right now, I just wanted one all-around bike that is still easy enough to pedal up climbs. Although mine is 170/140, it suits me just fine. Definitely overkill on a lot of trails around here, but it's comfortable

 

I hear ya man. Reviews of how well a bike climbs up fire road do me little justice on how the bike climbs/pedals. I do those kind of up and back a hand full of times year. My everyday riding is tons of short ups/downs.

 

I think you covered this some, but what were the strengths and shortcomings of the TB for you? What's driving the change other than just trying something new?

 

More and more people are starting to get it. Honestly, I get that it doesn’t make sense. But big 29 bikes are damn fun on almost anything now. If you ride anything with decent vert, they will make you sell you mid travel bike.

Try one. Current 160(ish) bikes with a good amount of anti-squat will not disappoint.
That said, if your ride profile looks like a roller coaster rather than a mountain, a shorter travel bike might be better.

 

I did on my Bronson. But theyre so hard to find in any offering other than XC it seems that I went with black on my Sentinel.

 

what bike is 170/140? sounds like a crazy head tube angle there

 

No major shortcomings that I observed. But I’m a hack at best.

It’s a lively ride that descends very well and holds it own on everything I could put it through. On longer rides though, my legs could feel the heft. Admittedly I could have built it to be lighter.

Aside from all that, I just wanted to try something different.

 

I won’t lie, the Slash isn’t the most comfortable climbing bike. Slack seat angle is noticeable. Seat slammed forward helps little. At the end of the day, I don’t care. Everything I ride local starts with long, boring fire road climbs. Nothing is gonna make that fun or enjoyable in my mind. I get rewarded on the downhill with how good it is in that scenario. Steep, narrow, rocky it absolutely shines. That’s what I want my bike to do. I’ve taken it on more flowy trails and it’s equally as fun, capable, quick and nimble. We’re all different, all we can do is give our own experiences.

While it’s hard to believe with my last three bike purchases, Trek isn’t my first choice. Big corporate monster with less than stellar LBS experience. However, I was ready to get back into a long travel bike. The build specs met my requirements, it wasn’t one of Trek’s god awful color ways and it was in stock. Absolutely no regrets with the Slash.

 

I would love to try a couple on my local trails but demos are hard to come by here. Out of the 3 places I ride most frequently (call it after work ride spots) 2 are for sure more roller coaster like elevation profiles with maybe 1000' ish total climb per 10 miles. The 3rd I could happily ride a bigger bike on as it's mostly big ups and big downs and a good bit of rocky tech and logging road climbs. Pretty ideal bigger bike terrain really. That said, I *think* that if I had an aggressive short travel trail bike and a 140-160 "big bike" that I'd find myself on the short travel bike 3/4+ of the days I ride.

I get the trying something different thing. I have no real complaints with my bike, yet here I am trying to figure out what's next. haha

 

It's my 2018 Sentinel. Came stock with 160/140, but the previous owner swapped a 2019 Fox 36 170mm on it. Haven't had a chance to play with it very much, but seems fine so far.

Will probably be swapping the Cascade Link on for Christmas or something, which bumps the travel up to 146mm or so.

 

an older one? i thought new ones were 160/150?

ive heard a little about the cascade links. jordan boostmaster put one on his patrol. you can use stock shock on it cant you?

 

160/150 on the new one, 160/140 on the older model like Snoz and mine

Yep, or you can go one size up to gain a little extra.

 

I've run the Sparwoods as a combo commuter/singletrack tire. I'd agree that they're not ideal for regular XC/trail use, but they've done fine on the singletrack for me. I've recently switched to the Teravail Ehline, which are more dedicated XC tires. If they last as long as my Sparwoods then I'll be sold on Teravail to expand the tanwall options.

My buddy just sold his Bronson and got a Firebird (similar transition as you with the wheel size and travel range). He's loved the Firbird in every way. Howevah!!!! He also demo'd the Switchblade and said that it's much better than the Firebird at "twisty-turny-pedaly-climby" stuff, especially the twisty-turny part.

That said, I adore my Rallon and agree with your assessment of long-travel 29ers. I ride mine 90% of the time and only pull out the hardtail when I want to suffer.

 

Kinda subtle but just got tan on my kids bike

 

I have my old stem up for sale, probably just giving it away. People are messaging me asking if the price is for the whole bike...oh man. Who wants an Easton stem?

 

Have a s-works stumpy frame on the way. Had the bug before the release for a new bike so it came at the right moment - addressed most of my issues with the current bike. Plus it should build up rather light.

 

Glad I’m not the only one in the room looking at the Ssssss

 

Where in the heck do you get one of those seats?