Official mountain biking thread
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saskskier
Active member
13837172:DrZoidberg said:
I haven't brought music with me while riding, although there are a few trails out here that don't see a lot of riders. We also have lots of bears and even cougars, so could see having some music blasting away being used as a safety thing if riding alone. That said, I like getting out to the mountains because it's peaceful and quiet, so I'll keep riding with bear bangers or spray and hope for the best.
ThaLorax
Active member
13838059:foolmetwice said:
For sure. I lived in both Denver and FoCo.
-Lory State Park has some fun flowy single track that'll go all the way to Horsetooth State Park and back.
-Blue Sky trail is fun and flowy
-Hewletts Gulch up Poudre Canyon (I think Young's Gulch is still closed after the fire in 2012)
-Devil's Backbone in Loveland
-Hall Ranch near Lyons
-Mathew Winter's Park in Golden/next to Red Rocks. This one isn't flowy, it's quite rocky, but it's not straight up/straight down.
-Golden Gate State park in Golden
-Lots of stuff in Boulder, but requires a good amount of climbing
-Colorado Trail between Breck and Keystone
-Blair Witch trail/Tiger Road area in Breck
-Blue River trail between Blue River and Breck
-There's trails all around Dillon Resevior if you start on the Frisco side
That should be a good start to get your lungs up to snuff.
13838313:ThaLorax said:
That is a super solid list to start with.
I write these guys for work at evo, there's a bunch more detail of some of those rides and more.
Colorado mountain bike trail guides
cydwhit
Active member
13838103:.lencon said:
Maybe?
Man, so, I've got a Hightower LT on order, should show up in a couple weeks, but we got a bunch of snow on all our trails so I may not get to ride it this season, sad.
Also, was getting my old HT fixed up to sell and it turns out I broke the XD driver off of the rest of the hub. So that's rad, nothing like spending money on a bike right before I try to flip it haha!
onenerdykid
Active member
13838442:cydwhit said:
Sweet! What color did you go with?
a_pla5tic_bag
Active member
Anybody have any oakley sunglasses with the prizm trail lenses? Do you like them? I got some glasses with prizm daily polarized and I think they actually work as advertised, I bet the trail tint works pretty well too. Plus it's nice to not have bugs and dirt in your eyes.
ThaLorax
Active member
13838529:a_pla5tic_bag said:
I refuse to ride w/out glasses now. I look like a nerd, but I haven't had a bug, rock, or any dust in my eye in years. I ride in the Smith Approach glasses. Comes with 3 lenses. The new field of view/peripherals on the enw Attack is much better. It comes with ChromaPop lenses and I love the new ChromaPop lenses, but you don't get the extra lenses. Had a pebble fly up and scratch my clear lens a few weeks ago. So glad I was wearing them.
.nasty
Active member
13838549:sdrvper said:
I've tried the Smith pivlocks (overdrive and arena/arena max), Smith attacks and a few others over the years. Hands down the best is what I have now which is the Dragon EnduroX with the transitions lens. I ride in a lot of dark timber unless I'm above treeline and love clear lenses, which all of those have easy interchange but it's still a pain to move to the darker lenses. The transitions lens has about 40-85% VLT which is more than enough unless you plan on staring at the sun haha. They're super light and don't move on my face, and the lenses have vent holes on the top so fogging isn't an issue.
division.bell
Active member
13838529:a_pla5tic_bag said:
I've been using the Prizm Trail lens for almost two years now and won't go back. They are fantastic for just about all of my riding here in the PNW. They don't quite cut it for intense sunny situations (the kind of situations that sunglasses are designed for) and lowlight conditions, but for 95% of my riding they are my go-to lens. I'll swap out to a yellow or clear lens for lowlight or night rides if necessary.
I upgraded to the Prizm Trails after using a high contrast Yellow lens on some Smith glasses for many years. The additional contrast that the Prizm lens provides is a noticeable upgrade in my opinion, but it doesn't work as well in the lowlight conditions that a yellow lens would. So if you do go the Prizm route, just get an additional clear or yellow lens for your lowlight and/or night rides and call it good.
mike759
Member
I know almost nothing about bike mechanics but i bought this:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075427JLD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to convert my 2x10 to 1x10. Will I be able to use the crank arms from the 2x crankset?
.lencon
Active member
BIKE FOR SALE.
NS Eccentric
Size Large
27.5" tires
$1,800 OBO
located in Idaho.
ill give more specs on it tomorrow, just getting it out there.
This would be a great bike for anything, super capable and aggressive hardtail.. tires would probably need to be replaced soon though..
mike759
Member
13838964:sdrvper said:
Shimano Deore
This is the bike:
http://www.fujibikes.com/2016/bike/details/reveal-275-11-
ThaLorax
Active member
I just started using it again now that I have a phone with functional GPS. I like how you can track how much you're riding and compare your climbing times and overall times (I don't care about my descent times, fun is fun). Problem is, I always forget to use it. It's approaching mud season, so my strava use is probably done for the season after tomorrow (snowing on Saturday here). I don't understand how some people get these ridiculously fast times. I'm by no means the fastest rider out there, but I'm one of the faster riders I know and people's times on strava blow mine away. Not sure if there's some way to cheat the app or if their GPS is messed up.
ThaLorax
Active member
13846902:sdrvper said:Some people are insane. Its hard to get fastest time unless you are riding at $10,000 full carbon XTR bike, at least at some of the more popular trails I ride. Ive gotten close and a couple KOMs on trails that only have like less than 300 riders. On a trail that has 2600 unique riders and 18,000 attempts, there are going to be people faster than you, I was racing to the point of losing control on this one trail with 18,000 rides and got 9th, but i cant imagine how fast the KOM must have been going.
heres the segment:https://www.strava.com/segments/1608796?filter=overall
?
I'm talking about sections where, at my fasted, I may be able to ride the DH section in 5 minutes, but people have times of like 1 minute, 25 seconds. It's literally not possible to go that fast on these trails. Yes, people are faster than me, but not THAT fast.
division.bell
Active member
13846752:sdrvper said:
Curious...How is it less "snobby" than before? And what time period is defined as "than before?"
The new feed layout is terrible. Nothing has changed to make things more "social than competitive" however, it's all in how you interpret what's displayed in my opinion. All the same information is there, just with a different look.
13846770:ThaLorax said:
Cheating is definitely possible. Some of the segments in my area are just not humanly possible; whether you're on an actual bike, an ebike, or a fucking motorcycle. Straight cheating.
Most of the obvious stuff gets flagged and removed pretty quickly, but for some reason there are a few that still haven't changed. That, and sometimes the actual trail changes and the original GPS segment stays in place, which can make logged runs on the original trail near impossible to meet or beat.
13846781:.lencon said:
This.
I use Strava for all of my rides, indoor training included.
Just allows me to track not only how fast I went and who I'm faster than, but more importantly my progress of strength/endurance and my weaknesses on certain trails/sections/climbs/etc. I'd like to improve on.
**This post was edited on Oct 19th 2017 at 6:29:09pm
division.bell
Active member
13846922:sdrvper said:
I forgot to ask if you use the app, or actual website more. I agree that the mobile app is smooth and allows for easy viewing of other rides, or checking your own riding log or stats. The website recently got a facelift on the data feed, and that's what I was criticizing above.
Agree 100%, the Flyby's are super rad. It always amazes me to see how many other riders (Strava users) are nearby on any given ride.
13847020:GANDALF said:
Damn, that dirt looks money.
It's amazing the difference a few weeks can make weather wise down there. I was down for my annual bike pilgrimage a few weeks ago and it was around 30 degrees each night in the tent and snowing/drizzling each day on the trails.
.nasty
Active member
13846902:sdrvper said:Some people are insane. Its hard to get fastest time unless you are riding at $10,000 full carbon XTR bike, at least at some of the more popular trails I ride. Ive gotten close and a couple KOMs on trails that only have like less than 300 riders. On a trail that has 2600 unique riders and 18,000 attempts, there are going to be people faster than you, I was racing to the point of losing control on this one trail with 18,000 rides and got 9th, but i cant imagine how fast the KOM must have been going.
heres the segment:https://www.strava.com/segments/1608796?filter=overall
add me up famhttps://www.strava.com/athletes/23238043
Why?
ah heck I'm mostly just kidding around. I personally just hate the distraction of technology (not meaning the crazy amount of technology that goes into a bike haha), doesn't belong in the wilderness. Most of the trails I ride don't even have enough traffic to warrant a comparison of time. That, and using GPS drains your battery. haha
GANDALF
Active member
Here's a piece we just released featuring Carson Storch about how his schedule was in the months leading up to Redbull Rampage. Video by yours truely! Enjoy!
http://theloamwolf.com/index.php/2017/10/18/carson-storch-hometown-hucksville/
http://theloamwolf.com/index.php/2017/10/18/carson-storch-hometown-hucksville/
ahshit
Active member
Can't believe this thread isn't blowing up about rampage, Sorge and Zink fucking sent, if Zink didn't crash his second run he would have won. This also leads me to this question, I'm planning on buying a new dh bike and I can't decide between a YT Tues or a Polygon Collosus DH, any thoughts?
ThaLorax
Active member
13849893:sickski said:
Haven't had any time to watch the recaps, aside from Sorge's run and the practice run shots. Sorge killed it, but as both a nature nerd and someone who's been watching Rampage since the beginning, I'm not a huge fan of how they just destroy the mountain side in order to manicure their lines. I'd rather see smaller hits off natural lines than huge tricks off manicured jumps. Some of the videos of them absolutely destroying the mountain side for the sake of making a big jump that only gets used, maybe once a year just bothered me. Still a fan and love watching, but that's my 2 cents.
Also, that's a tough call, but I'd vote for the Tues. Neither of those bikes are made small enough for me, so I haven't ridden them but if Tippie and Lacondeguy and Gwin can ride it, so can you.
PBraunstein
Active member
13849893:sickski said:
I rode a carbon Tues at mountain creek a few weeks about and it was easily the best bike I've ever ridden. I felt more comfortable railing berms after 2 runs then I did after putting 200 days on a demo 8 on the same trails over the past few years.. and I loved my s-works demo. The Tues was full Fox Factory float, front and rear, which is my go to combo at this point.
Also, take a look at the Furious. Commencal did a great job bringing a very quality 'budget' build to the downhill world. You can get a Furious with Fox Factory front and rear with Guide RS brakes for 4k.. hard to beat that.
PBraunstein
Active member
13850003:PBraunstein said:
scratch that.. they have 2018s out now.. for 4,300 you can get Code Rs and an E13/formula wheelset.. I think I may have found my next bikehttps://www.commencalusa.com/furious-race-650b-brushed-2018-c2x23712423
**This post was edited on Oct 30th 2017 at 2:24:12pm
NinetyFour
Active member
Anyone else been enjoying some good night riding lately? Up until about a week ago the nights were stupid nice to be out after supper.
ThaLorax
Active member
What do you guys use to hang/store your bikes? I was was looking for something to hang both my bikes in my storage closet and basically ended up drilling 8 holes in my wall for nothing. I bought two of these, and they're absolute crap.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0W0L8V/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The only one that works arrived broken, and the other is currently just holding a spare tire of mine because I can't get my DH bike into the hook because the hook wont' stay up by itself and my DH wheel has too big of a profile to fit into the hook, even at an angle.
My amazon review of them: "Bought two of these because of the good reviews. Highly regretting that decision now. It came with no instructions (aside from the instructions here on Amazon), came wrapped in thin bubble tape with zero branding or anything. The hinge on the hook on one of them arrived bent/broken. Ironically, the fact that it came broken is the only reason it even works (because the broken hinge allows the hook to stay somewhat upright while attempting to hang my bike). The "adjustable" hook doesn't stay up by itself, so it's nearly impossible to hang a bike above your head without help from someone else. You have to hold the bike up with one hand, then somehow hold the hook up with the other hand, then wiggle the wheel so it fits into the hook. My downhill bike is simply too heavy to do this maneuver with, not to mention that the wheels on my downhill bike don't even fit in the hook, no matter what angle you try to fit it in. I managed to get my trail bike into the one with the broken hinge wihtout help from someone else, but that was only because the hinge came bent/broken, as I mentioned above. Two of the 4 screws it came with broke while drilling holes, forcing me to use only two of the four mounting holes."
My amazon review of them: "Bought two of these because of the good reviews. Highly regretting that decision now. It came with no instructions (aside from the instructions here on Amazon), came wrapped in thin bubble tape with zero branding or anything. The hinge on the hook on one of them arrived bent/broken. Ironically, the fact that it came broken is the only reason it even works (because the broken hinge allows the hook to stay somewhat upright while attempting to hang my bike). The "adjustable" hook doesn't stay up by itself, so it's nearly impossible to hang a bike above your head without help from someone else. You have to hold the bike up with one hand, then somehow hold the hook up with the other hand, then wiggle the wheel so it fits into the hook. My downhill bike is simply too heavy to do this maneuver with, not to mention that the wheels on my downhill bike don't even fit in the hook, no matter what angle you try to fit it in. I managed to get my trail bike into the one with the broken hinge wihtout help from someone else, but that was only because the hinge came bent/broken, as I mentioned above. Two of the 4 screws it came with broke while drilling holes, forcing me to use only two of the four mounting holes."
NinetyFour
Active member
13850388:.lencon said:
Had a night ride where it was starting to cool off after a 20°C fall day (which is rare here) and it was so fucking neat. A change in like 5 metres of elevation made for a totally different temperature. The high spots were like 18°C and the lows were almost down around 7°C. If you ride some really up and down stuff it was just a constant temperature change, felt out of this world different.
division.bell
Active member
13850439:ThaLorax said:
I use a combination of Superstands;
and Park Tool hooks in the oversize and extra large sizes for tires/wheels/bikes including fatbikes;
DrZoidberg
Active member
Ha i went for a quick ride through my local trails. Its alllll leaves. Can't see the trail at all. And you make a lot of noise riding trhough that so all the deer freak out and run around.
Mar-O
Member
So now that the biking season has come to an end here Im starting to prepare for next season. I got into downhill this year and two things that I have been struggling with has been back and finger pain so I really want to do what I can to minimize these problems before next year. The back problems is something I struggle with in other situations to and I think doing allot of core/back exercises will help with that (any tips for good exercises would be great) but I also want to work on my finger/wrist strength. Was wondering if anyone has any experience using these hand grips for the same reason? Remember some friends that was into trials used to use them so been thinking it would be a great exercise for downhill riding to.
ahshit
Active member
13851854:Mar-O said:So now that the biking season has come to an end here Im starting to prepare for next season. I got into downhill this year and two things that I have been struggling with has been back and finger pain so I really want to do what I can to minimize these problems before next year. The back problems is something I struggle with in other situations to and I think doing allot of core/back exercises will help with that (any tips for good exercises would be great) but I also want to work on my finger/wrist strength. Was wondering if anyone has any experience using these hand grips for the same reason? Remember some friends that was into trials used to use them so been thinking it would be a great exercise for downhill riding to.
I'm not exactly sure how to describe this, but it's a stretch sorta thing that really helps strengthen your fingers and wrists, I'll post a picture of it if I find it.
tomatonater
Member
I hate my Talon 3. I need a full sus
ThaLorax
Active member
13850679:division.bell said:I use a combination of Superstands;
and Park Tool hooks in the oversize and extra large sizes for tires/wheels/bikes including fatbikes;
Thanks, I'll look into that wide hook in the 2nd pic. I got Amazon to give me a refund and I'm keeping them, so I can use the broken one (ironically) for long term storage and the one that didn't come broken for storing one of my spare wheels i guess? How did you drill the hole for the hook to screw in? Does it come with a mounting kit?
PBraunstein
Active member
13852309:sickski said:
Felt very predictable and playful.. Super easy to manual for me (I'm used to a short chain-stay bike ie. demo 8 and giant reign). The bike had a fox float (with an upgraded damper) in the front and an dhx2 coil in the rear which is my ideal set up for a dh rig, so to me, it was awesome on the jumps.
mmccarthy81
Member
Someone help me out, I’ve ridden lift access at vail, beaver creek, and whiteface. Two days on a DH bike and on an all mountain one. I like the way DH bikes ride way better but may not be close enough to lift access trails next year in college for a DH bike to be worth it. I’m trying to find an enduro that excels at downhill and off drops but can still do a little climbing when necessary. If someone can point me in the right direction or tell me what to look for in a bike (I’ll prob be getting one used on pinkbike or something) that’d be awesome. Thanks to anyone willing to give some bike advice
PBraunstein
Active member
13853088:mmccarthy81 said:
When I moved out to Utah, I quickly realized that the lack of bike parks and gnarly, full send terrain (at least in the salt lake area) did not require the need for a dh bike. Most good dh trails around here, you need to pedal to get to, so i sold my dh bike and bought a giant reign 1. The reign would fall right in the category that you're looking for, as well as a plethora of other bikes. I would just look for a 160-170 travel bike with a more dh leaning geo (ie. the reign, capra, meta v4.2). All ive done to my reign is shorten the stem, throw on dh bars and get rid of the god awful schwables that came stock and replaced them with some butchers (2.6 in the front, 2.4 in the rear) and I pretty much feel like I'm on a dh bike