Yeah, we had a lot of rain and mud down here too but fortunately, it's dried out enough for mountain biking.
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basscyclist thread picture thread
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Yeah, we had a lot of rain and mud down here too but fortunately, it's dried out enough for mountain biking.
Have you ever suffered your way up a brutal climb only to find out one of your brakes was dragging? Today wasn't the first time for me. 
At least it was pretty out.
Last I checked, native Flora didn't need supplemental irrigation and/or little colored flags to tell then where to grow.
At least it was pretty out.
Last I checked, native Flora didn't need supplemental irrigation and/or little colored flags to tell then where to grow.
I walked the lower third of my fav loop today. Still mostly snow covered. Hopefully in a few weeks. Been rebuilding a 2017 Devinci Django 29'er. The original owner confused an all mountain trail bike with a full on downhill rig... new seatpost, crank and bottom bracket, bearings in front hub. The basics were all there though carbon frame and hoops, the other hardware.
It's good now, will be better in a couple of weeks.
It's good now, will be better in a couple of weeks.
Still frozen up here. Due to warm up tomorrow so I'd say the winter riding season is done. Got out for a final snow ride last night and now we wait for the snow to melt and things to dry out. I'm switching back to my summer tires and learning to manual in the meantime.
Sounds like a worthy pre-trail goal... I'm playing with chunks of 4x4, 6x6 and small logs. I took a couple of diggers last year on slick off camber roots. Need a better rear wheel approach... maybe manuals after that!
Some nice instructional videos at REI ... watched the one on manuals and it made sense...
Some nice instructional videos at REI ... watched the one on manuals and it made sense...
Wet, off camber roots are the worst. They'll take you down like a sack of crap. I would be most concerned with your front wheel on those. Trying to get it as perpendicular as possible and such. I don't worry about the rear end much as long as I have front wheel grip. It's worth your while to get used to the feeling of the rear end drifting around a bit so that it's not disconcerting when it happens on the trail. As long as you have the front end, you'll be fine. Case in point, my rear end slid out on ice last night right at the point of no return of a steep rock roll and was well off line when I went over. I was fine because I still had the front end. Front wheel washouts are bad bad news.
I spend a lot of time practicing track stands, wheelies, stoppies (nose wheelies) and manuals. I can track stand pretty much indefinitely and I can usually wheelie for a good long distance but manuals and good stoppies have eluded me so far. I also practice swinging the rear of the bike around when in a nose wheelie. Can do it decently to the left but not to the right at all. These skills come in really handy on tech trails and it's fun to fool around practicing them.
I did Ryan Leech's wheelie challenge a couple of years ago and it totally changed my wheelie game.
Anybody want a full carbon XTR and XT build. XTR front, XT rear derailleurs. 2x10. XTR brakes. Large Santa Cruz Tallboy LT c. Fox Kashima Factory 140mm front and rear. Sun Ringle charger rims on SR Hubs setup for tubeless. KS Lev dropper. 2014 frame ridden 3 seasons... located an hour east of PDX.
XT cranks allow for a tiny front chain ring which is why the mixed build.
Climbs like goat and the 140/140 setup sucks up a whole lotta bother...
More-freight mid 2k range for a blingy lightweight full carbon all mountain / trail beast.
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The Tallboy LTC was consistently a top pick in a lot of industry publications/websites. Nice ride. At that price, you shouldn't have much trouble shaking it.
Do you just like the Django better? Devinci make really nice bikes for sure. I'm still loving my 2017 Troy (Alloy GX) but am admittedly gassing for the 29er Carbon version...
Do you just like the Django better? Devinci make really nice bikes for sure. I'm still loving my 2017 Troy (Alloy GX) but am admittedly gassing for the 29er Carbon version...
Nice ride, but my size is a medium. Might want to try MTBR to see if you get any interest. Funny that you mentioned you went for a enduro/all mountain 29'er bike since Santa Cruz came out with the Megatower this week. 160mm front and back travel but requires some serious scratch to afford it.
Good suggestion, thanks. I'll hit my local (Portland, OR) CL and see how that does. MTBR after that. Mtn bikes and riders are even crazier than roadies. Our LBS is regularly topping 9k for out the door bikes... My Tallboy build was just below $8k when it was built up in 2014. The Django I'm rehabbing is like $8500 this year. We got the last 2018 small Django frame in North America for my wife last August, Large frames were already done. So the demand is definitely out there.
My first 3 cars were like $3000 total. My first house was $50k... can you say sticker shock ?
My first 3 cars were like $3000 total. My first house was $50k... can you say sticker shock ?
Mountain bike pricing is getting a bit out of hand but we are definitely not crazier than roadies. I overheard two guys on the trailhead last week talking about upgrading their road bikes with some part that costs $600 and will save 30(!!) grams. I missed what part they were talking about, just heard the tail end of it. And here I am looking at going back to DH tires and adding a pound to my bike...
I ride terrain with a lot of climbing up to tight XC / Enduro style riding. The down hills (on the terrain I prefer) are flowy, twisty. The Django's relatively tight rear travel and 1" shorter chain stay, combined with the low stand over height makes the bike feel more tossable. The Tallboy at 140mm in the rear and slightly longer wheel base is a little less quick feeling in the tight twisties, and so more stable on the fast, flowy, rolling sections.
The Tallboy was a good choice for me returning to mountain biking after laying off. I had soooo much fun on it last year. I am usually jones'ing for great ski conditions this time of year. Now all I really want to do is get on the bike and go... come'on Dry trails!
The Tallboy was a good choice for me returning to mountain biking after laying off. I had soooo much fun on it last year. I am usually jones'ing for great ski conditions this time of year. Now all I really want to do is get on the bike and go... come'on Dry trails!
I hear ya on that. A lot of the local fatbikers are lamenting the end of snow season but I can't friggin' wait for dirt season to start. Of course, the trails go from fast and flowy in the winter to all tech, all the time in the summer so that puts off some of the snow roadie types. I bet you have loads of trails out your way, and lots of vertical too. What we lack in vert, we make up for in gnar, hence the Troy. In fact, the Troy is leaning towards the XC side of the typical local bike build. Perhaps not surprisingly, I'd describe the Troy much like you've described the Django. Short chainstays and low standover make for good handling in the tight and tech.
same, but opposite. Which foot forward are you using?
My nose wheelies were flawless for one summer when I got one 80s light tourer with some period shimano pads on its cantis and put a fresh wheelset and aero levers on it. Never again since.
Yep.. this is a Mecca for riding in the summer. Road, Gravel and Mountain. I am at the eastern intersection of the Columbia River and Cascade Mountains. There is a bit of everything here. Quite a few trail networks. Many span a couple of ridge lines with a bowl to descend and switchbacks to gain elevation. There are a couple of crazy rock gardens that I stay the heck out of...
The road riding here is stupendous as long as it is not a tourist weekend... best to just stay in the house if it is... glad of them though. They keep the economy afloat. Just wish they drove better and did their rubber necking from the overlooks...
I'm always left foot forward. I tried right foot forward last night and still can't kick the rear end to the right very well, but I think it might help to do that.
Went down to my LBS on Saturday and was looking at tires with intent to buy a set later in the spring. The owner said he was overstocked on tires and was blowing them out... So I bought a 2.5" Minion DHF (EXO, Maxgrip) for the front and a 2.3" Aggressor (DD casing, Dual compound) for slightly more than the normal price for one tire. Score! I've been looking at the DD tires for the rear because I've been finding the EXO sidewalls to be not all that great on our super tech trails under my fat hack ass, but haven't move on it because the DD 2.5" Minions are really heavy and slow rolling. The Aggressor is a faster rolling tire that's supposed to hook up nicely on rocks and such and the weight penalty isn't too horrendous in the 2.3. The sidewalls are definitely quite a lot stiffer than the EXO ones, but the beads seated easily. Could have done it with a floor pump. Can't wait to try it on the trail.
Dura ace on my Cervelo R3 and Raceface Turbine R on the Django. Scratched that itch...
of course there is still my old Kona Jake to pimp ;-)
