170mm Lyrik on mine. Was riding DH tracks in Morgin the weekend before last, did an all day ride today up and down near Morzine, and didn’t feel limited by the bike on either occasion. It’s an impressive machine, I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun with it!

http://www.transitionbikes.com/PDF/GETDIALED_FrameGeo_Part1_ETTvsReach.pdf

Reach is the main thing for me but look at every measurement to compare properly…

Argh it does look so nice in Carbon!

I am 6’1″ and have long arms, I like big bikes so I have an XL with 35mm stem, its long! 1250mm wheelbase :). If you are 5’9″ then I would think either a medium or large will be fine depending on how you like your bike set up, if you prefer a 50mm stem then a Medium should be fine, or go large with a really short stem if you want more wheelbase…

My Patrol has no alignment issues and the paint is fine.. it has a low BB, that’s part of what makes it good 🙂

I have had a few of both types of bike, and whether they feel good or bad often comes down to the geometry and the quality and set up of the rear damper. Get a good shock well set up and how may pivots it has got should be the major issue.. design and execution will be. Generally I have found that single pivot bikes highlight a bad shock more.. can feel awful. But stick a CCDB Air or similar on it and fettle it right and it can feel just as good as a multi-pivot bike.

I have an XL Ali Patrol as my only bike this year, and I’m really happy with it. Its been greatly improved by putting a CCDB Air shock on it in place of the Monarch it came with, got rid of a tendency to feel a bit wallowy at times and now just feels planted and fun. I’m running a 170mm Lyrik up front and 2×10 drive train. Very pleased with it. I have used it for Alps DH tracks through to XC and while it feels a bit like overkill for XC is still perfectly manageable. Best bike over jumps I have ever owned I think. Not ridden the Giant so can’t comment on that.

All the XTR bits on my bike, when XT or even Deore would do perfectly well…

V excited for this season, I got a Bataleon Magic Carpet towards the end of last season and it was a revelation, so looking forward to riding it as much as possible this year. Here’s hoping for powder in the PDS every weekend 🙂

This year has been very very warm, every month. I get the feeling that in the future people will look back at 2016 as the year that global temperature rise feedback loop really kicked in… we will probably know for sure in 10 years time, and by then I am pretty sure it will be too late to do much about it.

It’s all about the GEO, the damping, and the execution. Not the number of pivots IMHO

Not enough high speed rebound? Is the shock going through its travel and then not returning? If the low speed rebound is fast enough then this might mask the issue? Just guessing 🙂

You should go for DP or the heaviest casing you can bear.. repeated pinch flats are no fun and it so easily done on the top half of the Mega track, and especially the quali track which is very rocky after the glacier.

Still getting fresh snow above 2000m this week! The weather changes constantly so just be ready for anything!

Having just been riding there I can +1 for Aosta Valley and aosta valley freeride, nice guys and great trails. I was there for a day and only scratched the surface I think. Nice scenery too. You can easily head over to bike park type stuff in France if you want a mix, only 2hrs from there to Les Gets.

We have a short wheelbase T5 with three kids for everyday duties. Generally pleased with it, kids like it, roomy enough, drives well on the open road and is v comfy on long journeys but you feel the size when parking & maneuvering. We have 180ps 4 Motion so a bit thirsty but goes well.

One thing I would say is be careful on the interior spec you chose, there are so many options and if I had my time to choose again I would change a few things. In particular the spec we have has very delicate material surfaces in the boot space and on the back of the bench seat, means you have to be really careful not to trash it when loading it up and putting things like bikes in the back etc. is not great. We have a towbar mounted bike carrier to help here. Also the interior space is good but the way you can access it is tricky and a bit compromised with the seating we have (two captain seat plus bench seat). Would work much better in long wheel base format. We plan to take the captain seats out when all kids are beyond the car seat phase and this will help a lot. For now it helps to keep the kids separated a bit and keep the fighting down on long journeys but its a bugger reaching in and out due to the seat backs getting in the way! Hope that helps.

I don’t really think of my age any more, sometimes I forget if I am 41 or 42 but I don’t feel any particular age at all. My knees hurt more some days than others..

Two things, yes decent shoes a must if you are going to get a good feeling with flat pedals. Then its just a matter of what you are used to. I recently went the other way, put SPD’s back on my hardtail. I ride clipped in on the road all the time but just hated the sensation off-road, going back to flats toute suite…

Swearing is a life skill, you need to know when its appropriate and acceptable and when its not. I sometimes swear in front of my kids, but I don’t use swearing as every second word in a sentence like some do. My boys know that swearing is not usually acceptable, but that they occasionally slip out and as long as its not in front of your Grandma that’s not the end of world.

If you never swear at all in front of your children they will just pick it up at school anyway…

Thanks Big Jim – if I did buy one I have got a CCBDA that I think will fit anyway so I would bung that on anyway… cheers.

Hi All – considering this as my next bike – does anyone have any feedback on durability after a bit of use? Cheers.

Thanks Beagle – yes looks like its a bit early still for yet. Considering one as my only MTB for Alps based riding…

Space station, that would be special, a submarine could be just like being locked in a basement.

Have I stumbled onto Pinkbike by mistake?

If you are not bothered about badges then a Kia Sorrento will do everything you need to do, masses of space and not outrageously expensive to run.

I don’t think anyone has ever said it any better than this:

You will see parts of the insides mice and other creatures that you never knew existed, often sicked up mixed with cat food and glued to the floor

Everything is relative – I rode trails I usually ride on a 180mm travel mini DH type bike on my 160mm travel trail bike this weekend and had a blast, now wondering why I need more than one bike though which is a bit of a blow…

Bez needs to put a bit of air in his back tyre.

I recently went back to a 2 x 10 XTR set up having been using a 1 x 10 for some time on my “Enduro” / “All Mountain” / 160mm FS bike call it what you like :). Mountainous where I am, and I am loving having a granny ring again for long steep climbs. I have a BB mounted bash guard and a clutch mech and have not dropped the chain once, and the weight difference is not noticeable.

Brilliant thread thanks – lots of useful info here!

Yeah, end of an era in more ways than one…

Remember its only the people who are faster than you that will catch you up.. because you are caught does not mean you are the slowest rider out there. I have been riding about 15 years and I have improved very gradually over the whole time. However, there were a few step improvements which took place thanks to a couple of good skills courses and some trips to ride in unfamiliar places, one in particular was pretty inspirational. If you keep riding in the same place it will be very hard not to plateau, you need to keep doing new stuff and pushing yourself a bit. And yes falling off is important.

Love it – nothing wrong with that as long as it is performed correctly. Last hurrah! One of the Boeing 707 test pilots rolled it on a press day and was politely asked to never do that again. I also remember seeing a film of a very impressive American pilot who’s name escapes me rolling a twin engine passenger plane with one hand on the control column and pouring a glass of water from a jug with the other hand all the way around. Can be done with a steady 1g positive if done right.

This week I am mostly wanting a Kona Process 167 in large

Ah yeah I now want a dual fuel Niva!

Union Flite Pro FTW! 🙂

I agree with the comment about looking like its further away than it actually is, they are surprising small when you get close up..

I’ve sent a query to cycleaddicts who claim on their website to be able to supply Kona frames, no response yet…

I’m loving to look of the Geometry on the large 167 size, and all my bits would swap over, but can’t find a peep about buying the frames in their own. I’ll ask a Kona distributor if I get a chance…