The OP does have a point, I’m only 5′ 9″ but bought my latest bike in L because I knew the seat tube wouldn’t be a problem, sizing a bike L these days does seem to result in just a longer bike rather an overall bigger bike in everyway (head tube, seat tube etc) for the taller rider.

Got Sweeps on one bike and Vengeance on another, easily as good as the Fox and Rockshox items I’ve used in the past.

It’ll be fine, there are far too many MTBers riding around with much too wide rims and squared off tyres as a result.
Maxxis etc design their 2.35-2.5 tyres for 17-25mm wide rims I believe.

This is currently very fashion led, if you’re going to ride wide rims then use suitably wide tyres to get a decent profile….not 2.35 tyres on a 35mm rim.

Rant over.

Another Dartmoor Hornet here….was sensibly running it with 140mm Revs and was suitably impressed by its ability to match any HT I’ve had before (including more expensive stuff like a Dialled Alpine etc)…..

….now have a 170mm long, 36mm stanchioned coil sprung beast of a fork on it and it just takes the mickey with what it can do downhill, as a ‘play’ bike it’s my weapon of choice even though in all honesty the Trance and the Tues are both quicker in objective terms.

Pics….

Is she good looking?….changes everything.

I usually give the LBS my new shock and a few days later it magically appears working and on the bike.

I have a HT for decent pedaling duties, I now have a 160mm FS for comfortable trail riding and a DH bike for uplift days…..variety is the spice of life, I may get a short travel 29er as my next bike, shame Orange stopped making that 110mm rear travel machine really.

Pure curiosity….and wondering why Giant didn’t do it in the first place.

Good luck on that 120mm bike at Revo and Antur. You’ll need it.

Why?
Just requires a different riding style….i have only recently had FS again and regularly rode BPW, Antur, FoD etc on a selection of 456-evo, Ragley Piglet, 45650b and a Dartmoor Hornet…..for a laugh I still dig out the Hornet for uplift duties, it’s a little ‘unconventional’ running 170mm coil springs but gives the DH boys something to think about when I’m right behind them.
Christ. 120mm out back would be luxury!

(That said I am nearing 40 and fully pussified, my most recent two bikes have been a 160mm trail/enduro weapon and a 200mm DH sled….age comes to us all!)

I want it to do a bit of everything really from xc just to keep my fitness up to riding places like black mountain, revolutionbike park Arthur stiniog. I’ve also never been bikepark wales but been told it’s much better with a enduro and I currently have a xc bike and dh bike. My idea was to sell them both to have a bike that does it all

I’d get the Bird-120, it has a 130mm fork which is plenty for places like BPW, Antur etc while retaining a fairly pedal friendly 120mm back end….angles look good despite the ‘short’ travel.

If your ego gets the better of you then go the whole hog and get the 145mm one with either the 150mm or 160mm forks…..but it ain’t going to XC as well as the other one.

Yep, bought large…. I’m 5′ 9″ and it feels just right, Christ knows what 6ft+ riders must feel like on one!?

Oh, and order to delivery was less than a week, superb.

If I was buying again I’d go with a Bird, great customer service, easy demo rides and a high level of customization.

It’s got a slightly longer eye to eye but just run more sag, easily done with an extra 57mm travel as opposed to the 50mm of travel you have now.

I have a mint one for sale in 200×57 if you’re interested?
07960 267296

Fenwicks, liberally applied before each ride and then cycled through the travel, works for me.

enduro races are won on enduro bikes
XC races are won on XC bikes.

Makes you think.

This.

I took my newly delivered DH bike out today, bearing in mind I haven’t dialed the suspension in for me yet but the ability to smash and crash through everything was astounding….and I thought 160mm bikes were the high point of current design!

I wouldn’t get a Canyon based purely on the negligible reliability of the Shapeshifter concept….sounds great but most end up as warranty refunds.

Ditto the new Cane Creek coil inline, I’d love to try one on my bike but previous horror stories of the brand have put me right off.

I have a Hill Billy, looks great for a rear with a Mary up front….however I cannot bastard seat the bloody thing and give up with grazed knuckles, lots of swearing etc after about an hour!

Very much liking 2.4 DHR’s on the front at the moment, that’s a beast of a tyre in all but the worst slop.

Sorry to be the voice of reason but there’s no such thing as ‘the best Enduro bike’…..Dan Atherton could beat me on a £150 Halfords HT….a decent level Enduro was won in NZ recently on a Trance FFS….as always it’s whatever works for you, course layout etc.

“It’s the same bike, I’ve just put more air in the tyres…”

(This didn’t work by the way).

Love it.

Convicted my better half that as I approach 40 this’ll be my final hurrah re. racing, as a result I made a pretty good case for a new DH bike which should arrive tomorrow!

All tapered steerers are the same, only Giant briefly pissed around with a 1/4-1/5 steerer in recent years….they soon went back to 1/8-1/5 when nobody else followed suite!

Depending on which hubs you’ve got (i always seek out Novatec) the end caps can be popped on and off depending on whether you’re running a 15mm or 20mm hub.

The new ones are metric shocks, trunnion mounts on said shocks and boost spacing…pretty much future proofed for now.

I have a 2015 SX and love it.

I have a Shorty but took it off in favour of a Mary, just something a bit more ‘allrounder’ about the Mary whereas the Shorty always looked very extreme to me.

Spent an ungodly amount at Superstar….apparently I’ve convinced myself that my DH bike, my FS and my HT do all really need spare wheels with wet/mud rubber already installed to save me the faff of changing tyres over according to conditions.

Best get some overtime in this month’

If he’s been even half sensible then a chunk of his money will be in Europe away from US jurisdiction.

I wouldn’t have a problem if Riis, Ulrich, Basso, Hincapie etc were being pursued with the same vigour.

Go on the Superstar website, they’re doing a spring clear out of 26, 27.5 and 29er wheelsets.
The Tactic is a nice balance of weight and width, the new Tech-4 sets are good and strong enough for 150mm DH hubs on them, there’s some Pacenti 25mm width trail sets too.
I picked up a spare set of DH wheels, will be doing loads of racing this year in the Borderline/Welsh series and want a set with a mud/wet combo tyres I don’t have to take off.

Nice find.
Although always feels weird seeing him written on flyers without “and Digweed”….they were inseparable in the 90s.

My Sunrace 11-42 works fine with a medium length clutch Deore.

Wasn’t 157 a DH standard for a while?….seems to have settled to 150mm hubs now.

Earlier X-fusion forks could take both 26 and 650b, my Vengeance is the same.
In recent years the money men seem to have put a stop to this and you’ve now got 26 and 650b specific items.

Got to get my head around jumping properly, will be building jumps of varying heights on the downslope to the stables while Mrs Deviant no doubt laughs at me and gets ready with 999 on her phone.

Saw that….not far from us, Biblical is the only word.

…..still, it wouldn’t stop my deranged Jack Russel from jumping in for a swim!

If I didn’t love it so much (and keep it in the sitting room much to Mrs Deviants annoyance) I’d sell you my coil spring Vengeance….36mm stanchions, plush feel as only coils manage, virtually indestructible and maintenance free….but they’re mine so there!

Interesting, I’m much more an Alpinestars man so this is all new to me.

I’d happily wear the jacket on a bike, it’s thick heavy duty leather, an excellent cut when leaned forward and appears to be double stitched everywhere, even came with it’s original padding inserts.

I’ll give it a punt today anyway, shall we say starting bid of £50 or is that ambitious?

Come down to Brechfa, there’s some nice HT rideable trails there.

Sweep Roughcut

Hose them down, then rub down with a water dispersant like GT85, ACF50 etc then when dry do the service. No probs.

I for one am interested in sticking a 160 fork on my trance after seeing this. Op, your head angle claim of 65 seems ambitious as it is 67 with a 140 fork.

66 degrees is what Giant quote with a 160mm fork, the SX frame for the 160mm fork is the same as the standard 140mm frame so no problems.

The 65 degree number was when I was mulling over a minus 1 degree slackset.

This is a great thread though admit it….tomorrow I’ll post pics of my 170mm forked HT just to wind people up….then the YT when it arrives.

Can anyone direct me to the start of the reaper trail at Nant Y please?

Yeah, I was wondering this, some it looks properly sketchy near cliff edges etc.
Where is it in relation to the car parks and cafe?