@molgrips
Without mutually knowing our riding styles and levels, I’d say it depends a lot on what you want your skill level ceiling to be. If one’s rides are mostly regular XC and trail stuff, then yes, one can definitely manage without “flats” skills. But if a rider really wants to properly clear jumps, bunny hop meaningful heights,preload the bike, properly pump terrain and berms then I’d say “flats” skills are of the most importance.

All in all, I’ll stick with it for a while and force myself into my better habits

The ’19/20 Evo’s suspension issues were more related to the kinematics than to the shock itself (which, without being absolutely top notch, was perfectly adequate).

The moderate travel, combined with low anti squat and low progression (9%) just didn’t work for full on riding. The bike sat very deep in it’s travel, tended to stay there and then hit a wall when out of travel. I’m not exaggerating, my ankles never ached so bad than when I was doing DH laps on the alloy Evo I had.

You could install the biggest volume spacer available, but then, if you’re any heavy, the pressure spike at the end of the travel was so high that it messed up with the rebound adjustment.

Vaude Moab AM STX, or the (supposedly) upcoming Five Ten Trailcross GTX

Yes, a little pompous for Loic, but having seen the practice videos that guy seems to be up to something

Without wanting to go down this rabbit hole (as what matters here is the celebration of those amazing paint jobs), I’d say a number of people with destroyed small businesses and livelihoods (or even lifes) on the last few months might disagree with the “no justice no peace” part.

But I digress

Agree, IMO, Commencals seem to be the best looking bikes around currently

Not a fan of some of the political messaging, but the bike’s certainly look stunning, specially Myriam’s

Looks like they heard the critics and corrected most of the relevant problems with the past version. Hopefully also reinforced the suspension hardware and bearings, my Evo was falling apart after an year and going through shock bolts. There will be a long time before Specialized takes a penny from me again

My money’s 100% on Myriam Nicole. Been watching some Tracey Hannah footage from the last weeks and not impressed, she seems way stiffer and slower than usual.

Good on Rachel for not racing, that’s the clever move. She has nothing to prove, even if she retired today I bet there would be no regrets whatsoever

Check a booker, like Sendiroo or Eurosender, they’ll search the best prices for you.
Used both in the recent past, good experience

If I wanted to do my strength exercise at home on the long run, I’d spend some time at a gym with a proper instructor to get the basics sorted, be it a couple of months or slightly more. No matter how great the tutorial video is, doing things by yourself can result in less than ideal outcomes

IMHO, while all the activities mentioned here surely help, if you really want a meaningful improvement in your core strength and resilience there’s simply no substitute for proper gym workouts.

I also cringe every time supposed “fitness experts” pop up in MTB websites with wacky, overly complex movement programs. Stick to the basics, pull ups, squats, deadlifts, kettlebell work (Olympic lifts as well if you want to take the time learning them).

I highly recommend a good quality CrossFit style gym. Contrary to popular belief you don’t need to be doing 200kg deadlifts for reps and pass out at the end of each workout, you’ll collect the it’s benefits at a way more moderate pace.
The next best thing for me it’s rock climbing, particularly bouldering. Not only it’s great fun but also does wonders for grip strength (arm pump) and core.

If, for any reason, you’re really against the concept of going to a gym of any kind, then I’d suggest a good home program of pull ups, push ups, crunches and kettlebell

Considering that so many people seem to be running tyres an heavier “tier” above what they ride, I’d say Schwalbe did the right move with the new range

That looks near new to me.

Anyway, I need to be fair and update my past comments on the Wild Enduro durability. After first sudden degradation signs, they seem to stay stable wear wise so far. It’s a very different behaviour compared to Maxxis, where you get a progressive wear rate. The Michelins just seem to wear a lot on the first few weeks but then stay that way, if this makes sense

As of now, Vaude Moab Mid STX.
Five Ten Trailcross GTX likely to be released sometime in the future

The Stumpjumper trail bike concept really, really needs a lot more anti squat than the current iteration. I’ve had a Stumpy Evo for an year and it was the worst climbing modern bike I ever tried, even a Meta AM 29 had a better climbing platform.
What’s the point of having a 140mm rear end when it feels so mushy and wallowy.

Pedal kickback tends to be mostly misrepresented. Even bikes with big scary (on paper) 30° something kickbacks, like the current Enduro, ride just fine and the math proves it.

Don’t bother

Recently had the opportunity to leap from a 44mm to a 51mm fork, same travel, same bike setup. Could notice a tiny little steering difference on the first 5min, then it’s gone

I honestly think this debate to be a little pointless as it misses the core: more than X Vs y is faster, I think it’s a matter of preference. The pro DH and enduro field shows that. You’ll see plenty of 6′ guys on Ms but also a lot of 5’9/10 guys on Ls or even XLs.

Some minutes watching Vital Raw footage will quickly tell you why. Despite being overwhelmingly fast, pros style vary wildly. Some guys are almost static on the bike, others are almost acrobatic on top of it, long limbs short limbs, some crash into stuff others almost can’t be heard.

We have a tendency to be tribal and draw conclusions from our bias, like “see, all the pros size down!!” or the opposite. But we should really see this industry tendency as an opportunity to pick your preferred geometry, rather than an implication that longer bikes have to be faster.

I’ll speak for myself. 184cm tall, over the last 2,5 years had several different bikes ranging from 475 to 510mm reach. The longer one was comfortable but made me feel like a passenger and nervous over rough terrain as I had to really exaggerate my body English to make it move. The 475 one felt cramped both up and down, was uncomfortable, made my lower back ache and was fast but demanded concentration. My sweet spot seems to be my current one with 490mm

Also, it’s worth to specify what’s really considered to be “long” these days.

If we mean “long” as boundary pushing like on a L, 515mm reach Geometron or Pole, then I’d agree that’s a little too much. I’ve tried that, and even being 184cm tall with a 195cm wingspan I felt uncomfortable and slow to react to the terrain.

But if we mean “long” as in the 480-490mm reach so many Ls are now, then that’s a different story.

So I guess it’s worth to be specific

The frame’s seat tube bore might be a touch oversized, that happens sometimes. If you have the required tool, I’d check that first.

Anyway, if the clamp is really that tight, most dropper posts will tell you that by getting sticky at some point of the travel.
If, when subjected to the needed tight clamp, the dropper cycles more or less normally, I wouldn’t bother too much. Specially if the dropper isn’t something fancy

Having recently switched from a 36 to a Lyrik I can confirm that. Cheaper spares, easier to disassemble, noticeable stiffer chassis, way more supple…

With Lyriks frequently popping out at these prices I wonder why people really bother to pay the Fox admission fee.

They have less BB drop because of the huge suspension travel. After suspension sag things are not that different in that regard.

@5lab , the thing with DH bikes is that they tend to have huge front centres due to the fork length and slack head angle. Like you state, you’ll see DH bikes with shorter reach than their enduro counterpart, but with a long front centre and 50mm stem.

Reach by itself is not an amazing metric. Bike A can have a shorter reach than bike B, but A, with a slacker HA and longer fork, together with a longer stem can feel just as long

Just read the article.
Come comments:
– first, there seems to be sort of a urban myth around some circles that pro enduro racers always size down on bikes. But, if one spends some time searching, it’s clear that they’re all over the place. For each Richie Rude and Jack Moir there’s a couple of upper 170cm guys on L frames
– my understanding is that they performed the testing on a single track. Different tracks may be better suited for different sized/geometry bikes
– one can quickly point that they complain about long bikes but mostly on models with very short chainstays. A more precise acessment would be that unbalanced front and rear centers are problematic.
– I understand that this was a “race” format test. But we mortals also tend to climb a lot. I personally prefer a longer bike for climbs, specially rough/technical ones
– they emphasize that the testers were 180cm tall on average. But what about armspans? IMHO that’s as important as height for bike sizing

Sometimes a certain fork feels “ok” or “enough” with a certain bike but that can change if you swap for a more capable frame.

Some years ago I had a Fox 34 on a somewhat conservative trail hardtail and the fork felt perfectly ok. Then I upgraded to a Pipedream Moxie and suddenly the 34 started feeling like a wet noodle.

All this to say that your feeling that the Pike is “enough” might radically change with the Druid, and, IMO, that frame seems to deserve a very capable fork

184cm
490mm reach (Bird AM9 with 170mm fork)

Also, I think wingspan is at least as important as height when talking about reach. 195cm here

Five Ten Impacts Sam Hills feel great, lots of volume and width.

Shimano GR7s also feel good, same size AM7s are awful

I’m on my second Bird AM9, first was a V1 with a reasonably light trail/am build, now on a V3 with a burly full on endurobro build. Let’s just say that I’d have the same frame regardless of the budget. They’re incredible versatile, climb really well, amazingly reliable and robust, not to mention the costumer service.

I’ve had the opportunity in the last couple of years to try the Stumpjumper Evo, the Transition Sentinel, the Meta AM 29 and the Ripmo v1. IMO, my V1 AM9 was as good as the best of the bunch (Meta AM 29) downhill and climbed as good as the Ripmo.

What casing are your Continentals? Apex (DH) or Protection Apex?

Been looking at the Continental Kaiser Apex DH casing 29×2.4. These are surprisingly light at 1300g or so and made in EU.
Anyone ever tried these front and back?

Same problem here.
Heavily into crossfit here and squatting at least 3 times per week messes up with your MTB gear proportions.

Thanks guys. I’ll narrow it down to the Burgtecs and the Unites.
No user experiences on the Shimano Saints I assume?

And here am I with my merry Garmin Etrex 20…

That’s my issue with the Vaults, £90 for a product that needs new internals every year seems bonkers.

On my clipless years I used a set of Shimano M540s for nearly 10 years with minimal maintenance

Well, I went on and disassembled the pedals to investigate.
My findings:
– for those interested, the bushings are 10(id)x12(od)X10(length)mm
– left bushing bore is worn down quite a bit, which explains the play. The right one is a little bi as well, but not as severe
– both bushing races at the axles are a little ground down, but grease should take care of that.
– now the sad part, on the right pedal platform, the bushing housing is way overspec and the bushing is on a very loose fit. This only gets worse with use.
– bearings are still nice, as are the seals

So, while I can now purchase the correct bushings at bearingboys or similar, I reckon the right pedal is living on borrowed time

Aren’t there already creaking 38s?

Also, for me it’s simple, anytime you have two products performing close enough that you end up with countless inconclusive “Vs” articles, I’ll go with the cheapest one. Even easier with such a big difference in this case.

Not to mention that RS spares are both cheaper and way easier to find

Well, the Horizons didn’t turn into crap 6 months in, quite the opposite actually, so no complaints here.

I’m quite reluctant to pay £20 for a parts kit of which I don’t need 80%, therefore my bushing dimensions question. If I can’t find some standard bushings that fit, I might be tempted to try some different pedals, just to peek on the other side of the fence

My thread, so I guess thread necromancy is allowed.
Anyway, you know how when you say “this thing never fails” the fails right after? Well, my Horizons aren’t exactly failing, but the bushing on my left one (still the original one) started to develop play.

Now, I can’t find the service kit in stock anywhere, and I’m not excited to spend £20 on bearings, pins and seals I don’t really need, I just want the bushings. Does anyone know the bushings dimensions on these?

Ordered a Lyrik RC2 from them 1,5 years ago. Double checked stocks, etc right before placing the order because I know how these things go. Place the order and nothing from them for a couple of days. Finally I enquiry about the order status, just to be informed that the forks are on backorder, while insisting that they were signaled as that when I ordered. No apologies, just accusing me of messing up. The waiting time would be just a week or so, but because I dislike being called stupid I canceled everything right away.

Some time has passed, so if I see some mind blowing bargain on their website I might risk it again, but won’t go down that road easily

I don’t think Exo+ and insert will have nearly the same sidewall protection when compared to DD