who Mountain bikes regularly?

[vash]

yesterday the unthinkable happened. yup..cant believe it myself. i had to dismount and walk my bike.

hah.

i've been jogging a trail system. i kept seeing young kids ripping down a bootleg section of trail above me. i finally asked one guy what that trail was. he said a few of them cleared it along the ridge and it is very exciting. okay. i chalked it to memory. he wouldnt tell me where that section started, but i had a decent idea. a few weeks ago, my knees were sore, so i put away my trail shoes and did the bike ride. i found the head of this trail hidden in thick bushes..i rip down. "rip" is misleading..i ripped down for me. old 1999 mtn bike, marginal rim brakes, tired suspension, strong sense of self preservation, etc.

holy crap..i made it. there were some sketchy portions! sections i would have done differently if i was clearing that trail. one..was a steeeeeppp. maybe 55 degree drop off with a 90 degree hard right, off camber turn at the bottom. i dont know how i made it. the top there is a small boulder you have to drop off, that is straight up, before you even get to the relatively safety of the 55 deg slope!!

yesterday. having memory of that corner, i got to the top..screech..dismount! my body took over. i stopped without thinking. i was actually thinking..GOOO! i wish i was young and dumb. i watch a much younger kid get full air at the top, land..brake steered around the bottom corner and was off in a puff of dust.

i'm gonna try again today. maybe i gopro the crash, maybe i dont. . bright side? i crushed that testosterone driven, pimply kid an a brutal uphill. he had to push his bike..punk! (he was riding a downhill bike, but whatever)

i am trying to parlay my mediocre performance into a new bike. my wife is 75% on board, but she hasnt seen the pricetag yet.

who MTN bikes regularly? you liking the new 27.5" bikes? hopefully this is a decent MTN bike thread..something to compliment that other roadie heavy thread.

[85eurocarrera]

Regular, although on the road bike now till the trails open around here in a few weeks.

No mountain's around here , but I ride a full squish 29er. Giant Anthem X.

I have started to walk a few features I use to ride regularly. My penalty for failure ratio has changed.

[creaturecat]

27.5 should be excellent. my next one will be 27.5.
do it. modern bikes are great.
i have ridden Konas for 25 years. love the brand.

[vash]

Originally Posted by 85eurocarrera

My penalty for failure ratio has changed.

This quote was worth the thread. Haha.

[aigel]

After riding a $400 mountain bike into the ground, I bought a new full suspension 29er last May and have been driving the wheels off it. My go to place was Skeggs Point (El Corte De Madera) for longer rides. It is a former motocross park and probably the best MTB riding in the Bay Area. There are also hills and trails close to work that I hit at lunch or after I finish.

Needless to say, I also hunt off the MTB. Duck hunting running the levees, dove hunting covering some ground, deer and bear in the coastal range mountains ...

What I love about biking is that it covers more ground than running, you can really see a lot at a very nice pace where it doesn't get boring.

For Bay Area rides, check out this website. My goal is to ride every all off-road trail he has on there. I am about 10% done.

Bay Area Mountain Bike Rides

Let's go some time and kick some butt on the trails! PM me!

G

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by vash

This quote was worth the thread. Haha.

It sure was...beautiful.

After my hip replacement in January I am truly painless for the first time in almost a decade. I was cleared to ride two weeks ago and dusted off my 1994 Trek from the Pleistocene era of mountain bikes. I am surprised I remember which barn I put it in.

I have begun to slowly press my very meager performance envelope. The Dinosaur I'm riding is still waaaay better than I am, and will be for a tad

[aigel]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

27.5 should be excellent. my next one will be 27.5.
do it. modern bikes are great.
i have ridden Konas for 25 years. love the brand.

I think the 27.5 is good for shorter riders. I have seen Vash, I think he may fall in that category. If you are 6" or taller, 29er is the way to go IMHO. The difference large wheels make in terrain is profound. The price you pay is weight and toss-ability.

G

[LakeCleElum]

Rat Pack Trail above Lake Cle Elum:

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KIo9SgVgxVy2MAxQUsnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTByMj BzZmhtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDNg--?p=rat+pack+trail&vid=31fe45841def8d7b9baa9234d289e78b&l=10%3A10&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.6 08020735139252890%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DMN CecSlI47g&tit=Rat+Pack+Cle+Elum+WA&c=5&sigr=11a1c2lj1&sigt=10k1ie9dc&sigi=11r7cpbha&age=1340310321&fr2=p%3As%2Cv%3Av&hsimp=yhs-004&hspart=mozilla&tt=b

They took over from us MC guys.....Didn't like it a bit when I was up there on my 650 Honda a few years ago.

[billybek]

Still riding my Santa Cruz blur Lt xtr equipped. I have beaten the crap out of the bike but have maintained it.
26 " wheels still are ok in my book. I can't justify buying the equivalent in the 27.5" wheel with the amount I ride.
There is a reason they have gone back down in wheel size. My impression is that the 29rs are not quite as good at the twitchy stuff but they will roll over almost anything.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Double posted...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Still ride my old Crack-n-Fail Super V 900 as aggressively as I dare on occasion. I'm getting older though and have little desire to go home banged up, muddy and smelly anymore so I kinda just cruise more often than not...

I'd like a newer bike at some point but don't really see the need. The old Super V's performance envelope probably exceeds mine now.

[vash]

Originally Posted by aigel

I think the 27.5 is good for shorter riders. I have seen Vash, I think he may fall in that category. If you are 6" or taller, 29er is the way to go IMHO. The difference large wheels make in terrain is profound. The price you pay is weight and toss-ability.



G

Really? I think a 29 is not rider size specific. They "scrunch" the frame down to compensate. I've ridden a few and they feel very cumbersome. Maybe I just need to get used to one.

And I am not short. Not for my people. . 5-11 according to my DL!

[CarreraDan]

Vash,
Like you I got back into mountain biking after a 7 year break of road riding. We moved to mountain bike country in SW Virginia and I dusted off my old mtn bike from 1998 and hit the trail. After about two weeks I came to the conclusion my old bike was not up to safely tackle our local trails at the speed I wanted. A few local shops let you demo bikes for $40-$60 per day and I tried a few "all mountain" or XC full suspension bikes.

During my first ride I could not believe how much technology has pushed mountain bikes, the things I can do on my new bike are impossible on my old hard tail. My average speed climbing one of my favorite trails was up 3 mph by just changing bikes. Budget was my main issue as I just don't see spending $4-6k on a bike. I decided what I wanted and a bike shop about an hour away had a 2013 left over when the 14's came out and gave me a screaming deal. The 29 vs 27.5 thing is a personal choice depending on riding style and what kind of trails you will be riding. 29 works for me and I am very happy 98% of the time, very tight switch backs can be challenging with the 29 but that is less than 2% of my total riding. I really like that I can cruise at 18 mph on one road section that is 2 miles long to get to a spot we ride.

Here is what I ended up with, Specialized Camber as almost 1000 miles on it and not even a hiccup. Will upgrade the wheels at some point but I am very happy for now.

[aigel]

I do think the cumbersomeness goes up the shorter or smaller the rider and the taller the wheels. It is just the proportions. That doesn't mean you can't ride a 29er if you are Napoleon.

The only time I worry about the 29er tossablity is when I have hair pin turns in switchbacks. They are tough to maneuver and I think it is due to the larger wheelbase.

And that's a respectable height. Just like my weight in my license - nice and slim!

G

[ckelly78z]

I mostly do the bunny trails in State Parks that allow my 50 year old broken body to look like a champion. A compromised heart and lung package thanks to Cancer, and a plate with pins and screws holding my pelvis together thanks to a bad car accident 2 years ago dictates that I don't grab air anymore, or do the tuff trails. At least i'm still out there, and not in a wheel chair or fat scooter !

[aigel]

Originally Posted by CarreraDan

During my first ride I could not believe how much technology has pushed mountain bikes, the things I can do ... [/img]

^^^ This!

If you think your 10 year old bike is just fine, go take a new one out. It is impressive, especially the suspension. When I went bike shopping I was just going to get another $500 basic bike, then I started test riding the full suspension 29ers ... point of no return!

G

[85eurocarrera]

Hard Tail

Full Squish

[porsche4life]

I walk my by mountain bike hanging on the garage wall regularly... Does that count?

[Dantilla]

I ride a full-suspension Cannondale.

When I was shopping for a new bike a few years ago, I never thought I'd spend as much as I did.
Then I rode a few bikes back-to-back, having already decided to buy a cheaper bike. No way is the same frame with a bit better components worth twice the price.

Wrong!

After a very short comparison ride, there was no choice but to get the right components from the get-go. Much cheaper than upgrading piece-by-piece later on.

Couldn't be happier.

[gtc]

I need to sell a couple of bikes and buy something new. It's getting to be a bother finding replacement parts.
The only problem is, all the bikes I've seen lately are really spendy, yet look pretty boring.