Bicycling

Yea, I have to agree with Lejina, if you are doing hardcore MTB / downhill it may be worth it. But I haven't done anything at all to my 2011 EX8 other than tires / tubes.

So, I've noticed on the Trek Fuel lineup and the Specialized Stump Jumper lineup that it seems all the 26" wheels have gone the way of the dodo. I guess it's 27.5" and 29" from here on out?

Jysin_sl said:

So, I've noticed on the Trek Fuel lineup and the Specialized Stump Jumper lineup that it seems all the 26" wheels have gone the way of the dodo. I guess it's 27.5" and 29" from here on out?

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Been reading that Trek is really focusing on 29ers going forward.

Ao-_sl said:

Am I the only one who falls all the time on my road bike? :|

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I fell once last year trying to jump a sidewalk but due to my massive upper body strength I basically just did a Push-up against the world and caught myself completely without injury

Ao-_sl said:

Am I the only one who falls all the time on my road bike? :|

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Knock on wood, I only fall at intersections, and only when there are no less than 6 people around to point and laugh as my clip-ins shit on me.

Jysin_sl said:

So, I've noticed on the Trek Fuel lineup and the Specialized Stump Jumper lineup that it seems all the 26" wheels have gone the way of the dodo. I guess it's 27.5" and 29" from here on out?

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That's the vibe I get too. Depending on which dealer you talk to, they'll tell you that whatever_they_have is the way of the future. Giant seems to like 650b, other shops are all about 29'ers. I'm hitting a Giant demo tonight and will be flogging a 27.5 trance for a few hours - I've ridden one before and I'd fucking love to have one, but I don't have ~7k to drop on a second MTB right now.

I overheard some bike geeks talking while I was at that 24 hour race a month back, and they were saying that yes, basically all the major manufacturers are ditching 26" bikes in the next year or two, except for downhill bikes.

Alright, picked up the bike. MSRP is $2629, and I got the bike, shoes, pedals, and the Trek Care for $2525 OTD with 0% for 6 months. So stoked!

Disp_sl said:

Alright, picked up the bike. MSRP is $2629, and I got the bike, shoes, pedals, and the Trek Care for $2525 OTD with 0% for 6 months. So stoked!

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Fuck yeah man, congrats! Enjoy it, and beat the shit out of it. And post some pics!

I just got back from a Giant demo day. Did a bunch of miles on aReignand aTrance advanced, both 27.5.

Reign: Definitely a killer bike but the geometry is not for me. The Pike fork is fucking awesome though, but even after switching sizes and having the techs do more adjustments than I really felt comfortable asking for at a demo day, I couldn't get the thing setup so that I wasn't leaning on my wrists the whole time. It descends awesome (a $6000 bike with 160mm of travel should) but it felt really twitchy on singletrack and I just couldn't get used to it.

Trance: Sweet fuck what an absolutely incredible bike. This was the LBS owner's (friend of mine) and was setup with the best of the best everything - XX1 groupset and all. I did a bunch of miles on a small, and by all specs I should be a medium, but there's more than just frame size that goes into a good fit (Seat tube height, etc) and the small felt perfect. The one I was on was probably between 8-9k, and just bad-fucking-ass. Descending, singletrack, tech stuff, everywhere. The only downside is that I got 13 Strava PRs on a place I ride a ton on a bike that I'll never be able to afford, but it certainly was a blast to flog the thing for an hour. The best upside is that he left his GPS on the bike when he handed it over to me, so I ran his and mine at the same time and ended up getting him a bunch of Strava PRs, so I'm faster than the LBS owner on his own bike, haha.

I rode a couple of other things that were less interesting but that's the basic jist of the two I spent the most time on. Demo days are a blast - definitely go to as many as you can, even if you aren't shopping around. Met some cool people, talked a bunch of shop and all in all just a super cool way to spend an evening.

Here are the steeds in question (pardon my usual hipstergram). Green is the Reign, black is the Trance.

Hah! That's pretty awesome cranking out all of those PRs! That's as good of a selling point as any for demoing a bike. Crazy $ on it though.

Now that I have that cross bike I can take the long way home and go through like twenty miles of single track/gravel roads after work on my way home. Gonna record it with the go pro today and see if I can get anything "epic"with it.

First rule of GoPro: it never looks anywhere near as awesome as you think it will.

Miguex_sl said:

my understanding is that 29' will be the future for hardtails, 27.5 for dual suspensions. I picked up a Specialized Crave comp (hardtail) this spring and absolutely love it.

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I would say there is no set "future" for wheel size. Standard was 26" forever till bike companies figured out how to market and sell 29ers. Once the 29er train took off and bike companies were selling a ton of new bikes they started looking for the next 29ers and turned to the 650b (27.5"). I'm sure from this point forward you'll see some new finagled wheel size every 1/2 decade or so as bike companies try to convince you there is a new latest-and-greatest you need to buy. By the time they start running out the 26" wheel size will seem new again and they'll start the cycle over.

opiate82_sl said:

I would say there is no set "future" for wheel size. Standard was 26" forever till bike companies figured out how to market and sell 29ers. Once the 29er train took off and bike companies were selling a ton of new bikes they started looking for the next 29ers and turned to the 650b (27.5"). I'm sure from this point forward you'll see some new finagled wheel size every 1/2 decade or so as bike companies try to convince you there is a new latest-and-greatest you need to buy. By the time they start running out the 26" wheel size will seem new again and they'll start the cycle over.

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That's the bike marketing culture as a whole. Omg buy this new item and be twice as fast, it's not your gut that's slowing you down, it's that 56 grams in your wheelset.

I find this 1000x more pants-shittingly scary!!

GoPro: Backflip Over 72ft Canyon - Kelly McGarry Red Bull Rampage 2013 - YouTube