The Surly Mountain Biking Thread

[KuЯdt 248]

did my first ride on those Fookers yesterday, just a little 10 miles on the SATN near my house.  It has been quite some time since I've ridden flats.  In the first couple miles, my feet were coming off the pedals on the upstroke.  Also it took me a while to get my shoe where I wanted it on the pedal.  That stopped after a while. 

I didn't have much issue going through chunky tech sections. Although I did get hung up once and needed to dab, and my foot came flying waaay up and out off the pedal due to the involuntary motion I have for disengaging from my clipless pedals.  That was comical.  Going downhill through rough stuff felt fine and there was no slipping, especially when out of saddle and in a more aggressive position.

The one issue I had was with a little downhill that has a small kicker as you start down it.  I usually launch off it with no issues, but yesterday I came off the pedals and got nose heavy and it felt really awkward.  I think that type of situation is where I'll have the steepest learning curve.

 

[wd40 1976]

yeah, see, that's my problem with it all:  the surprise one/no-footer move on jumps at speed during the learning process.  I ain't got time for that, and I already spent a week in the hospital for putting a foot down.

meanwhile, fuckers on eBay can't count stock, so I don't know when I'll get a new brake lever.  swapped out the whole system with an old one I had around.  those 4-piston brakes sure are nice, tho.

on the upside, Kona sent me a whole new bushing kit (for $150).  replaced the sloppy pivots this morning.  

ready to hit it.

[KuЯdt 248]

34 minutes ago, wd40 said:

yeah, see, that's my problem with it all:  the surprise one/no-footer move on jumps at speed during the learning process.  I ain't got time for that

Right, probably not going to be sending it on these flats anytime soon, if ever.  This is really like teaching an old dog new tricks, but I'll keep at it for a ride or 2 each week and see where it goes.  That is, until I get sick and tired of swapping out pedals all the time.

[Braff Zacklin 13561]

My $0.02 for those riding flats:

Buy pedals with replaceable pins. And then replace them with grub screws like these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012T9E4C4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00

Combined with Five Tens, you will have to lift your foot straight up If you want to laterally reposition your foot on the pedal.

Forget what size hex key I use, probably something like a 2mm. Anyway, strongly recommend for max grip.

[The Royal We 3072]

The Chesters are in and mounted.  Doing a little more work today and then plan on heading out for a ride.

[Born to Run 6569]

Most of the guys I ride with run flat pedals. However two of my buddies that had clippless in the 90s, both had serious wrecks when first trying flat pedals. (One broken arm at a downhill park; one broken wrist on a jumpline)
Not that the flat pedal guys also don't have plenty of crashes, but I see more guys struggling with the muscle memory of clipless in the heat of the moment

[TwiceHorn 31457]

9 hours ago, KuЯdt said:

and my foot came flying waaay up and out off the pedal due to the involuntary motion I have for disengaging from my clipless pedals.  That was comical. 

Funny thing.  I have never ridden clips, but after I got my MTB shoes with the Stealth soles that stick like hell, I subconsciously learned to lift my foot to disengage from the pedal, probably much like unclipping.  After a couple of sharp stops with my bars turned, I was banging my knee on the bar every now and then and couldn't figure out why.  Couple of times, it really fucking hurt and lingered. It never happened before and my bike didn't get smaller and I didn't get bigger.  It was because I was lifting my foot to get off the pedal to dab.

Do you have 5.10s or similar purpose-made shoes?  It's really uncanny how well your foot sticks.  But there isn't necessarily anything keeping it on the pedal if you lift it.  Dropping your heels really locks you on, though, as it's biomechanically impossible to lift your foot with your heels dropped.

Edited February 4, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[KuЯdt 248]

14 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Do you have 5.10s or similar purpose-made shoes? 

yes, and with that Stealth sole.  They are indeed very sticky.  I was much more comfortable on my 2nd ride with them yesterday.  I did have to kind of focus on lifting up, because disengaging with cleats is a twist out motion. 

Get your new frame built up yet?

[TwiceHorn 31457]

19 hours ago, KuЯdt said:

yes, and with that Stealth sole.  They are indeed very sticky.  I was much more comfortable on my 2nd ride with them yesterday.  I did have to kind of focus on lifting up, because disengaging with cleats is a twist out motion. 

Get your new frame built up yet?

Pick it up today.  Had notions of going to a new trail, Gateway Park on the east side of Fort Worth (shop is in Arlington by River Legacy).  Buuuut, I woke up at 430AM and couldn't get back to sleep.  I'm thinking I'm probably going to be a little petered out when I pick it up today, in addition to being grossly out of shape.

[midtown 3345]

Just got back from the shop. Upgraded my rear from SX crap that broke in two months to GX. Less crappy. Kind of pretty.   I plan to upgrade my cranks this summer.   Will need a new BB as well.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2021 by midtown

[Pescado_Rojo 19416]

nice. Clean your chain

[midtown 3345]

I'm riding Spider on Sunday.  Ill give it a head to toe cleaning after that.  It's pretty filthy.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

I'm baaaaaack  . . .  Back in the saddle again.

Got it aired up and the saddle adjusted and had a moment of fright.  The shop guy complained about internally routed cables and this iteration of my frame also internally routed the rear brake hose.  He said he mght have to get some longer hose, which can be hard to come by these days.

But that wasn't the issue.  When I started raising my saddle, which was pretty far down, the dropper cable lost all its slack and a) made it where I couldn't raise the saddle any higher and b) triggered the release.   Before I could get around to the front to feed some cable through the frame, I thought "oh my God, he had to trim it to put it in the M frame and I'm not going to have enough, fuuuuuuuck."  But I had plenty.

Ready to rock.  This frame is a couple degrees slacker and has 5mm more travel.  I suspect that my shock is a bit soft using my old pressure. I won't be riding anything that will bottom it for a while, so maybe I'll enjoy the plush.

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31457]

5 hours ago, midtown said:

Just got back from the shop. Upgraded my rear from SX crap that broke in two months to GX. Less crappy. Kind of pretty.   I plan to upgrade my cranks this summer.   Will need a new BB as well.

 

 

Do you ride a lot of wet stuff?  I don't think my cassette has ever been that filthy.  But I'm a big fan of dry lube.

Mine is NX, which is less shitty than SX.  I haven't had any real problems with it.  Weirdly, it has no problem getting in the big cog but doesn't like to come down from it on one click.  That only bothers my OCD.

[midtown 3345]

12 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Do you ride a lot of wet stuff?  I don't think my cassette has ever been that filthy.  But I'm a big fan of dry lube.

No.  Its just really light dusty dirt where I ride.   I also use dry lube.

[Braff Zacklin 13561]

12 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Do you ride a lot of wet stuff?  I don't think my cassette has ever been that filthy. 

That cassette is far from filthy.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

Maybe it's the photo, but I can just hear the grittiness.  Because we can't ride in the wet here, nothing gets very dirty in terms of layers of crud.  Also seems like the dry dusty parts, of which there are plenty, aren't really close to the wet creek crossings (which aren't wet about half the time), so there's not much opportunity to pick up thick layers of even dust.  I've been amazed at how clean things stay with dry lube.  But you have to reapply otfen.  Especially if it's damp out.

I'm also super-sensitive to grittiness and squeaking chains and whatnot.

Edited February 6, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31457]

Well, in a surprise to no one, my first ride since July was a bit of a death march.  Hacked out about 5 miles at old reliable Harry Moss.  DIdn't time it or map it or anything.  Also was kind of paying attention to setup issues.  New frame has a reach 20mm longer than old, but it felt more cramped for some reason.  Maybe just a core strength issue.  What is a surprise is that my ass hurts.  That never happens.

Something, weather, injuries, cracked frames, seems to conspire to keep me off the bike for a couple of months a year, but I don't think I've had a six month layoff in about six years.  Yuck.

 

[wd40 1976]

spider talk not going away.

don't do like I did, today.  plan ahead and save ten bucks on the lift ticket.  holy shit.

conditions today were pretty good.  Recluse was kinda blown out, as were the rock gardens on the blacks.  it was nice to finally have Stinger open for one of my trips, but they waited til 10am, since it's on the shady side of the hill and there was some mist/fog in the early morning.   so I had 9 runs in by that time and was getting tired.  so I deliberately swerved and took the bitchline on the lower (bigger) rock garden, out of fatigue.

I have to say, top to bottom, I think I like Viper's the best of the blues.  Tarantula and Venom about the same, then Antidote.  I still just plain suck at Recluse.  Viper's wears you out, though.  you can't just cruise and pump the jumps.  you're working hard, the whole time.

light conditions in the afternoon were crap for video.  have to listen to understand what's happening on the trail.

I kinda wanted to check out Centipede, the new trail that's not even on the map, but it turns out it's a green, and there was a shitload of rookies out there, today.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

Love the Tourette's soundtrack.  And when you see/hear wd40 skidding down some features, you know it's hard core.

 

I find it interesting that the hollow, resonant sounds coming from the frame get picked up so well by gopro.  You'd think your bod would damp some/all of that out.  Or maybe it's not the frame.

Edited February 7, 2021 by TwiceHorn

[Bigpoppapump 529]

Just got back from the shop. Upgraded my rear from SX crap that broke in two months to GX. Less crappy. Kind of pretty.   I plan to upgrade my cranks this summer.   Will need a new BB as well.
 
 

If that’s a vitus, I have the same bike and had to replace my derailleur with a gx as well. I just this past week had to replace my front wheel, got a nice spank. Highly recommend getting rid of the schwalbes and putting Maxxis minions on. Night and day difference riding slaughter and walnu creek.

[sasquatch69 603]

Got five rides in this week, for the first time I can recall:

-9mi sunset ride at Horseshoe (Did the full 5mi and then went back and did all but last two loops again)

-6mi at Rowlett Creek on a super-quick trip over weekday lunch

-5mi at Katie Jackson. Nearly bit it on the skinny at the end of the red trail, then almost ran over a hiker going the wrong way with his back to me who had his headphones turned up so loud he couldn't hear my protestations

-8mi on a nice Saturday back at Horseshoe, dovetailing with a group of Scouts doing a cycling merit badge

-7mi today on my first-ever visit to River Legacy. Not a lot of elevation, but nice flowy trails that allowed for decent speed. 

With the Arctic front coming in, who knows if I'll get any more rides in the next week or two, so it was a good week. 

Edited February 7, 2021 by sasquatch69

[TwiceHorn 31457]

1 minute ago, sasquatch69 said:

Got five rides in this week, for the first time I can recall:

-9mi sunset ride at Horseshoe (Did the full 5mi and then went back and did all but last two loops again)

-6mi at Rowlett Creek on a super-quick trip over weekday lunch

-5mi at Katie Jackson. Nearly bit it on the skinny at the end of the red trail, then almost ran over a hiker going the wrong way with his back to me who had his headphones turned up so loud he couldn't hear my protestations

-8mi on a nice Saturday back at Horseshoe, dovetailing with a group of Scouts doing a cycling merit badge

-7mi today on my first-ever visit to River Legacy. Not a lot of elevation, but nice flowy trails that allowed for decent speed. 

With the Arctic front coming in, who knows if I'll get any more rides in the next week or two, so it was a good week. 

Some call River Legacy a paved trail painted to look like dirt.  But there's some bits, and EKG is pretty lit, when it's open.

[sasquatch69 603]

3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Some call River Legacy a paved trail painted to look like dirt.  But there's some bits, and EKG is pretty lit, when it's open.

Yeah, I had read about EKG so I gave a shot - not bad, only had to stop a couple times. 

[KuЯdt 248]

20 hours ago, wd40 said:

I have to say, top to bottom, I think I like Viper's the best of the blues.  Tarantula and Venom about the same, then Antidote.  I still just plain suck at Recluse.  Viper's wears you out, though.  you can't just cruise and pump the jumps.  you're working hard, the whole time.

Vipers seemed a lot rougher this last time than the other time I was there about a year ago.  Could be that it was just blown out from the recent enduro race.  Agreed that it is a lot of fun.  I feel like they made that last little hump  toward the very end of it bigger, because you can't help but launch off of it when you're carrying speed through there.

Oh and you didn't miss anything with Centipede.  It's just like 6-7 mounds of dirt...rollers that I suppose you could double some if you want. 

I was planning to head back out there a week form Monday on President's day, since I have the day off.  Weather is looking iffy right now though.

[midtown 3345]

Just back from Spider.  Fun fun fun.  Took a little spill on Vipers today on my last run.  Some people came up on me and I tried to get out of the way and ended up in the dirt.  I know I could have just held my line through the trail since I had the right of way but it was just me and 5 of them so I didn't really want to hold up the line.   Ironically I passed them about 10 mins later and they had a rider laid out.  

I do love the combos.  Where you can start on one and move to the other.  Really makes it easy for friends of different levels.   I agree with what other said.  Itsy gets kind of boring but still fun.  My favorite combo was Antidote to Itsy to Venom.  I did not like the front of Vipers and did not bother with Recluse or Tarantula.   Will have to build up.  

 

4 hours ago, Bigpoppapump said:

Highly recommend getting rid of the schwalbes and putting Maxxis minions on.

 

Might do this soon.  

 

[wd40 1976]

yeah I soaked up those humps you're talking about on Viper's.  saying I 'scrubbed' them would be dishonest.  I suppose it could be done, but don't have the skill or foresight to line them up so if I did launch them, I wouldn't land way off in the trees.   pretty twisty down there, and it feels like the trees are pretty low.  hate to find out the hard way.

leaving for NM on Friday to snowboard, right into the teeth of that front.  here's hoping it either moves east or stalls out over Oklahoma so we can all have a good weekend down here.

had a very Surly ride this morning, down in South Austin.  went down Mother Slide, and right into Vortex.  hadn't been down Mother's in years.  long, fun, puckery drop.  my quads were still toasty from yesterday and I had a time limit, but I love that area.  feel cry about all the trails we skipped.

+1 on Minions

[wd40 1976]

@midtown, was there a pro photog set up on Antidote today?  was on there yesterday.  curious if pics are posted somewhere.  like to see what my 6" of steez looks like.

[midtown 3345]

@wd40 No pro today.   Decent crowd.  

[Austinvines 318]

I ride Shimano Saint platform pedals with 5.10s  Having "low heels" on any descents is a key to staying stuck to the bike for me. I catapulted myself into the ground after getting my weight too forward while clipped in and broke my arm five years ago and haven't wanted to go back since then. My skills are way better than but a quick "dab" here and there is preferable to whatever advantage another few footpounds of force I can generate clipped in,

I am in the market for a new ride after dropping about 25 pounds during Covid. Currently ride a 6 y.o. xc hardtail with 120mm fork and looking for a full sus to take some of the bumps out of my backside. I ride mostly SATN but will go to RPR, Comfort, Warda and others. Never been to Spider Mtn and I mostly pick my way down steeps as opposed to bombing them. The current bike probably has a lot to do with that but I don't want a repeat of a broken bone.

Currently looking for “trail” bikes in the 120-140 range like the Ibis Ripley, the Santa Cruz Tallboy and the Orbea Oiz. I demo’d a Revel Rascal for two rides this weekend, which is a 140/130 with 2.4” tires. I really liked the bike and was amazed at how it climbed better than what I’m used too but do t know if it was just the rear shock or the new geo. I didn't fall in love with the bike and hope to demo the Ripley here in a week or so.

Of course, availability may end up pushing me one way or another since having a bike for summer as opposed to next fall/winter would be preferred.

Any opinions on carbon vs AF?  The Ibis has a weight difference of only 2 pounds and $1,100 on price, at the deore component level for 1x12 (and a crappier dropper). SLX is another grand and XT $700 on top of that (in the carbon).

New rides are fun but I spent just a little bit more on a vehicle for my kids than these well kitted carbon bikes.

[Pescado_Rojo 19416]

1 minute ago, Austinvines said:

I ride Shimano Saint platform pedals with 5.10s  Having "low heels" on any descents is a key to staying stuck to the bike for me. I catapulted myself into the ground after getting my weight too forward while clipped in and broke my arm five years ago and haven't wanted to go back since then. My skills are way better than but a quick "dab" here and there is preferable to whatever advantage another few footpounds of force I can generate clipped in,

I am in the market for a new ride after dropping about 25 pounds during Covid. Currently ride a 6 y.o. xc hardtail with 120mm fork and looking for a full sus to take some of the bumps out of my backside. I ride mostly SATN but will go to RPR, Comfort, Warda and others. Never been to Spider Mtn and I mostly pick my way down steeps as opposed to bombing them. The current bike probably has a lot to do with that but I don't want a repeat of a broken bone.

Currently looking for “trail” bikes in the 120-140 range like the Ibis Ripley, the Santa Cruz Tallboy and the Orbea Oiz. I demo’d a Revel Rascal for two rides this weekend, which is a 140/130 with 2.4” tires. I really liked the bike and was amazed at how it climbed better than what I’m used too but do t know if it was just the rear shock or the new geo. I didn't fall in love with the bike and hope to demo the Ripley here in a week or so.

Of course, availability may end up pushing me one way or another since having a bike for summer as opposed to next fall/winter would be preferred.

Any opinions on carbon vs AF?  The Ibis has a weight difference of only 2 pounds and $1,100 on price, at the deore component level for 1x12 (and a crappier dropper). SLX is another grand and XT $700 on top of that (in the carbon).

New rides are fun but I spent just a little bit more on a vehicle for my kids than these well kitted carbon bikes.

Man, the Rascal is high on my list if I upgrade this year. Is there an Austin dealer, or did you borrow a buddy's bike? 

[KuЯdt 248]

Wes at Velorangutan is a dealer.  I wonder if that's where Austinvines demo'd from.  In addition to Revel, he carries Ibis, Orbea, Devinci and Scott.  Oh and demos are free, so give them a shout.  I tried the Ripley and then the Occam, fell in love with the latter and got that.

I think those AF Ibis bikes are a pretty good value.   Sooo many good bikes out there now, if you can find one in stock.

[Austinvines 318]

Yes, I demo’d it from Wes/Velorangatan. Setting up a weekend on the medium Ripley and then a large one sometime soon.

ATX Bikes is going to start stocking Santa Cruz but carbons are few and far between on the ship dates.

[Pescado_Rojo 19416]

Looks like they don't have XL demos in the Revel or the Ibis...bummer

[TwiceHorn 31457]

Welp, I wanted to get in a ride today before the arctic blast hits.  It's low 50s, says fog and light drizzle, but was not very wet at the house, sidewalks and driveway just barely damp.

So I take off for Harry Moss and things are considerably wetter just a couple of miles away.

And the trail is just this side of mud. Oops.

Didn't rut anything and it wasn't making huge clumps, but I was blasting bits of dirt and vegetation all over for a radius of about 10 feet.  Also, the wood features were like oily asphalt in these kind of conditions.  Slick as owlshiit.

Anyway, I forced myself to do about 7.5 miles this time, and it wasn't as "painful" as Saturday, so hopefully I get my wind and mojo back sooner than later.

[Pescado_Rojo 19416]

That looks like some of the trails by me that are actually worse when they are just damp. That top layer of dusty clay gets a little damp and it's like glue. A good hard rain, and it's rideable in 24 hrs because it washes that dusty layer away. I tried to beat the rain on a ride a while back, and got caught out at the farthest point from the parking lot. It rained about 5 minutes, but my wheels were so caked it was rubbing on the chain stays and clumping up between the fork legs like your picture. It started raining again a little while later and rained harder and longer. Washed all that stuff away, and other than being slick, it was fine all the way back to the truck. 

[TwiceHorn 31457]

1 minute ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

That looks like some of the trails by me that are actually worse when they are just damp. That top layer of dusty clay gets a little damp and it's like glue. A good hard rain, and it's rideable in 24 hrs because it washes that dusty layer away. I tried to beat the rain on a ride a while back, and got caught out at the farthest point from the parking lot. It rained about 5 minutes, but my wheels were so caked it was rubbing on the chain stays and clumping up between the fork legs like your picture. It started raining again a little while later and rained harder and longer. Washed all that stuff away, and other than being slick, it was fine all the way back to the truck. 

Yeah this wasn't that bad.  That trail is black gumbo, so if it is much wetter than what it was, you're going to be packing on pounds of that shit, big clods flying everywhere and rubbing on everything.  This stuff was mostly vegetation type stuff with probably just a bit of wet clay dust to make it stick.  Although it got all over everything, not enough to rub.

[sasquatch69 603]

6 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Welp, I wanted to get in a ride today before the arctic blast hits.  It's low 50s, says fog and light drizzle, but was not very wet at the house, sidewalks and driveway just barely damp.

So I take off for Harry Moss and things are considerably wetter just a couple of miles away.

And the trail is just this side of mud. Oops.

Didn't rut anything and it wasn't making huge clumps, but I was blasting bits of dirt and vegetation all over for a radius of about 10 feet.  Also, the wood features were like oily asphalt in these kind of conditions.  Slick as owlshiit.

Anyway, I forced myself to do about 7.5 miles this time, and it wasn't as "painful" as Saturday, so hopefully I get my wind and mojo back sooner than later.

Work and kid after-school stuff were nuts today so I couldn't cut out to get one last ride in, which was killing me. Now I don't feel quite so bad. Still, good you got out there before the freeze. 

[Your Mom 4805]

Well, since most of us aren't riding around central TX right now here's one from a couple weeks ago.  

The good:  I spent some time on the Picnic drop at Brushy and finally got over my fears of it.  Did about 8 reps of it, here's a few of them.

The bad:  I suck so bad at those wooden banks.  I've tried them twice and crashed both times.  At Spider I ended up going straight up it and slid right back down but stayed mostly upright.  On this particular day I just didn't turn hard enough, realized it, hit the brakes, tumbled right down the bank, and put my shoulder into that cedar tree like a linebacker on a QB.  The tree didn't move.  I thought I might have broken my collar bone on it but it's just a big bruise.  Scraped my ear on it apparently too. 

 

[wd40 1976]

shityeah!

real kids fly that wooden tabletop.  I've not figured out how to get enough speed there to compensate for my lack of technique to do that.

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Say you had $200 to blow.  Dropper post or a go pro?

My gut says dropper but my brain says the go pro can be used for more things and my kids can play with it too.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

16 minutes ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Say you had $200 to blow.  Dropper post or a go pro?

My gut says dropper but my brain says the go pro can be used for more things and my kids can play with it too.

You don't need to spend $200 on a dropper.  TransX or BrandX can be found for $100 or so.  Quite adequate.

[TwiceHorn 31457]

16 hours ago, wd40 said:

shityeah!

real kids fly that wooden tabletop.  I've not figured out how to get enough speed there to compensate for my lack of technique to do that.

As I may have mentioned, there are some of those tabletop things on our trails, usually quite a bit smaller.  I assume that it's used as a kicker for a jump that you are speaking of?  You aren't supposed to come down on the backside are you?

The tabletop and down ramp are just for puds like me to roll?

[KuЯdt 248]

21 hours ago, Your Mom said:

Well, since most of us aren't riding around central TX right now here's one from a couple weeks ago.  

The good:  I spent some time on the Picnic drop at Brushy and finally got over my fears of it.  Did about 8 reps of it, here's a few of them.

The bad:  I suck so bad at those wooden banks.  I've tried them twice and crashed both times.  At Spider I ended up going straight up it and slid right back down but stayed mostly upright.  On this particular day I just didn't turn hard enough, realized it, hit the brakes, tumbled right down the bank, and put my shoulder into that cedar tree like a linebacker on a QB.  The tree didn't move.  I thought I might have broken my collar bone on it but it's just a big bruise.  Scraped my ear on it apparently too. 

 

Nice bike 😀

[Your Mom 4805]

7 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

As I may have mentioned, there are some of those tabletop things on our trails, usually quite a bit smaller.  I assume that it's used as a kicker for a jump that you are speaking of?  You aren't supposed to come down on the backside are you?

The tabletop and down ramp are just for puds like me to roll?

I just roll them too. But the guys who build those things are definitely flying over them and landing on the downslope.  Best I can manage is a little huck off the far end and land partway down.   I give it a full effort on dirt tabletops and I don’t mind casing the back but being up this high in the air tumbling off the wood structure freaks me out.  

4 hours ago, KuЯdt said:

Nice bike 😀

It’s probably the same one you rode before you bought yours. It’s the demo from Velorangutan.  In the last few weeks I’ve ridden a Switchblade, a Ripmo, and that Occam.  Didn’t feel right on the Ripmo but the sag wasn’t set up right for me and the ride was cut short by a blowout.  Everybody else seems to love it and I’m sure I would’ve enjoyed it more with the suspension firmed up a little. I like the Occam a lot but I think I felt best on the Switchblade.  I’m scouring the used market for 2020 switchblade but if I don’t find one in the next month or so I’ll probably try the Ripmo again and buy either that or the Occam from Wes. 

[KuЯdt 248]

He must have turned over the demo fleet because the one I rode was in that blue and orange Gulf livery.  Are you going to try a Revel Rascal?  He has one of those as well I believe.
I referred a friend over there and he demo'd about every bike Wes had, then fucked up his shoulder in a crash on the last one.  Not sure if he ordered anything yet.
I kind of wish I would have tried the Ripmo.  At the time, I was still in more of a XC/downcountry mindset, and tried the Ripley instead.

If you do end up going with the Occam, upgrade it to the 36 fork (and of course to Minions as well).  It's a small upcharge at cost, and I really wish I'd have done that instead of sticking with the 34 - but again, that mindset I had at the time.

[KuЯdt 248]

9 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Say you had $200 to blow.  Dropper post or a go pro?

My gut says dropper but my brain says the go pro can be used for more things and my kids can play with it too.

Dropper if you don't have one already.  But as Twice mentioned, you don't have to spend $200 on one.  

[Braff Zacklin 13561]

 

2 hours ago, KuЯdt said:

11 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Say you had $200 to blow.  Dropper post or a go pro?

My gut says dropper but my brain says the go pro can be used for more things and my kids can play with it too.

Dropper if you don't have one already.  But as Twice mentioned, you don't have to spend $200 on one.  

And buy a dropper with as much travel your bike will allow.

A 6-inch dropper if you're 5-foot tall might be more than you need, but it's not gonna hurt anything. However, if you're 6-foot tall and rock a 4-inch dropper, you'll most likely end up wishing you had more range.

[TexPx 2323]

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[TwiceHorn 31457]

Well, Boulder Park is the first trail open after Icemageddon 2021.

Problem is, I am in no condition for that climb out.  And, because I'm weird like that, I don't want to go ride a trail knowing I'm gonna have to walk a big section of it.