Mountain bikes

[Bikeman]

Back from AZ. Matt, any updates on your quest?

I rode my Giant Anthem 5 days in a row in AZ on rough, rocky single and two-tracks. I got back last Sunday, rode my 29'er hadrdtail. It was a complete jackhammer, and I cannot corner on it worth a d#$%. Needless to say, I will not be riding it anymore. It will either get stripped down and parted out, or I will sell it complete, which i'll take a big hit on ($1,500 wholesale invested). I rode my Anthem again yesterday on singletrack, and have to say it's the best 4" travel bike I have ridden to date...

 

[subzali]

Well I am leaning more away from Specialized now, after visiting Mike's shop and talking with one of his cronies.

Took Mike's demo out for a ride around the parking lot and was pretty impressed with it as well. So I'm looking more in the direction of Santa Cruz, Giant, and a girl at work who rides a lot and whose husband works for Fox/SRAM in the Springs suggested Turner frames as well.

I understand a little more about suspension design now, so that helps...

wheels are still turning...I'm wondering if I should buy a used bike (which will be worlds different from my hardtail anyway) or suck it up and go big with a new bike. I got so many other things vying for my attention and wallet right now and over the next few months...

 

[MDH33]

wheels are still turning...I'm wondering if I should buy a used bike (which will be worlds different from my hardtail anyway) or suck it up and go big with a new bike. I got so many other things vying for my attention and wallet right now and over the next few months...

I bought a used Klein years ago and saved a bundle which I used to rebuild it using all the components I wanted. Still cost less than a new bike at the time and it was set up just like I wanted.

However, new sure is nice if you just want to jump on and ride without spending time cleaning, tuning, etc.

 

[subzali]

does anybody know much/anything about Turner frames?

 

[Bikeman]

Matt, any further on the search for a bike? You're missing out on great Winter riding!

I rode Green Mountain 3 times this week, rode all last week on the road bike including last monday in the snow on studded tires!

It's fun schooling the dudes on their $4000 titanium 29'er single speed fully rigid bikes. I just don't get it.

 

[farnhamstj]

I rode a 29er last fall, Bookcliffs, GJ, Moab. I never understood the 29" thing, I stilll don't get the rigid, single speed crowd. OK yeah I do, "bikers" and they like to run stuff that is out of the box. (like no gears and no shocks is out of the box) I was one of them for years. Now I'm old and lame. I totally fell in love with the 29" wheels with 3.5" travel.
My advice, Shove a $25 shimano bb in what you have so it is sellable. Do not upgrade anything else. Buy a 3.5-4" travel full suspension whatever brand you like, (not Giant) that costs about $2000+ new. DO NOT buy a used bike. except maybe Mikes. The quality of the shop means more than the value of the bike. Buy from someone you trust.

 

[subzali]

Still learnin', searchin', and prioritizin'. A guy at work has a Badger 29" Rigid Frame bike and tells me that 29ers are the way to go. I've never really ridden one (just in an alley once), so am not sure about that. I'm kinda resistant to change, so that doesn't help me stray away from 26" bikes.

I've been reading good things about the DW-Link suspension, and companies like Turner and Ibis use it; I'm kinda intrigued about the reports I've been hearing about Turner bikes, but am not sure I want to pay $4500 right now for the DW-link version.

Work hasn't been helping; been getting in just after six am and leaving at or after six pm this whole week. Maybe tomorrow if I get my rear brakes replaced in the red truck and have enough time left I'll fix my flat tire, go ride Green Mountain (never ridden it in the daylight), and cruise around some bike shops and see what's what. I jumped on a Giant at Mike's shop, liked it pretty good, but I feel I need to give a fair trial to other bikes before I make a decision. Full-blown riding season is only a couple months away though so I'd better think fast.

 

[subzali]

Looking for good dirt singletrack riding more on the east/south side of Denver. I can't afford to drive all the way across Denver in an afternoon once or twice a week to get my fix. And now since Waterton is closed, it seems choices are even more limited. Are there any/good trails in the Surrey Ridge, Highlands Ranch, or Daniel's Park areas? Or elsewhere that's more south/east?

By the way, I was reading back through this thread and was laughing at myself a little bit.

Anyway, I'm still on the lookout for my next bike, but about a year and a half ago to pacify myself I replaced my bottom bracket/cranks with some SLX cranks and bottom bracket, which I am very happy with for now. I also replaced the shifters and brake levers with SLX components. Not awesome, but inexpensive and plenty for my needs right now. I'm happy with the way my Kaitai rolls and I'm itching to get back on the trails since I've been out of the state all spring and summer...

 

[corsair23]

Looking for good dirt singletrack riding more on the east/south side of Denver. I can't afford to drive all the way across Denver in an afternoon once or twice a week to get my fix. And now since Waterton is closed, it seems choices are even more limited. Are there any/good trails in the Surrey Ridge, Highlands Ranch, or Daniel's Park areas? Or elsewhere that's more south/east?

Matt,

I'm not much of a hiker or a rider (although I could use the exercise ) but there is a huge area on the south end of HR called the Backcountry Wilderness Area (8,200 acres ). I have heard that there is some decent riding back there but no first hand knowledge. Mike might know more as he may have ridden some of it.

http://www.hrcaonline.org/Recreation/BackcountryWildernessArea/TrailInformation.aspx

Now it states "The HRCA now has a total of 11.2 miles of natural surface, private trails open for residents and accompanied guests. The Douglas County East/West Regional Trail also goes through the Backcounty, adding 12 more miles of natural surface trails. The Douglas County Trail is open to the general public."

Link to "Why are the trails private" - http://www.hrcaonline.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=JsQMn1HswBs=&tabid=256

 

[subzali]

How much longer will I keep bringing this thread up? Only another year-and-a-half has gone by with no purchase.

sigh...

Bicycle Village is close to where I work so I go in there once in a while for tubes and stuff. They pretty much sell only Scott bikes. What's the deal with the Scott suspension? They don't really hype it up (seems to me), so it must be nothing fancy, just lightweight I guess.

And I just saw something about the new 145mmx12mm thru-axles. Is this being used only on the rear axle for the bikes that have them? Do the forks still have QR?

So now we've got 12mm, 15mm, and 20mm thru-axles. Interesting.

 

[nakman]

Matt my advice today is wait until you & Jackie are sleeping through the night again, then decide how much time you have for solo riding. Ride what you got until then.. for us, it's taken until about now to get back to where it's cool to leave for a while and do more of the stuff you used to do, and our kids are 3 and 6. YMMV..

Hey, do you want/need a Burley? We have one we don't use anymore.. it's a knock-off brand but works great, I'll check if it's available.

 

[smslavin]

our kids are 3 and 6.

ours are 3, 6 & 9. 3 is definitely the magic number. last week, after the 6 & 9 yr old were at school, my wife and i took piper for a hike up to royal arch in chautauqua. a few pit stops, snacks and water in the pack and she spent most of the time on my shoulders. one hell of a workout but she was a happy camper the whole way.

back to bikes, never been a real fan of scott. yeti has a pretty sweet rear link system. the 575 has stood the test of time. i'm really interested in the sb-66 but i need to start playing the lottery or something.

 

[subzali]

Yep, still here.

Last year a guy was basically drooling over my 15 year old Kaitai, I guess he has a fetish for old Fisher frames? Kinda makes me think it's worth keeping?

No changes anytime soon, I'm further away from an upgrade than I was at the beginning of this thread, by a long shot.

But thankfully my LX shifters that I put on to replace the original Bontragers aren't working anymore - the cam won't catch on my rear shifter for me to shift up to get into an easier gear, except sometimes it will so I can be in business. Not sure if it's just an adjustment or what.

I think my cables may have too much resistance too. There's a delay to my downshifts like the spring in the derailleur has to drag the cable along with it and overcome some friction. Need to try and sort that out.

 

[DaveInDenver]

What year Kaitai? I didn't think that was a particularly high end model in their line. If there's anything that's not in short supply it's 26" bikes of all kinds. If he's willing to give you any serious money for it I would jump and get something else. I mean like a 2 year old SB66 for $2K on Craigslist is kind of insane.

 

[wesintl]

I met gary a few times and he was always down to earth and passionate. Rode with him too.

what did he offer for the kaitai? IIRC new they were $650-750? alum frame(belch ). Not like a hookooekoo. The next was mt tam then kai.


I can help you tune it up Matt, just need some new cables, It' most likely the housings are worn. sometimes you can salvage the cable but if it's all frayed or short you can't trim and rethread. I need to put my prs-2 to work

 

[subzali]

So I snapped my rear derailleur in half today, and noticed something was up with a link in my chain. Don't know which happened first.

Do I keep throwing money at this thing?

By the way this is the second time this has happened but last time it trashed my rear wheel too (back in 05 or 06 or so I would guess). This time I noticed a small ding in one of my spokes but nothing major. Have no idea what the root cause is.

 

[wesintl]

you could, a new bike will need maintenance as well. arguably some of the new stuff needs more maintenance than an old hard tail that tuned up nicely.

 

[subzali]

True. Plus I figured I would have to fix it anyway if I were to try and unload it, so went ahead and got a new derailleur and chain. It seems I might have damaged the chain somehow so it caught on the derailleur cage and pulled it over backward and snapped it off. Will have to try and prevent that from happening again - somehow? Anyway, took the opportunity to upgrade to an XT derailleur - they're running out of 9-speed stuff:

 

[DaveInDenver]

9 speed is two major generations old now. It's a matter of finding stuff and squirreling it away, if you're going to stick with it.

 

[subzali]

Ok I'm finally off the fence. New bike here I come. Just hafta save.