Official mountain biking thread

skiermanhttps://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/909169/Fraser-River-Chute-

onenerdykidRecently picked up an Evil Following MB for trail adventures. I mainly ride DH but I'm really looking forward to taking this out more.

soccerzla7Question from an inexperienced mountain biker. I was lucky enough to snag a 2016 specialized epic expert carbon 29er for $1900 off of Craigslist. Bicycle blue book has it valued around $2600. How much would I be able to get for this bike if I wanted to sell it on Pinkbike or elsewhere? Is $4000 too much? 3500? Any help is appreciated

soccerzla7I already did get it. Everything is stock. He sold it cause he needed the cash quick. The bike is crazy nice, way nicer than anything I need especially living in jersey which is why I was thinking about selling it haha

cydwhitReally interested to hear your review. Thinking of downsizing to a following MB or a Smuggler. I just don't need a 150mm 29er that often....

onenerdykidLong story, short: this thing is an absolute blast. I've previously owned an Evil Uprising (150mm front & rear) 26" trail bike before this, which I thought was fun but nothing mind blowing. This bike simply does everything better, in every regard. It's the first 29er I've ever owned (ridden a few before and usually liked them) and I'll smash out everything from technical single track to mellow bike park lines with this thing. I ride it like a DH bike and it feels really awesome.

I'm tempted to up the fork to something around 150mm tho... The 120mm rear feels plenty good (I upgraded to a DPX2 which I think was a good move) but I find myself wishing for a little more up front through rougher stuff. I've played around with the settings & tokens with the RS Pike but I think if I threw a 150mm Fox 36 on there that this would be my ideal set up for everyday, trail riding. It will let me run a bit more sag but still have enough travel left over for anything I would encounter while "trail riding".

I'm 5'10" and went with a large (452mm reach). I rode an XL and it felt fine (even preferable) in terms of reach, but the seat tube of the frame was too tall with a proper length dropper post. But the large feels good, I don't feel like I'm missing anything there.

Awesome bike, can't wait to ride it again.

cydwhitUgh, not what I needed to hear.

I'm on the Hightower LT, and it's awesome, but I've been realizing more and more that I really don't need that much bike. I'm not racing enduros, and I much prefer pushing a little bike past its limits than overbiking everything. Was thinking I might try to find a frame trade sort of deal this winter, and throw my I9's and 150 mm 36 on a Following. Interesting to hear on the sizing. I'm 6' and was going to go with the Large, just because I prefer slightly smaller bikes, and I'm addicted to my 170 mm dropper, but maybe I oughta go XL..... That bike looks so sick, glad you're digging it!

jKutcherThe following is super rad. Such a capable bike. I just had the regular Hightower and loved it. I threw an X2 on the rear and 150mm Lyrik up front and it crushed just about anything. I went the opposite direction and am now on a 2019 Nomad. It sooo much bike but also super fun. I have a hard time deciding if I want to be overbiked most of the time but have the bigger bike for when I do get to ride rowdier trails or push a smaller bike harder like you said.

One thing is for sure, bikes are funnnnnnn.

cydwhitInteresting to hear on the sizing. I'm 6' and was going to go with the Large, just because I prefer slightly smaller bikes, and I'm addicted to my 170 mm dropper, but maybe I oughta go XL..... That bike looks so sick, glad you're digging it!

cydwhitMy LBS doesn't do Evil so I guess that's probably out, they were trying to sell me on the new Yeti SB130 as being pretty dang similar yesterday though, which does make sense, too bad Yeti's are so spendy...

division.bellI'm 6'1" now (apparently shrinking) and typically ride Large Santa Cruz's. On a Large Tallboy 3 now as my main bike as I just sold my Large Bronson V2 to fund a new project.

Rode a Large Wreckoning LB at a local demo and I'm pretty sure that's going to be the perfect replacement for my Bronson.

...just thought my sizing experience may help out here.

onenerdykidI would fricking love to try one of the new Yetis... A couple friends of mine have SB6 and 5.5s and tested the new 150 & 130 over the summer and were blown away by them. So many rad bikes out at the moment. That SB 130 looks like the tits for a do-it-all trail bike.

CLQI have a friend who works at Yeti and he says the SB 130 is the best bike he has ever ridden. I'm excited to get my hands on it

.nastyif it's a plush with that bottomless feel the switch infinity has, I can't wait. 77 degree STA and 65.5 HTA sounds magical over the 73.6 STA and 66.5 HTA the 5.5c had. The reach is also a bit longer too, coupled with the 44mm short offset fork should be great.

CLQI don't know where you are located but outerbike is happening in Moab next weekend or you can just demo it from the factory.

Mar-OCan't wait to test it out tomorrow at the bike park, if I feel it can take the beating I have been thinking about getting rid of my DH rig next year..

WillgumI've been having a personal battle this summer deciding on how much money I want to drop on a bike, or even getting one at all. I have an entry level Giant Talon ( Hardtail ) , MSRP ~$700, and I've been crushing on it for almost 3 years now. I ride with guys who have Yetis, Marins, Santacruz', and I keep up with all of them aside from the real gnarly sections.

I've never been out on the trails and thought " I would totally drop $3k for a full suspension bike, this sucks" so I just keep plugging along with my hardtail.

But I cant help but feel like I'm missing out. How long did it take you guys to upgrade to all the bikes I see in this thread? I like the simplicity of my setup but idk.

a_pla5tic_bagidk, I have a hardtail too and don't see a problem with it. Especially for the trails I ride theres little need for full suspension (inb4 nobody needs any suspension). If you got cash and want one then might as well, money isn't doing you any good sitting in the bank and having fun and getting exercise is worth something.

onenerdykidThe Remedy is an awesome bike, but it's a trail bike. It's not a substitute for a DH bike. If you ride DH trails or bike park laps a lot, you will destroy it. Keep the DH bike for shredding the park, and use this as your single track slayer.

Mar-OAny parts in particular you think will be destroyed faster on this bike compared to even more enduro oriented bikes or downhill bikes?

Mar-OAny parts in particular you think will be destroyed faster on this bike compared to even more enduro oriented bikes or downhill bikes?
Used it in the bike park today and I was really impressed with how it performed, actually felt better on jumps on the remedy than I do on my downhill bike since I generally seemed to get more speed and I hit some of the biggest jumps with no problem at all, even when I got some pretty hard landings. Of course it was slower on rock gardens but I still felt confident on those parts and it was still allot of fun.. If I end up riding allot of bike park next year I will still keep (or upgrade) my downhill bike, but since I will probably move a couple hours away from any big bike park I'm not sure if I will be able to justify keeping the DH bike..

onenerdykidThere's a reason a proper DH bike weighs what it does. Thicker frame, beefier parts all-around ensure that it can handle the repeated harshness of hitting braking bumps, roots, rocks an

cydwhitMatt's right. That Remedy is super capable, but it's not a DH bike. I have a friend riding exactly that bike in the park all the time and he's absolutly trashed it. The wheels are going to be your first failure, and t!

Mar-OThanks for your inputs, will for sure take this under consideration. Although one of the problems now is that it will kind of suck going back to my old downhill bike (2013 summum) so now I really want to at least upgrade the brakes and some other stuff to make it feel as good as the remedy.. I am a fairly lightweight guy so I'm not to worried about the frame snapping or anything as long as I regularly change bearings and service it, and I will have to do some more research on the wheels, if those will end up being a really week point I might upgrade those anyways as I definitively plan on giving it a good beating regardless of whenever I use it in the bike park or not, and I'm not to afraid of a little extra weight..

Does anyone have some recommendation for some good fairly cheap flat pedals?

frekaliciousreally wanting to make the leap to a full suspension. dont want to get an "entry level" bike Id rather just spend a little more upfront and be set with a great ride. currently have my sights set on a trek remedy 9.7 thoughts? Im basically looking for anything that doesnt weigh a billion pounds, doesnt cost over like $4,500 and has 27.5+ size tires (2.6-2.8 in), and has a minimum of 140 of front travel any one have any sweet bikes that fit all of that?? Also trying to decide if I should keep my hardtail or if i should sell it to add money to my "new bike fund" its a trek roscoe 7 that Ive upgraded slightly (tubeless tires, dropper post) I love my hard tail, but will I ever want to ride it again once I get on the full squish life?? thoughts greatly appreciated!

FruitCakeBlakeI have a 2017 Giant Trance 3. This was all I could afford being I'm a student with an afterschool job. An important thing about giant is, they have their own facilities to manufacture their own bikes. Last time I was informed (this could have changed within a year so correct me if I'm wrong) Giant even built Specialized and Trek bikes. This makes a lot of sense considering the prices. When I was in the market I was looking at the Specialized Camber it didnt have the extra 'bling' that the Trance did and they were both about the same in cost. I also looked at the Trek Fuel EX5 (I believe, I kinda forget tbh) this bike had about the same amount of high quality to it but costed a hundred or two or three more than the Trance. All I'm saying is Giant is able to charge less for their bikes of higher quality than the competition because they dont have to pay a middleman to make their bikes.

ThaLoraxWhy the plus size tires? That's really going to limit your choices and unless you only rode samdy/muddy trails I find them slow and they take the fun out of cornering. Maybe look into a used Ibis Mojo HD3 or the Pivot Mach series. Both are compatible with plus size tires.



Giant has manufactured frames for nearly every company on the market at one point or another. They're the Elan skis of the bike industry. Two of my favorite bikes I've owned were Giants (the original STP and the original Trance)

frekaliciousIve demoed a few bikes that had regular size tires and felt super super sketched out (my hardtail has 2.8" tires) and I love how they ride on my hard tail. So its just a comfort thing. every time I try not plus size tires I just am super not used to how much the bike gets thrown around in rocky sections compared to my bike

cozzeyMaybe look at a few 29ers? The extra width might make you feel a bit more comfortable and you dont have that 27.5+ weirdness going on. I would recommend trying to sell your hardtail and moving on to the full suspension life. Once you get into it and get a bike that can travel comfortably uphill, youll never go back.

Ive personally have got the Marin Attack Trail Pro with 160 in front and 150 in the rear, ive never been left behind going uphill and can boost a lot of people on the downhill even without a dual crown...

cozzeyIve personally have got the Marin Attack Trail Pro with 160 in front and 150 in the rear, ive never been left behind going uphill and can boost a lot of people on the downhill even without a dual crown...

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frekaliciousThat sounds pretty damn similar to the remedy Im looking at 160 up front 150 in the back. solid advice thanks!

jblaskiUtah riding is about as perfect as it gets right now.

ThaLoraxThe Attack Trail looks like a fun bike. It's too bad they discontinued it. The Wolf Ridge looks so ugly but so fun.

It's just a Felt bike, which are like buying Rossi skis. They're decent but not great. Rossi bought Felt and as far as I know, they haven't changed much aside from the name.

I personally think the HD4 (or HD3) and the Pivot Switchblade (this is what I meant earlier, the Mach series is for regular 27.5) would be way more fun than the remedy.

jblaskiUtah riding is about as perfect as it gets right now.

CLQWhats everyones thoughts on enduro? I used to ride and place really well racing XC but now i'm kinda done with the lycra. I think I could place well riding enduro but it seems dummy expensive to race. Worth it?

r00kieAnyone evee built a wheel before? As in assembling hub, spokes, and rim? If so any advice would be great

ThaLoraxI did I once way back I'm HS. Lacing a wheel is a pain in the ass. There's several specific tools you need, unless you have access to a bike shop that will let you do it there