Amazing what a few purposeful workouts on fresh legs will do for my mood. Sleeping through the night is great too. Still no real goal yet but that doesn't mean I can't have some fun and get faster in the meantime. Marni suggested some exploration this weekend so we'll see what the weather is like and I might head up into the hills for a night.
I do need one thing bloggerland. I want to ride a 29er. Gasp! What?!? I mean really ride one on some terrain I'm very familiar with. Anyone out there got one I could play with for a little while? SS or geared hardtail prefered. No funky handlebars either. I ride large frames, prefer longish top tubes. I'll compensate however you like, beer, cash, sexual favors, whatever...
16 comments:
shoot Ed an email he might let you take his walt for a spin....
he does have funky handle bars on it though....
contact Dave at Redstone he might work a deal out let you rock an on one or somtin as well...
Oooh, sexual favors, intriguing...
You can ride my non-funky handelbarred Large framed Niner SIR9. Rigid fork, big wheels and SS.
Of course you'll probably require the gearing be changed from my paltry 32/20 to something more Plesko-like, say 48/12?
Dang.....I wish I would have known this before the White Rim.....I have 3 spares:-)
Brian
While I love my 29er SS, you might not like the difference in steering on tight turns in the mountains. What is you 29er motivation?
Dad
I say you will love the 29er. You should check into a Monocog Flight since you already like your 26er Mono.
Choose your test ride carefully, hopefully one that is close to what you'd want out of a bike. When you ride a new bike you are testing waaaay more than the wheel size. If the geometry doesn't suit your style/goal then you might just conclude the big wheels suck. And second point - each format is going to have strengths/weaknesses. You'll have to align those with your goals.
Horses for courses as they say.
In any case, sure is hard to deny their popularity among enduros, especially tall enduros like yourself.
Thanks Joel. I'll probably take you up on that. 32x20 should be good though as long as it's hilly. :)
Dad, I'm going to ride your Rig over Xmas and see how I like it. I may bring a rigid fork along as well to change up the handling a big.
DH, Thanks I'll keep that in mind. If you know anyone who has a large GF Superfly then I'll be glad to pay anything for a test ride! Yes I'm infatuated with that bike like almost everyone else on the planet.
good luck on that one Chris!
all have pretty much been presold
Chris, you might also like the Orbea Alma 29er if you are drooling over the carbon Superfly.
I just took my first 29er test ride and I am intrigued. I love suspension though so I rode a Turner Sultan in my size. :)
Is the alma available at the moment in a large? The medium is the only one listed on their website. I might have to contact a friendly Orbea dealer though and look into it. The Superfly has some of it's own redeaming values though over the Alma. Then again if it's unobtainium it doesn't help much for either bike.
I've got a large Flight Monocog you can take out next time you're up in the Lyons 'hood. Also have a Turner Sultan and an Intense Spider 29er...
~dave
Hey Chris - you're welcome to try one or both of my bikes but I agree with what CrackHeadDave said about making sure the bike fits and it "depends" on what you want. I find the 29'er to be a more relaxed and fun ride, not necessarily screaming fast and quick steering (also see note about Hopey below). I like the traction and big volume from the bigger tires. For epic, long distance enduro events I suspect the 29'er helps smooth the peaks and valleys compared to smaller wheels.
In addition to the semi-funky Mary bar on the Walt which we can easily switch out I have the Hopey steering damper on both my bikes and I'm not sure you'd like that. I love the Hopey for ss standing climbing believe it or not, it also helps on dh's. Top tubes are a tad over 23" effective - not terribly long.
The Walt is geared at 34/16 and is ideal for my long road/doubletrack rides even with huge climbs, it is tougher on st though because of the power required to clean some technical stuff. The KE is geared at 32/20 and makes for a better endurance trail bike, allowing you to spin the legs fresh when needed.
While I love the KE, the steel Walt has a very sweet feel to it. If you fall for the 29'er ride and want a hardtail, see Walt. Beautiful custom frames for a reasonable price and locally made in Boulder.
As to the offer of sexual favors, while I have recently shaved my legs, those are reserved for Jeny ;-)
Ed
I think the biggest thing I'm after in my mind is the traction and rollover/ledge performance of the 29er. I don't want to give up the XC race bike feel of my Fuel/Monocog. I also really like the simplicity of hardtails and have been gravitating towards just relying on tire pressure for squish instead of suspension as I transition away from skinny tires to a little bigger and tougher skinned tire. I LOVE my Nobby Nic/Racing Ralph combo with the tough sidewall option running tape only tubeless.
You have shaved legs and I don't Ed, what has this world come too?
Chris-
Come to Fruita/GJ. Ride my Moots 29" softtail. Or my Lev. Or my MilkMoney (29" FS SS). See the light.
MC
My previous comment must not have taken...
In a nutshell, rollover/ledge performance can still be had with an XC racebike feel! And hardtail simplicity can be still be had with 1.5" of rear travel! Or maybe I'm just biased... If you want to find out for yourself, you're welcome to try my Mooto-X YBB anytime I'm not riding it.
Compensation would be easy - we could just have a Moots and Pugs swap for a week or so! :-)
Post a Comment