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On the long drive down 395 I stopped in Lone Pine to climb up Whitney Portal Rd. 4500' in 12 miles. 3700 to 8100'. Did I mention it's steep?
Closed about halfway up due to landslides. Of course I slipped past the sign and rode it anyway. Whole road to myself, epic views. Black Ice at the top was hairy. 58° at the bottom, 37° and no sun at the top. brrr.
Congrats Emilio! I saw FMs Facebook post about your win, great to see competitors be so good to each other.
I have some news as well. As of tomorrow I am officially starting work at a local TREK store. They bought out about a dozen local shops and I’m so happy to be part of the family. Goal is to get to a Sales Manager position in spring. Ride to work, ride for work, great discounts, and I really love what they are doing for the communities around them. This is going to be awesome!
RE: Emilio. That's great to hear about your line on the off camber section. I've been listening to the Trainerroad podcasts lately and they were talking about that section leading up to the race, how they were going to have to possibly run it? Pretty funny. Great job again!
RE: Alex, congrats on the new job, can't wait til the warm weather, although I see you guys still do group rides over the winter...nuts!
XL size. Got it about a week ago.
Swapped a few parts
Crazy light and beautiful 175mm Sram XX1 carbon cranks swapped for 180mm FC-M9020 XTR cranks.
Swapped OEM Syncros ti saddle for my preferred S-Works Romin Evo carbon saddle
Egg Beater 11's
Swapped OEM 180mm front rotor for 160mm CLX rotor and deleted spacer bracket
23.2# with cage and Scott's nifty integrated Garmin mount
Building a set of EIE carbon wheels, 24mm internal wdith, asym profile, CX-Rays, Novatec D792 hubs. Those should bring the weight down to about 22.7#. Pretty crazy for a fully with 2.25's in XL.
Bike is a rocket. Climbs better than anything I have ever ridden except my 20# FSi hardtail. Super modern laid back 68.5° head angle and increased rake makes it stable like a 6" bike on steep descents. So much faster descender than my Pivot Mach 429 Carbon. Some of that credit goes to the fatter tires, 2.25 vs 2.1. Funny, my last DH bike was a '97 GT LTS-DH 6" F&R with 2.4 Michelin DH tires. This bike is stiffer and better handling. Technology!
For those not familiar, this is a pure XC race bike, not anything like an all mountain or trail bike. The latest XC race bikes are cribbing some of the geometry from 6" AM bikes
Salient features:
- Handlebar mounted lockout for F&R suspension (one lever)
- Eagle XX1 12 speed
- Many carbons
- Nino rides one
Nice rig! I recently got to demo a Domane SLR8. Very comfy bike, disc brakes are awesome, not a huge fan of the front ISO though. Sounds like a headset is loose if you jab the brakes. I do wish I could run 32c tires on my road bike though :(
Nice rig! I recently got to demo a Domane SLR8. Very comfy bike, disc brakes are awesome, not a huge fan of the front ISO though. Sounds like a headset is loose if you jab the brakes. I do wish I could run 32c tires on my road bike though :(
Should have the last piece of my Domane SLR9 disc or (essentially a 9 but with custom build parts) this Friday. Last piece is the bar end di2 Junction A. I'm dying to ride it. Roads around here pretty much all suck. They are all a super coarse chip seal essentially gravel roads with coarse gravel stuck in tar laid over asphalt so they vibrate bikes like crazy. hoping for smooth.
Bar end DI2 shows up today according to tracking. Got all the wires inside handlebars and frame last night. My build spread sheet puts it at 15.8 lbs with bottle cages and speedplay pedals. It should be lighter than the off the shelf bike but on my home scale it looks more like 16. Official weigh in comes when I take it to work and put it on the digital scale. I have 28C Schwalbe Pro Ones on it set up tubeless on it. My 20 year old Kleine Quantum Pro weighed 18 lbs.
Should have the last piece of my Domane SLR9 disc or (essentially a 9 but with custom build parts) this Friday. Last piece is the bar end di2 Junction A. I'm dying to ride it. Roads around here pretty much all suck. They are all a super coarse chip seal essentially gravel roads with coarse gravel stuck in tar laid over asphalt so they vibrate bikes like crazy. hoping for smooth.
It's very smooth indeed. The 32c tires alone do a good job of dampening the smaller chatter, and the ISOZone bars help too. The ISOspeed decouplers front and rear will help absorb some of the larger stuff. Our SLR8 weighed 17lb 10oz with my Wahoo BOLT and 6800 Pedals. Not bad for a comfy *** bike with disc brakes. I was rather hoping I wouldn't set any PRs on it compared to my own bike but I managed to squeeze in two lol
What's the consensus on 27.5"+ mountain bikes? I'm looking at a hard tail for general purpose Eastern US trail riding.
My shop is eastern US. All 3 employees that have demoed the TREK Roscoe said it’s a blast to ride. Not sure how fast or capable it is, I’ll find out when I demo it myself, but fun it is. Same sentiment went for all 3 guys and the Stache. Plus tires seem to be the real deal around here, though most of the fastest guys on strava still run something like a 2.2/2.0 combo
I've heard great things about 27.5+, especially for hardtails. My brother rides a FS Stumpy 27.5+ and he is happy with his decision. He's going to pick up a 29" wheelset so he can run those to set Strava records, but have the plus set when he wants to have more fun. I run 27.5x2.6" on the bike I just built, but I only have one half-assed ride on it. I'm curious to compare mine to his this summer.
It's very smooth indeed. The 32c tires alone do a good job of dampening the smaller chatter, and the ISOZone bars help too. The ISOspeed decouplers front and rear will help absorb some of the larger stuff. Our SLR8 weighed 17lb 10oz with my Wahoo BOLT and 6800 Pedals. Not bad for a comfy *** bike with disc brakes. I was rather hoping I wouldn't set any PRs on it compared to my own bike but I managed to squeeze in two lol
What's the consensus on 27.5"+ mountain bikes? I'm looking at a hard tail for general purpose Eastern US trail riding.
They're cool if you're fat, wear baggies, or prefer the male form.
I rode a 27+ Fuel EX and it was pretty damn awesome, felt like I had way more confidence and on my 2.2-tire'd 29er, but the BB was so low that I constantly pedal struck **** even in turns, once pedal striking so hard the BB creeked the rest of the ride, lol. I'm not sure that I'd buy one, would prefer to have the Top Fuel for racing and a Scalpel SE for play-time. I would buy a Trek Stache HT though, 29+. A friend has one of those and it's a ******* awesome bike.
IIRC from my 27.5+ vs 29 reading (when I was buying my Hightower last year), the 27.5+ trades weight and climbing ability for more cush going downhill. They are more finnicky about tire pressure as well. It also matters whether the bike was set up for them, or whether they are an afterthought. IOW, ride both and see what you like better for your locale.
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