$2230 nose to tail, 25.2lb. Had to put some bearings in the rear pivots but other than that it's been great for 700 miles.

 

I collected some bike parts over a few months and assembled a new toy.

Holy crap pro level mountain bikes have gotten better since my competitive days back in the early 2000's. feels like its got an extra motor.

18.7 lbs.

 

 

Cool bike.
Eager to see your progress on the other end of the cycling performance equation. Post progress reports as you get back in shape brother.

I will give yo this advice; do not doubt yourself at any time. You were really fit and fast once. Age is what holds other athletes back, the ones that don't believe. I'm 54 and regularly stomp Cat 1's and Cat 2' that are young enough to be my grandkids.
I took a decade off. Now I train my brains out and take care of myself. You're much younger than I am. Make it happen cap'n!

 

I've been telling myself lately that it's not going to get much better as I started this game so late but lately I've realized I'm starting to become a threat in cat-4. Would love to make it to cat-3 in CX, don't think it's feasible on the road.

 

We pro:

From left to right:
Cat 3, 2, 3, me, 40-45 lady 10x national CX champ, cat 3, cat 3. Did not drop, pulled a couple bros home. It might be time to go racing again.

 

In other news, I think Blue Evo is nearing the end of its life. Today the sheet-metal rear drop-out liner I made fell out and the wheel rubbed into the chain stay, again. There will be a double-purple CAAD12 next year that I'd like to pick-up. Might be time for the Blue Evo to go on the wall.

 

Its been 15 years. I dropped 10 lbs still need to drop about 55 more to get back to my cycling weight. But still struggling with the back. Thought the last surgery might have fixed it but it didn't. I it might be disk removal and fusion time. I miss riding my bike so much. And I really miss the fitness level I once had. having a new nice bike is a lot of motivation to ride it though.

 

Question: What do you get when you combine my lack of impulse control and penchant for shiny things with @Chooofoojoo's bad infuence?

Answer:

So much more bike than I am capable of using but I'm excited to start to figure out this whole MTB thing. I did a half-day tour in Bend last summer on an old aluminum 29er, my first-ever ride on a full-suspension bike. I was pretty blown away, proceeded to rent a Yeti SB5 and tackle the same trails again. Was blown away all over again. Needless to say the damage to my wallet was done at that point, it was just a matter of when. The opportunity presented itself recently so I jumped. SC Hightower, their standard X01 Eagle buildout with a Push Elevensix shock. Nick swapped in the 150mm front fork as well.

Sort of like buying a GT3 Cup car and then entering HPDE1. Can't wait to ride it.

 

Nice Andrew. Chooofoojooooo is the man.

Your girl also ride? You may need another bike for her...

 

Amazing choice. I just demo'd a hightower and a pivot switchblade. One of those two will be my next rig once I'm healed up. The 11-6 is an amazing piece of suspension as well. Can't wait to hear what you think about it.

 

And how do those two compare to the Pivot Mach429, which is what I demoed and thought life couldn't get nicer.

 

The 429SL is a FS cross country racing bike that has some of the new geometry that is being used on the new generation of UCI xc courses. These courses are more technical then they have ever been and as a result you're starting to see some trickle down of the long/low/slack trail and enduro geometry trends in this class of bike. The 429 Trail is a short travel 29er trail bike. This would compare to the tallboy or specialized stumjumper. These are what 90% of the riding public should be riding and is likely this bike that has the best compromises for single bike quiver usage, just short of bike parks.

The hightower and switchblade are enduro or all mountain bikes. That being said, they are both modern geometry vpp bikes with astonishing pedal platforms. This means that they descend like downhill bikes from about 2-3 years ago and pedal like trail bikes from 2 years ago. These bikes need to be ridden aggressively and at speed before they come alive. They will pop off of small trail features but they need to be coaxed into it. They also need to be cornered assertively by throwing your weight into them hard and leaning them over. They can handle everything from all day epics to the most gnarly EWS courses that should likely be ridden on downhill bikes by us mere mortals.

This is obviously subjective... but these are aggressive bikes that demand to be ridden as such.

 

429 sl or trail?

Imho (as both scb and pivot dealer) Hightower > Switchblade > 429 trail.

The 429 sl is a closer match to the scb Tallboy.

Reasons I like the Hightower over switchblade:
-"normal" standards I.e boost 110/148 (NOT thuuper bewst plus 157.... on a trail bike)
-coil (elevensix) compatibility. Pivots don't play nicely with shocks that aren't super progressive spring curves.
-cable routing isn't an afterthought.
-personally prefer vpp>dw

Good choice Andrew

 

Actually I demoed a Mach4, so it as a 27.5 bike. The wait for the switchblade demo was hours. (I was the only that cared to demo their CX bike tho, so bonus for me.) Trails out here aren't like trails by you guys i don't think. We plow through rough flat farm fields, lots of roots, sand, no real elevation. My personal emphasis is on light weight cause I lack power.

Dirt bike shock on a mountain bike, looks serious.

 

The hightower definitely gets the edge in terms of being user friendly. I'm really conflicted about the rear hub spacing on the switchblade. On one hand, i love that they did what they had to do to get the design they wanted... on the other, it makes getting a second set of wheels to hang on the wall complicated as hell. The other positive for the hightower is that you can put a 57mm stroke rear shock on it and get all of the travel.

 

Further, as a lot of my customers have both a six-fattie and 29er set of wheels, the Hightower's flip-chip geometry tweak is FAR superior and user friendly of a solution to the PIvot's lower headset cup.

That being said, on the gas I feel the pivot to be a bit 'punchier' of a bike. The Hightower loves flow and a being pushed hard, where the Switchblade seems to respond best to a bit more finesse in style. Hard to verbalized the minute differences on paper. Either platform gives the rider a ridiculously big smile, and let's be honest: that's what it's all about.

 

I have exactly the same impression after riding both. The Hightower is a terrain plowing monster truck in both 29r and 650+ setups. It isn't as lively but it craves steep, technical terrain and speed. It seems to come alive at the same speed the Nomad 3 comes alive and it seems to gobble up chunky terrain even more effectively then an N3. By contrast the Switchblade is content romping around the parking lot before you even leave the trail head. The backend of the switchblade feels a bit muted by comparison, but it's plush and pedals better then the hightower I think. I think the hightower really comes alive with a progressive and punchy air shock. I rode a friends HT with a dhx2 and found it to be a little muted and not quite as fun as the Float X2 equipped HT i rode. Ironically I feel the same way about my friends dhx2 equipped nomad 3... the coil shocks definitely yield an improvement in traction on the VPP Santa Cruz bikes, but it seems to make them feel a bit muted on smaller trail features and at lower speeds.

Amazing time to be a mountain bike rider... 10 year ago, about 50% of the bikes out there were total **** and weren't even worth riding around the bike shop parking lot. Now, you have to look hard to find something that totally sucks and doesn't feel right.

 

Just picked up this 2013 Giant Talon 0 the other day. It's very lightly used, and the drivetrain was replaced with SRAM X7 and X9 components. It's been a while since I've been on a bike, but I can't wait to go out to the trails.

 

I haz Top Fuel. It goes over bumps, I pedal.