Fuel EX 27.5+ baller bike.

 

 

it looks nice but that chain looks a hair too long... is that how the ultra wide 1x's look now?

 

Eagle. 10-50t with a 34t chain ring. Combine that with a slight reward axle path (chain growth) and you need a lot of chain.

 

29 = mo bettah then 275+ all day everyday.

 

I'd be hard pressed to pick either a 27.5+ or a 29 with equal BB height.

 

I promise i'm not just being a snob right now. The 275+ tires don't really grip any better. They have a consistent drift to them and they don't hook and grab the same way. They are more forgiving with drifting and break away allowing less experienced riders to ride the limit of traction with a wider margin for error. Once you get more comfortable drifting 2.1 - 2.5" tires, the 29r will be faster and grip better in every single circumstance. The 275+ tires can be more confidence inspiring in rocky and rooty terrain but with skill the 29r will be faster. 275+ bikes tend to drift, and keep drifting, and also drift some more. They don't tend to hook and dig the side ***** in like a beefy 29r tire. To me 275+ is more appropriate on hard tails and beginner bikes. Especially now that the industry is starting to adjust to large volume casing and wide rims with "normal tires". I feel pretty strongly that if you like 650+ over 29, you haven't ridden a 29r with the "right" tires. You'd be better off carrying an extra 50-100 grams and running a 2.3" - 800-900 gram 29r tire over carrying an extra 250 grams worth of a 650+ tire that has mediocre side *****.

MTB is all about dem side *****. Embrace it and profit!

 

Yeah, I'm pretty much a novice and in way over my head trying to race the MTB. I run the tire that most champions run here, Ikon or Racing Ralph. I've recently started getting the "dig" feeling of the side **** doing work in the rear, still afraid of losing the front and eating trees.

 

I find racing ralphs worthless for everything other than counting grams. If you've got a lot of skill, you can ride them fast because they are predictable, but they grip like ****. The Ikon's are marginally better and are my preferred rear tire. Honestly, it would probably help you to get a beefier tire to throw on the front so you can play with leaning the bike over and ripping into it hard. Something like a bontrager SE4 or SE5 or a specialized butcher or slaughter would do nicely. It should almost feel like you're riding in some mtb movie if you're doing it right. The bike should feel leaned over extremely far in relation to your body like you're exaggerating your body position. This is incredibly foreign if you're basing your comfort zone on how you feel on your road bike, which is completely understandable

 

Maxxis Minion DHF = Dry/Grippy
Maxxis Ikon = Dry/Fast
Maxxis Shorty = Wet/Grippy

No other tires needed ever.

 

Specialized Renegade = Dryer + less grippy + even faster

 

Putting a butcher on the front of an XC bike is a little aggressive. Even semi-slicks have their place on courses where grip will gain you less overall time than low rolling resistance.

 

I might do an Ardent Race tire up front. I think that if you saw the trail surface I ride twice per week, you'd tell me to stay where I am though. We don't have much brown dirt here, it's sandy, tan and red stuff, there is no "rich earth" to grab onto.

About a month ago it started making sense to lean the bike in way more than my body, turn in later and commit with body mass, and get the tires digging. On the road bike I've developed a bit of a reputation for corner speed and I'm not so naive to think I can't improve in CX but I'm at the front there in terms of corner speed, try to crash the bike a couple times in each warm-up or at least get a foot out and find the limits of the CX tire in the important corners. I suppose the trees are still scaring the **** out of me on the MTB, but I may try that knobier tire, may try Vittorias too. I suspect I need to be more of a man about it in general though and change nothing.

 

Most of our trails around here are proximal to lakes maintained by USACE, or developers would buy them up. So most trails have dirt that looks like this:

 

I'm not suggesting to race with that... My race bike uses Ikon's front and rear. However, I have a lot of experience charging into corners without brakes and trusting the side ***** of my tires to help scrub speed. I'm also comfortable trusting side ***** and knowing that ultimately when they let go, I can catch it. When I hear someone say they are more comfortable on a 650+ bike that is a dead give away to me that they aren't leaning the bike far enough over on a normal sized tire, so they feel a perceived increase in traction with a larger tire. In reality, you don't need the larger tire if you are living and dying by the side *****. I think the best way to build that trust is running a tire that will grip like hell in front, and a looser tire in back so the rider can get used to trusting the front and controlling drift in the rear. Then once you establish that, you can run tires that both break away and you can manage it better. This works with the high school mtb racers that I coach locally (yes they are XC racers).

Dude, I'm sure you're way, way above anyone whom has only raced mtb's and cx bikes for what, a year or two? I'm not critiquing you because i think you're riding without *********... A big part of mtb riding fast (at least for me) is embracing that, just like cars, the vehicle reacts a bit better if it's dancing through the corners. Since you don't have maintenance throttle here, the only way to achieve that is come in hot-ish, get your braking done, and get the thing on the limit. It's tough to practice on tires that won't save you from your mistakes and can lead to some abrupt crashes that hurt more than they should (collarbone and rib fractures). That's why I think it would be worth it to spend 50 bucks, over tire for a week or two or three, and rip the hell out of it. When you go back to your race tires for races or just in general, you'll be much more in tune with what you can expect for break away and lean angles. I'm sure CX is related for you, but the game changes a bit with a wider tire and moar suspension.

All good here... I'm stoked you're riding real bikes now, it makes this thread more interesting!

P.S. FWIW, I feel your pain regarding real dirt. I ride in some of the nastier, more blown out conditions I think you'll find nation wide. When I go to places that have any sort of moisture, it feels like I'm a riding god. Most of my out of town bike friends that come here to ride with me, leave deflated and frustrated from a weekend of crawling around corners and crashing.

 

lol @ "real bikes"
The MTB is fun because on just about every trail I've ridden I don't run out of fitness, run out of bravery. I hate MTB when I started because my fitness was so bad. Regarding tires, where is the break point in traction when considering compound vs. knobieness? Around here people seem to think I should go for the softest compound. I may go to Arkansas for all this flooding, that means I need to run something with more *****, all three bikes are going if that happens.

In other news, I chose not to do the 4-hour XC enduro this weekend, my back and hands can't handle that yet.

Thanks for all the help from the baggy-crew.

 

I cringed way harder riding on an mtb trail than I did in a road race descending at like 55-60+ in a pack... Re:hustlers comment on running out of bravery.

Used to race on a CAAD9. Still have it and man does that thing track dead straight. I was always amazed at how precise it felt.

 

Oh man, after starting to settle-in on crit racing and this MTB **** through the trees, comfort working traffic in a racecar feels like there is no risk, moves at a slower pace.

I just tightened up everything on the road bike a couple days ago, have the race wheels on at 75/85psi and it felt great.

 

learn to love the trees:


all our dirt here in colo sprgs is kitty litter. great for riding in/after rain. turns to marble surfing in summer.

 

Need. Also, is there any chance you have a lower-resolution version?