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I meant loosely from a geometry perspective - the current nomad and bronson are incredibly similar.
The latest gen of Hightower and Bronson have increased travel. I'm curious if the new MT and Nomad will continue the trend.
Correct. Growing up racing DH in Oregon we used to chop holes and whoops in the dirt to make our practice tracks rougher. There are rough trails in Oregon, but for the most part trails in Oregon get smoother over time. Not so in most of Washington and California. Just something about the clay and lack of rocks in the Willamette Valley.
That said, digging dirt jumps and berms in the Portland area is like cheating. A land of milk and honey for digging, where you stick your shovel in the ground anywhere and immediately find gold. Miss that.
Oregon is not part of the Northwest.
🍿
I wonder how much tweaking is possible before the geometry gets wonky?
Haha that’s funny
I will fight you.
Shoot, I thought Oregon had the gnarliest of trails...
Megatower is done, according to rumors.
Idaho: also not in the Northwest.
Considering it's a country that calls a group of states that are mostly in the east the "midwest", I believe you!
Where would one go for the rough trails in Oregon? Moving there next year and prefer the rougher stuff. Sorry for going off topic.
Gap between stumpjumper 15 and enduro? Between more than capable trail bike and an enduro bike? Didn't know there was a gap that needed filling.
Agreed with the others you go to Washington or ideally further north to get more gnarly.
There used to be a couple unofficial trails in north Portland that were short but pretty decent. Dropped from the plateau to down by the river. Not rough but stupid steep. Not sure if they are still there or not.
I'd agree there isn't really a gap, especially with Cascade doing their link which bumps the travel to 152/156 (27.5 has more). I've got an Enduro and one of my friends has a Stumpy 15 Ohlins - I've thought many times about how much I'd sacrifice making the change..
No, they didn't, Bronson V5 is a 150mm bike just like the V4 was. It has ample room for overstroking though.
Unfortunately all of those spots are hush hush, so I'm not at liberty to say. But they do exist if you meet the right people.
The good news for people seeking rough trails in Oregon is that, with the dual combo of climate change and increased ridership that makes everything extra dry and blown out in summer, everywhere's getting rougher in Oregon all the time.
https://www.intend-bc.com/products/samurai-32/?v=d88fc6edf21e
Intend 32“ fork
Can someone do the math and tell me if I'll have a similar axle to crown if I swap this with the Marz 888 on my Sunday and keep the 26"
I meant to say hole in the lineup that would exist if the enduro got the axe whereas if the mega and nomad got the chop, it wouldn't be as big of a hole in SC's lineup imo.
I haven't ridden the stumpy 15, but there is a notable difference between the previous evo and enduro, even with a cascade link, 170 fork, and coil etc... but I think that boils down to the earlier discussion about ~150 vs ~170 bikes and which trails they're ridden on. The difference on wheelbase alone is 20-30mm depending on which stumpy and size. That 15 ohlins build does look great though.
I think I heard in one of the EDR vids on youtube, someone suggested that Dan Hooker had over stroked his bronson.
Either way, if a bike larger than the bronson/hightower continues to exist, I think SC would make something with a ~ 1285mm wheelbase for a size large. Similar to the frameworks enduro, raaw madonna.
Not tech rumors, but soil tech history! The difference between Oregon, WA and BC is all about ice. Kilometer+ thick ice sheets created glacial terrain features and exposed more bedrock from Washington State north. Oregon didn't get the sweet, sweet ice sheet remodeling. The maximum extent of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet was Tenino, which is between Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
In the Seattle area you have a lot of glacial till soils that the ice pushed around. Further north the ice scraped away soils and smoothed the bedrock, making terrain for amazing tech riding. This is what makes North Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler such amazing places to ride tech and big slabs.
(ice sheet thickness in feet) from Washington's Glacial Geology | Department of Natural Resources
OK, back to tech rumors...
Heck yeah, let's get MORE soil science, glaciology and and geomorphology in here! Who wants to nerd out on the Franciscan melange?
Also:

I know you're kidding, but you need crown-to-ground because the axle is about 3" higher. Fine tune your clearance with crank length.
Glaciers smooshed my state and all I got was this ~~dumb t-shirt~~ terrible sandy soil
(Edit: I thought I knew the formatting here but I guess not)
Add Santa Cruz to the west coast mix. Lots of chunky / steep / fast stuff that merits a slacked out 170mm bike.
Like yeah, I could ride a 26lb stumpjumper on those trails, but I'm having way more fun on a DH capable enduro rig.
I don't think the enduro style of bike is going anywhere. It's more fun than a 150mm trail bike in a lot of scenarios.
I wonder if there will be more bikes like the Bottle Rocket? I'm not sure there are a ton of enduro racers on 170/180mm "enduro" bikes, but rather on 150/160mm "trail" bikes.
Along those lines, I know some guys who are doing 20-30ft road gaps/jumps/etc on Spec Enduro's and don't seem them replacing them with Stumpy's anytime soon. I wonder if there is more overlap between Enduro and Status riders than Enduro and Stumpy riders. Maybe?
I think the French DH riders have it right when they just describe everything as either a DH bike or a trail bike. It's wild to me that people are thinking 150mm bikes are trail bikes now. I should be a bit more French.
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