Right, which is why I struggle with it. I’m reaching for the DH bike and Enduro bike within the same week repeatedly. We’ve got ~4 months...
Right, which is why I struggle with it. I’m reaching for the DH bike and Enduro bike within the same week repeatedly. We’ve got ~4 months out of the year the bike park is open. I’m not skipping trail rides for four months.
I guess maybe if you own a trail bike to go along with it but kind of defeats the one bike thing.
What are the two wheel and tire setups and how much difference in weight is there?
Genuinely curious... now I'm shopping wheels, dammit...
Right, which is why I struggle with it. I’m reaching for the DH bike and Enduro bike within the same week repeatedly. We’ve got ~4 months...
Right, which is why I struggle with it. I’m reaching for the DH bike and Enduro bike within the same week repeatedly. We’ve got ~4 months out of the year the bike park is open. I’m not skipping trail rides for four months.
I guess maybe if you own a trail bike to go along with it but kind of defeats the one bike thing.
What are the two wheel and tire setups and how much difference in weight is there?
Genuinely curious... now I'm shopping wheels, dammit...
Trail setup will be full 29" and the park setup will be mullet.
For the 29" wheels, I've got an older Bontrager carbon wheelset I've freshened up — nothing special and a little on the heavy side, but it'll run Schwalbe Trail Pros, which have been holding up really well for me. You can run higher pressure and skip inserts, and they feel light compared to DoubleDown or DH casings. I'd prefer a Magic Mary up front, but I've got an Albert I need to use, plus a Romy for the rear. Should roll fairly quick. If I were buying new, Reserve or WAO enduro rims are the safest bet, but the new Nobl Ethos looks pretty sick and might be worth trying for a true lightweight trail/enduro set. Probably wouldn't run them at the park, but seem nice for trail rides — Jesse Melamed raced one on his front wheel at national champs.
For the park setup, I've got WAO Triads set up as a mullet and will run DH Kryptotals. If I was buying new I'd probably just go alloy Reserves though - seem like a great value with lifetime warranty. And ~2000 gram/set is great for park.
Lots of really cool opinions in here. I have a 21 SJ Evo as my main bike like many, set up full 29 with DH tyres and WAO Union wheels. While that setup really slows it down on the pedals, the air springs (Lyrik + Viv Ult) still keep the bike feeling fairly peppy. The trails closest to home for me (illegal) aren't very long or steep but have lots of sharp, exposed rock and fairly hard compressions so some reliability in the wheelset is a must. It has accompanied me on a few of my annual bike park trips, and while admittedly it isn't enough bike for banging laps on DH tracks I only do this for ~7 days a year so it seems to be a worthy sacrifice. In the future an upgrade to a 160mm Zeb may help things but again, not really necessary for 90% of my year. In reality it's just a really nice, reliable trail / enduro bike that never gets flat tyres or really needs any maintenance outside of the norm. If I could click my fingers and swap the frame out for something slightly longer travel I would but at the time or purchasing it I didn't have an XC bike (more on that below).
The second bike, that is where things get interesting. While I am lucky enough to have 4 MTB's in the stable, the obvious #2 for me is my recently acquired current gen ASR. It is pretty much the best bike for every legally built trail local to where I live, and absolutely hauls ass down flowy jump tracks. Fortunately a heap of my buds have also recently invested in light, fast short travel bikes so now we all giggle and squeal down green, blue, and single black trails on those bikes on the weekend. My SJ is getting less and less time in the sun as I further explore and enjoy what new school XC bikes allow me to do on trails I once classified as boring or too easy.
I guess my vote goes to an enduro bike and a xc bike.
I will say though.. not having a DJ in the garage would hurt my soul. They're such a good place to invest some cash and just let it sit. They don't get thrashed, never go out of date technology wise and are just so much fun for pump track sessions and bmx track laps. Oh and did I mention how fun beater single speed trail hardtails are? Can't we just have it all...
What are the two wheel and tire setups and how much difference in weight is there?
Genuinely curious... now I'm shopping wheels, dammit...
my stumpy wheels:
Flow mk4 on hydras w/ EXO+ Tires ~8.4 lbs
Reserve HD30 on DT350 w/ DH + Cushcore ~ 13 lbs
*does not include cassette, both set ups have hs2 rotors
Trail setup will be full 29" and the park setup will be mullet.
For the 29" wheels, I've got an older Bontrager carbon wheelset I've freshened up — nothing special and a little on the heavy side, but it'll run Schwalbe Trail Pros, which have been holding up really well for me. You can run higher pressure and skip inserts, and they feel light compared to DoubleDown or DH casings. I'd prefer a Magic Mary up front, but I've got an Albert I need to use, plus a Romy for the rear. Should roll fairly quick. If I were buying new, Reserve or WAO enduro rims are the safest bet, but the new Nobl Ethos looks pretty sick and might be worth trying for a true lightweight trail/enduro set. Probably wouldn't run them at the park, but seem nice for trail rides — Jesse Melamed raced one on his front wheel at national champs.
For the park setup, I've got WAO Triads set up as a mullet and will run DH Kryptotals. If I was buying new I'd probably just go alloy Reserves though - seem like a great value with lifetime warranty. And ~2000 gram/set is great for park.
Lots of really cool opinions in here. I have a 21 SJ Evo as my main bike like many, set up full 29 with DH tyres and WAO Union wheels. While that setup really slows it down on the pedals, the air springs (Lyrik + Viv Ult) still keep the bike feeling fairly peppy. The trails closest to home for me (illegal) aren't very long or steep but have lots of sharp, exposed rock and fairly hard compressions so some reliability in the wheelset is a must. It has accompanied me on a few of my annual bike park trips, and while admittedly it isn't enough bike for banging laps on DH tracks I only do this for ~7 days a year so it seems to be a worthy sacrifice. In the future an upgrade to a 160mm Zeb may help things but again, not really necessary for 90% of my year. In reality it's just a really nice, reliable trail / enduro bike that never gets flat tyres or really needs any maintenance outside of the norm. If I could click my fingers and swap the frame out for something slightly longer travel I would but at the time or purchasing it I didn't have an XC bike (more on that below).
The second bike, that is where things get interesting. While I am lucky enough to have 4 MTB's in the stable, the obvious #2 for me is my recently acquired current gen ASR. It is pretty much the best bike for every legally built trail local to where I live, and absolutely hauls ass down flowy jump tracks. Fortunately a heap of my buds have also recently invested in light, fast short travel bikes so now we all giggle and squeal down green, blue, and single black trails on those bikes on the weekend. My SJ is getting less and less time in the sun as I further explore and enjoy what new school XC bikes allow me to do on trails I once classified as boring or too easy.
I guess my vote goes to an enduro bike and a xc bike.
I will say though.. not having a DJ in the garage would hurt my soul. They're such a good place to invest some cash and just let it sit. They don't get thrashed, never go out of date technology wise and are just so much fun for pump track sessions and bmx track laps. Oh and did I mention how fun beater single speed trail hardtails are? Can't we just have it all...
Steel singlespeed with trail geo, built lightish, and a capable enduro bike built heavy. If I was adding a bonus it would be a cyclocross bike.
The singlespeed means near zero maintenance, ride all year. The enduro covers everything else.
This set up would mirror what I have but require culling a couple, and I think I’d be ok with that.
A 170/170 enduro bike and a fat bike for me.
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