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These HP designs are cool and great for pro riders with pro mechanics to perform bike surgery every week, but the sheer number of pivots and crevasses on some of these bikes should warrant trepidation for the rest of us. If people complain about pressfit BBs creaking, just wait until you hear the cacophony of death cries (think Mayan death whistle) coming from deep within the shock tunnel, linkages, pivots, idler wheel, tweaked chainlines, or internal cable labyrinths. I get the HP appeal, but there are always trade-offs that come with adding complexity to a system and we've been down...

I have this conversation with a lot of customers. In the PNW, these are 2nd/3rd/etc bikes. If you want one rig for everything, most of these brands offer a 140mm 29er, which seems to be the sweet spot. Unfortunately, the 140mm completes typically come with a spec that is burlier/heavier, almost the same as their 160mm counterparts. What I've been doing lately is custom building the 140mm platform with a build kit that is closer to the 120mm builds. Pike, 27mm rims, 2.3 or 2.4 EXO tires, etc. Keep the weight under 30lbs but have enough travel to back up...

Idon’t have time to type up a full review, but I have put about 100 miles on a demo SB 150 in the mountains of Santa Cruz, CA. I have also been on the SB 130 an equal amount of time and I will give thoughts on that bike another time. My experience on the SB 150 has been really fun so far. I have been privileged to demo a lot of bikes and tend to favor long travel bikes for the riding around here. Climbing: This bike climbs well, particularly up long fire roads. It has excellent traction...