Cooper, how about timing a long section on a Spur vs. an AM rig (i.e. V2 Sentinel)?
Like a 30-45 minute nonstop ride where you ride a pace that you would typically maintain on a decent Sunday morning ride? Not all out, but a pace that you can maintain in spite of trail traffic and becoming tired. A trail that you can consistently clear every obstacle on either bike.
Of course include a good description of the terrain, fun levels experienced, tires utilized & so on. For my selfish needs, the rougher the terrain the better.
Something that can help us non- bike testers/ consumers gain an objective measurement of what we stand to gain/ lose moving to a short travel rig from an AM rig.
If I was running this test I'd insert one important set of controls, I'd run the timing tests 1-3x on wheels/ tires that I'd consider appropriate for each bike, importantly I'd then do it again by actually using the exact same wheel/ tires on both bikes removing that as a factor entirely.
BTW, I have a buddy that is a heck of an athlete on a bike, and on a chunky local trail that is very pedal heavy (but still within the realm of a XC rig) he told me he was (edited, checked with friend) 7-8% faster over a lengthy trail on his high end, Fox Live valve equipped, Rocket Ron having 22\# XC race bike compared to his 27.5" 6" travel DHR2 having AM rig. My opinion is that about 70% of that time difference is the the wheels/ tires, 15% in the 8\# bike weight difference, and about 15% is in the additional efficiency of his 100mm Live Valve. Just educated guesses. If he swapped the wheels/ tires to his AM bike, locked out his AM shock to replicate the Live Valve, and strapped 8\#s to that XC frame I'd guess the total time difference to be tiny. A minute or 3 max over that run. Clearly that's just a guess on my part. Wouldn't expect you to test these other elements as they are ultimately irrelevant. However the wheel/ tire control test is well worth pursuing.
March 1, 2021, 11:53 a.m. - Sun Hester
Cooper, how about timing a long section on a Spur vs. an AM rig (i.e. V2 Sentinel)? Like a 30-45 minute nonstop ride where you ride a pace that you would typically maintain on a decent Sunday morning ride? Not all out, but a pace that you can maintain in spite of trail traffic and becoming tired. A trail that you can consistently clear every obstacle on either bike. Of course include a good description of the terrain, fun levels experienced, tires utilized & so on. For my selfish needs, the rougher the terrain the better. Something that can help us non- bike testers/ consumers gain an objective measurement of what we stand to gain/ lose moving to a short travel rig from an AM rig. If I was running this test I'd insert one important set of controls, I'd run the timing tests 1-3x on wheels/ tires that I'd consider appropriate for each bike, importantly I'd then do it again by actually using the exact same wheel/ tires on both bikes removing that as a factor entirely. BTW, I have a buddy that is a heck of an athlete on a bike, and on a chunky local trail that is very pedal heavy (but still within the realm of a XC rig) he told me he was (edited, checked with friend) 7-8% faster over a lengthy trail on his high end, Fox Live valve equipped, Rocket Ron having 22\# XC race bike compared to his 27.5" 6" travel DHR2 having AM rig. My opinion is that about 70% of that time difference is the the wheels/ tires, 15% in the 8\# bike weight difference, and about 15% is in the additional efficiency of his 100mm Live Valve. Just educated guesses. If he swapped the wheels/ tires to his AM bike, locked out his AM shock to replicate the Live Valve, and strapped 8\#s to that XC frame I'd guess the total time difference to be tiny. A minute or 3 max over that run. Clearly that's just a guess on my part. Wouldn't expect you to test these other elements as they are ultimately irrelevant. However the wheel/ tire control test is well worth pursuing.