Great write ups, and your Tallboy review was really helpful for me. I just bought a lightly used Tallboy V4 frame in aluminum, which will replace a Honzo with 150mm fork and -1.5 works headset as my do it all mountain bike. A little nervous about losing travel up front, but I'll be using a Helm which is easy to adjust up to 140 if needed. I also sized up to an XL at 6' which may be a mistake but can't be picky buying used in these times. I figure losing some playfulness for more stability isn't awful when going short travel.
I definitely understand why people might scratch their heads about super aggressive short travel bikes but for someone like me who isn't a huge sender but rides just about everything from big backcountry XC loops to local blacks and only has the budget for one rig, I think it will make sense. The long travel hardtail was a reasonable approach with obvious compromises - I'll see if the Tallboy is too.
If I had lots of money I'd get something like the Spur or even the Blur and an enduro rig (and rigid bikepacking machine, and a DJ bike, and...) but as it is I'm really glad these short travel trail bikes have gotten so good.
March 25, 2021, 11:02 a.m. - Simon Apostol
Great write ups, and your Tallboy review was really helpful for me. I just bought a lightly used Tallboy V4 frame in aluminum, which will replace a Honzo with 150mm fork and -1.5 works headset as my do it all mountain bike. A little nervous about losing travel up front, but I'll be using a Helm which is easy to adjust up to 140 if needed. I also sized up to an XL at 6' which may be a mistake but can't be picky buying used in these times. I figure losing some playfulness for more stability isn't awful when going short travel. I definitely understand why people might scratch their heads about super aggressive short travel bikes but for someone like me who isn't a huge sender but rides just about everything from big backcountry XC loops to local blacks and only has the budget for one rig, I think it will make sense. The long travel hardtail was a reasonable approach with obvious compromises - I'll see if the Tallboy is too. If I had lots of money I'd get something like the Spur or even the Blur and an enduro rig (and rigid bikepacking machine, and a DJ bike, and...) but as it is I'm really glad these short travel trail bikes have gotten so good.