hotness. how was the maiden voyage?
long travel wagon wheelers
Posted by: xy9ine
hotness. how was the maiden voyage?
Satisfying. A big improvement over this year's other experiments. Probably should have just bought this first but it was so extreme at the time that I needed intermediate steps to get my head around it. It's going to take some time to really get to know it. Finally a bike worth keeping! Though I'm already thinking I could use more reach lol.
Posted by: craw
Satisfying. A big improvement over this year's other experiments. Probably should have just bought this first but it was so extreme at the time that I needed intermediate steps to get my head around it. It's going to take some time to really get to know it. Finally a bike worth keeping! Though I'm already thinking I could use more reach lol.
so how much has this whole experimentation process set you back?
Posted by: craw
Posted by: DemonMike
Tons of room too mount a water bottle . cool looking ride enjoy!!
Lol nope. Not a single bottle mount to be found. Couldn't care less.
No bottle mounts , no sale for me . I hate backpacks for riding .
Posted by: DemonMike
Posted by: craw
Posted by: DemonMike
Tons of room too mount a water bottle . cool looking ride enjoy!!
Lol nope. Not a single bottle mount to be found. Couldn't care less.
No bottle mounts , no sale for me . I hate backpacks for riding .
So my Canfield didn't come with bottle mounts. I bought some of the 3m sticky tape that gopro uses for their mounts and machined up some little pads with a nut in them and stuck them to the frame. Screwed in a bottle cage and Presto! Worked like a charm!
SKS make a "strap on" (LOL) bottle mount kit.
This doesn't appear to be the SKS kit, but
Posted by: kiwizak
SKS make a "strap on" (LOL) bottle mount kit.
This doesn't appear to be the SKS kit, but
The point of the comment , Huge space in the frame for the builder to fit a bottle and they don,t. Some designs force one to mount a bottle on the bottom of the frame . Been there done that , won,t be happening again LOL. With the amount of $$$ some of these frames cost . I want features like a bottle mount in the frame!!!.
I had a beautiful dream last night I was riding Cypress on a...29er. I think I need to buy one.
Would asking about shorter travel (~130mm) wagon wheelers be a total thread derailment?
My test rides this summer taught me that I'm not tall enough to unlock the full potential of a long travel 29, but more importantly, that I would really like to have a shorter travel pedally 29er.
Climbing was just blissful, besides there would be less expectations to compete with the stravasshole friends on the downs.
Last edited by: Hepcat on Dec. 19, 2018, 10 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
Reason: "Hi Crime Stoppers", "Hi Steve!"
Posted by: JBV
it's kinda like asking about lower travel 29er that ride kinda like bigger travel bikes, why the hell not? i often wonder the same. rode a Firebird 29 and was, meh. i see a lot of guys, including serious enduro racers riding bikes like the Sight and similar for the versatility fun factor all around. i have the original Smuggler and am dying to try the new one out in anger. if you believe what you read, it's better going up and down. lots of local shredders have the Sentinel, but i'm doubtful i would like it on a lot of our trails.
The Sentinel is 135mm in the rear. It's hardly long travel. I guess it rides like more but not by much. It's got the attitude of a longer travel bike but it gets in over its head as you'd expect. 135 seems like a good balance. That Pole went to 180 on their new bike is mind bending.
having spent 4 months on a 170/160 mm 29er (yes, the Firebird 29), all over BC and WA state, I can agree that this is a ton of travel on a 29er. do i need that much travel on every ride? definitely not. some days on smoother/mellow trails i do wish for a smaller bike at times.
do i really appreciate the travel when riding Cypress old school gnar, or other off-the-grid gnar zones? absolutely.
do i go faster on this bike than i ever have before, including faster than on my last DH bike? absolutely.
these new long travel 29ers are the bees knees for pedalling up and smashing gnarly descents at speeds that would have been unheard of 10 years ago.
as a single bike i'm not sure they make a ton of sense unless you either really prioritize descending or just ride a lot of gnar.
so this is a long winded way of saying i'm sure that a 130-140 mm 29er is a better option for a lot of people who either don't ride gnar or don't have a lot of those trails nearby!
Last edited by: oldmanbuilder on Dec. 19, 2018, 11:47 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
The 160/140 of the Sentinel is a pretty good sweet spot. I find mine quite nimble. At least for me I don't think the 140mm rear end gets in over its head unless you are smashing medium hits at Mach Chicken, or if you are on the brake bumps in the Park. Other than that it's pretty solid pick for a in between bike. :-)
**disclaimer this style of bike is a rear wheel destroyer. I'm on rear wheel #4. It takes you into the gnar at all the speed of a bigger bike,,,it's just kinda runs out of travel hahaha
Last edited by: awesterner on Dec. 19, 2018, 11:57 a.m., edited 1 time in total.
I have been meaning to say it's very interesting to watch the evolution of this thread. It's not even that old, and already many of the bikes that were considered "long travel" 20ers are pretty much mid travel, and mid travel bikes are now basically short travel 29ers. With 160+ 29ers getting more common the whole segment has shifted. We almost need a new thread for the shorter travel bikes!
Posted by: DemonMike
Posted by: kiwizak
SKS make a "strap on" (LOL) bottle mount kit.
This doesn't appear to be the SKS kit, but
The point of the comment , Huge space in the frame for the builder to fit a bottle and they don,t. Some designs force one to mount a bottle on the bottom of the frame . Been there done that , won,t be happening again LOL. With the amount of $$$ some of these frames cost . I want features like a bottle mount in the frame!!!.
There were a handful of others commenting on lack of water bottle mounts, not just you, to which I offered a solution.
I tend to agree though, there is no excuse for lack of bottle mounts, the latest Remedy even has bottle mounts under the top tube for mounting accessories.
Devinci Spartan 29 didn't get the best review on the "PB Field Test". Have any of you guys ridden one? I was hoping it would be my next bike. Definitely going to test ride one in the Spring.
Posted by: awesterner
The 160/140 of the Sentinel is a pretty good sweet spot. I find mine quite nimble. At least for me I don't think the 140mm rear end gets in over its head unless you are smashing medium hits at Mach Chicken, or if you are on the brake bumps in the Park. Other than that it's pretty solid pick for a in between bike. :-)
**disclaimer this style of bike is a rear wheel destroyer. I'm on rear wheel #4. It takes you into the gnar at all the speed of a bigger bike,,,it's just kinda runs out of travel hahaha
How are you finding the pedalling on the Sentinel? Read a couple of reviews and the gist of it seemed to be that it is more capable than most 140mm bikes, but also that it pedals worse and feels less nimble than similar travel bikes.
Last edited by: Timer on Dec. 20, 2018, 1:07 p.m., edited 3 times in total.
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