long travel wagon wheelers

Posted by: oldmanbuilder

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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!

Or maybe if your trail is fairly gnar but you always ride the same memorized lines?

...For years and years because you're old and unoriginal and just want to get to the top of the climb comfortably so you can enjoy your beer before hitting the same exact descent you've hit 1,000 times before...

^this sounds very familiar.

Posted by: Timer

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.

Given it's weight, I found the Sent pedalled as well as could be expected. None of this 'climbs like an XC bike sh*t' but in the mid setting on the shock, it went up fine & had very little bob. I found it still had noticeable wheel flop on slower more techy stuff, but I expected it to, compared to what I am used to.

Where I found it suffered was racing more than anything. It felt very soft and mushy on the pedals, which combined with a low BB meant care was needed when trying to put the power down on something rough. I clipped a lot of pedals on that bike.

I have found the Raaw climbs better so far for comparison, which for an even bigger bike was surprising. When I say climbs better, again, it's all relative, compared to my 26lb Fuel 9.9 it feels heavy, slow, lethargic but for a 15kg monster truck, it just keeps going up stuff I would have trouble taming the front wheel on the Fuel with.

I put it down to the (much) longer stays & mega steep SA. In terms of nimbleness, I don't find these massive 29er's overly nimble, they are a bit more of a 'Hulk Smash' style of riding :)

I'm a year in on my sentinel now and still love it. Climbs better than my last bike (Devinci Troy) weighs a touch more but is much more capable downhill and confidence inspiring with the wheelbase / HA. The Troy at the same travel but 27.5 was plenty capable but it was obviously maxed out 

Lots of complaints on shock set up from others but if you set it up like a 140mm bike it works great. I think the issues come from people trying to get it as plush as a 150/160mm. It suffers a bit in the bike park braking bumps as a result but for an aggressive trail bike its pretty hard to fault.

It is the type of bike that you can't be lazy on though. The shortish stays keep it pretty nimble on the shore but it does mean you need to consciously keep your weight forward the first few rides as you get used to it. It rarely bucks you OTB or gets out of shape but if you get in the back seat you push the front end pretty good.

Posted by: MaxRockatansky

I'm a year in on my sentinel now and still love it. Climbs better than my last bike (Devinci Troy) weighs a touch more but is much more capable downhill and confidence inspiring with the wheelbase / HA. The Troy at the same travel but 27.5 was plenty capable but it was obviously maxed out 

Lots of complaints on shock set up from others but if you set it up like a 140mm bike it works great. I think the issues come from people trying to get it as plush as a 150/160mm. It suffers a bit in the bike park braking bumps as a result but for an aggressive trail bike its pretty hard to fault.

It is the type of bike that you can't be lazy on though. The shortish stays keep it pretty nimble on the shore but it does mean you need to consciously keep your weight forward the first few rides as you get used to it. It rarely bucks you OTB or gets out of shape but if you get in the back seat you push the front end pretty good.

Does the 140mm rear travel really make the Sentinel only an "aggressive trail bike". I always thought of the Sentinel as one of the most aggressive "Enduro" bikes... but your post seems to say that it is noticeably less plush than a 160mm bike?

Yeah it's wierd you hear so much conflicting info regarding the smuggler and Sentinel. I've heard people say Sentinel is very much a trail bike and gives up nothing to the smuggler on flat trails or climbing, and then I've heard people say the Sentinel is a major DH sled and the smuggler is much more usually day to day unless your day to day is alternating laps of the bike park and cypress shuttles. 

Just goes to show d

Nothing beats beats getting down to bham and doing a demo. I wish NSBS had a couple.

Don’t let the Pinkbike review deter you from a Spartan 29. I ride an aluminum one that I built up from a frame and find it to be incredible. My last two bikes were a Rocky Mountain Instinct BC and and Evil Wreckoing and Iike the Spartan more.

Posted by: ButchCassidy

Don’t let the Pinkbike review deter you from a Spartan 29. I ride an aluminum one that I built up from a frame and find it to be incredible. My last two bikes were a Rocky Mountain Instinct BC and and Evil Wreckoing and Iike the Spartan more.

I have heard good things about the bike as well . I feel as they stated the bike had a awkward build and it added to the issues they found. I have a 17 Django 29er and I put a Corset on it . This helped the bike a lot , I now run a coil , and whoa what a beast for 120mm. What size did you use ? and how did you spec it . My bike is aluminum and I built it up with a 150mm 36 , WT tires . It,s a burly trail bike and is very fun.

Posted by: Kenny

Yeah it's wierd you hear so much conflicting info regarding the smuggler and Sentinel. I've heard people say Sentinel is very much a trail bike and gives up nothing to the smuggler on flat trails or climbing, and then I've heard people say the Sentinel is a major DH sled and the smuggler is much more usually day to day unless your day to day is alternating laps of the bike park and cypress shuttles. 

Just goes to show d

Nothing beats beats getting down to bham and doing a demo. I wish NSBS had a couple.

Depends on what your version of Enduro is I would say. It's more Pemberton Enduro than Whistler EWS if that makes sense...

It handles everything you throw at it but Whistler EWS would have been nice to have another inch travel for sure. Crazy train, hey bud etc. on any other week end, its all you need. EWS got the trails pretty shitkicked though....

https://www.imbikemag.com/reviews/bikes/enduro-bikes/cube-bikes-stereo-150-tm-29-2018/?fbclid=IwAR2bpeGEA14jJmtHNurDq8z1gpscVBDSxQbli9DUEzABGqs46ZOSHWDhL98

Posted by: DemonMike

https://www.imbikemag.com/reviews/bikes/enduro-bikes/cube-bikes-stereo-150-tm-29-2018/?fbclid=IwAR2bpeGEA14jJmtHNurDq8z1gpscVBDSxQbli9DUEzABGqs46ZOSHWDhL98

Review makes it sound like an outdated POS. Short and cramped.

Tim——

It’s very active when the shock is Open but it still has a lot of support so that it doesn’t wallow. Most climbing I use the platform on the shock. Pretty much like every bike I’ve ever owned—maybe it’s just preference:). It rarely bottoms out -hard- when properly set up. Feels pretty sprightly to me. I’m a fast rider, but am easy to please when it come to design and setup. I don’t need to fork out crazy cake for a yeti SB for a perceived better performing suspension (a subjective view of some). ;)

It really could use a taller head tube. These slack ass bikes have a pretty low front end and big reach numbers on paper really need more stack for taller riders

I’m on a large. Definitely went for a burly DH oriented build. Z1 fork, 35mm rims, proper tires...100% carbon free. A Django and a Spartan would be a great quiver!

Fezzari La Sal Peak looks interesting. Bible of Bikes seemed to really like it and the pricing seems very reasonable.