Posted by: Heinous
Taking an inappropriate bicycle through gnarly stuff is great fun. Trying to do it fast tends to be a recipe for disaster.
I had an absolute blast riding my Sakura at the park today. Granted a big part of that was taking my kid out for her first park day, and she had such a great day. But spending time on greens I don't normally ride, at speeds appropriate for this bike, was so much fun even if I was solo
The Judy TT's may as well have been a rigid fork
The Judy TT's may as well have been a rigid fork
You have to l.o.v.e. LOVE that straight tube aesthetic and the not-too-short chainstays. Delicious.
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I know this is fully playing my typecast role… but… for a similar axle-to-crown and better suspension performance you can run a 26” rigid fork with a 27x2.8/3” tire.
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We have the same Sakura, though my wife’s is a small and it’s just a frame these days with the fork on my daughter’s rig and the rest of the parts on her Walt.
With all the 27.2 dropper options now, I’m thinking of having the headtube replaced with a 44mm and slackened a lot at the same time (also lowering BB and steepening STA at the same time) for my daughters next bike (27/26 mullet).
Did some island hopping today to meet a friend on Hornby for a ride. BC Ferries is so much nicer when you ride on the ship vs. drive. First on. First off. Four ferries cost ~$20 which doesn't even make my eyes bleed! There are nice connector trails on Denman and Hornby which making riding a bike particularly sweet. It's been a while since I shredded the Hornby trails. I missed them. Perfect hardtail terrain. Lots of fun in an easy to tackle trail network. Feels exceptionally dry over there...much more so than the Cumby trails. Serious dust action! The weekday vibe is a lot more chill than peak summer tourist madness.
Posted by: AndrewMajor
I know this is fully playing my typecast role… but… for a similar axle-to-crown and better suspension performance you can run a 26” rigid fork with a 27x2.8/3” tire.
I was within a half of day of selling the Sakura this summer. I was just pissed off and in a liquidation mood; I'm glad I didn't and realized how fun it can be in the right situations. Mine is a medium and I had also thought about grafting on a new HT and revising some of the geo at the same time for when my kid is tall enough. For the time being though, I've given up on making it perform optimally. As long as it shifts through most of its 9 gears, brakes, and tubes hold air, I'll adjust myself to meet her needs. I'll throw my Surly rigid fork on and just roll with it.
Speaking of 27.2 droppers, I discovered Chain Reaction sells a Brand-X kid specific 27.2 dropper. It's cheap, heavy-ish, but supposedly low breakaway force and 70mm drop.
Turn the Sakura into a gravel bike! 👍
Posted by: UFO
Speaking of 27.2 droppers, I discovered Chain Reaction sells a Brand-X kid specific 27.2 dropper. It's cheap, heavy-ish, but supposedly low breakaway force and 70mm drop.
PNW do a 27.2 with 125mm drop and it's internally routed. I run one on my Krampus.
Posted by: BC_Nuggets
Turn the Sakura into a gravel bike! 👍
This was a strong consideration and I got as far as picking up a set of 700c wheels. Ultimately it was too much of an outlay to get a roadie hydraulic disc setup and then a Tanpan to mate the roadie controls to MTB gearing. The medium is a good tech MTB size for me, but probably a size too small for me to make it work well for covering distances.
@fartymarty: I've got an external 100mm KS Lev in there right now from when there weren't really any 27.2 options on the market, it's worked well and has proven reliable for 4+ years hooked up to a hacked XT front shifter. However this bike doesn't get a ton of useage
Posted by: UFO
@fartymarty: I've got an external 100mm KS Lev in there right now from when there weren't really any 27.2 options on the market, it's worked well and has proven reliable for 4+ years hooked up to a hacked XT front shifter. However this bike doesn't get a ton of useage
Makes sense on the dropper. I've also done the XT shifter hack on both bikes. It's quite good and the symmetry appeases my OCD.
Posted by: UFO
Posted by: BC_Nuggets
Turn the Sakura into a gravel bike! 👍
This was a strong consideration and I got as far as picking up a set of 700c wheels. Ultimately it was too much of an outlay to get a roadie hydraulic disc setup and then a Tanpan to mate the roadie controls to MTB gearing. The medium is a good tech MTB size for me, but probably a size too small for me to make it work well for covering distances.
@fartymarty: I've got an external 100mm KS Lev in there right now from when there weren't really any 27.2 options on the market, it's worked well and has proven reliable for 4+ years hooked up to a hacked XT front shifter. However this bike doesn't get a ton of useage
Or you can do what I did with a Gary fisher for relatively little investment. From another thread I posted on recently:
I’ve converted a 00’s Gary fisher into my gravel/city bike. Short stem and soma dream bars. Gravel king sk 26x2.1 tires half frame bag avid bb7 mech disk. 1x9 11-34. 38 narrow wide. Kona p2 rigid fork. Brooks b17. It’s a fun bike. With fenders it’s fun in rain and slop too. Got a hankering to get something steel with disks and move everything over. Velo orange polyvalent if something like that.
The Kona p2 rigid fork, gravel king 26x2.1 and swept back bars make for a super fun bike. The lightweight chromo tubing of the Sakura would be sweet compared to my aluminum Fisher.
Posted by: Kenny
I was up on Seymour yesterday and came across a trail that starts with what is basically several six foot drops a couple bike lengths apart with landings that are just loose chunky gnar and thought of this thread. If anyone could look at that entrance in person and tell me with a straight face that it's be fine a a rigid bike as long as it had good geo, they're either delusional or a super hero. Just no way. There comes a point where suspension matters. Maybe not for you, but it does exist.
Absolutely. I don’t have much experience with rigid MTBs (this century) but about two thirds of my riding since 2009 has been on hardtails. The place where they struggle most is landing into gnar.
But on the whole my skills and bravery are far more of a limiting factor than my current hardtail - that hardtail is running 29x2.4” tyres (Magic Mary front, Eliminator rear), tyre inserts, 160mm Lyrik, 63 deg HA, think it’s about 460mm reach (plus sag). Apart from the lack of rear travel, it’s quite a lot of bike!
Posted by: a.funks
Posted by: Kenny
I was up on Seymour yesterday and came across a trail that starts with what is basically several six foot drops a couple bike lengths apart with landings that are just loose chunky gnar and thought of this thread. If anyone could look at that entrance in person and tell me with a straight face that it's be fine a a rigid bike as long as it had good geo, they're either delusional or a super hero. Just no way. There comes a point where suspension matters. Maybe not for you, but it does exist.
Absolutely. I don’t have much experience with rigid MTBs (this century) but about two thirds of my riding since 2009 has been on hardtails. The place where they struggle most is landing into gnar.
But on the whole my skills and bravery are far more of a limiting factor than my current hardtail - that hardtail is running 29x2.4” tyres (Magic Mary front, Eliminator rear), tyre inserts, 160mm Lyrik, 63 deg HA, think it’s about 460mm reach (plus sag). Apart from the lack of rear travel, it’s quite a lot of bike!
Similar situation here: Honzo ESD with 150 Lyrik.
I find it's the best bike I've ever ridden. Super capable and more fun than my full-susp enduro bike on most of the trails...until it isn't anymore. I was not expecting the "gnar limit" to be as far as it actually is, but it does exist for sure.
When the trails are too fast and/or gnarly, riding a capable hardtail rapidly gets a bit too brutal for my taste.
Posted by: a.funks
The place where they struggle most is landing into gnar.
But on the whole my skills and bravery are far more of a limiting factor than my current hardtail - that hardtail is running 29x2.4” tyres (Magic Mary front, Eliminator rear), tyre inserts, 160mm Lyrik, 63 deg HA, think it’s about 460mm reach (plus sag). Apart from the lack of rear travel, it’s quite a lot of bike!
A rear tire insert [Tannus tubeless] has revolutionized my hardtailing when it comes to getting smashy on the trails. Previously I would have ridden to protect the rear tire/rim and now I can [almost] ride with impunity off drops into the gnar. That's a significant part of the reason my FS bike is gathering dust and my hardtail has become the dominant form of trail machine for me.
Posted by: UFO
The Judy TT's may as well have been a rigid fork
Holy vintage fork.
Do you guys/gals/other use the lock-out function on your forks often? I would probably use mine on long paved climbs to the trail head if it wasn't for the one time I used it in the past I swear (and maybe it was my imagination) it seemed to be sticky and not work well after I stopped using the lockout (ie turned it back to fully open.) Seemed off until I got the lowers serviced. Was I imagining things? It's an older 34 float (RLC...yeah it goes back a ways.)
I used to not really be concerned about lockout but I must admit it could be useful on some occasions.
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