What happened to the pedalable 7" bikes?

The AM segment is getting more capable as various folk have already said.

Just to add to that, my experience of gnarl is that the front matters more than the back. You can always stick a burlier front end on to a slightly shorter travel back if you feel 160mm travel isn't enough.

I'm currently trialling my coil 66's (180mm) on my Pivot Firebird (167mm) to see if I really benefit from my Uzzi VPXs extra rear travel. The conclusion I'm reaching is that the Firebird offers me newer geometry and much of what I found 'extra capable' from my Uzzi was the coil shocks, bigger fork and dual ply tyres…

Though there's no doubt the Uzzi's a tougher frame and would survive a lot more park duty in the long run, so it's worth being picky about what AM frame you pick if you go that route.

Kram - those shots are awesome… Totally capturing some wicked moments, and nice style if I do say so myself.

Look, we're all consumers no matter how we want to slice it - Tyler Durden or not - we're pigs for marketing at some level or another. If I may draw an analogy, I'm part of another professional musicians forum, and over there, it's all about the most finite detail of the amp, the power conditioner, the string gauge, the lacquer versus nitro finish on the guitar, BLAH BLAH BLAH. In the end, it's the guys with most often the LEAST that end up being the GREATEST. I think the same goes for mountain biking, technology is there and rising at a rapid rate, but it needs consumer dollars to sate and grow. At the end of the day it's about having fun - in my opinion - and FUN doesn't mean pretending to be some one-off rockstar wearing pajamas in the liftline or thinking yer all that and then some for stylin' out on the big hits. Fun is fun, and it takes very little to create and acquire 'fun' if you know how to keep things simple.

Whatever, I'm going for a ride…. And yes, I suffer from consumerism as well. Peace out.

http://youtu.be/wv7TyakE8qw

Dude ruling WBP on his hardtail

Kram - those shots are awesome… Totally capturing some wicked moments, and nice style if I do say so myself.

Thanks mate.

I suffer from consumerism as well. Peace out.

Ditto. I'm brutal. Just got some Ti bolts for my bikes this week. Talk about unecessary.

I've put in a lot of time on a hardtail and I learnt a lot. Including valuable lessons like suspension is pretty nice, but too much of it is not the path to enlightenment. Just had my new 55 RC3 Ti lowered from 170mm to 160mm. Sometimes less is more.

Sometimes you gotta take what you can get and run with it.

I ride a 5.5" travel transition bottlerocket, it's got nothing to do what how much travel you have.
http://www.pinkbike.com/video/210039/

That was some very impressive riding on all of those damn skiniies. They made me nervous seeing them on video let alone in person. Good Job!

Truax, here I come. I'll look forward to laps on Galbraith, Whistler, and the Shore too. .

good choice. if i had to run one bike, it'd be something like this. i'd rather pack a bit more weight up hills and have something that was capable of (comfortably) banging whistler laps with solid reliability. i did a couple enduro races (wades, overlord) on the bike in it's weighty stock config (~38lbs) and it was surprisingly capable. drop a couple lbs, and it would be golden. i think platforms like this can still be quite relevant.

good choice. if i had to run one bike, it'd be something like this. i'd rather pack a bit more weight up hills and have something that was capable of (comfortably) banging whistler laps with solid reliability. i did a couple enduro races (wades, overlord) on the bike in it's weighty stock config (~38lbs) and it was surprisingly capable. drop a couple lbs, and it would be golden. i think platforms like this can still be quite relevant.

Especially if the focus of your ride is gnar and steeps and most of your climbing is straight-up fireroads. When your riding is primarily straight up to go straight down, this style of bike does really well.

Especially if the focus of your ride is gnar and steeps and most of your climbing is straight-up fireroads. When your riding is primarily straight up to go straight down, this style of bike does really well.

true. my perspective is based on riding primarily shore / whistler.

that said, i've been spending allot of time on a ht this year (and loving it). i still need a big bike to open up on now and then though.

here in the UK we failed to sell any quantity of the Devinci Frantik (7" FR), whereas its smaller brother the Hectik sold well in respectable numbers

when the newer Dixon SP was introduced, the geometry was superior to the bigger Frantik, or the slightly bigger Hectik

especially with Dixon paired with Fox 36 Float set at 150mm!

despite the reduction of 20mm in rear travel from Frantik and 10mm from Hectik, it used the 150mm travel with much better control and felt considerably more rigid (laterally) in the rear

yet the bike came in considerably lighter, and could still take serious punishment!

Devinci have not built a 170mm replacement for the Frantik because there is no market? they go from Dixon SP (trail / all mtn) to Wilson SP (DH race)

A little late to the party but:

Ride whatever your buddies are riding. No point buying a 64 deg head angle dh sled if all you riding buddies are on 6X6rs or vice versa. Likewise if your buddies like to stop and session every drop or gap they find, don't sell yourself on too light of a bike.

DH: 8+8", coils F[HTML_REMOVED]R, 2.5 2ply tires, 1x9 36X11-23 gearing, low, slack, 37-40lbs.
FR: 7+7", coil F[HTML_REMOVED]R, 2.5 2ply, 2X9 or 1X10 32X11-36, 35-39lbs.
AM: 6+6", air F[HTML_REMOVED]R w/lockout, 2X9 or 1X10, 30-36lbs, depending on build and tires. With 2.5 2plys and a strong build, these bikes are 90% as capable as a 7" coil bike, and climb far better, way more fun to ride on mellower trails.
With midweight 2.5 EXO tires, on light kevlar 2.2 1plys, they are a pleasure on good old fashioned singletrack, where the FR bike is sluggish.

All depends on what you are riding:

Garbanzo: DH A. FR B. AM C. SS D. AM HT D.
Dirt Merch/platinum: SS A. AM B. FR B. DH B-. AM HT B.
Gnar trail, steep, burl, big jumps: DH A-. FR A. AM B. SS C. AM HT C.
blue/black shore: AM A. FR B. SS B. AM HT B. DH C.
tight, rolly singletrack: AM HT A. AM A-. SS B. FR B-. DH C.
fire road climb: AM HT A. AM B. FR C. SS C+. DH D.
techy climbing: AM HT A. AM A-. FR C-. SS C. DH FAIL.

Some of the best riders in my area, swear by the FR bike, 7+7" coil, DH tires, and wide gearing. They primarily ride and build super gnar trails you have to climb for, and there is no better bike for that. Pretty fun at Whistler, too. Passable for regular trails.

Most people are going towards the lighter 6+6" bikes with lockout. More fun on mellower trails, lighter and more versitle. If you want one bike, and primarily ride blue-black trails like Ladies and Pipeline, but want to hit the park occasionally, and maybe a few epic XC roadtrips to Fruita, Moab, Sedona, Bend, etc, this is the bike.

2 bikes: DH bike and a 6+6 light AM, 29 5+5 AM, or 29 AM HT is the way to go.

Anywho. Someone needs to post hat Hopkins "Freeride is dead" clip again.

Here you go…..

https://vimeo.com/26286235

Also made quite evident by two freeride legends shredding on trail bikes. Who needs 7" of travel?

https://vimeo.com/40560345

I'm running iPhone exclusively. So your links aren't working for me!

EDIT: If someone can tell me how to make these obnoxiously large pictures smaller without photoshop and re-uploading, let me know.

Blur 4X with Marzocchi 44 RC3 Ti.
115mm Travel Rear
140mm Travel Front

Sweet pics.I think you just voided your warranty:lol: