michel77 profile

Great photography on these dream build articles, well done!

With due respect, I don't get the "do more" argument.  Get a bike that allows for physically harder, but maybe slightly mellower technical rides (i.e. hardtail, rigid bike, singlespeed, etc.).  If you only have an hour, a short lap like that is perfect.  Then on the weekends, grab the full-sus and go for a 2 hour climb before you hit all the fun on the downhill.  Horses for courses, I guess, but it seems like the easy-out argument to me.

I was 100% sure I'd never buy a 5010.  That video however was pure genius so now I'm only 99% sure. Well played Santa Cruz, well played..

Hey Andrew, I had a 2.4 Honcho first and it came out pretty narrow (about 2.2 on a 30mm internal rim).  I now fitted the 2.6 and it's much better, still running a bit smaller than a true 2.6 but it's wider than a 2.5WT Aggressor so close enough.  Seems like a solid tire so far.

I do also like the look of the Cumberland, looks just a bit more aggressive than the Ehline (although Eh-line is an awesome tire name) and comes in 2.6 vs 2.5 for the Ehline. I may use some store credit to get a Cumberland and report back..

I just recently switched out my 2.5 Aggressor rear/2.5 Minion DHF front for a set of Teravail Honcho's 29x2.6 durable casing rear and light/supple casing front, both 60 tpi.  Something a little lighter/faster and appropriate for spring/summer conditions but still capable enough for the burlier stuff.

Pretty impressed so far, much faster rolling than the Maxxis combo, and ride noticeably "softer" as well which is nice on a hardtail.  I may even try the 2.6 Ehline out back, more in line with this article being more of a semi-slick tire.

This is the first year I'm switching from MaxxTerra DHF to MaxxGrip DHF in the front for winter, be interesting to note the differences.  MaxxTerra DHR2 year round on my full-suspension.  I'm planning to continue to run the Dissector rear on my hardtail, little faster rolling and been impressed so far with its performance in the dry versus my usual DHR.

Posted by: olaa

About time to revive this thread a bit! Also a possibility to show off my new custom frame, with matching fork :)

It's an Egérie frame, built with Reynolds 853 and Columbus Zona, with a Selva R fork painted to match.

Reach 510, RC 340, and headangle of 63.5.

Sweet frame, and good numbers!  Did you choose to leave the seat tube that long or is that for structural strength at the tube junction?  I cut it down on my Chromag to run a longer dropper, so just curious.

I built up an older Surly Karate Monkey with drop bars a few years back, monster cross/gravel style. It was a super fun bike and pretty capable but ultimately it beat me up too much even on mellower trails and we don't have the gravel network here to justify it. I do miss it, it was a nice and fast option for quick solo loops but my hardtail works out better for me.

I finally decided to replace my Chromag Surface with something different. The Surface is such a great, versatile bike but for me there were a few things I wanted such as better tire clearance (big fan of the 29x2.6 format which was a very tight fit on the Surface), a few more mounts for bikepacking trips, sliding dropouts for chainstay length and maybe a bit lighter. A deal came up on a Why Wayward and I'd been thinking about those a while so decided to pull the trigger. I swapped all my parts over, sold off the high-end parts of the Why build and am nearing "zero sum" territory which is nice :)

Frame - Why Wayward V.2 - Large

Fork - MRP Ribbon Coil - 140mm

Wheels - Onyx hubs laced to NOBL TR36 rims

Tires - Maxxis Aggressor 2.5 rear; Minion DHF 2.6 front (soon to be 2.6 Rekons or Teravail Honchos)

Drivetrain - Shimano XTR 1x11 with Garbaruk 10-50 cassette

Cranks - White Industries

Pedals - One Up

Bars - SQLab carbon 45mm rise - 16 degree sweep (love these, have the 12 degree sweep ones on my full sus)

Think that covers it, had a few rides so far and love it for my more XC-ish rides. Had it out at the Bellingham pumptrack yesterday which was awesome (and quite a workout!).

Cheers All!

Surface still going strong! Swapped some parts over to the new full-sus so this will be a lighter build this year. Thinking about trying a rigid fork on this but at the same time, this bike is so dialed right now that I might feel like I'm missing out.. Anybody here try a rigid fork on their hardtail, worthwhile experiment?

Posted by: tungsten

What's it weigh?

Don’t know. It’s lighter than you’d expect though and it’s a pretty burly build. Gets up the hill pretty good so that’s usually my metric of choice ;)

Posted by: Vikb

Posted by: michel77

Decided to try a full-sus again this year. Accumulated some parts during CoVid downtime and built up this Starling Murmur when I finally got the frame from the UK. Been out for a few rides and I'm very impressed so far. Pedals and climbs much better than I expected, smooth and quiet on the downhills. Think this one will be around for a while :)

Wow. Great looking ride. A steel FS rig is one of the things I'd like to try sometime in my MTB career given how much I love to ride steel rigid/hardtail bikes. Enjoy the new bike!

Thanks Vik! Like you, I’m typically more drawn to steel hardtails which is why I wanted to try the Murmur. I didn’t “click” really with my previous full-suspension bikes and this is the first one where I feel like it’s a worthwhile addition to the collection. I’m a 2 bike max guy so Chromag Surface and starling murmur for now fulfills all my riding needs.

Posted by: tashi

I LOVE the look of that bike (and the handful of others like it) and appreciate a steel frame but after years of being hammered with the “significant” differences between suspension designs I’m curious if a simple single pivot design like that, which most of the steel frame guys use, has any significant compromises vs all the more complicated designs out there.

Love to hear from the folks who can detect these nuisances, because although I can kinda ride a bike good in VERY bad at detecting what my suspension is doing.

I'm not sure I'm "good" enough to notice the differences to be honest. For reference, my previous rides were a Smuggler and a Ripmo and I feel like this bike doesn't give up much to either of those for both climbing and descending. I was worried about pedal feedback and brake jack but honestly it hasn't been an issue for me. I do prefer the coil shock with the progressive coil versus the air shock I ran for a few rides prior to the coil.

Not sure if that helps, I'm still a hardtail guy at heart so any squish in the back is an improvement :)

And thanks all for the compliments, this was very much a buy/sell/trade build but I had a specific look in mind and am stoked with how it came out!

Decided to try a full-sus again this year. Accumulated some parts during CoVid downtime and built up this Starling Murmur when I finally got the frame from the UK. Been out for a few rides and I'm very impressed so far. Pedals and climbs much better than I expected, smooth and quiet on the downhills. Think this one will be around for a while :)

I'm running the OneUp EDC pump and multi-tool on my bottle cage mounts, plug kit and pliers inside. I recently added a JPaks Snakpak (footlong) on the top tube, comfortably holds a tube, tire levers, small first aid kit, snacks, phone and keys. No pack for anything under 2 hours these days.