Bushpilot profile

I have a Shift LT I use for ski touring. I also use it riding but, admittedly, the fit is a bit baggy on me for that purpose. But if you bought one with the intention of making it a dedicated riding jacket, you might be able to size down accordingly and get the right fit. Overall I am quite impressed with the jacket and use it for all but the nastiest days.  323 grams for a size large BTW.

For Neoshell, try the Westcomb Shift LT jacket.  Best dwr in the business, light weight and local.  You can even pick them up direct from their factory in East Van.

I've used the Nikwax and Grangers stuff, both spray on and wash in.  I've found the spray on stuff better than the wash in but not sure I've noticed much of a difference between the two brands.

Agreed.  I'm not aware of any company making a cycling specific product that is waterproof to the same extent as my backpacking / ski touring gear (other than 7mesh and Gore Bike Wear).  The fit of Gore brand shorts I had before I owned the Revos left much to be desired.  For pants, it must be possible to make a bike-specific pant in a full gore-tex active or pro fabric but maybe the market is just too small for anyone to make such a product that fits really well for trail riding.  I've never encountered a proper waterproof fabric that had any stretch so maybe the difficulty is that the tailoring that would be required to make a proper trail pant from gore-tex would be too difficult or too expensive.  As mentioned above, the Agents are very good in that respect.

Maybe adding more dwr to the Agents will help keep them dry a bit longer for my commute.  I'll try that this week.

I found the water protection of these quite underwhelming.  I've been wearing them for my short bike commute to work (haven't used on dirt yet).  Commute is usually about 14 minutes each way.  Used the pants 6 or so days in the last two weeks, including today.  They are pretty much brand new so they should be performing at their best.  I start to notice wetness on my shins and thighs in 5 to 10 minutes if the rain is moderate or worse (as we've had here in Vancouver the last week or two).  Today my shins and thighs were soaked by about the 10 minute mark of my ride.  It wasn't from sweat.  Granted it was raining hard this morning.  For reference, I also have a pair of 7mesh Revo shorts which offer outstanding protection.  In similar conditions the parts of me covered by the Revos stay much, much drier.  The face fabric of the Revos does wet out after some time in hard rain (not as fast as the Agents though) but the interior stays dry.  The downside of the Revos is obviously that there is no coverage of your lower legs and your feet end up wetter.  But, the counterpoint to that is my shins dry a lot quicker than the Agent pants do (which will still be damp when I put them on to ride home tonight).  IMO these are yet another example of a bike apparel company producing a sub-par product for wet weather.  If you want something moderately priced that works "okay" for moderate weather, these may be for you.  If you want a product that works much better and are willing to pay for it, then stick with 7mesh or non-cycling companies that specialize in proper outdoor apparel.  Now if 7mesh made a pant version of the Revos...

To be fair, Raceface did well with the cut and comfort of these.  The fabric just isn't a winner in terms of staying dry when the weather is gross, even for a short ride.

Lol...lots of differing information out there about this:  

"When you’re nailing it round a nice bermed corner, your body leans with the bike and most of the time you keep your pedals flat. If you use the same technique in a flat corner it could lead to a nasty crash. Instead, make sure to press down on your outside pedal and push it down towards the six o’clock position. At the same time, lean your bike towards the inside of the corner with bent arms, while keeping your body in a slightly more upright position. This will help push your tyre’s shoulder tread directly down into the ground, and ultimately give you more grip."

https://www.redbull.com/ca-en/how-to-ride-flat-corners-on-a-mtb

Off topic:  What rear tire are you running there?  Also, are you running the super gravity casings front and rear?

Thanks for the quick reply.  Sounds like the naming convention is not changing for the knobby tires.  I'm going to run the gen 2 TRSR up front (which has been great so far) and try the LG1EN race in the back.  Glad to see a company making a burlier large volume semi slick in 29.  I liked the Rock Razor lots but found the puncture protection seriously lacking in the snakeskin casing (and they don't make a super gravity version in 29).

The article states that the "much-loved TRS models from this year are now the 'EN' series of LG1 tires."  I emailed e13 about these this morning.  They tell me the LG1EN is only semi-slick and that their knobby offerings are LG1, TRS plus and race (with the apex inserts) and "classic TRS" (without apex inserts).  Sounds like there is no LG1EN-branded knobby tire.    Can you clarify?

This product fits a small podium bottle well in a tight space (Hightower LT).  Just remove the base part of it and mount the curved part directly to your frame.  Never lost a bottle and never heard a rattle.  https://www.specialized.com/us/en/roll-cage/p/130385?color=220658-130385

I rode the Rock Razor in 29 speedgrip but I shredded the sidewall in about 5 rides.    I love the way that tire rode. I could only find that size in the snakeskin casing.  Way too thin for me.   Unfortunately they don’t seem to make the rock razor in a 29 in the supergravity casing.

Dear Maxxis,

Please make the Minion SS in a 29x2.5 wide trail in Exo or DD.  That is all.

-Summer

Renthal Apex stem has rise and is available in 35mm. Also, Renthal Fatbar Carbon is available in rise up to 40mm and Chromag BZA goes up to 35mm rise.  Those options should tick all the boxes in your post.

Posted by: grambo

Posted by: Bushpilot

Thanks for the comments!  I'm going to stick with my 2.5 DHF EXO and 2.5 Aggressor DD combo, add a bit of tire pressure and extra sealant and resolve to suffer on the climb back up to the lodge at the end of the ride.  Sounds like it will be mostly downhill until the big grind back up to the lodge at the end of the day.

Are you guys going with Tyax or just getting a float plane drop? If you go with Tyax they shuttle you back to the lodge at the end of Gun creek if you want... we took it, lazy/spoiled city slickers wanting to get back to apres sooner :).

We're getting the float plan drop at Warner and our ride is unsupported / self-guided so we'll have to grind up the road at the end.  We may just leave a couple trucks at the bottom of the road the night before if there's space to park so we can avoid the slog.  Anyone know if / where we can leave our trucks so we can self-shuttle back to the lodge?

Thanks for the comments!  I'm going to stick with my 2.5 DHF EXO and 2.5 Aggressor DD combo, add a bit of tire pressure and extra sealant and resolve to suffer on the climb back up to the lodge at the end of the ride.  Sounds like it will be mostly downhill until the big grind back up to the lodge at the end of the day.

I'm doing the Warner Lake to Tyax ride in a few weeks and am wondering about tire choice.  I'm on a 150mm travel 29er and currently ride a DHF 2.5 WT in Exo (front) and an Aggressor 2.5 WT in Double Down (rear).  I haven't been to the Chilcotins before and suspect my current setup might be heavy / overkill / make me work harder than I should for this 45km ride.  Internal rim width is 30mm.  Thoughts / suggestions from those who've done this ride much appreciated.

I'm after a tubeless plug kit.  Dynaplug, Genuine Innovations, or the new Oneup plug and plyers kit.  Anyone know if these are stocked anywhere in Vancouver or North Van.  I tried MEC, Dunbar and another shop or two in Vancouver but no one seems to stock plug kits.

I rode the TRS race version this winter front and rear.  Slow, fairly quick wearing, incredible grip.

I couldn’t find them in Vancouver in stock.  Jenson USA was faster (48 hours) and cheaper than ordering through any of the local shops I called to source them.  

https://www.jensonusa.com/e13-TRS-Race-275-Tire

I'm 3 rides in on a pair of the trsr. Coming from years of riding 2.5 minion dhf (front and rear) in both dh and exo casings. Most recent tires were dhr2 in 2.4 with exo casing max terra. I have no experience with the previous e13 tires. Set up tubeless in 29x2.35. These trsr tires have ridiculous grip but are noticeably slower rolling than the maxxis tires I'm coming off. The ride is damp compared to the maxxis exo casing. Cornering grip is the best I've experienced. They are a bit vague at moderate lean angles but dig really hard when leaned over aggressively. Will definitely be swapping the rear out for something faster for late spring and summer but the excellent grip seems like a worthy trade off this time of year.  I should also note that the tires come up very square (mounted on e13 trs+ rims, 30mm).