Wile_E. profile

Thanks for this article, Andrew.  I landed on my face on 7th Secret last month wearing my beloved Leatt DBX 3 Enduro.  Unfortunately, my chin bar was sitting at home in the closet where I forgot it.  Not a bad crash and all teeth still accounted for, but it made me think of all the times I've gone down or watched friends crash with chin bars attached to the pack instead of the helmet.  I think for me the justification for a full-time full face is how stupid I feel crashing without the chin bar I should have remembered to bring or put on.  

I then saw your article and with my previously great experiences with Kali (and their crash replacement program) I picked up the Invader 2.0 AND a Maya 3.0 on sale for about the price of another Leatt.  I like the fact that if I think any part of the ride should have increased protection, I'll have the chin bar in place (Invader on) if I go down.  If it's super chill, I can take the Maya and if I land on my face, it will be less emotionally painful as it was a risk I committed to before leaving the house.

Ventilation is incredible on the Invader over the Leatt.  It took me a few minutes to get used to the sensation of wind in (what's left of) my hair that I didn't have on the Leatt unless I was going really fast.  Sweat management, however, may be better in the Leatt.  Any tips on managing sweat as I found the Kali more drippy on my one ride so far?

I also picked up the $6 USD breakaway accessory mount on the recommendation of Kali (they replied to my questions and follow up emails in minutes - a great sign of a company that cares).  The clip can go on either the Maya and Invader 2 and I like the breakaway idea.  It seems really secure on the Invader, but a little looser on the Maya.  Not sure why that is.

Another awesome article, Andrew.

It validates an experience I had in the other direction.  When I was new to mountain biking, I stopped at MEC in North Van on my way to my first ever day in the Whistler bike park and bought a pair of 5-10's.  I was so excited to hit the trails and to discover how much more awesome riding would be with real shoes instead of runners.

It wasn't awesome. It sucked.  My bars felt like someone had removed all the stem spacers, and I struggled all day to find a comfortable position on the bike.  It took a month to learn to ride with a shoe with a substantial soul.  At the time I thought I was overthinking the change, as we were really only different by millimeters (a cm at most).  

I now am dialed in on 5-10's and my One-up composites are under the arch of my foot, by the way 

Another lesson in the dramatic impact of a few millimeters on my never ending quest to find the perfect setup.  I think I will play with foot position and pedals.

Don't all full suspension bikes become hardtails if you ignore the bearings long enough?

Andrew, 

Any idea where I can get either of these magic elixirs?   Both DT and Wolf Tooth seem to need to come from the US with a landed cost of about $40... and Wolf Tooth shows as sold out on their website.

I recently bought a set of Hunt Trail Wide wheels.  They're a small, direct to consumer brand out of the UK.  The weight is about the same as the Turbines (1823g 29") and the hub likely isn't as nice, but it is a 60 pawl hub 5 degree rapid engage hub.   Landed cost with taxes, shipping, duty, etc. was about $670 CAD.  So far they've been fantastic.  Would love to see you guys review these wheels.

Thanks for the advice.  I really do like the brakes, not sure why I wanted to upgrade other than the non-descript brakes that came stock must be lacking.  Norco put RT64 rotors on the bike, but I upgraded to Freezia rotors anyway and they did make a difference.  Have a new set of wheels on the way (Hunt in keeping with the min-max theme) and need to sell my fancy new centrelock rotors and think I will go Icetech (unless there's a hack to put centrelock rotors on a 6 bolt hub I should know about). 

Didn't think to check the pads that came stock, but I'm sure they are resin, so they will go soon.  Having trouble finding stock on Shimano D02S pads.  Any recommendations for other brand of pads that again max value at min price?

Another great review Andrew.  My bike came with the Shimano 420 4 piston brakes.  They seem to have plenty of power, but I've been wanting to put SLX brakes on because... I don't know... they'd just be better?  I'm a heavy rider and so I need higher end components?

Any idea what is gained moving from the 420 series to Deore?  More power, lighter system, magical forces that will prevent me from going over cliffs? 

And I'm wondering from a min-max perspective, what does one get moving from an RT66 rotor, to the XT level RT86 Icetech rotor?  The XT rotors are well over double, and I'm wondering how often or what kind of riding would lead me to think "I wish I had a higher series brake and/or an icetech rotor?

That's another glitch in Ride Aligned,  They don't state whether their pressures are for tubes or tubeless.  If assuming tubes, then I agree with you... the pressures are shockingly low, tubeless, I find a couple psi too high... but then again, I can't really know... if have to extrapolate their recommendations to my weight.  I assumed tubeless because I wouldn't get very far with 31 psi on a rear tire with a tube in.

AJ, 

Interesting to hear about your playing around with spacers under the bars and deviation from ride aligned. 

I'm 6'2" 285 pounds on an A3 with the Super Deluxe shock.  The Ride Aligned system is of no help to me however as it only makes suspension recommendations for riders up to 240 pounds, and they did not include the A3 as one of the bikes in the guide.  I've been grumbling about this since the first day I owned the bike.  There are other issues with Ride Aligned, though. 

All sizes of A1 come with a Deity bar with 25mm rise.  The XL A2 and A3 come with a generic Norco bar with a 30mm rise (20mm on small and medium).  The ride aligned guide tells me that my ideal at 6'2" is an XL bike with 20mm rise bars and 15mm spacers regardless of whether I have the 25mm Deity bar or the 30mm Norco.

I find the generic Norco bar a little too flexy for my liking and wanted to upgrade so I messaged Norco about the inconsistencies on this and got nothing back, but your discussion on stem spacers in the video helps a bit.  

I was wondering about 5mm more stem spacers but given that I'm already above Norco's recommendation by virtue of the 30mm bars they put on the bike I was hesitant.  Sounds like the additional 5mm worked for you so maybe I'll try anyway (I know rise achieved by bars and stem spacers aren't equivalent). 

I'm also wondering about your thoughts on their recommended tire pressures.  They seem high to me.

Overall, however, I love this bike.  It has amazing stability and is burly enough to handle my weight without complaint.  Thanks for the review (even if it only served to validate my purchase!)

I'm running the A3 29 but it came with the A1's Super Deluxe.  I'm about 285 with gear, and I'm at the upper edge for the Super Deluxe running about 320psi in the shock at 30% sag.  I talked to Suspensionwerx (who have tuned my past shocks to accommodate my weight) and they said not to go near the X2 as the air can couldn't hold the pressure I'd need which is how I ended up on the A3.  

I'm quite surprised to discover that the suspension on the Sight handles my weight adequately without custom tuning.  Other bikes/shocks needed at a minimum the rebound tuned as the air spring pressure would overwhelm the damping circuit.  I'm not an overly aggressive rider and so maybe that's why it works for me (my weight makes my bikes think I am though if that makes any sense).

At 6'2" the Sight fits me very well, although I still find myself riding too far off the back but I think this is a habit left over from my past bike being a little too small.  When I get centred properly, the Sight comes alive.  I think overall for a trail bike it is a big beefy frame that handles bigger riders well.

Not sure at your weight, but a quick email to Suspensionwerx and they can set you right on the X2.  They did say they could sell me a custom tuned DPX2 that would be great, but I didn't want to drop the extra cash.  When I get to the first service on my suspension, I'll see what the Rockshox guys can do to improve things.