Timmigrant profile

I'll be doing more I hope. I really enjoyed writing that series, and want to do more. Your kind words and appreciation are motivating!

As I wrote in my review I really liked the Spire, I think it's a fantastic all-rounder. I love the aggressive / long geometry. If you're out for a long pedally day and wish you had a 150 mm travel bike, put a bit more air in the shock. I'd run a 170 mm Zeb / 38 on a Sight / Sentinel anyway, so the Spire isn't significantly heavier. Even with the same forks I think the Spire has a wider range of use where it's just as easy to pedal, just as fun on mellower trails, but has the capability to live in the bike park. I still have the Spire, and continuing to put miles on it. It's still been flawless besides a quick seat post rebuild. I'd ask to buy it had it not been for the Range. 

In comparison to the HSP bikes, I personally prefer the middle ground of the Range's axle path. I find you get almost all of the suspension compliance benefit of the HSP, but with less rear center growth, and the rear brake forces are more isolated. This makes the Range much easier to ride, and much easier to manual.

Maybe a full Wet Scream would be frowned upon, but I don't think something like a Shorty should deserve any scorn. If anything it probably does less damage by providing more traction in soft conditions and reduces the amount of skidding / lock up.

We don't generally do full bike checks on our personal bikes, but maybe we should put something together. Last year I was considering the Forbidden Dreadnought, keeping my Sight, Transition Spire, Specy Enduro, Specy Stumpy Evo and the Norco Range ... there might have been a few more. I was lucky enough to have a couple of those bikes in the stable to test at one time. The Range is objectively probably the worst one to have picked because it's the closest to my downhill bike in terms of feel / travel, and it was the heaviest. But it is so much fun to ride, it's the bike that kept getting pulled off the rack. It doesn't seem to need much more effort to pedal up than the other bikes, and makes me feel like Sam Hill going down. 

As for the tire combo, I really like the DHR 2 MaxTerra DD as a rear tire. Excellent all rounder. The Shorty as mentioned above, I really liked in the softer / wetter conditions, but wasn't ideal as the trails dry up and get firmer. The Magic Mary in Ultra Soft and Big Betty in Soft is my favourite go to all round combo, and like the durability of the Schwalbe casings, although this comes at a weight penalty. But I also really like a MaxxGrip Assegai / MaxxTerra DHR 2 combo.

I'm also a big fan of the Magic Mary, and use that as my default front tire in Ultra Soft compound year round, it's just so versatile. That said I did really enjoy the Shorty 2 over the winter months though. I wouldn't run it in the summer, except for on very dry, dusty, loose tracks. 

I also found the Verdict to be scary on anything remotely hardpack. The Vigiliante is better as an all rounder front tire. In my experience I'd say the newer Shorty 2 is quite similar in feel and performance to the WTB Vigilante. The Vigilante maybe has a bit more supportive a side knob, but feels like a firmer compound tire, so doesn't offer up as much traction as the Shorty on roots and rocks.

Thanks! I love how the colour combo turned out!

What didn't you like about the Shape Shifter? I'm curious so I can keep an eye out for potential issues during the review period.

Reach is meaningless.

Ohhh I like slackcountry skiing, and thoroughly enjoy slackcountry biking, so why not have a bike tailored to this incredibly small niche. While we're at we're should Trade Mark Sidecountry and Frontcountry Bikes.

Trail bike.

To my understanding it is the 36 Grip2 damper. Having ridden both the 36 and the Z1 with the Grip2 the damper performance feels identical. Also my Z1 is a 180 mm travel 27.5, which I don't believe is a variant option on the 34. The air spring for the Z1 is different to the 36 however due to the thicker stanchions being used.

I noticed an increase in stiffness with the Marzocchi Z1 over the Fox 36 and the Lyrik. Apparently the Z1 CSU is also less susceptible to creaking. Better yet the Grip2 damper will drop into the Z1 chassis. It's the setup I'm running at the moment and love the fork. I love the stiffness of the Z1 chassis, I like the air spring, and as you know the Grip 2 damper is outstanding.

Over the last 18 months I've got 55 bike park days, and 250,000+ m of vertical on a set of Race Face Next R pedals. Tons of bike park, pedaling, shuttling predominately between Whistler and North Shore. I'd had some issues with the previous generation Next SL cranks, but the newer Next R carbon cranks have been flawless. I've also been impressed with the newer bottom brackets. Still on the original BB.

klankilla, you're right a lot of trails in Squamish and Whistler were built by moto trials guys. However moto trials bikes are definitely not easier on the trails. There is an order of magnitude fewer riders, and all the purely moto trials trails I know in the Sea to Sky are in far worse shape that any of the comparable age mountain bike trails.

That's great, you're making progress in the right direction. I agree with what Znarf is saying. I've been running a Luftkappe from Vorsprung. This increases the negative chamber volume, and reduces the positive chamber volume, which makes the air spring more progressive. This way I can run the fork softer off the top, but then nice and progressive. This seems to match the rear of the Range well. The last 10 mm is emergency travel on the fork for mistakes, and is quite difficult to get through. The new Lyrik seems to have gone in a similar direction. I believe they make a similar product for the 36, which might help make the fork more progressive.

But before you start buying parts for the fork you can also try and add a bit more LSC and remove a few psig of air. Removing a click of rebound might also help. The combination should help the fork stay a little taller in the travel under braking and other low speed inputs, but still allow you to get through more of the travel with higher speed compressions. All without making the fork too harsh or too mushy.

You're most welcome, and it looks like you're trending in the right direction! 30% is probably a bit too much, and I find the bike still works very well with a little less sag. Aiming for 28% should make a positive difference.

Unfortunately the only way to combat the bottoming out is either to increase the air pressure or increase the compression damping. You might want to try a bit of both, to better control the bottom out events. Try increasing the high speed compression a few clicks, and see if that makes an improvement. If possible try and take a sag measurement, and let me know where you're at. I do bottom the rear of the bike once or twice a ride, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

As for the fork I personally prefer to run the HSC almost all the way out, with some LSC. I find this gives good support during braking and cornering, but lets the fork soak up the high speed bump in places like the bike park. You'll notice I've taken a similar approach on the rear shock setup.

The bikes are the same, but I wasn't sure if the Fox X2 shocks came with the same number of spacers. I think that shock needs the full 5 spacers in the air can to get anywhere near the air spring progression I like.

I'm a little lighter than you, but I run my bike a bit firmer than most. Try my settings with 200 psig in the air spring and let me know how things go.

What settings are you running on the fork? You want to make sure that when you're bouncing the bike in a quasi normal riding positive that the fork and shock are compressing and rebounding at similar rates.

Hey kenwood. I know we don't know each well yet, but how much do you weight, and what fork are you running?

As for the Fox X2 this is the setup I'm running. I find this gives me the best compromise for the variety of terrain I ride from soft, slow, steep loamy trails, to wind open fast bumped out trails in the Whistler Bike Park, to pedaling efficiency.

Air Can has 5 (max) spacers. This was the stock configuration on my 2017 Range frameset. Check yours is the same.

Air Pressure; 200 psig (this is going to be different on your bike as the leverage ratio is different). I personally run my bike a bit stiff at 25%. Most folks prefer 28 - 30% sag.

LSC - 11 clicks out from fully closed

HSC - 16 clicks out from fully closed

LSR - 15 clicks out from fully closed

HSR - 15 clicks out from fully closed

Adjust the rebound settings to your taste, mine are probably on the quicker side for most. If you increase air pressure then fewer clicks out of rebound, and vice versa.

Top three get automatically volunteered for next race?

Come in guys! Brian and Maya are doing a killer job keeping this afloat. It can't happen without more helpers! If a quarter of the racers volunteered to help out with just one race, maybe we'd even see Brian race one of the Fivers.

Awesome Apres burgers Steed Cycles! Thanks! Love the new shop!

We're all scared to see Brian race!

Agreed that was an awesome race and loved the different course, even though I suck going up. Fantastic after party by Steed! Thanks!

And a round of applause to all those in the tight and bright outfits, well played.