Timmigrant profile

Those photos were taken elsewhere on the shore. 

However the Druid has been partied down Dales and absolutely gobbled the crack of despair and the chunky run out afterwards.

Perry; the moment I got this bike I immediately thought of you.

Like I replied to James below, the Druid feels larger than the static geo chart numbers suggest. The rear center grows as the bike is compressed through it's travel. I'm 183 cm with a +4 ape index and felt comfy on the Large. For a personal bike I'd want to try the XL with a short stem. The XL might be perfect for you. (Also you need to take the reach and stack into account when looking at size, you'll notice the reach shortens with the bigger fork, but the distance from bottom bracket to top of the head tube is of course the same).

The static geo numbers had me thinking the Large was going to feel a bit cramped, but I felt really comfortable on the Large. The Druid feels a longer bike than the numbers suggest, and that might be because the rear center grows a bunch even at the sag point. The top tube feels on the shorter side when climbing due to the steep seat post angle, but this nicely weights the front tire.

Hey Grimwood, 

I don't know what the max seat post insertion is on the Large, but this frame eats an entire 170 mm Fox Transfer dropper. I can't imagine you running a longer post than that.

The space looks fresh and well prepped! Stoked to see such strong factory support here in our backyard.

I propose a leg press challenge for testing honours :)

This is an interesting topic. I'm 6' tall and have shorter than normal legs for my height with a 32 inseam, and tend to ride in a squat knees out / elbows out position. I found riding 29er trail bikes on steeper terrain resulted in some terrifying butt buzz situations. I've since had a ton of time on the Intense M29 and the Aurum HSP 29er with no butt buzz issues. However I haven't ridden a ton of super steep trails on the Aurum or Intense, most of my riding was in the Whistler Bike Park on those bikes. I think your point about the slacker head angle and longer front center does a lot to mitigate the butt buzz I was experiencing on the trail bikes. The rearward axle path on the Aurum probably also helps since the tire moves backwards almost as much as it moves vertically under compression.

As for the offset cups, it's a great reach adjustment on the Aurum HSP. I ran the bike in the longest setting and loved the geometry on the L/XL for my height. I'd recommend going with the bigger bike and running it in the shorter setting if you find it too long.

This probably doesn't help you at all, and its counter intuitive. But I just ordered and built up a 27.5 Norco Range trail bike for 2019 as my personal bike, having the choice of both tire sizes. And I'd buy the Aurum HSP 29er (although I haven't ridden the 27.5 variant ... but I REALLY enjoyed the HSP 29er).

... are on fire!

Oh dear! That's a mistake. I meant the Arcteryx Atom!

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.

40+ category you say….???

Yes it's called "Old Balls".

If somebody come to a friendly fiver and is so competitive as to want to run up the course, well wow….

Does anyone have a 22 tooth chain ring I can borrow so I don't get ridiculed for walking up Stage 1?