craw profile

I never saw a Bow Ti in real life though I've always been fascinated with them. I did ride a Szazbo a few times back in the day and can confirm that it would stinkbug as badly as you'd expect. I still search Ebay for Szazbos and Bow Tis once in a while. 

John Castellano, who designed the Szazbo and Bow Ti recently (2009) created the Son of Szazbo. Weirdly I want one. http://www.castellanodesigns.com/Zorro.html

Old Syncros was the stuff of dreams for me an my peers back then.

The tire Wizz would be cool to get though I would never outright buy it. Get up to go riding, see green, proceed. Though pumping up my tires is now a part of my pre-ride ceremony.

Me too. I tried adding a Huck Norris to EXO tires and didn't get much out of it. Then I committed to the DD casing and it's been smooth sailing ever since. Good support, even at slightly lower pressures (which is a big deal for 220lb me), and no rim strikes or sidewall tears. Though I suspect DD is still a bit overkill. I'm hoping EXO+ will provide the sweet spot at lower weight.

At some point can't we just add extra rim protection to the tire?

$3800USD frame required you to cut up a rubbermaid container to make a plastic fender.

One might suggest that all the XXL guys get together and prepay. That might be enough to offset the mould cost...

Are you sure it wasn’t Owen that influenced Norco?

Let's team up and petition for an XXL in their next run!

Size specific chainstays aren't really "on trend". That's how it should have been done the whole time.

Posted by: Kenny

Chromag have been busy this year!

New 29+ bike:

http://www.chromagbikes.com/bikes/arcturian-29#builds

Pretty neat. It's tough though, I love chromag and my rootdown, but for me I'm not sure the BC made frames make sense. I'd feel like I'd need to take a pretty close look at Naked bikes before taking that plunge.

But still, pretty awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEnoLnq8OZg

Posted by: T-mack

Posted by: earleb

I was never a big fan of Nicolai stuff till I started building my own bikes and geeking out of the finer details and machining.

https://en.nicolai-bicycles.com/frames/saturn-14/

Soo many sweet details in their frames. They also kill it with info in their tech sheets.

I feel like if more mtbers were machinists, bikes like the Pole Machine/Stamina and Nicolai would be way more popular.

People around here have been burned by boutique brands enough. Nicolai has decades of quality pedigree behind them. They're also super expensive. They're a niche bike for people that seek them out. The Machine/Stamina is wholly new and evolving by the day. It's a big ask to buy a $5k frame that's being revised every two months. It's exciting technology but for now I think a lot of interested riders are just sitting back to watch. The Evolink frames didn't do too well on the Shore so there's that.

Posted by: tdmsurfguy

Anyone on here have a Transition Sentinel? If so how have you been liking it for PWN riding? I’m down here out of Portland and there isn’t many options to demo one.

Take a trip to Transition HQ and demo one.

Posted by: CrazyLou

Its been a month since my last post, nobody answered...

no E-bike news?

no requests...

nothing...

Ok I'll bite. Which is your favourite ebike?

Posted by: Losifer

Posted by: craw

You're 40 now. Probably should buy a Chromag.

Too close to home, man (although I was 46 when I got my Chromag...)

Los

I heard a younger rider at the bike shop the other day talking about the base of Cypress and "all the old guys shuttling their Knollys". Classic.

Posted by: Kenshiro

Posted by: craw

I won't ever buy another Pole but thanks for thinking of me. I have a Geometron in the mail so we'll see how that goes. I think there's more to pedigree, impeccable manufacturing and the slacker HTA+reduced offset than the machining innovations from Pole. I'll let someone else guinea pig that $5000 frame.

Any news on the undisclosed machined frame issues? I'm a happy Evolink 158 owner, and I'm waiting for Pole to bring into the market their long promised DH chariot. And I can't even think of a downhill bike from another brand since the 158 is the first bike that felt like extension of my body, being much comfier in the gnar than most DH rigs. Even after running into all the tiresome issues like the incompatibility with most chainguides or the need to service bearings once a month due to lack of labyrinth seals I would still buy another 158.

However, the glued frame falling apart is a real stopper for me (how quaint!). So far I stumbled upon single case mentioning of this problem, and yours could be the second one. I've been monitoring this thread since this very message, but saw no updates. Any new info? I would highly appreciate it, because I have a choice: simply wait until Pole Stamina 200 is released, or convert 158 to a full-fledged dual crown DH myself.

My Evolink 158 churned through shocks due to excessive flex so I switched to a Geometron G16, which is everything the Pole should have been: a tough, reliable monster truck that climbs well. 22 rides and I haven't blown a single shock or bearing, so it's nice that Pole has reset my standard for reliability so low. I'm also reminded of just how good a well designed FSR bike can ride. The G16 feels ...harmonious for lack of a better word where the Pole suspension always seemed to be fighting itself. I couldn't imagine riding the 158 in the bike park, it just doesn't seem built to take that kind of abuse. But maybe you're not 220lbs.

If you go on Google maps for Vancouver and turn on the view for cycling it will show you all the dedicated and shared bike routs as well as a bunch of gravel options.

If your road bike is a bit versatile like a CX/gravel then the options open up. Tons of interesting semi-wild things to explore if your road bike can get off the pavement a bit.

You're 40 now. Probably should buy a Chromag.

Posted by: andy-eunson

Posted by: craw

Posted by: andy-eunson

Posted by: syncro

Posted by: xy9ine

Posted by: andy-eunson

The next big thing will be compliance. Frames designed to flex a bit for better control. As far as geometry I think we’ll see seat tube angles relax a touch but variable length rear centres will be a thing.

would love to see adjustable dropouts commonplace. if you're not going to offer size specific chainstay lengths, at least do a flip chip dropout. about time that manufacturers realized that offering frame sizes with a front center range of around 4" with the same rear center for all is just dumb.

With adjustable dropouts do you think any effort needs to be put into considering how changing CS affects suspension kinematic? Should there also be some adjustments on the shock mounts?

No question a longer chainstay means different kinematics. I read somewhere that is one reason why we don’t see many bikes offering longer chainstays as frame sizes increase. It would mean more engineering for all the sizes as well as greater costs to make multiple sized swing arms particularly in carbon. I wouldn’t think the difference in kinematics would be that great though. Especially DW or VPP type set ups. I think Norco accomplish this by moving the bottom pivot back relative to the bb.

When I said seat tube angles will moderate I was thinking about some of the super steep 78 angled bikes. My take is that as reach increased, manufacturers made seat tube angles more steep to keep the cockpit the same and to allow shorter chainstays which still seems to be a buzzword measuring stick for some. This also meant wheelbase could be shortened to allow for slacker head tube angles because some people read spec sheets and decide how a bike will ride based on that alone. To me, a bike like a Pole might ride better if the wheelbase and reach all stayed the same but that bb moved forward a bunch. A steep seat tube angle will put a riders weight further ahead of the rear axle which makes the bike have better traction but if that seat tube angle is too steep it may be hard to obtain a proper hip torso angle for more efficient pedalling.

Do you find Pole geometry doesn't ride well? In case you haven't actually ridden these bikes as much as I have: your speculation is incorrect, unless you ride a small. No doubt a 78' seat angle could be too steep for some, but you know what's nice, finally? Options. There's still plenty of conservative companies making bikes with 74' seat tubes.

I would be on a small at 5’ 5”. And options are good for sure. I just think there is enough adjustment available with saddle rails and offset post heads to accommodate a lot of riders at a slacker seat tube angle. 74 75 is perfectly fine. I’d love to ride one of these more extreme Geo bikes though. It might change my thinking, but it might not.

Ah the old "I'm close to average so everything that works for me works for everyone" fallacy.

I'm 6'6". At proper extension 74-75' leaves me so so far off the back as to be laughable especially when you factor in our current fascination with really short rear ends. This only gets worse if the actual seat tube angle is much slacker. And that's with the seat all the way forward. Now I'm on 77' with long chainstays and still have the seat all the way forward; the bike fits really well but I could comfortably use another degree steeper. Slacker STA and shorter CS in the smaller sizes, the opposite on the bigger sizes.