boomforeal profile

I broke a v1 rune and the warranty replacement arrived with an issue from the factory. Banshee were in the process of redesigning those frames so Keith put me in the cue for a v2 spitfire. But by the time it arrived I’d been bitten by the 29er bug and sold it to buy a used pre-production prime. That frame might have weighed 10 pounds but I loved the way it rode. After reviewing the carbon stumpjumper evo 29, a bike designed 3 years later with virtually the same geometry as the OG prime, I sold it to build something lighter - I don’t even remember what - in hopes of making up for my poor fitness. I’m sure it would feel wicked short and outdated by modern geometry standards but there’s a not-that-small part of me that wishes I’d never thrown a leg over anything newer and was still riding it in blissful ignorance.

amen; if a bike's not being used, it's being abused

glad to see all of these options reviewed. i seem to acquire a set of broken ribs every couple of years and am getting a bit sick of them. trevor, would you say the (lower) coverage of the airflex and the 3.5 are similar/the same? it's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but it seems like the 3.5's lower panels run a bit wider, whereas the airflex's protection is more centrally concentrated

The Wednesday is more fat-light than full-fat. It comes Spec’d with 26/3.8” tires and claimed max clearance is 26x4.6” (which is what i run in the winter, and its fine). The ICT is surly’s full fat, with more tire clearance, longer stays, and a lower bb. I bet it could run big 29” meat without too much change in geo but it’s heavier and pedals a bit more poorly; the Wednesday is a bit more rideable and versatile, imo

Well, the ICT fork adds 25mm to the A2C so the HTA is probably around 68*. Works well enough for around here. I feel like slacking out the front too much without steepening the sta would feel a bit weird. Bigger issue might be the reach, which is ~450mm. 

As it stands the geometry is pretty close to v1 chromag surface with a bit more reach. I don’t think it would work well as a 1 bike for living on the north shore but out east where trails are flatter and covered in snow or ice half the time it’s a pretty solid compromise

Hub spacing is 150/170mm. That’s probably obsolete by now but as you say it keeps the bb width/q factor down and makes the bike more comfortable to pedal on longer days than full-on fatties. I think it could clear 29x2.8” rubber but feel like that would jack the bb to high; I was thinking more like 2.4”

Living on the east coast, my one bike would have to be a/my fat bike. I’ve got a surly Wednesday with a 100mm bluto and 26 x 4.5” studded tires for the winter, 27.5 x 3” tires for summer. I just got a rigid fork for it for post-apocalyptic readiness and I am thinking of building a set of 29er wheels for longer/faster rides. It’s fun to ride in every guise I’ve tried so far, seems pretty strong, and has tons of braze on’s for fenders, racks, baskets, etc. Sliding dropouts to allow different wheel sizes, ride feels, and gearing. Not sure bikes/frames come any more versatile so yeah, if I had to have only 1 bike, Wednesday would be it

the wheels actually worked out pretty well, between being able to upgrade the star ratchet and literally swapping the rims over to a pair of arcs

i pulled the stock tires after one ride and put them on my son's bike -- he was happy with them

you do yeoman's work with these reviews andrew. i'll be curious to see how many of those entry level hardtails outride the cashmeleon right out of the box ;-)

even minimaxing the cost is likely somewhere in the middle. new stem and bars aren't going to be cheap ($150). sounds like at least the rear tire would have had to go ($100). add a new rear wheel ($300) and we're sitting at $550 to make a $4k bike not suck -- fair? plus tax. and you'd still be riding a hardtail :-p

i think these days if you're careful a stock bike can work. i bought my first complete in 20 years last year: a 2020 norco optic c2. i demoed one beforehand and was pretty convinced i would be happy with it as spec'd out of the box. fast forward 18 months later and the list of changes i felt i "had" to make to enjoy riding the bike includes swapping the bars and stem (31.8mm > 35mm), upgrading the ratchet in the dt swiss 350 hub (36 poe vs. 18[wtf!]), swapping the rims (flow d's are PIGs), and buying new tires (i'm fussy). pretty happy with the way it went down

what i think i just read is that it took ~$1500 of upgrades ($100 for the bars, $200 for the inserts, $200 in new tires, $1000 for the wheels) for a $4k hardtail to not suck to ride

Oh and mine's a wagon wheeler.

🔥

you're building an adhoc

i am sure if you want to get right into it, a bike with slightly longer chainstays and steeper head tube might be better at flatter and faster terrain then what is in the sea to sky. but i would not trade the reach of a BA for that if my surface.

thank you

seen single track from all over the sea to sky, that mysterious "interior" B.C., a huge swath of the northern USA, and a quick bump to NZ. yet to see a down side to the long low slack short thing.

i've been wondering about this. i've had the opportunity to ride my v1 surface back to back with bikes with more progressive geometry, mine and others, and the short reach and conservative geo are noticeable. i recently moved out east, where the trails are flatter and tighter - while i imagine the new crop of long/low/slack chromags are well suited for local and sea-to-sky riding, i've wondered whether they're less versatile than the last generation, and whether they'd suffer on less aggressive terrain

there were several guys racing flat barred cx at the Squamish provincials, but the purists were like…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/palleus/30912499940/in/album-72157677053382296/

that's how i imagine racing cx always feels

gtrguy nailed it

schwalbe rocket ron is a decent option: light-ish, cheap-ish, aggressive-ish

https://www.bike24.com/p2100867.html

http://nsmb.com/spawn-savage-2-0/

I haven't really looked into it that much, but how is the Surface different from the Primer (besides the Dekerf vs. Truelove welding?)

primer

surface

The builder matters too; Truelove vs. DeKerf.

only in terms of the beauty of the welds, afaict

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=160277

ah, that sucks. great bikes and very progessive designs. is anyone making production bikes in canada anymore?

i just sold my adhoc but i really grew to like that bike. i think i would have kept it for years if i'd stayed in vancouver

Bummer…we love our Xprezos…still hope I can find a couple of linkage rebuild kits.

i found a website that purports to sell them

http://cyclesxprezo.bigcartel.com/product/rebuild-kits

but you can't actually buy anything. anyone know a source?