UFO profile

I totally agree the TB is in a notch 'up' from the Spur; the TB geometry and weight are just a tick short of the Hightower, so it's basically a HT that pedals more efficiently IMO but with less big hit ability.

These are the linkage plates that Wade's dreams brought though!!

10 speed M6000 Deore can already go 11-46 very comfortably (Sunrace 11-46 10sp cassette), so going to 11 or 12 sp 10-51 isn't a significant range upgrade in my mind.

With Perry's forward ESTA seatpost, I'm sure anything is possible!

I'm on a Giant Trance Advanced 29 as the main bike this year, with the hope of moving to the new Tallboy once some decently priced pre-owned examples hit the used market.

I think I'm possibly in the market for a cheap aluminum hardtail 29 frame too, something like the Growler would suit great if it was available frame only at a value price. Right now looking at the Ragley Big Al which is pretty darn close.

It's solid value indeed, though I'm not a fan of SX anything (understanding that compromises have to be made of course to hit price points). 2021 with the new Deore group should yield some very interesting conversations.

2013 has a bike for you: Giant's Trance X 29er but it would need a HA slackening headset. I kid, mostly. Really enjoy your work as always Andrew. 

This year will be my first back on one of those short travel slack trail bikes taking over for my various steel 29ers the last few years. Too bad about Covid timing like with many things, I've been unable to get the speeds up to give the new ride a fair shakedown. 

I've found myself hardtail curious again, and just filed a nice looking tax return...

hear you loud and clear, but a couple of points which I suspect you are already aware of. 

We've been asked to be physically distant and socially responsible for maybe a month now, 6 weeks if we want to be extra generous. Nobody has talked about long term strategies, the months upon months and the years that you are referring to. Your report on the challenges in NY, speak to the need to focus on the here and now, because if we don't their/our future is bleak.

Regarding physical distancing and more careful risk management, this is something we can do right now to help and make a difference for the near and far term future. This is so we can buy time for the medical system to treat the patients who will be very sick, so hopefully nobody needs to die unnecessarily. So we can buy time to control the flow of the really sick so the researchers can develop a safe vaccine for all to use.

Generally speaking 'we' are still allowed to be out and about to enjoy ourselves so long as we keep to ourselves, and are responsible about it. Not too much to ask IMO for a few months, when the whole world has banded together to try and accomplish a common goal.

We as a species will live through this and be largely ok (social, economic considerations aside). But more importantly there is a humanitarian discussion about life preservation for those who do not, and should not, have to die.

It's really important to take the raw data with a grain of salt. The ones who aren't tested, but infected-stay at home-recover, will not show up in any numbers. At this point, testing is primarily offered to those who are sick enough to require hospital admission and healthcare workers. It's safe to assume there will be a significant number in the communities who will not be captured, both in the present and especially in the future.

Contact tracing does occur here, though I am not sure of the criteria involved to kick start this process. I will say that over the years our public health capacity and budget has been eroded to the point that I know they are doing everything within their power to manage this effectively.  Now that COVID is more widespread, known and acknowledged to be transmitted within the community (which is only a very recent revelation surprisingly), contact tracing has a much more limited capacity to help.

In our over burdened medical system, public health is always the first to feel the pinch because any benefits of health promotion are not seen realistically until decades down the road, well past the expiry of any politician in power, and hey we don't know what we need until we need it ultimately.

I think its important to make the distinction that the countries that did manage 'well' thus far, testing is a part of that, but government intervention and lock down measures were also taken much more aggressively (and seriously). The population also heard this message much more loudly with recent experience related to SARS for example. To Clark's credit, and to mine and a lot of my fellow health care providers' opinions, we could see things escalating to this point weeks ago. The daily messages we receive from the Provincial Health Minister, and even our own employing health authorities locally, is probably lagging behind by a couple weeks. Clark wanted to see more aggressive action in January, I felt like 'we' were about 3-4 weeks late in implementing whatever measure we have done.

The DVO Diamond can be adjusted with travel spacers as well to 140mm officially, but nothing to stop you from going down to 130 or even 120. I will say the Diamond is a better fork at 160 than 140 based on my experience, with that coil like beginning 2" of travel becoming significantly less notable at 140.

90% of the time is pretty good IMO. Chasing that last 5% is probably going to be diminishing returns, because no bike would be perfect 100% of the time.

When I had a gnar Chromag, I would say I enjoyed its ride 70-80% of the time. I definitely enjoyed the climbs more than my fully. The flat-ish sections were not very interesting/fun. The downs and steeps were very fun, but I do enjoy them more on my short travel 29 now.

Having said that, if you have a nice mid-big travel main bike, a Chromag or any other progressive HT would make a great compliment.

Love it, that's the one I want. I can't figure out if I need to be on a medium or large at 5'8" though.  

I screwed the sizing up for my Range and it took a lot to recover from that.

I've found the 10 sp XT and XTR to feel very similar, I probably couldnt tell the difference in a blind test to be honest. 10 sp XTR shifters are definitely getting harder to find (at a reasonable price) so I've started to stockpile some XT units too.

For 11 sp same idea, but the SLX 11 shifter feels significantly more plasticky and decidedly lower end

There's a L 2020 Sight frame one of our local Tricities builders is selling, ask is 2300 I believe.

Posted by: thaaad

Edit - How tall are you / what size are you on? Their size chart recommends me @ 5'9 on a large which is a little surprising considering I've always been on mediums in any bike I've ridden.

Large for sure. I had a 2018 Medium Range 29 and it was ok for test ride and at the park, but I found it a bit cramped after a while. I just moved up to a large this year and I'm much happier with this sizing. I'm an average 5'8"

My drivetrain of choice right now is 10 sp xt and xtr shifter, 11 sp xt rear derailleur, 10 sp sunrace 11-46 cassette. I had 11 sp shimano shifters with 11 sp 11-46 sunrace cassette as well but I didnt like the more clickety feel of the 11sp shifters

Yes, this is the one that I've got my eye on!  Glad to hear such positive feedback on it so far. Another example IMO of geometry > design/material, just in this case the design and material are also fantastic. I'm hoping for some nice end of season demo/rental sales on one of these.

The weight difference between C and CC frame is ~200g, so about half a lb. Not really a great value in that upgrade for myself, but the C frame is not available on its own, so if you aren't happy with the OEM builds or have a lot of your own stuff to swap on, it's a bit of a different discussion.

Personally, I would run it at 140mm, because why not (and it's what I've got). I'm also partial to Shimano brakes because it's all we run on our various bikes, and we don't have any of the newer 4 digit series stuff that seem to have more wandering bite point issues. I've tried Guide R's and they've been adequate for my riding FWIW

10 and 11 sp Shimano shifter/rd is interchangeable in the real world as long as the rd has the capacity. 

I've read that 11 sp Shimano and SRAM shifters and rd are also interchangeable with a close enough cable pull ratio in real life. 

11 and 12 sp cable pull ratios are once again virtually identical,  so compatibility is determined more by cassette size and rd capacity.

The 12 sp Shimano HG+ chain will not work properly with 11 sp or anything SRAM. Not sure why anyone would want to run a SRAM chain on a Shimano 12 sp cassette.

Check your PM thaaad