Ddean profile

Look like a wild bike. Wish they did not jack the price $700 two weeks ago.

Look at the pricing of that alloy XT. A good $1500 less than a very similarly spec'd Chilcotin. Love that the alloy Spire has same spec as the Carbon.

And that purple, OMG.

Its a unique situation when Im riding without my doggo, but if I do bring her on a group ride, Im in the back with her behind me. It solves all the problems, which I understand. Never been an issue.

That said, I usually wont bring her on a larger group ride unless I know the area very well; not because she will get in the way or bother anyone, but because I dont want to have conflicts if the group decides to pedal up roads, etc....

I just love that bike more and more every time I come across one.

Id be interested in a ride review of the bigger locally made bikes: Dreadnaught, Chilcotin 167, Slayer, Titan...we have some beauties born around these parts.

NORTH SHORE BIG BIKE WARS

I dont think that my modern geo Naked 29+ (long front) is overall as capable as my Slayer but I can say that until speeds get medium to high, its probably as good but its certainly more rewarding.

I think that 29rs are breathing life back into hardtails and my decision for a 29+ was to take that to the next level. Unbelievable traction. Lower pressures soften out the rear a bit more (especially with CC)....sweet set up (Fox36 upfront).

I think how encumbered you feel on a hardtail depends upon what trails you want to ride. I dont enjoy the fast and rough stuff on any bike and 90% of the time its just me and my doggo out there so I dont have to consider what anyone else wants to ride either.

A sweet hardtail is off the charts cool to anyone whos opinion matters :)

Each are rad and we are lucky to have them here.

Even better is that there are hundreds more on the Shore not listed here, each making all of us and the Shore better than we would be otherwise.

Something is wrong when a random bike on the back of a truck is noticed to be different than the millions of currently marketed bikes.

Everything needs to be considered in context. When you shred the Shore like Graham does, parts break.

Great review. Great bike. The wheels would probably be fine outside of BC :)

Following up on this I wanted to check out the battery situation of these new un-corded lights - I cant find it anywhere. This is surprising to me as battery power is one of the most critical aspects of the equation. Perhaps Outbound justifies this by having the abi;lity to charge during the ride via USB? This way perhaps they can make lightweight lights (using smaller batteries) and if run time isnt great, buy the spare and cord it and have tons of power? 

The batteries on my Ultimate DH are 6400mAH on each the helmet and the bars. The battery pack alone weighs far more than the Hangover light and battery (and mount!). Math suggests that Hangover gives up a ton versus the helmet mount from the Ultimate DH (which is a Road Edition with a gopro mount mated to the bar mount trail edition).

Perhaps the new un-corded set up with a spare battery (or two) would be the ultimate in flexibility - bring the spare(s) when you might need them - dont if you wont and enjoy no cords?

All this talk of lights makes me want to get out and use them soon!

Ive got Saints on my Slayer and 2Pot XTs on my hardtail. To me, the difference is LARGE. I think that its also telling that Ive been warned not to increase the braking power on the hardtail by the maker because he says that more powerful brakes run the risk of breaking the attachment points off of the frame!

Shiggy had an IG post of someone getting long lines out yesterday.

Congrats rnayel, what a beauty frame!!!! 

I’m looking forward to photos of it built

^^^^I agree. That is exactly what I mean. It is sickening, but forcing change in other places just because its the media outrage on that day doesnt mean that you dont need to look closer to home.

Complicated issue.

I try to live by the mantra of never pointing fingers because each time you do, there are three pointing back at you.

I dont want to show the photos and this is something that makes me sick each year, but this is just sickening.

I get that people have their traditions and that the descendants of Vikings on these islands live off the food that they harvest from these slaughters and that they're largely isolated on those islands. I even agree that the slaughter houses that feed me and my family are probably closer to this than I would hope.

Its hard to see these images regardless. No idea what the answer is because stopping this, if it were even possible, probably also means that we need to make some significant changes at home too.

I see that there are military ships in the background of some of the photos - I wonder if that is to prevent/police the outside world from stepping in - I can see how things would get out of hand pretty easily and there would be more dead people than whales.

Yes Range is hot

Expensive though! A write up I read, cant remember which, suggested that high pivots are the way of the future and only starting to bloom now because one-bys have taken over and a front shifter isnt a barrier anymore. The engineering of the high pivot makes sense to me too.

So many cool bikes!

I don’t think that I’ve kept a bike less than 3 years. I’ll keep my hardtail and may keep my Slayer, but I suspect that if the Spire is a decent peddler that I’ll sell the Slayer. But who knows!

But I’m definitely not one of those replacing a bike every year or two types, and the last few bikes Ive bought have not been new...

F'it, deposit placed. She will be mine in August. Never thought that I'd buy a Transition, but this is the bike for the foreseeable future.

Im into local companies so am trying to support "local", although yes the Stumpy EVO would likely fit the bill nicely I agree. Not sure that Transition is local to BC (I know its WA), but...I also like smaller manufacturers so I can make that stretch...Id make it for Evil too if they were available in a spec (Insurgent MX maybe or Wreckoning)

Question, what is the comparable bike to the 167 Chilcotin: the alum Spire or the carbon Spire? You can spec either of the Spires XT Fox factory to pretty much match the spec of the XT/Factory Chilcotin, excepting for the wheels which are i9s on the Knolly and DT Swiss on the Spire.

The carbon spec Spire is same price as the alum Chilcotin, and the alum Spire is WAAYYYY less.

Alu Spire is 6061. Chilcotin is 6066. Is 6066 "worth" as much as carbon and is 6061 a notable downgrade? $7700 for the alu Spire vs $9300 for the EC factory Chilcotin and about same for carbon XT factory Spire. Lots of bucks. Not sure that id write that cheque when push comes to shove, but worthy of discussion.

So many sweet bikes this year.

I just checked pricing on Dreadnought and Forbidden JUST raised it $700. WTF! Its now too much for the spec.$9k for a non factory fox XT bike.

Thanks for those replies

That is consistent with what I’ve heard about the Chilcotin - it pedals well enough and really likes to get pushed.

I think that it will be similarish with the Spire - yeah that Freehub review is good and tells me what I need.

I’m intrigued by the Dreadnought. I think that leverage curves suggest that it’ll be the best pedaler of the three and the BetaMTB suggests that it does interesting things descending. I feel that it’s probably behaves like a slacker Druid but would like to hear from someone who rides it, and where they do.

Thanks again all - probably can’t go wrong with either of the three.

I think that Id get a medium in either of them.