Let's offroad / mountain bike / mtb / ride dirt

I suppose 2.4" lightweight XC tyres are few and far between

Yeah. Why would you want a large 2.4"? Is it because of the rigid fork?

Maxxis Ardent is a great 2.4" tyre. Good mixture of grip and low rolling resistance.

Your pressures are nuts dude, how do you even go round a corner? Keep your X-Kings and run them at 30psi. Boom! Front of the pack.

Have to agree here, tubeless I run no less that 28 - otherwise they roll on the rims and I squirm all over the place and thats tubeless ready Racing Ralphs. In other news, i found a nail in my tyre today. Pulled it out, spun the wheel and voila sealed. I love tubeless/Stans.

I did ride them at 30 psi but couldn't feel my fingers after half an hour at Swinley. I don't weigh much and this is on a rigid alu hardtail with a 31.6mm seatpost. No bottoming out and no squirm so I can't see it slowing me down.

I typically ride 32mm cross tyres at similar pressures - different application but still, massive volume in comparison.

In yet more news, here's my DMR in it's newest incarnation, with tyres at around 30psi

In an attempt to be constructive, have you got rather hard grips? Or narrow diameter ones? Renthal offer their lock-ons in several different flavours and the 'comfort' super soft might be the thing to take the sting out of the trail. Swinley is smoother than Duncan Goodhew swimming in Veet so something's wrong somewhere.

Good luck dude

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/renthal-lock-on-grips/rp-prod114076?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_name=UnitedKingdom&gs=1&gclid=COOrreOfiMQCFagKwwodyV4AJA&gclsrc=aw.ds

Foam grips but they're not all that thick, so that could be an option. Swinley wasn't really a problem once I'd dropped the pressure, it was just those pebbles set in sand stone that seems to make up most of the blue trail that did me in I think.

how hard are you clinging to your bars?

Keep your X-Kings and run them at 30psi

rly? I find 30psi up front pretty stiff on my Conti Vertical UST 2.3s, and I'm nearly 100kg. Proper UST tyres + proper UST rims = no trouble with keeping the beads seated. On soft ground, I drop them down to about 20f/25r.

I had my 2.4 hans dampfs at < 20psi why it was muddy / slippery - but they are huge, and I wouldn't consider racing XC on them.

I think that's some of it, and also just a matter of learning better technique, finding better lines, etc. Not expecting a rigid fork to be as fast over some terrain as a suspenson fork either.

@mdcc_tester

It's not an issue of keeping the beads seated, a soft tyre will flop about in the corners. No matter how many knobbles and what triple compound marketing guff is written on the sidewall, if the carcass doesn't support the tread then everything else is compromised. Apart from comfort.

couldn't feel my fingers after half an hour

Have you tried rotating your brake levers up a bit? Assuming they're right forward, like in this photo, they look like they might force your wrists into an uncomfortable position. Also, if you haven't already tried it, one finger braking is your friend, as it helps spread the bar pressure over your palms.

Surprisingly the Krampus handles tight stuff much more sweetly, and it doesn't feel like you're about to go over the bars on drop-offs.

The lack of OTB feeling is most likely due to the Krampus having a slacker head angle. The more 'nimble' feel of the steering could be caused by either having or shorter stem fitted, or using a fork with a greater amount of offset.

Both these traits can be found on other mtbs, without the added expense of 29+ wheels :-)

I'm already running a 60mm stem and 780 bars on the Inbred, can't remember the exact fork offset but I remember choosing the more trail-friendly offset fork over the XC-race-friendly offset fork. The Inbred is a really, really good bike but the geo is showing its age compared to more modern long-low-slack bikes.

I've ordered a Krampus Ops now anyway. I rode a few other bikes (Niner SIR9, Yeti 575, Switchback 130x) and enjoyed the Krampus the most - it's like all the benefits of rigid are still there, but the disadvantages are diminished. It's also the cheapest of the bikes I rode (although probably not the best value) - and it'll make a decent bikepacker too. And it's just a bit different, which I like. Well that's what I'm telling myself... what's the opposite of sour grapes?

780 bars are really really wide, the wider your arms are then the more your weight is bought forward, maybe this is adding to the otb feeling?

Yup, brake levers have gone a long way up and in since that photo.

I decided to disregard the internet's advice (again) for the sake of 100ml of sealant and those tyres seem to be okay tubeless. A few wet patches on the sidewalls but nothing too severe. Have to wait and see if they hold air overnight but so far so good.

Maybe, the bike certainly felt easier to handle in tight twisty stuff compared to the stock 750ish bars (though still not as sweet as the other bikes I rode).

All moot since the Mary bars will go on this bike and it'll become the commuter/practical bike.

In other news, the Hope cranks float my boat.

Nice looking,ain't they?

I want to fondle them, yes.

Bit of a boat anchor, no?

AM cranks tho, should be as tough as nails. I'd hope these are less susceptible to snapping in half than hollowtec hollow crank arms.

OK I'm just baiting Hippy

Do Hollowtech cranks snap though? Only broken pair I've ever seen were those SLXs that had shattered dramatically on that Surrey Hills ride we did ages ago.