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

Thought the issue was the opposite; too much grease blocking the positive to negative transfer port which puts the spring balance all out of kilter and gives you a really hard springy ride.

Thanks, it might actually be worth dropping the lowers just to check the air spring hasn’t been murdered with grease then.

Are these brand new Pikes? I thought they moved the equalisation port on the new ones to help the grease block/suckdown issues.

From what I gather (and experienced on the 2.1 version), Pikes feel crap on small bumps, but ride much better if you rag 'em harder

If you're dropping the lowers though, you may as well cycle the damper and feel for any issues while you're there

have you got some other qr 26er wheel’s knocking about by any chance? i’m looking for a cheap pair.

26" Camber from 2012-ish? eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335030796680

Er I got distracted by the 'what 2000s FS' but what I really meant to post was I have just taken an old pair off a bike and they are available for free, I was thinking I'd take them to the local bike freecycle project eventually. They are QR, 6-bolts disk, Deore hubs, a cheap rim, Shimano freehub body, about 8 years old I think, heavy but still reasonably straight and bearings are OK (not cartridge, I quickly serviced the rear one but not the front one). I am up north though so would prob have to sort out postage?

QR, 6-bolts disk, Deore hubs, a cheap rim, Shimano freehub body, about 8 years old I think, heavy but still reasonably straight and bearings are OK (not cartridge

Ahhh yes, from a time when MTB components and their attributes were at their peak

I recently bought the Daysaver cradle and multi tool- it’s very good. I’m not a fan of the little case thing but it will do for now.

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Case thing is from a different company, to be clear.

You have to undo the strap, remove the bag (or whatever) and then pull the multitool away from its magnetic retention. Means it’s secure and I don’t have to worry about it, and don’t have to rummage in the case/bag for it if I just want to address a bolt.

I’d prefer a tool wrap type thing instead of the faux-Silca case, but have yet to find something suitable.

I'm definitely a retrogrouch/luddite when it comes to bikes. I've been riding fully rigid steel singlespeeds for the last couple decades - with a little foray into early 2000s geared 'hardcore' hardtails about 6 months ago - but when I tried a bike with modern geometry (and parts, and suspension tech) recently I was so surprised by how much fun it was.

Yeah I crashed and broke my collarbone that day but it still changed my thinking.

I've now got a 26"/29" mullet full sus and a 29er hardtail. The full sus is as long and slack as I could go with the downtube I wanted to use and the hardtail is a Honzo ESD so it's pretty slack! They're both singlespeed still but the geometry and the forks are so good.

I really enjoyed playing about with the early 2000s/late 90s hardtails but fuck me, tyre clearance is shite! Forks are all fucked. Tyre choice is either pish or £££.

Good old “which coil do I need” moments.

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OG cannonade Habit would be good for you if it didn't have 27.5" wheels....

One of the most disappointing hardtails I have ever owned had a 66 degree angle (which I think I made slacker by running slightly longer forks than recommended... that bike never gave me any pleasure, ever).

These are fun but you have to pointing downhill and going like the clappers over gnarly shit. If you do anything else, an XC bike is probably better.

According to EXT, I need a 325, a 350, and a 375lbs, depending on what I'm going to ride that day. I keep meaning to get a 350 as it'd be the most useful, but I enjoy the suffering of swapping springs in a dark shed at 9.30pm the night before going riding

I actually swapped the 375 back in this morning because I'm fatter than I remembered, and the 325 sucked so much energy when pumping Peas trails the other week. I'm gonna drop my lowers tomorrow and move some shims about on my Smashpot too because - ironically - I'm not fat enough for the current stack

Did the hairy antipodean beat you to the pies and beer?

I'm looking forward to the magnaride adjustable dampers on the e-mtb that will be my 70th birthday present.

I’m definitely fatter than I was when I bought the original coil, the question is which of the new three I need, and then which I’ll need when I shed a couple of kilos of flubber.

I am looking forward to the bike standing up a bit higher as the pedal strike is annoying currently.

I ride for the satisfaction of making it up steep muddy climbs without the deep mud or lack of grip

Not trying to sway you, but for exactly that the modern geo seat tube angle helps so so much.

Swag

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Looks like the external seals work

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So, from my own experience:

I over-forked my chisel and thus slackened the STA and it made a negative difference for climbing straight off the bat. I compensated by pushing the saddle forward.

Going to an Epic Evo that is laid out for 120mm fork reaped a noticeable improvement again.

It's just pretty common sense: You get further over the BB and thus better traction and less of a "rearing up" of the bike.

And then like every pink bike review on the last two years or so.

My Scalpel-SE, an older and over-forked XC bike was a fucker on climbs, as the saddle was behind the rear axle on steep stuff and if you moved your weight off the saddle to get forward in order to keep the front wheel down then the rear wheel span.

The most effective approach was to drop the saddle, which given the STA moved the saddle forward appreciably, then stay seated and pedal from there with very bent knees.