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The "Monique choosing a mountain bike" thread!

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Monique

Monique

bounceswoosh
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Nauseated seems to be a theme lately =/ Not just while riding. Apparently stress does things.

429 Trail, right? I had a short demo on that and a long one with the 29 setup. Interested to hear what you think.

Yes, trail. I pick it up Tuesday.
 
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Monique

Monique

bounceswoosh
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Hmm. Sure those old tubes don't have any pinholes?

Oh God. No, that's not it. Lots of stress. The other GI symptoms are not appropriate for polite conversation.
 
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Monique

Monique

bounceswoosh
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I think you should try the sb5 with 'normal' tires... but what do I know. Remember, tinstaafl.

What do you think I will learn from that?
 
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Monique

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bounceswoosh
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I rode Picture Rock this morning. It was supposed to be another scorcher of a day, but cloud cover prevailed, and it was < 70* when I was riding. I wasn't nauseated! So nice.

I liked the bike better today. It climbed well on buff stuff, cleared uphill obstacles well, and cleared downhill obstacles well. I would say I probably cleared about the same percentage of features I did with the Mojo 3. It was a totally different feel, of course. The SB5 is nimble, even with these mid-fat tires. I don't think I'd have called the Mojo 3 "nimble," even with narrower tires.

I managed a particular spot both uphill and downhill that I have never tried before, and I cleared it both ways.

Tomorrow, the plan is to take the SB5 to Trestle and test it on some lift-serviced stuff. Mellow - more flow than anything.

I find myself watching a lot of videos of the Pivot 429 Trail w/27.5. Somehow in my head, it will be the right combination of uphill and downhill. We'll see.

If the 429 and the Mach 5.5 demos don't answer my questions, I'll likely demo the SB5+. It's not available in Small, but I think the Medium will give me a good idea about how it climbs with wider rims and tires. It does sound like the medium will be up in my business, having a much higher standover height.


Some possible complicating factors:
1) It could be that riding the fatter tires over some of these obstacles gave me the confidence to tackle them with the medium tires. If I hadn't ridden the 2.8 first, would I be walking them with the SB5?

2) I hadn't ridden much prior to starting the demos, and only rode Picture Rock once this season before the demos began. So I'm becoming more familiar with the trail and its features with every ride.

Bike shop guy says that when I find the right bike, I'll have a big grin and I'll just know it's right. Fingers crossed!
 

Mike Thomas

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A 2.3 to 2.5 tire vs a 2.6/ 2.8 will (everything being the same) have less rotating mass. A lighter tire will climb 'better' and feel more nimble. Of course the trade of (tinstaafl) is less 'grip' and less cushion. Of course the other side of the 'cushion' is undamped suspension... you get the "pumping up an inflatable raft" effect Epic mentioned. This can negatively effect the bikes suspension, or at least make tuning the tire pressure with the suspension MUCH more of a challenge.

I'm just saying it might be worth trying the bike the way Yeti intended it to be ridden. Sure big tires might fit, but I am pretty sure there is a reason they built the sb5+ instead of just slapping some fatties on the sb5.
 
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Monique

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bounceswoosh
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A 2.3 to 2.5 tire vs a 2.6/ 2.8 will (everything being the same) have less rotating mass. A lighter tire will climb 'better' and feel more nimble. Of course the trade of (tinstaafl) is less 'grip' and less cushion. Of course the other side of the 'cushion' is undamped suspension... you get the "pumping up an inflatable raft" effect Epic mentioned. This can negatively effect the bikes suspension, or at least make tuning the tire pressure with the suspension MUCH more of a challenge.

I'm just saying it might be worth trying the bike the way Yeti intended it to be ridden. Sure big tires might fit, but I am pretty sure there is a reason they built the sb5+ instead of just slapping some fatties on the sb5.

Well, I demod with 2.6 / 2.4 tires, and the SB5 climbed very well and wasn't quite as confidence inspiring downhill as the 2.8s on the Mojo 3.

Thus I do not think riding it with the stock 2.3 tires would give me much info. It might climb better, but I already like how well it climbs with 2.6/2.4. It will likely be less confidence inspiring downhill, which I already know is not what I want.

It's possible the Medium sb5+ is perfect for me. if it's too big, well, decisions must be made.

That's all assuming one of the Pivots I'm demoing next doesn't end the search.
 
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Monique

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Please understand I am in no way trying to tell you what to do, how to feel or what you should like. I'm just throwing darts at the wall, making suggestions.

Yes, sorry. Typing on the phone leads to terseness. What I typed was meant to express that I had given serious consideration to your suggestion, but I don't think that the stock narrower tires would tell me anything useful.
 
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Bit of a mixup at the shop - I am now demoing the Pivot Mach 5.5 tomorrow; the 429 w/27.5+ will be this weekend. Assuming the 5.5 doesn't hit all the marks. It sure is purty.

Mach 5.5 is set up stock with DHF 2.6 up front and Rekon 2.6 in the rear. It has 35mm rims (I'm told) and could fit up to 2.8 if I wanted (I'm told).

The plan (subject to change) is Picture Rock this morning, then Trestle bike park Weds. Anyone want to join me?
 
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Sadly, "want to" and "able to" are not related.

=/

As it turns out, I'm not Trestling tomorrow. I rode the Pivot Mach 5.5, and I hated it so much that I realized how much I enjoyed the SB5. And I also knew that the low bottom bracket on the 429 / 27.5+ was also going to be a show stopper for me, since the Mojo3 has a higher bottom bracket, and that was still too much pedal strike for me. So it didn't seem worth it to demo.

What did I hate about the Mach 5.5? Everything. Well, climbing on buff trail was fine. Going up rocks, my rear tire seemed to get stuck. I fell a couple of times, including once going down a completely non-technical section where I definitely should never have fallen. I got stopped constantly. Even going down, I felt my confidence sapped - and that's where I thought it would shine. I didn't even finish the ride; turned around with 1.5 miles to go because I didn't want to anymore, and the last bit is the most technical. My best description is that it resisted my extremely slow riding "style." It had no patience for me coming to a near-halt and then bounce, bounce, bouncing down some rocks. I wasn't able to use body English to force it into line at extremely slow speeds. I kept finding that it was on THIS rock when I wanted it to be riding THAT rock. If I went too wide, it felt like I couldn't set it back on course - I could only overcompensate. I kept thinking about how nimble the SB5 felt, and how it went exactly where I wanted it to go.

Was it the longer wheelbase? (Actually, according to my notes it should be a shorter wheelbase than the Yeti, but it didn't feel that way at all.) The wrong tires? Brad suggested that maybe the fork was behaving differently than I was used to, and it was sinking in and causing me to stop ... I don't know. It's possible I would have loved it in a different configuration. But I hated it, and it set back my confidence on that trail a good bit. I just didn't see the point in trying the bike again when I had already ridden a bike that was pretty great.

So I went back and ordered an SB5 (not plus) with standard rims. Brad will be choosing some nice 2.6 tires for me. I went pretty high end, the Turq carbon with X01 Eagle, but not the carbon wheel upgrade. They'll be installing a ... thingie .. that gives the hub more teeth so that I have less pedal slack. The pedals won't be as responsive as the Mojo3 - I9? something - but much cheaper and lighter.

I need to pick out some accessories - saddle, pedals - and I should have a bike by Monday!
 
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AmyPJ

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Sweet sauce! I'm kind of jonesing to try one. Or not!
 
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Monique

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bounceswoosh
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Sweet sauce! I'm kind of jonesing to try one. Or not!

Probably you shouldn't ;-) But when I'm out there in July, we could swap for a bit? (Swapping with my aunt for about 3 seconds a few years ago showed us that we each hated the other's bike!)
 

Ron

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I settled in on maxxis rekon 2.6's which will seat just about 2.5. If you have some $ for wheels, the ibis 741 close outs I ordered with I9 hubs were 1285.00 from fanatik.

Congrats on the bike! We match.
 
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I settled in on maxxis rekon 2.6's which will seat just about 2.5. If you have some $ for wheels, the ibis 741 close outs I ordered with I9 hubs were 1285.00 from fanatik.

Congrats on the bike! We match.

We looked at some wheels with i9, but it added a good bit of weight. No idea how those Ibis compare weight-wise. I did love the responsiveness, but as my husband pointed out - I am already spending more on this bike than the current value of his BMW!! Brad misquoted the price to me for the ratchet tooth upgrade, but stuck to it, so it's costing me $30 to get about 1/2 as much lag as the bike has stock. That's an easy "yes."

It's easy with bikes to keep adding and adding and swapping and adding ... granted, I bought the second to top build kit, but I am kind of proud of myself for NOT upgrading the wheelset!

It's still costing an arm and a leg, and of course that doesn't yet account for a different saddle (that thing is like a hatchet) and pedals ... I think that's it, though.
 
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