All Around Mid Fat Full Suspension MTB

JasonWx wrote

riding in Port Jervis tomorrow..The place has some nice flow and interesting features..

Pics please.

I think y'all talked me out of the midfat tires.

JasonWx wrote

thinking of riding in Port Jervis tomorrow..The place has some nice flow and interesting features..

It's really good. I was there a few weeks ago for Single speed USA.

Harvey wrote

JasonWx wrote

riding in Port Jervis tomorrow..The place has some nice flow and interesting features..

Pics please.

I think y'all talked me out of the midfat tires.

Figure out your sizing and buy that YT while it's on sale.  You won't be disappointed.  You can get it as a 29er too.

https://us.yt-industries.com/detail/index/sArticle/1928/sCategory/511

What's your current bike, size and wheel size?

I had a blast there a few weeks ago..there is a sweet downhill section from the flag pole..

The Jeffsy is a sweet build!!
Over the winter i'm gonna put on the e thirteen cassette..

JasonWx wrote

I had a blast there a few weeks ago..there is a sweet downhill section from the flag pole..

The Jeffsy is a sweet build!!
Over the winter i'm gonna put on the e thirteen cassette..

Do you use your smallest cog very much?

I find I actually never use mine unless I was to ride my bike on pavement, and I have the Shimano 11-42.

I actually blasted my chain off on fast descent two days ago and chipped my new CF frame (mad).  I was in one of my small cogs, maybe the 13... you don't have much chain tension there anyway.

Anyway, if you don't use those really long gears much or at all, I don't think that cassette will buy you much.  Do you have a SRAM XD or Shimano freehub?

Sram xd
with a 30t chainring

never use the smallest..but currently have 42t would love a eagle drive train but the e thirteen is cheaper..

all the rides around me have vomit inducing climbs

JasonWx wrote

Sram xd
with a 30t chainring

never use the smallest..but currently have 42t would love a eagle drive train but the e thirteen is cheaper..

all the rides around me have vomit inducing climbs

If it were me, I'd just bite the bullet and buy the SRAM GX Eagle.

my bike lives in the mountains so I'm not exactly sure I know. it's a Giant Talon 2 but I don't know if it's a medium or a large I think it might be a medium and then I don't I'm not positive about the wheel size either if you can believe it I called the shop I'll try to figure it out.

Harvey wrote

my bike lives in the mountains so I'm not exactly sure I know. it's a Giant Talon 2 but I don't know if it's a medium or a large I think it might be a medium and then I don't I'm not positive about the wheel size either if you can believe it I called the shop I'll try to figure it out.

Know the year and got a pic?  Easy to figure out on Giants website.

How tall?

Found it. (Searching for old stuff on Facebook is a royal PITA).

Photo is from June 2015:



I'm 5'8" or 5'9".

I think it's this bike

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/us/talon-27dot5-2-2015

Based on your height, I'm pretty sure you'd fit a Medium best for Giant.



So anyway, my whole point with all this rigmarole was this:

Do you like that bike?  Does the fit feel good to you?


If so, I'd recommend just sticking with 27.5 wheels unless you can do a good test ride on a 29er.  You might not feel any difference.

As far as sizing, you are in a good spot - most bike manufacturers design their medium frames around someone who is 5'-8".  You could ride a large in some cases but sizing up may feel awkward unless you know you like the feel of a slightly bigger bike.

DO IT!!  What a great surprise for your daughter.  Come on drop the hammer.  We want pics.  

29er is going to give you better roll to keep up with the rippers along the flats, will be better for fire roads.  You are not going to be disappointed with either.  You will not have quite as good of handling but I don't see you as the downhill.  Is you go 27.5 size up.  All the cool kids are doing it.

 

Thinking back I'm pretty sure I tried the large and it felt too big.

I don't have much experience with MTBs. I owned a Specialized Rock Hopper maybe 30 years ago and Kona Cindercone maybe 20 years ago. I rode them until the drive train was ground down and then bought a new bike.  I like the Giant the best of those but it is so much newer probably not a fair comparison.
 
I'm don't have much patience for test driving and your comments to the effect that "you'll like most FS bikes at that level" encourage my laziness. Do feel like I need to ride a 29er that seems like an important difference.

I've ridden with BRLKED and Darkside Shaman and those guys know a lot about gear, would like to hear what they think.

Back off TJ!

That Giant is not a horrible bike.  It's got a terrible fork, but that's its worst fault.  You probably would never know if you don't push it hard.

Any bike in the $2500-3500 range is a huge step up.  They'll all ride awesome.  They'll be tough.  The stuff that will distinguish them is likely minutia that only experienced riders would notice.

It's like buying a sports car if you aren't a car guy.  They're all great.

Just do it.


And buy a bike for your daughter and wife.  Craigslist would be the best bet as you don't know how much they will ride or how long before your daughter will outgrow her bike (growth spurt makes $1000 kids bike a $200 bike on craigslist).

Cunningstunts wrote

That Giant is not a horrible bike.  It's got a terrible fork, but that's its worst fault.  You probably would never know if you don't push it hard.

Any bike in the $2500-3500 range is a huge step up.  They'll all ride awesome.  They'll be tough.  The stuff that will distinguish them is likely minutia that only experienced riders would notice.

It's like buying a sports car if you aren't a car guy.  They're all great.

Just do it.


And buy a bike for your daughter and wife.  Craigslist would be the best bet as you don't know how much they will ride or how long before your daughter will outgrow her bike (growth spurt makes $1000 kids bike a $200 bike on craigslist).

can't agree more

just knocked out 12miles in Steward (Newburg) before the rain came..It was a muddy mess..Pure XC riding , nothing technical..

JasonWx wrote

just knocked out 12miles in Steward (Newburg) before the rain came..It was a muddy mess..Pure XC riding , nothing technical..

Got in 8 miles, 1300' this morning, all singletrack.  i wanted to do more but my riding partner didn't bring his skittles j/k.

It was cold - I was mostly at 2000' and it never got above 60f.  Perfect riding weather.  Rain missed us, looks like it's in PA.

Cunningstunts wrote

JasonWx wrote

Sram xd
with a 30t chainring

never use the smallest..but currently have 42t would love a eagle drive train but the e thirteen is cheaper..

all the rides around me have vomit inducing climbs

If it were me, I'd just bite the bullet and buy the SRAM GX Eagle.

Is the SRAM GX Eagle that huge, 50 tooth, cassette?  I don't know SRAM that well, but I saw a guy out on the trails with one the other day.  

When I first got my new ride which has an 11-42 with, I think, a 30 tooth crank, I was sure I was going to need to swap out for a larger cassette but after awhile, I got used to it and now seem to prefer the increased torque that I have now in 1st gear, rather than being in a huge granny type of a gear to climb.    

Marcski wrote

Is the SRAM GX Eagle that huge, 50 tooth, cassette?  I don't know SRAM that well, but I saw a guy out on the trails with one the other day.  

When I first got my new ride which has an 11-42 with, I think, a 30 tooth crank, I was sure I was going to need to swap out for a larger cassette but after awhile, I got used to it and now seem to prefer the increased torque that I have now in 1st gear, rather than being in a huge granny type of a gear to climb.

Yeah, Eagle is 10-50, 12 speed.

I'm still using the same gearing you are on a 29er and probably won't change until I have to.  It works great for me.

I started off my 1x with a 36 up front and 11-36 in the rear.  I could climb everything.  Then I got lazy and switched that bike to 36 with 11-42 11 spd.  OK, it was a lot easier.  Then I decided I didn't need all that chainring and my current bike wouldn't even take one that big, so I'm 30 with 11-42.  I think I was a lot more fit when I had that first gearing...

Everyone is down with me buying three bikes, so I started a gofundme. LOL not

Stunning, way to arrive, signal-to-noise ratio off the charts.