Road Trip 2: Riding begins

We stopped on the doorstep of Mammoth Lakes and rode/shuttled the Lower Rock Creek trail.  8 miles of downhill trail creekside in Aspens and such.  Pretty sweet.  This trip I brought the FSR 5 incher with some new tires that I hoped would float over the pumice of Mammoth (old volcano, 'ya know).  So, it begins.  Time to pedal and go "wheeeee!".

Phil, the mad scientist organizer of the trip.

2.3 inches of crazy 29er rubber.  Geax Sturdy.

Old guy looking somewhat stunned and less than intelligent.  Pretty much normal for me.

Road Trip

Hitting the long road to adventure, then Interbike.  Hwy 395 bids me welcome.

Finding the sweet Spot

Lately I have been riding this bike almost exclusively.  The Spot folks sent out a test bike sporting the latest iteration of the Gates Carbon Drive system, that being the new CenterTrak.  So far the belt has been trouble free and solid except for one minor but annoying issue, but I will save that for later.

This is about steel.  Nice steel.  Nice steel tubes.  Nice steel tubes as used to construct a bicycle frame.  It is not secret how I feel about steel 29er singlespeeds.  A cursory search of this blog will bring up a few missives on my thoughts about that.  However, it had been a long time since I had been on a really nice steel frame, that 'nice' as it is used here, meaning a more expensive blend of higher end, thinner, lighter, and more manipulated steel tubing.  I have been on a few $500.00-$600.00 dollar retail frames and they have been just fine.  Sure, they are kinda heavy, but they do the job pretty well, well enough that I was not sure if spending twice as much+ for a frame like the Spot would really be worth it.

And after riding this for quite a few hours now, I think it is.  I think there is enough benefit to make it worth the step up in duckets for a frame like this. 

Now that phrase, "worth it", is, I admit, controversial and vague.  No one needs a $1500.00 steel frame unless they are truly unique in size or conformation and custom is the best option.  So really, what we are talking about is not really proof of worth, but rather a reasonable return in performance over and above the lesser priced brethren I have been pedaling.

After all, it is not half as heavy, twice as stiff, twice as smooth.....etc.  It is only twice as expensive.  So what do I think I have gained?  Well, it is just a little bit stiffer at the BB, just a little bit lighter on the scale, just a little bit smoother over the trail, and just a little bit spunkier when pedaled hard.  Just a little bit.

But I will tell ya' that "little bit" goes a long ways when you actually ride it.  The end result is enough of a gain to make each ride 'that' much nicer.  Nothing dramatic, but noticeable, and in a world where we spend $300.00 dollars on a saddle or agonize over the latest linked suspension design and whether it solves the mysteries of the universe, a simple steel bike with one gear and just a bit nicer overall ride is enough to make me smile and wheel it out of the garage, choosing it over more than a few other fancier scoots.

It is indeed, a sweet Spot.

Is 120mm the new 100mm?

Well the Ibis Ripley that I mentioned in the last post sure has been controversial.  There are lots of folks boo-hooing about the steepish geo of the bike once the numbers were released.  The 71* HT angle seems to mark it as a long legged XC bike more than a Heavy Trail/AM thing like a Mojo might be.

It seems that Ibis has focused on keeping this a bit tighter than that long awaited 'Mojo 29er' was imagined to be.  That, and the non-Ibis looking design will keep this out of the hands of many Ibis loyalists I bet. 

So what we seem to have gotten is a swipe at the Tall Boy more than anything, but this year there are more and more bikes coming out with 120mm F/R travel.  The Tomac Diplomat, the Trek Rumblefish, the Specialized Camber (at 110mm), the Salsa Horsethief and I am sure many others.  I opined a year or so ago that 100m was the sweet spot on 29er FS bikes, the point where you could do almost anything in moderation and have a balanced bike through it all.

But with the light and likely good pedaling Ripley, well, maybe we are seeing the needle swing towards 120mm as the new sweet spot.  Maybe.  We shall see. 

Either way, the choices for 29ers is getting pretty wide now and there should be something for everyone here pretty soon.