Hi all, just dropping by to post a quick update on this frame. It took almost four years, give or take, but this past weekend, I think I finally fell in love with this frame.
As I'm getting older, and my kids school and sports schedule is taking up more and more of my time, I'm riding less and getting weaker by the minute. As such, pushing a 160/150 bike around the small hills on this sandbar I live on has gotten exhausting. Ive been riding my big squish a lot less, in favor of my 120/100 travel FM27 little squish, or the SS hardtail mostly. I still take the big bike whenever I travel the 2+ hours to get to some proper chunk / jank / light gnar /etc. But foolishly, I've still been running my shock and fork too tight and high pressures, trying to get the bike to do double duty and climb like an XC bike. It just isn't feasible.
After contacting manitou about a top out clunk in my shock, we went back and forth, and they suggested a shim stack for a custom tune based on my weight and leverage ratio. I had the option if I wanted my max compression to be a full lockout, or an enduro style tune to maximize traction on climbs. Breaking from my XC ways, I decided on the enduro style. I mean, I already have an XC bike Ive been riding and loving lately. With the new shock tune done, I went back to the beginning on tuning my manitou mezzer up front. After a fresh lowers service, I dropped a ton of pressure in both the main and IRT chambers and built up my tune from the ground up to match the new tune in the shock. I tested it locally and it felt incredibly plush and supple over small roots, and didnt feel terribly sluggish, so that was that.
This past weekend, I took a four hour drive with a couple of my buds to my parents house up in the mountains. As luck would have it, theyve been building an incredible trail network over the last 2 to 3 years. All machine built flow trail, tons of rocks, slabs, and gnarly roots, jump lines. Ive been riding it solo or with buddies from up there ever since they started building it. But this is the first time I went with a couple of the harder charging guys I normally ride with, so effectively, this was the first time I really hit the trail properly. Over two days we did probably 10 hours, 30 miles and 5K+ vertical worth of heavy flow trail, jank and tech. The bike was absolutely incredible throughout. It didn't miss a beat. It climbed well enough, but really came alive pointed downhill. The lower center of gravity (lower sag) led to a more in-the-bike feel (as opposed to on-top-of-the-bike feel). It was balanced and composed while ripping berms. Jumps and drops were comfortable and predictable. And my god, it handles chunk like nothing Ive ever owned before. Plowing at high speed through rock gardens, or burly root sections, the bike never once stepped out of line. Even navigating the slow speed tech, not once did the front wheel hang up and try and throw me over the bars. It wasn't the usual feeling of plowing into jank at high speeds and hoping you somehow skip over everything and make it to the other side. The bike felt in control and reactive through the chunder. No more point and pray, it finally feels like I'm actually riding the bike.
The long and the short of it all: I should never have tried to make this bike do double duty, especially with a well equipped stable. I should have set it up for riding that will use full travel from the start. I'm finally loving it the way I always hoped to.
Current setup:
Manitou Mezzer Pro at 160mm travel. Manitou McLeod 210x55 shock with custom enduro tune / piston.
BTLOS 29" i29 enduro carbon hoops on ZTTO M1 hubs and genuine DT Swiss 54t star ratchet. Maxxis 29x2.3 DHF and aggressor.
Eagle xx1 cassette and chain, x01 shifter and RD. Truvative descendent carbon cranks, Oval 28t, spank oozy pedals.
Shimano Zee 4-pot brakes. Answer Protaper 810 carbon bars. Brand-X Ascend dropper.
My only complaints are the shock bolts bend just by looking at them, and the pivot bearings crumble almost monthly. I'm using my homebrew steel sex bolt and common shock mounting hardware with great success. And I recently swapped out to some max duty bearings in the pivots. Hopefully theyll survive a bit longer than previous ones. Otherwise, any previous concerns have been sorted.
