The Trailhead: T Nation Mountain Bikers

Mountain cycle riders,

I’ve seen many people posting about their bikes and biking adventures. I figured we could use our own thread.

Share your rigs, pictures, favorite trails, maintenance questions, component upgrades, etc.

Oh, roadies welcome too.

Just recently sold this. 2020 evil the calling that was loaded. Pretty bad bike. My favorite has been my pivot switchblade. Both very fun bikes. I hate all things Specailized btw lol one day I’ll have an E bike.

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Have a 2017 Slayer and 4 year old trail dog. Don’t think im gonna be swapping bikes anytime soon with prices the way they are… also the bike still kills it. Geometry was aggressive AF 4 years ago so its basically an overshocked trail bike in 2021, plus it has all current standards so spare parts and upgrades are easy to get. Should be a good second hand market though in 12-18 months.

I bought a house 2 blocks from a state forest that has a bunch of trails, 30-45 mins from a cluster of destination trailheads, 60-90 mins from numerous world class shuttle spots, 60 mins from a bike park, and 4 hours from whistler when that opens back up. I just moved out of a condo where i built a sweet covid trail last fall/winter/spring nearby. Probably gonna smoke a bowl and go for a ride down the street this afternoon after clocking out.

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I’ve been tempted to create a cycling topic like this before.

Here’s my gravel bike:

I definitely use it more on road than off and there’s not many good off road places near me but there are lots of canal paths and stuff like that which it’s great for.

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You’ll hate the rest of this post then. My entire stable is the dreaded, big S. I really wanted to support a smaller brand, and almost purchased a Pivot, but Specialized bikes have just always worked for me.

My darling, up-for-anything Enduro.

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LOVE that color! A lot of people love Specailized, for me, they just don’t work good. I stand a lot and really mash them pedals and the couple I’ve had just soaked up all that power and did nothing with it lol. My My pivot trail 429 was probably the best pedaling bike I’ve owned. I was trying desperately to buy the brand new 429 trail but everyone was out of stock and used ones sold in minutes. After missing a few used ones I just ended up buying the evil.

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I can understand that. That has definitely been a knock on their suspension designs. I feel like with the past few iterations they have made impressive strides. This Enduro has no business climbing the way it does.

Also, yeah. The color was it. Like done. Need.

I hate you. :joy:

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Here’s my go to for riding-

And a map, which is kinda wonky. I have a hard time with it anyways. No great need for one, really.

It has some cool spur lines and whatnot too. I live about a couple hundred yards from one entry point, so it’s really easy to pack a bag, grab the kiddo, jump on the bike and head out for a few hours.

Use trailforks for all your MTB map needs. Its a lifesaver to have on your phone planning rides or riding anywhere new: Montour Trail Multi Trail - Pittsburgh, PA | Trailforks

Looks like a few other little trail systems nearby too.

Oh, yeah, there’s miles of trails/off roading out there by the airport and beyond. Between motorized and MTB you can ride for days.

I’m down on the other end of it at the Library Station/South Park Twp. trailhead.

My riding is somewhat limited, so I don’t head out that far, but from my side of it I can head in to down town from the Clairton side in pretty short order, but I typically take an extension over into a local county park with my kiddo.

Although, as much as I downplat it, we rode out about half way to the other end last year without even thinking about it.

Can us road cyclers join here too?

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Extra points to the people riding road bikes on the trails. A friend uses a gravel bike on MTN bike trails, and it just looks miserable.

I have a hybrid, so it’s like ehhhh…

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Maybe some of the more avid/up to date cyclists can fill me in on this-

What’s up with the crazy big balloon tires?

Where and how did this originate and for what purpose?

Reason I ask is that on the trail system I posted above, I keep seeing these cartoonish big tire bikes. The guy I saw yesterday was literally bouncing along down a smooth, hard packed crushed limestone trail.

I’m not criticizing, because it looked like fun, and could unbeknownst to me provide some advantage-and they are growing quickly in popularity. So I’m curious to hear the opinions other cyclists.

They have a few benefits and cons. The big con is weight, and especially rotating weight. Because of this, many people spend a lot on light carbon fiber rims (they can be $1000 for a set of rims). The pros to them are traction for snow and sand. Another is that one can often get by with a rigid bike (no suspension) due to the tires taking up bumps so well.

I road a really nice full carbon one for a demo, and it was awesome. Didn’t feel like much more work to pedal, but it was a 5K bike. This one had suspension, so with the big tires, it was like floating over the big rocks.

That kinda makes sense.

The thing that occurred to me was the energy being absorbed by the bounce instead of the shock, which would be like 6 of 1, half dozen of the other-but it likely was a carbon fiber frame. I just didn’t notice type/brand details.

So lightweight frame, bouncy balloon tires. Looked like fun. May have also been on the way between point A and B to some steeper nastier stuff with a lot more features about a mile down the trail too.

Easier riding on snow.

They’re ridiculously fun to ride through snow.

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Bike 1 built from eBay parts 2004 6 inch rear suspension 5" front. Bike built for general gravel road or dirt trails in Colorado and Utah. Favorite trails Colorado Trail segment 1thu 6.
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Bike 2 Frame ordered from Yeti all parts and components ordered from eBay 2007. Bike build to ski lift mtn biking Colorado Favorite ski lift Loveland ski resort

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Of course! To me, roadies are the more adventurous ones. I’d rather fight trees than traffic.

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