Best Bike in the Universe...?

I hate Specialized - the company. I have my reasons and I won't elaborate. Their products, especially their bikes, are admittedly very, very good.

I just looked through this slide show of Jared Grave's and Curtis Keene's new bikes for the Whistler Enduro. They are the first 29ers that don't look like 29ers - 170mm forks, room for a water bottle (with SWAT storage), aggressive tires, big travel in back, long top tube, slack angles (but not too slack), low bottom bracket (but not too low). I can imagine this thing is incredibly fast and can monster truck through anything.


Now, I know that most of the prolific posters on IMTB couldn't care less about this kind of bike. I know most of you are into light climbing bikes, single speeds, backcountry rigs and gravel grinders, but this beast... well, is a beast!

 

I heard about the new Enduro a few weeks ago. I am a fan and will definitely check it out. I'm also interested in the Stumpy 6Fattie.

 

Best bike?....maybe for what it was intended for.

 

Provocative title to get people to click. As I said in the post, I realize that most of the frequent posters on IMTB couldn't care less about long-travel, gravity-oriented bikes. @doublewide, @Tom the Bomb and perhaps @Cougar being a few exceptions.

 

HD3.

 

Uh....hello?

 

You ride a Stumpy - I assumed your riding style preferences were more middle of the road trail-bike - equal parts up and down.

 

I wonder how that thing climbs, and how agile it is laterally. I've been looking wistfully at my 29er wishing it wasn't such an entry level hardtail... and then I remember how much of a pig it is to turn

That bike looks solidly intriguing. (Not that I'm in the market for a new bike, nor will I be for a few years mind you)

 

Only 170mm? My arms can do about 400mm. Legs a little less because that dang seatpost keeps sticking me in the ribs!

 

'07 SX Trail. 34lbs of fully coiled suspension. 29ers came out and my riding style changed. I find myself trying to ride my Stumpy like I rode my SX these days. Current technology will allow me to easily climb and descend whatever I want.

 

My wife had a 2009 SX Trail with Fox 36 Float - awesome DH rig for her. Sold it when her Rheumatoid Arthritis made riding nearly impossible.

 

Pardon me? Have you seen my 6"- travel round trip looper from 2002? It is a bike intended for riding on and over mountains, so it's best for riding and not so much for swimming or ice skating or shooting hoops.
The new Enduro should weigh less and climb better than any of my bikes and possibly better than half the rigs in this forum.

While it absolutely rips downhill, I would take it over anything in my garage to ride with, say, @mtnbikej, et al. I wouldn't be bored, but the bike might be wondering what's happening.

 

Best bike in the universe? The one I'm riding at that moment, of course.

 

We don't discriminate. We invited you to ride Trabuco with us last week... One of the best single track downhills around. Your bike would have eaten it up! There was just a small (Tiny...) price of admission...

 

Thanks for the shoutout!

 

They are nice to look at...I always wonder how they ride. Then again, I know what kind of trouble I can get into riding these beasts. I ride fast enough DH on the hardtail, that when I get on the DH bike....er, Tallboy...I feel unstoppable.

 

Eh.... Looks like a popsicle
They make good bikes but they will never get my money.

 

It's NOT the bike but the NUT behind the wheel...

I know a lot of riders on this site that make whatever bike they are riding the best bike in the cosmos

 

Ooops, I knew that would happen...

and @littlewave, @sir crashalot, @knucklebuster @UPSed @DangerDirtyD ...

I'm sure there are more, and that makes me happy.

 

I love my bike but know it is out dated. There is a lot of good stuff coming out and I got my eyes on a couple of them...

 

I am just saying it's not your type of bike (nor @mtnbikej 's, although he used to roll big travel freeride bikes). I know that I am always welcome to join one of your sufferfests, and you can always count on a polite decline (or hell, even a rude decline) of the invitation from me. Trabuco DH is pretty fun (yes, I've done it), but my ratio of downhill fun to uphill torture has to be much higher. I hope to never descend another fireroad as long as I ride! What a waste of hard-won altitude.

 

Actually fire road descents can be quite fun and thrilling when you have 3, 4, 5, or more strong riders jostling for position and making passes at 25-35 mph. Sunset Ridge has >20 miles of potential.

 

And calling Main Divide a "fire road" is pretty off track... There are sections that make RockIt in Aliso look like a nice paved path.

 

Soooo.....do riding these monster trucks/trophy trucks of bikes on the trails mute the trail?

 

I hope so. I'm one of those oddballs that doesn't want to feel the bumps but wants to ride over them.

 

Not my kind of thrilling... slippery, loose, flat corners while throwing elbows at 30 mph - a little too speedway.

I don't think anyone is going to convince me to abandon what I love to do to start doing what they love to do. I get no thrill from long climbs, and don't want to DH on fireroads. I don't see that changing. I've been on most parts of Main Divide. (from the top of Blackstar to Blue Jay). I don't think I'm missing out on anything by not making that a regular part of my riding. I am not interested in descending Harding, Black Star, ITT, Maple Springs or Skyline. If I am going to do Pain Divide, I will drop something a bit more spicy.

I respect the hell out of you guys for doing what you do, and perhaps I should broaden my tastes, but the way I see it, I only have a limited time on any given day, or for that matter, remaining in my life to ride bikes. I am going to spend that limited time doing what I like, if I can.

Anyway, I posted this thread because the evolution of the badass trailbike has come to this. Fascinating to me.

 

Makes sense. Ride faster. Try it drunk. Always ride safe.

 

Like 29" wheels do, compared to 26"? I don't know really, no experience with it, but I'd guess some plush suspension and big wheels may help ease the stress on one's bulging, worn out spine discs, which would be a worthwhile investment if a person has such an issue, imo... as long as it's still fun, doesn't seem to matter (to me)

 

My daily, well only driver, is an E29. I guess that makes me an infrequent poster...

 

Absolutely! If you want to get intimate with the trail and feel every bump and undulation, take off your suspension fork - and then, if you really wanna be one with the trail (or fireroad) take your tires off!