New Bike Day.

So, the plan was to wait, shop and pine over the next bike build/purchase. Funny how plans change. Upon seeing the new nomad colors I realized that if I wanted a hightower, the time is now. I'm a huge fan of the matte black and mint color combo. I visited the path and they checked stock at Santacruz and there is zero left in stock for larges. They had one 650+ model in stock and we made it happen.

I present, Bubba Smith. This bike is named after the former NFL player turned actor that played Moses Hightower in the police academy movies.

Enough pointless banter. There are some upgrades coming down the pike for this thing already. Starting with a set of Speedtuned Exile Carbon wheels with orange decals. I've got some stuff sitting on the shelves too such as Renthal Fatbar Carbon bars and a few other tidbits. I'll be upgrading the Damper in the fork in short order and a few other things I'll post about soon.



New bike day is the best isn't it?

 

Congrats on the new steed man !!! Nothing compares the "new" smell ahhhhhh

 

Holy F@ck yes!!!! new bike day!!! That's gonna be so much fun. Congrats

 

That is cool! All I'll see is a matte black streak next time we ride Motorway!

Soon...

 

Nice.....I'll be over in a little while to take it out and break it in for you.

 

Fun!

 

That was fast. Sweet new ride.

 

Yup!!. Now ride, ride like the wind.

 

Congrats! I'm sure you find many ways to make Bubba suffer!

 

Spectacular! Always happy to see another rider with new bike stoke.

 

Yipee, new bike, time for a crash. I always crash on my new bikes.
Happy Crash Test trails

 

Nice! Congrats on the new bike.

 

could've been riding that for a while had you opted for surgery earlier .

 

Congrats. May you shred like you've never shredded before because a bike like that was meant to shred, period.

 

Well if that ain't motivation to get all healed up I don't know what is. Every Hightower I've seen has been setup 27.5+ so I think you made a great choice. Congrats...

 

Thanks for the stoke guys. I wasn't planning on pulling the trigger this early but now that it's done, it gives me some solid motivation to work hard.

I have a weird sort of bike fantasy of having a single full suspension bike to rule them all. I like the idea of having a trail bike that handles mammoth nearly as well as maple/motorway. This bike will have a few parts configurations to accomplish the stupid range of tasks I expect my bikes perform. I think this might be the bike that actually pulls that dream off. That or I'm just chasing the dragon again.

There will be some fun updates soon.

 

Congrats - that's rad! Talk to @Cougar about "one bike."
http://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/china-peak-enduro-california-enduro-series.5834/#post-89998

Sweet rig, and as others have said - a great motivator.

 

Yup! I went from a 29'er entry level hard tail to a Full Suspension 27.5" "Trail" Bike. I will literally ride anything with that bike. I've done Fontana DH runs, Snow Summit black trails (including jumping now!), to local OC Park trails of varying degrees, to 30mi Aliso Creek Bike Path road rides, to 50 mile Santa Ana J/Faust fireroad epics, to racing XC, to racing Enduro/DH, etc etc etc

Only one of those items is likely optimal for my bike, but I'm not looking to be the top on leaderboards or the podium. I'm just looking to have adventures on my bike and experience all that there is to offer - maybe I'll like something more than the other. Maybe today I'll be in the mood to do something less optimal but still possible on the one bike.

Sure, it might be nicer to have a 29er short-travel full suspension bike for the fire road J/Faust epics. Or it might be nice to have a dual crown DH monster for a day at Snow Summit. Or even a road bike for those 'trails too wet to ride but still want to ride' days. But you know what is better? Only needing to spend/maintain one bike to do *all* of that stuff

Enjoy the new bike, you've got a good new steed for the One-Bike way of life

 

The "One-Bike" way of life needs to be interposed with the following: "operational."

Therefore, a minimum of two bikes are always required in the event the primary steed is down for the count.

 

Eric is covered, I don't think he ditched the hardtail.

 

oH mYYYYY....

I would have so much fun on the San Gabes front side on that bike! Mount Lowe East, Middle Merrill, Sunset, El Prieto.
Nice one

 

Even "One Bike Life" @Cougar has a back-up bike. A 29er Rockhopper.

I don't have a back up bike, but I have a spare fork, shock and seatpost. Those are the items that will take time to repair or service. Otherwise, I am now down to one bike with 160mm travel at both ends. I don't do nearly the variety that Craig does however. No Santa Ana epics, no enduro races, no road riding...

 

Congrats!!! SC rules!

Thank god you pulled the trigger... now they can announce the LT Hightower!!

(That's the way it would play out if I bought one anyways... )

 

I gotta ask, who's Bubba's friend in the garage? That rack looks serious, like you're shuttling groceries, ammo or rolling papers for the stranded residents of Big Sur.

 

I guess I should have clarified the one bike statements. I really only like to own one full suspension bike if possible. I still have a Chinese Carbon 29r Geared hardtail that I use for riding with Jay and Steve. While the Hightower is likely capable of keeping up well enough (as long as Jay is in social pace mode) I still like to have that backup bike. It's really nice having a bike with no rear suspension and a simple setup so you've always got that ace in the hole. Another thing, is that it keeps me in check when I'm doing training or after work rides. I cannot ride a trail or enduro bike without my reptilian brain kicking in and doing completely stupid things while riding alone.

I actually bought this bike specifically knowing that the long travel sibling was pending and that I didn't want it. I wanted to build a bike that was a true chameleon and the current hightower really is the right tool for the job. See below to expand on that.

That's a 2013 Kona Dew Deluxe that I scooped up off of craigslist for an absolute steal. The doctors told me I needed a bike with an upright riding position as a stationary bike so I made room in the stable for this one. I'm going to start bike commuting (very soon!) to get back on the horse and re-build fitness and this bike was too perfect to pass up. I did a full strip down to frame and rebuild with cheap (deore, XT) parts. Ironically, I freekin love this bike. It might be the most "fun" bike in my stable. Think of it as a beach cruiser that's actually awesome to spend time on.

 

I guess we can safely drop the one-bike fantasy at this point.

 

Ok... So I was being all coy about the plans for this bike, but I don't have anything better to do but pontificate about hardware at the moment. Lots of time to think about bikes while stretching and doing PT. So I digress.

The vision I have for this bike is to have a few different parts to swap in/out to change it's personality a bit. I had zero intention of buying this bike with the 650+, or even keeping the 650+ wheels. What I knew was that I really really wanted this matte black and mint color and that this was the last one in stock at the path in a Large and that SC had zero more in stock at the facility. That's really why the trigger got pulled quickly.

When I bought the bike, Tani suggested that this thing really comes alive with a very light wheelset. At this point I was dead set on the bike being delivered with the 29r setup and without the + setup being in the picture. I placed the order for some Speedtuned Exile Carbon wheels. They seemed pretty promising at 1700 grams for a 29mm ID, 32 spoke setup. http://speedtunedwheels.com/wheels/exile-carbon/ That wheelset is on order and should be here within the next day or so.

That's when Tani and I got around to talking about my surgery, progress and recovery plan. We both sort-of came to the conclusion at the same time, that maybe 650+ would be a great way for me to ease back into riding on dirt, and minimize the impact trama to my spine through recovery. I have to be honest, I'm overall very meh and turned off by 650+ setups. Making tech easier to ride isn't really what I'm after, but the idea of minimizing the most worrisome aspect of my recovery (impact trauma too soon) seemed like a good one. So I decided to just bite the bullet, and buy the bike with both wheelsets right off the bat. I'll definitely ride them a bit and see how I like it. If it's not my cup of tea, I'll sell the set after recovery, however Tani is pretty sure I'm going to be surprised by the setup and that I'll enjoy it quite a bit. I'll reserve my judgement on that one for now... but I have to admit, the idea of blasting kitty litter at mammoth with 2.8" tires is enticing. Only time will tell.

The plan all along for this bike was to have varying wheel, tire and suspension setups depending on the intended usage for the bike. Originally I was going to get some 30mm ID aluminum wheels and keep a 2.3-2.5 DHF/DHR2 combo on them for chunk and tech. I was then going to build up a set of crest wheels and keep an IKON setup on them for XC days. The other part of that plan was to be able to switch back and forth between style and stroke length of rear shock. With a change out from 200x51 rear shock to 200x57 rear shock, this bike ends up with 150mm of rear travel and a completely different feel.

That plan is still in place... but is changing slightly as things come more into focus. I just so happen to have a 200x57 Monarch Plus, Debonair RT3 shock that I am going to try out for park days. I'll end up keeping the OEM Monarch RT Debonair for XC rides, but that shock will get sent to craig at avalanche for an XC style version of his custom shock internals. Once I get a chance to try the bike with the long shock rear shock, I will either tear that shock down for rebuild and re-shim or I will sell it, and get a fox float X2 or DHX2.

There's a bit more to this plan such as potentially swapping out my hardtail bike so that it can share wheelsets with the hightower, but that is all pending at the moment.
For now, I swapped my Renthal Fatbar carbon bars onto the bike, ordered some new grips and XTR trail pedals and I'm awaiting the 29r wheelset to come in. I actually think that I'm going to go ahead and buy an additional cassette and set of rotors so I can swap back and forth between wheelsets at will for the first few months of owning the bike.

Overall it's an exciting platform because it allows so much stuff to play and tinker with.

 

Congrats on the bike purchase! I love my Jet 9 set up as a plus though I will be picking up a 29er wheelset tomorrow.

And dare I say it? My backup bike is my road bike!

 

So is mine. My road bike, not your road bike. And it is fun!

 

Dayummm - way to go all in on the available options. Good luck finding the combo of wheels, tires, shocks and forks you like!