Guerilla Gravity

@Danimal ... I ran 0 tokens/spacers in my Fox. It was fine. In fact, it was at its best. Until I got the Luftkappe. Then I put 1 spacer back in.

I hear the Luftkappe makes a dramatic difference on Pikes.

 

@Danimal zero tokens is the way to go if you are a lighter rider. I went zero tokens and followed the air chart on the fork leg. Feels dialed to me. I had up to two tokens in and higher air pressures before going back down. Sooo much better on small slow speed bumps.

 

Thanks for the info!
Cool, I'll give zero a try is the luge doesn't feel right. I think I'm a lighter rider, and don't do jumps or drops.

Fork feels great most of the time.

 

I’m also running zero tokens in my Pike set at 150mm. Even with no tokens I run way less air pressure than the chart says.

 

I’m gonna give this a try on my next ride. Care share your setup?

 

2018 pike with 2019 air shaft(supposed to give larger negative air chamber) and the green SKF low friction seals.
47 psi
sag don’t know don’t care last time I checked was about 30%
2 clicks of HSC(honestly can’t feel any difference no matter where this is set)
Rebound set per that video @herzalot posted a while back.
Still never really bottomed out but finally come close to using full travel. I don’t catch much air but I love me some chunk and this setup seems to eat up anything I can handle.

 

The Squiggle Bug: Guerrilla Gravity Smash is getting dialed. The bike started off 34 lbs, 5 oz. First thing’s first, thicker coil for my tubbies went from 350 to 600 (bike got over 35lbs) down to 500 (sweet spot), replace SRAM Code R brakes with Shimano Saint, and toss the skinny GG saddle with a fancy Serfas Ghost Carbon saddle that I realized isn’t worth the risk of breaking a delicate rail on an All Mountain Bike. Current Saddle is a Bontrager Affinity Elite 270x148mm (34 lbs, 12oz). Next was experimenting with a Super Alloy Racing coil (https://superalloyracing.com/), which dropped a noticeable 7 oz from the bike, and replacing the aluminum RF Turbine R bars with RF Next R carbon...I maintained the 780mm width but lowered the handlebar rise from 20 to 10mm. I learned on Cannel the stack was too low with the lower bars because my arms/hands were getting tired, so I had to pull over and raise the stack one spacer. Cockpit is dialed now with the brake levers 175mm in from edge and 61 degrees from horizontal.

The bike is a freight train both up and down, meaning climbing sucks if the legs don’t have power, but WOAH BOY when she points down hill! The bike rails with no noticeable flex in the frame. Crouching low and over the cockpit in conjunction with the 66 degree head angle, leaning into every turn head and shoulders first, outside foot slammed down, and elbows flared puts the tires to the test, and the Minion DHF 2.5 WT/Minion DHR II 2.4 WT on 30mm ID rims are the real deal. I expect I can get away with a less aggressive rear tire (e.g., Bontrager SE4 or even XR4), but that’ll have to wait for the DHR to concede. There’s no giving up the DHF up front. The RockShox Lyrik 150mm fork is nice, but at 93 psi, I seem to leave the last 10mm of travel on the table. Any less air pressure, and I get brake dive. I may remove a token and keep charging.

Riding the Squiggle Bug intensifies my workout per mile, and I feel great after each ride (the kind of feeling you get after 50 miles and 7,700’ of gain). Every ride on the Bug is prep for Da Sauce, which will see the Rumblefish in action to chase the Chicken Nuggets.

Current weight is 33lbs 15oz. There’s no sense in attacking the uphill berms with this set-up. Punchy climbs can be had in moderation, but I need opportunity to sit and spin for recovery, which some trails simply do not allow.

My last two rides (Cannell and Marshall Cyn) I notice the thru axle bolt on the rear wheel comes loose and the rear caliper shifts so that one of the pads rubs on the rotor. I’ll try adding loctite to the threads and torquing the axle bolt closer to the 16nM maximum recommendation and keep charging.

 

This thorough run down did not go unnoticed. TFPU!

 

Wait, wut?

 

Well, then!

Stay awesome.

 

Modular Metal Mayhem fixin' to ensue.

 

What exactly happened here!?!

 

This time tomorrow the Pistola shall be a Smash. Ordered another T-shirt from GG, and received the seat stay tuning kit and shock to sync up the current bike to the shirt. Ordered the air shaft to convert the fork as well. Tomorrow's post will have one foot in the NBD thread, and one in the "What did you do to your bike" thread.

 

Too cool!

 

And I thought I was a GG tinkerer!

 

Way cool, smash a comin'!
I'd love to try/rent your pistola shock to give it a try on my pistol.

And @herzalot good find on the Clash photoshop for the smash! Hahaha..love it.

 

I figured there are many who didn't get the connection... I believe all of their bike models are reflective of hard rock/punk bands.

 

I didn't get it and probably never would have.

 

And for you, Never mind the Bollocks, here's...
The Trail Pistols?

 

Ermahgerd. I'm officially in love with The Smash. What yesterday was a 140/130 Pistola, is today a 160/145 Smash. Took it for a short shakedown run in familiar territory that has been a good measuring stick for me - Space Mountain. Before I blow my load all over this thread, the transition was not night and day, but it is a solid exclamation point on a bike I already loved. I feel pretty confident giving my take on it even after a short ride since I was already familiar with the bike, and the trail. Kept the bike in Plush mode, since that's what I preferred in both the alloy Smash and the Pistola. If there is any negative, it's a slight hit in seated climbing, but it's minimal at most, and not something that adversely affected my experience of the ride. Also totally expected. The additional travel was a little weird at first. Just a different sensation going into turns, but a pretty easy adjustment. Where I really noticed the benefit of the extra plushness was rocky climbs where I had to pop up and over something of decent size. The fork just took at and allowed me to carry more speed without getting bounced off line by whatever the obstacle was. I was afraid that the increase in chain stay length & wheel base was going to make it more cumbersome through tight switchbacks than then Pistola, but it ended up being just the opposite. Primarily because where the Pistola felt like it wanted to flop over, and got kind of twitchy after the apex of the turn, I was able to hold a more consistent tight arch through the turn. I also felt like whenever the back end would start to wash out, or the bike would stand up, due to hamfisted rear braking, I was able to reign it in much more easily. By the end of the ride that translated into easily controlled rear lock to reposition the bike to go through a tight turn. At first I didn't necessarily feel like the additional travel was doing anything to help bomb descents, but on the run down Rosewood at the end I did feel like I was generally going faster than usual. Turns out I did PR the descents on both Mr. Toads and Rosewood. Lastly the bike just seemed less ponderous, and tracked the way I wanted it to track better. The geometry tweak seems to have really agreed with me. Obviously I'm super stoked on this new incarnation of my bike. I didn't originally plan this to be a permanent transformation, but at least my initial impression has me wondering what would motivate me to go back. The bike just felt like home, in a mega sh!t-eating grin kind of way. Can't wait to get it out in the Cheese this weekend.

 

Welcome back, bug!

 

Thanks, Homie! It feels pretty righteous.

 

TFPU, Matt. Great move.

No reason to give up that travel. I'm sure the TP/Pistola is a great platform. But (if the AL version is any indicator) once you've Smashed awhile you realize the bike will do whatever you ask of it. Hoop upgrades and tire selection can give a decided advantage when one wants to crank up the endurance. But come on, a rider can adapt to almost anything. The old ratio prevails: how fun going down vs laborious going up. Sounds like you hit it favorably. Enjoy, it gets even better.

 

Truth. Tires (Dissectors) will stay on the Smash. Good rollers, and nothing today indicated that they're not the right tire for this version of the bike too. I've got an oval chain ring on order (SRAM 32T, just an oval version of the exact same ring I already have) that might help with climbing. Or it might not. Not getting it to fix a problem, but just to augment the badassedness, and to tinker. But yeah, the sweet spot seems to have been found. \,,/

 

All good, but 28t will fix any climbing problem.

 

Hmmm, sounds like you are totally on the fence about this.

 

Prolly gonna switch it back tomorrow.

 

Schweet! A little extra travel on a rad ass bike and Bing-Bang-Boom another bike comes out! The Werewolf has his full moon....

 

Yeah.... definitely.