New Bike Day!

Indeed, but that's not it. So V2, presumably. The supposed back story to this pic, and the series that it comes from, is the poster/photographer spotted a reviewer testing the bike, and chatted with him/her about the bike. There a couple other tighter shots, but nothing close to a shot of the full frame.

 

The Smuggler is well overdue for an update.

 

Patrol
TR 450 (now TR 11)
PBJ

...and their e-bikes are Rs.

 

How tall are you?

 

Haha I didn't see everybody else's post yet


Ok guess I am totally confused found what I saw..

Smuggler

That's an model I guess with just wishful thinking?


https://www.mtbr.com/threads/2023-smuggler.1209135/page-2

 

Relay
Its a ebike

 

5' 10.5"

 

And you feel you need an XL? Interesting. With today's long top tube (and reach) I'm quite surprised.

 

I was thinking about this thread yesterday on my way to soccer practice, and it occurred to me I have had a “new bike” for several months and didn’t realize it! This thing optimizes utility, and it got up to 27mph dropping down Wheeler Avenue last night.

 

Hmmmm what have we here? Did that Revel Rascal sale tempt me too much?

 

21 pounds! Maybe you can crack that 5,000’ ceiling!

 

Surf board... or a new end table.

Edit: Well... It was a board. Do I get partial credit?!?!

 

You get full credit!

 

So, have you ridden this thing yet?

 

Yes I’ve ridden it twice just haven’t posted here or on Strava. Not gonna lie it feels like I’m dragging an anchor with two flat tires. I think I’ve got it setup way too soft. Didn’t bother measuring sag just pumped it up to what felt good in the driveway. That and it’s got 170mm cranks and while I may be in the minority I can absolutely tell the difference and I hate em. Feels really great pointed downward though. Fit seems great. It’s not a light bike but I rode the wifey’s Ripley LS this morning and it weighs a bit more but pedaled way better. I’ll take any setup pointers you have cause I really want this bike to work.

 

OK so I just went and checked the sag on both bikes. I'm thinking I've got the Ranger a tad too soft. No wonder it feels like a chopper.

 

I've only recently got mine set up to where it's near perfect. Mostly because I'm lazy and 80% was good enough for me. Anyways, I started to want a little more small bump compliance so I did a little internet surfing. Turns out there's not much you can do with a Fox Step-Cast fork. It came with one token installed so I added another and that was no better. I removed both tokens and there was a noticeable improvement. So, no tokens. I then started fine-tuning my sag. I generally run my suspension soft, but as it turns out, the SC fork likes minimal sag. Like 10-15% sag. I'm actually in the middle of Fox's recommended pressures. I adjusted my rebound accordingly after that and that's it.
I didn't do anything as far as the shock goes other than running the recommended pressure (which is more than I was running) and again, adjusted the rebound accordingly.
My Ranger now feels very similar to my Jet 9 in its plus configuration, and that's saying a lot.

 

So what is the recommended pressure and/or sag? Guessing 25% ? I'm 170 ish and I've got 175 psi in the shock but clearly that ain't enough.

Seems I pretty much always end up with zero tokens in the fork and way less than the recommended pressure but not with this one. Fox 34 @130mm and 75psi. Haven't checked tokens yet.

 

I have the seats set way back on my bikes. It’s what feels good to me when riding. The Ibis Ripley was sized small in their range. I believe I’ve made the right choice in this case. Look at my chosen seat position in the pics. The Ibis Ripley I had to run a 75mm stem for reach comfort.

 

The Rascal and the Rail they recommend 27-30%.

So 25% isn't out of the question.

Is the Rebound set up too slow? That might make it feel sluggish.

Tires?

 

Rebound is probably set a bit slow. Tires are Rekon rear and Dissector front both 2.4. Strange cause my Hightower would pedal circles around the Ranger right now. Gonna lower the stem (has 20mm of spacers under it and I normally run basically slammed) and bump up the shock psi and hope for a major improvement.
I haven't been riding much at all and first thought that hmm maybe it was just me. I literally had to get off and push the last part of a backyard climb that I've done nearly 1000 times. Decided to go straight back with the SS the following day to find out if it was me or the bike. Yes I'm out of shape but made it without dying on the SS.

 

My fork has a recommended air pressure sticker on it. The shock settings I got off of Fox's website.

https://www.ridefox.com/filter.php?m=bike&t=forks
https://www.ridefox.com/filter.php?m=bike&t=shocks

I'm running 20mm of spacers under the stem. 10mm should be good for you since you're running a 130mm fork. I believe that's what others are doing that are running a 130.

 

@Voodoo Tom Wow - sorry to hear about the performance of the new sled.

Don't know what to say. I hope it works out for you, but if not, sell it and move on. Life's too short to ride a bike you don't like.

 

New ironing board

 

….

 

Wrong shape to be an ironing board.

 

Don't think Cotic makes an ebike.......

 

Well, I was going to wait until after the first ride, but you guys won’t give up on that ebike thread.

 

Nice!

 

Very nice.....