“Down Country” Bikes who’s got em’ and what’s your opinion on these

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“Down Country” Bikes who’s got em’ and what’s your opinion on these
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flag dieskim
Posted: Nov 19, 2020 at 2:34 Quote
Ive been in a Spot Ryve115 now, since April. Fastest bloody rig I have ever sat on. I'm currently convinced their "leaf spring" tech is actually making the bike this fast. Flow trail, berms, tech climbing, smaller drops - all good.. But when the terain turns nasty you need to back off the speed. Maybe a 130 Pike with some proper tyres and it will eat the down better...
flag davemeyler
Posted: Mar 29, 2021 at 21:04 Quote
So pulled the trigger on the Fezzari Signal Peak after doing a lot of reading about it. Got a size large 4k build, no tax which was nice. My goal was to get the back and sell off the parts and lighten it up a bit. About my riding, SoCal MTB rider and XC racer, I have a PIVOT LES for XC racing, I race CAT2 at the moment, podium or top 5. I've had a few other FS bikes from a Trance, a INTENSE 275c and a GT at one point. I love my hard tail and ride basically any trail here locally, some are pretty gnarly and Strava Leaderboard many of the trails on it both up and down. Anyway, I wanted something I could ride mid week that that was more jump and rough trail friendly but I still love riding up and wanted to be able to ride this at least within range of current times going uphill. Some changed I did to dial it in.

Mods I made, I race XC so I like my bikes light, even if I wasn't planning on racing this as its really not an XC bike. I sold the original parts and made back what I spent on upgrades btw as the market is nuts right now on parts.

1.) eThirteen XCX Cranks 393 grams (these are insane) + ethirteen 30T oval
2.) XX1 11 speed Detailer (I like 11 speed and huge weight savings at cassette)
3.) XX1 shifter
4.) TOOSEEK Carbon seat (120 grams)
5.) DIY 32 spoke, BITEX hub Carbon Wheels 28mm internal /34mm outer 1490 grams
6.) ASHIMA rotors 160mm. (74 grams each). Light but a little sketchy
7.) FUNN 31.8 stem + Carbon bars
8.) ESI Grips
9.) MAXXIS Recon RACE Tan walls 2.35. 720 grams
10.) Gold KMC Chain. These are very light and amazing chains, run them on all my SRAM bikes
11.) Gold Ti bolts on stem, cage bolts, detailer wheels etc

All said and done the bike even with these extreme weight weenie mods is 25.2lbs with pedals, heavier than I would have liked. I love the bike but its way over built for what its designed for. Its very beefy and stiff, and the frame in Large I would imagine is 6lbs + with shock. Their weights advertised on frame do not include shock which is not really common (see INTENSE, Santa Cruz, etc on how the show weights properly). The bike however is great, very solid, super super quiet and the stance and geo feels really good. The bike climbs really well, I cut headtube and running one spacer / 7 degree bars / and 45mm stem so pretty XC up front feeling. I lock it out completely on most uphills and run it in middle setting (firm) 95% of the time.

What really amazed me about this bike was last weekend. I was 2 races into the BIG BEAR Socal Vail Lake Winter Series CAT2 and I got a podium on the first race and a 5th on the second on my 22lb PIVOT LES which is an insane bike by the way. Well the 3rd race was SUNDAY and some parts i needed for the LES didn't make it. Since I just dialed the bike I figure what the hell, might as well at least make the race and do my best. I was seriously blown away how good the bike felt. 22.5 mile 2500ft climb race in 90F heat finish time 1:38 mins.. Was super gnarly out, trail is not super tech which was not helping this bike vs the 19lb EPICS and Procalibers, and SPARKS I am racing against. I had only ridden the bike 2 rides prior also, I would assume more time would help dial it. I was stoked to hang in the leader pack top 4 riders (34 riders in my class) the first 1/3 of the race then crashed, lost the draft and fell back a bit. After that I did a 2 min assist on a Pro female rider who was really f'd up after a crash and head first uphill on a dangerous corner. Was the right thing to do tho and I am glad I stopped, she will be okay but it was gnarly. Anyway, after that I made my way up to 6th place where i finished, even after a crash and stopping for 2 mins. The bike did amazing and I was totally surprised, it did not feel like a FS bike but a more nimble climber (part of that is personal set up). For sure stoked on this bike and although I think they could have shaved a lot of weight on the frame in the chain stays etc its a great bike. Some other bikes I was aiming at where the SPUR and SNIPER, both examples of solid bikes but not over built like the Signal Peak, but this has a great price and its a great bike and its not going to break. It will be noted that its way easier to get a SPUR or a SPIDER 23.5-24lbs with less $$$$ cost parts than I used but the frame will be more. Hope that helps.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Mar 29, 2021 at 22:37 Quote
Foxy87 wrote:
This so much. Another guy in a german forum made a test. He rode his 9kg hardtail and his 14kg Endurobike with the (almost) same tires up a hill. He used watt meter and constantly hold 285Watt. The difference in 10 minutes climb was, that the hardtail was 20sec faster. 20 sec for almost 5kg!!

Believe it or not, weight doesnt matter as much as tires/suspension/geometry/kinematic, which are all far more important then weight.

It's true. There can even be situations where a heavier bike is faster - not because it's heavier, of course, but if the extra mass comes from properties that increase efficiency or handling more than the mass holds it back.

The experiment you described is in line with my expectations. 5 kg is, very roughly, 5% of total mass, which is the upper limit of the time it could save, ignoring all other sources of loss and assuming linear relationships. Once we account for tire rolling resistance, tire driving losses, tire-dirt slippage, drivetrain friction, air resistance, etc. the difference due to the change in mass could drop as low as half of the upper limit.

5% of 10 minutes would've been 30 seconds. 20 seconds is 3.3%.

Mass is easily quantified, easily understood, and tangible. This makes it an easy parameter to focus on, when it rarely has the most direct link to speed among the variables we can easily manipulate.
flag yourrealdad
Posted: Mar 31, 2021 at 13:07 Quote
In the racing world 20 seconds over 10 minutes of climbing is huge. Say you are doing a race that has 1hr worth of climbing. That is 2 minutes of time lost not to mention the additional strength it takes to keep said bike at same wattage. It takes its toll over time.

General riding not a big deal. Racing is a different story.
flag R-M-R
Posted: Mar 31, 2021 at 13:56 Quote
True. And 5 kg is a completely unrealistic weight spread in racing, so let's use more realistic numbers.

Let's say 1 kg is the largest realistic spread between two set-ups a person may be considering. How we're down to 4 seconds over 10 minutes. Lost time is never trivial, of course, but 4 seconds is no longer insurmountable.

Maybe the heavier set-up handles a lot better, improving descending speed, and/or is more efficient on rough pedaling sections, allowing the rider to sit down and conserve energy. Do you think the heavier set-up could recover those 4 seconds on descents or rough flats? Maybe even more than 4 seconds? It seems plausible to me.
flag dai1983
Posted: May 25, 2021 at 1:07 Quote
May not be any use here but recently sold my trek slash as I wasn't using it much or to its full potential. Have a 29er hardtail that weighs around 12-13kg going by the spec sheet for xc. My personal record on a long steep disgusting climb was done on the slash.

If anything I'd be better off losing some weight but I'm back in the gym doing a power lifting program. Think it'll help with biking to some extent but will 100% put some mass on.

Have an irrational urge for a cotic Flaremax with a down country build. Steel but they say it weighs sub 13kg. So the same as my HT but should be smoother and better going down due to geometry.

I'm never going to worry the front runners and the aim is to not get lapped. I race xc for the LOLs and work pays a lot of my race bills as well as sometimes giving me time off.
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