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Yep I admit it!
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flag SuperSteve777
Posted: Mar 8, 2024 at 14:11 Quote
I love riding EMTB's.

Hi There,

My name is Steve and this is my first post on PB. So a short introduction and some back ground might be in order.

I'm from the generation of my youth of the 60's to mid 70's. It was different back then and this next sentence might give somewhat of an idea of how it was... like Jeff Foxworthy the comedian would say "if we wore a bicycle helmet we'd get our butt kicked". Kinda funny but absolutely true where I was from. Thankfully my noggin wasn't hurt except for maybe some scratches here and there.

My most memorable experience concerning bikes was at the age of 10 or so when I got a Schwinn Stingray Apple Krate. It had a front drum brake and since it was Christmas day it took me a bunch of wrecks to figure out that when it was slick on the road that using the front brake wasn't the best strategy, LOL, but other than that I loved it and having that nifty bike seems to have affected me over the years.

For the most part I stopped riding bikes until the time that the fully suspended MTB's came out so I bought a blue Trek VRX 200. I road it for years regularly but afterwards only occasionally for two decades. I still have it in the garage.

I got old and started to suffer blood sugar and energy problems. I tried riding the old Trek to get back in shape but after a few months out on the uphill cindery trails it wasn't working out. Having to take a nap every time I rode was a sign I needed to heed.

So that's when I heard about EMTB's and bought a Bakcou Storm class 3. I had a lot of fun on that bike but I kept wrecking because the 4.5" front tire would slide out on the cindery trails when I tried to ride it more aggressively. I ended up using it to get firewood with via the attached trailer I bought later on. This works great for that purpose but it wasn't meeting my needs as far as enjoying the faster paced riding that I wanted to do. The suspension is 120mm fork and 100mm shock of lower quality so I'd get jostled around more than I'd prefer. However I kept it for friends to ride and for firewood duties.

Then a couple years later I bought a Husqvarna Extreme Cross EMTB downhill bike. It was when I was on vacation wishing I had a much nicer bike than the Storm. I figured why not and honestly I've really enjoyed this bike the last almost 3 years. It's got 200mm suspension round about and soaks up anything I've hit unintentionally without tossing me off and additionally the front tire hasn't slipped out yet. It is a bit large for me in sizing and isn't hugely nimble but for what I use it for it's not too bad.

Well lately I felt like I wanted to try another EMTB with a bit more modern geometry and handling characteristics in between my two other bikes so I began researching which one to get. Long story short after a few weeks of research I ordered a Orbea Wild M11 which should arrive about this time next week. That'll be a fun journey for the next few years.

Anyway that's all I have to say for now.
I'm not all that knowledgeable about many things concerning bikes so I'd appreciate any advice later on.

Have a great evening and I'm looking forward to getting to know the people on this site.
flag zeeino
Posted: Mar 9, 2024 at 7:04 Quote
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing!!
Good luck with the new bike
flag SuperSteve777
Posted: Mar 9, 2024 at 8:35 Quote
zeeino wrote:
Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing!!
Good luck with the new bike

Thanks Zee!
flag SuperSteve777
Posted: Mar 9, 2024 at 9:22 Quote
Oh and just in case I'm looking for people to ride EMTB local to the northern Arizona Flagstaff area.
flag BermJunky
Posted: Mar 25, 2024 at 15:38 Quote
Nice choice! I have a full year on my Wild and love it. Enjoy!
flag SuperSteve777
Posted: Mar 26, 2024 at 15:10 Quote
BermJunky wrote:
Nice choice! I have a full year on my Wild and love it. Enjoy!

That's encouraging to know, thanks.

I literally picked it up from the bike shop not 2 hours ago but it snowed, is melting and muddy, so I'll try it out in a day or two.
photo
flag SuperSteve777
Posted: Apr 6, 2024 at 12:44 Quote
Just a follow up with some thoughts about the process of receiving my Wild, also getting it set up for me in steps, and some riding impressions.

First I highly recommend IBB cyclery out of Utah for a Co to purchase from in the USA. Derrek went above the norm helping me out with a lot of advice, offered a good deal after some negotiating, and fast shipping, as well as it was packed firmly in the box. It was a positive experience overall. There's more to this story which I will explain later.

This is probably my last bike purchase so I decided to treat myself to some upgrades. So I ordered a EXT 170mm Fork and a 160mm EXT coil shock from Cascade Components. Max was very helpful and also went above and beyond which I will also get to soon.

I'm not a bike mechanic so I was dependent on the LBS which was Absolute Bikes to put the Wild together.
This was not without problems however.
Dropping it off on Thursday I found out that one or both brake cables had to be cut at the bar, due to the Orbea SIC cable routing system, to install the EXT fork then the brake cables had to be redone, bled, etc. So extra $ for that.
I was supposed to pick the bike up Friday but it wasn't finished???
Called on Saturday, nope not done, so I talked to a manager to find out what the holdup was. The guy said the bike wouldn't turn on and he'd emailed Bosch about software updates.
I called again Monday, nope no progress. I made a decision to call IBB and talked to Derrek who had his head mechanic call my LBS to advise.
Tuesday I got the text my bike was done. When I went in no explanation of what the fix was, was explained to me, LOL??? So I figured it was something simple that they overlooked. Good thing the weather had been crappy or I'd been miffed not being able to ride my new EMTB.

But something else had happened that was out of the LBS's control. It was that EXT had sent the Estoria shock instead of the Arma shock and the Estoria wouldn't fit on my medium size Wild. So they put the Fox back on the Wild.
I got ahold of Max at Cascade and he called EXT about the Estoria. EXT was supposed to call me back in a few minutes which didn't happen so after 2 days I called Max again to tell him that they hadn't called which he was not happy about and apologized for.
Then Bo from EXT called within a few minutes and I got a Arma shipping label email sent later that day.

I got in three rides with the Fox on the rear and there was a plushness on the front end of the bike and a bumpyness on the back end of the bike. Not bad but my best explanation is the fork and shock felt mismatched. Granted my Extreme Cross has a coil shock so maybe I'm just used to coil shocks.

Also the stock handlebar was too wide, lacking enough rise, or enough back sweep, for my short arms, and my grip angle. My fingers start to go numb and my lower back feels stretched out so when riding half the time I had to rest my hands on the top of the bar instead of on the grips, partly its because of my shorter torso too. That was even with the seat set forward as far as it would go.

The Arma coil shock came in and the next day a High SQ 30x bar with 16 degree back sweep, a SQ 31.8-35mm shim, and some 702 SQ grips.

I put the lighter spring on the shock, then cut the bar back two inches, installed shim and grips, all which I did myself, then rode a log ride. It was awesome. Man what a great feeling bike it is now that everything fits me better. It handles a step more nimbly than my Husky Extreme Cross does and the suspension is much the same even though having less travel. It's maybe a hair more plush and planted feeling in the first part of the stroke but when I hit a bigger bump I can feel the difference between 170mm/160mm in the Wild vs 200mm//200mm in the Extreme.

Additionally although a hair louder than the EP8 on the Extreme Cross the Bosch in the Wild feels more powerful on Turbo.

Time will tell but I'm really liking this Wild so far!
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