Skooks

Buddy and I surprised a mother cougar and her cub last summer while riding early in the morning. Luckily cub went up a tree and mom backed off, as did we in a hurry. Facking terrifying!

Me neither. A hard tail mountain bike is better in every way for any kind of off-pavement riding that I am interested in.

@bohns1: : Sure maybe, but by far the majority of people I see riding these motorized bikes are young, able-bodied dudes who are typically fitter than I am.

Back in the day we only had one bike each. Fully rigid Rocky Mountain Blizzard. I used that bike for everything from North Shore shredding to multi-day bike-packing to every day commuting. Put some Tioga city-slickers on it and it made a very serviceable road bike. These days I am pretty happy to have a nice full-suspension mountain bike and a dedicated road bike tho. Which one would I pick if I could only have one? It would definitely have to be the mountain bike!

@tomhoward379: Ever heard of Knolly bikes? They are all-in on 157mm and are definitely not 'rolling it back'. If you ever get a chance to ride one of their bikes you will understand.

@Sularma: Who is forcing you to change anything? Why not ride the bike that you have since it sounds like you like it?

@iammarkstewart: Have you used them with Shimano 12-speed drivetrain?

@SimbaandHiggins: I have to first of all say that I am bit of a Knolly fan boy, so maybe a tiny bit biased. I have had 4 Knolly bikes so far. I am having a lot of fun on the Fugitive. It's my first 29-er and I was worried that it wouldn't be very agile on tight trails. I am totally blown away by how well it handles them though. Super agile bike that is very easy to change direction any time you want, or hold a straight line if you prefer. It's a much longer reach/front center than my previous bikes, which is good and bad. Super stable and confidence inspiring on the steeps, but I sometimes struggle to get enough weight on the back wheel without hanging off the back. I often end up going down very steep rock rolls on my front wheel only. I am right at the bottom end of the size recommendations for a medium though, so that is part of it. If I manage to get my weight low and back it's not much of a problem. As fun as the Fugitive is, I think the Warden is a better bike for seriously steep and gnarly trails. The Fugitive pedals more efficiently and climbs well, but it's no speed demon on fire road climbs. It has more traction on steep technical climbs than most other bikes do. Hope that helps!

Nice! Now I will be buying XT 11-speed at a discount. 11-46 does everything I need it to.

My latest bike (Knolly Fugitive) has less travel than my previous one (Knolly Warden), but has better geometry. I would say that I am optimally biked for most of the trails I ride.