chrod

"... but I’d say the balance struck is ideal for most use cases... " Dario with the sly cap Tilt.

I get all my Maxxis tires at police auction and from race venue dumpsters. After one race there's still plenty of meat on those bones!

poetry

Same boat, 6'1" and I went for a 485 reach XL Capra and am quite happy after being stuck in the middle. You might like a Marin Alpine Trail XR at 490? Super adjustable too.

Yeah good to see Cannondale making a Capra with a warranty and frame storage /s

agreed -- happy that this content exists, super cool that Vessel exists along with many other small builders keeping things interesting.

"The sensation is of a bike that simply refuses to be wrong." lol

220 lbs also, I ran an Ohlins RXF 36 and 38 at 170mm back to back on the same bike. Noticed a difference in stiffness and steering precision. It took a few weeks of back and forth, but the most noticeable change was on rough fast terrain. Bike park handling sealed the deal, the 38 was noticeably better. If I had just kept riding aggressive trail I doubt I would have appreciated the benefit and could have just kept the 36 for weight savings.

Ohlins reporting in... no complaints either.

Owned a GG, that revved main frame was indestructible. The chainstays not so much. Some folks had issues. The geo was relatively ahead of its time, their frames lacked progression but you could fix that with the right shock setup. 100% they were a tinkerer's platform - the Guerrilla Gravity MTBers FB group reflected that fact. Still a solid community today, thanks to Canfield for managing their old stock, and a number of others who make and share parts hacks to keep them running. Tinkering with that bike taught me a lot about what specific geometry aspects do to handling, and ultimately solidified my future bike geo choices. Once I found the "right" setup, the modularity was less valuable and I left my settings as-is, like a lot of folks ultimately do. Geo adjustments should be quick and meaningful and I think the big brands have learned that. There were a few problems with GG's approach -- chainstay swaps lose to a flip chip. No head angle adjustment. The XC and trail builds could never reach their lightness potential with a frame built to handle enduro. And the community couldn't look past the ugly / bulk. I get it, who wants to ride a bike they don't want to admire? The GG community were all eager for a V3, but the company shut down before that could happen. I liked how the GG looked, in the way I liked how a 00's Subaru WRX looked - the function over form aspect grew on me. Box flares and big fog lights / inlets were the equivalent of the top tube kink and big head tube. Dammit now I'm in the classifieds looking for old frames and rally cars.