i-ride-on-dirt

@robnow: XXL megatower. I totally agree with the seat angle not being steep enough. I wouldn’t buy a megatower because the stack is too high, and the seat angle is too slack for my liking. But I can certainly applaud the balanced feel of the bike.

Sorry for the typos. Typing this while standing on a bus ain’t easy. I think you get the gist!

As a person who rides an XL, I think this is possibly the most important piece of geometry to be considered on modern bikes. I don’t normally comment here but I would really like companies to hear this. Let me start by saying I’ve owned 4 modern aggressive 29ers and ridden at least a dozen. With chainstays ranging from 430.5mm to 446mm all with a reach from 500-515mm. I also ride 400hours a year and am what you may call a local fast guy, though far from being professional. The single best way to make an otherwise great (extra large) bike awful is to give it a short chainstay (435). Having this sort of a chainstay does not make it turn fast, the only thing it does is make it break traction quickly. Because the rear end is so short, your weight is always hovering right around the rear axle. This means you cant properly weight the front tire, and as a result: 1. Front feels drifts unpredictably. 2. When riding steep sections the front tire doesn’t bite, you can’t slow down effectively. 3. When you want to hit a turn and not break traction, your weight often shifts backwards under compression and you get the ‘loop out’ feeling. That makes you panic break and standup in the turn, if you haven’t crashed by now. 4. Tall riders also have high seatposts, therefore when pedalling they’re extremely close if not over the rear axle. Factor in dynamic geometry and climbing a steep pitch and it takes immense amounts of effort to keep the front wheel from wandering, and you from looping out. (I’m also a firm believer in steeper seat angles for larger bikes). The point: the best cornering modern aggressive 29er I’ve ever ridden, was also the fastest in a straight line, the most controlled when riding steeps, and the most comfortable to climb tech pitches with, also had a 446mm chainstay. PROPORTIONAL SIZED CHAINSTAYS are the absolute best and I wish every company adopted them. Thank you for listening to my rant.

@Jrayyo: you can with the normal twinlock setup. However, you need a different lever (the stock twinlock lever integrates with the stock synchros grips.