Bike Check: Seth Sherlock's Intense Tracer 279

 Could use a black fork

 @wburnes: the fox orange is super cringy. Black lowers look sooo much better

 @artistformlyknowasdan: haha this sounds like something said by Sex and the City gals sitting at a cafe being catty about the color of the waitress' shoes

 @jakalwil: She’s not wrong though. Beyoncé couldn’t pull off orange and gold.

 @thenotoriousmic: What if you pair the orange and gold fork with a frame that's a different shade of gold / sand and red? And a handlebar that's a third shade of gold? And brake levers that are copper, which is kinda like gold crossed with orange ... right? Maybe the rider can tie it all together with his ... burgundy ... never mind.

But seriously, I'd ride the ugliest gear in the world if it worked better, cost less, or - as in this case - if that's what someone was paying me to ride, and all these brands are achieving better product recognition with conspicuous colours. It's still a hideous mash-up, but at least there's a reasonable explanation for how it came to be.

 @R-M-R: i'm pretty convinced that the main reason for fox to buy the whole marzo stuff was to obtain that orange of the original z1 bomber.

 @moferenc: At least they didn't try to make the Fox arch into the shape of an F.

 @artistformlyknowasdan: orange bimbos...

 @artistformlyknowasdan: Look, Fox have got a very big pot of orange paint and it's still half full, so quit yer whining.

 @artistformlyknowasdan: Helps to hide the ultra cringy kashima coated stanchions

 @R-M-R: You just made me throw up in my full face.

 @moferenc: an insightful comment. That orange color is a marketing tool, and there's a reason most FOX sponsored teams run that color, cause that's what they want them to run and that's what they give them.

 @jaytdubs: Why though? Don’t they have eyes?

 @thenotoriousmic: I guess they feel people need to be hit over the head with marketing, perhaps because we're constantly being bombarded? At the end of the day, I don't know shit about shit...just spouting humble opinions.

 @artistformlyknowasdan: If anyone offered wraps for forks I'd be all over it. Obviously bike/fork performance is first priority, but man off colours drive me bonkers.

 @artistformlyknowasdan: Agreeeed!
Hopefully the new marketing person retires the fugly orange fork thang.

 @artistformlyknowasdan: it might just be me, but I feel like the orange lowers are like the yellow Maxxis logo (as opposed to white), it doesn’t necessarily look great on everything, but because of what it is, it works

 @wburnes: Or red

 Hahahah@jakalwil:

 @wburnes: Pistachio would look the best

 aluminum bar; makes perfect sense.

 Still proudly running 31.8 on both my bikes!

 No sh1t sherlock ; )

 @Trailbossno1: nice

 Had same issue with getting sucked into the spokes, both front and rear (on round chainstays). Ditched then and just wrapped the chainstay.

 @alanbonk: yeah I categorize the stfu as junk overseas plastic and if it works for you, great...but I can see it not working at all for most people. Like immediate failure first ride. Needs an overhaul and redesign.

 tried just using the front piece, somehow got pinched/torn off on a steep section, sucked through my chain ring and put me over the bars. went VHS which ended up being more quiet anyways

 Sorry to hear you've had issues, the first generation dampers didn't include the profiled end caps that give the units much better support on stays with a rounded profile, Anyone who has had issues, shoot us an email with your order number at info(a)stfubike.com and we will sort out a replacement for you.

Its super important you follow the installation instructions, in particular making sure to check for clearance in the stand and also under sag. A soft or uneven mounting surface can also result in the modules moving around and ending up in the spokes. Cable ties can stretch and bed in after the first few rides too so its important to retighten after a few rides. They should be good after that.

The modules are designed to absorb chain impact forces only, if the chain is rubbing they will fail, every time. We have some of the world's fastest racers and best freeriders running these without problems, if you're setting them up correctly and still having issues, send your resume over for a testing sponsorship

 Looks like the hitch rack in winter mod

 I'd love to try it as I believe it would help me to get more active suspension under braking, but still cannot justify the cost

 Just get a chain set from Rocky Mountain e bike same thing but cheaper?

ebike-mtb.com/en/rocky-mountain-altitude-powerplay-c70-2022-first-ride-review

 I bought an o-chain and especially on a bike with a lot of kickback its very noticeable. Similar to going from an airshock to a coilschock, you can feel the suspension working a bit better especially under hard braking when your freehub cant cancel out the kickback.

Having said that, it is not like going from xc to dh tires, it does not transform the bike. After riding it for a half a year i opened it and switched to the 9 degree mode i was very surprised that i discovered zero wear. Everyone complaining about the price of that thing should look inside of one, its very well made and everything is lasermarked - pretty cool, like a very robust high quality watch.

Bottom line: Its a nerd / pro product, does what it claims and it is very well made. I would not say that it is a gamechanger but it does a lot more for you than carbon wheels, carbon frames, kashima, or even a shock with 2 compression and 2 rebound adjusters.

 @optimumnotmaximum: Thanks for your opinion. Yeah I didn´t mean it is overpriced, just a bit too expensive in my eyes so I´d definitely would love to try before buy. I can imagine it would help me with hard braking on rough sections. What frame you´ve put it on?

 @bok-CZ: I can see your point, i hesitated too, but i love to tinker with bikes, so it was my birthdaypresent for myself. I put it on a 2021 MDE Damper (which has lots of antisquat and a good amount of kickback).

On that frame the 6 degree mode is not enough to get rid of "braking kickback" -in the 9 degree mode its pretty cool.

 @optimumnotmaximum: I just built new bike not so far ago and need some time to spend another cash on it, otherwise I like to do this as well. I think this is one of the best upgrades I could do considering cost vs function.
(or maybe I will just try the ghetto version with a spacer instead one of rear cogs, to see if its worthy)

How is the engagement working when you get back to pedalling? Can you feel much difference between 9 and 6 degrees settings in terms of engagement? Any oddities?

Got a discount code?

 @bok-CZ: The delay is not a problem unless you are trying trailmoves - i could see a problem if you do that austrian "vertbiking" - hopping down vertical trails with a lot of crankratcheting. Other than that you get used to it within 2 or 3 rides. 6 degrees does not pedal that differently to 9 degrees in my opinion. Make sure to use their screws for mounting it to the crank, the sram ones wont fit (if you buy the sram version ofc). No oddities.

I have no business connection to O-chain so no discount code -sorry.

 @optimumnotmaximum: Thanks again for sharing the details!

 @optimumnotmaximum @bok-CZ

Another happy Ochain customer here, can confirm whatever @optimumnotmaximum said.

I've been running mine for 9 months now with zero issues. Like him, I opened it up just recently and apart from re-applying some grease, no other works were necessary.

Ochains claims the elastomers to last 50k vertical meters. Mine showed almost no wear after about that amount of riding, which I found surprising seeing that there was quite a bit of racing/sprinting in those months (which should presumably be harder on the elastomers than just riding, as the mechanism pushes against them).

Agree with the sentiment re pedal feel. You get used to it pretty quickly (I mostly ran 6°). Guess the 12° could get pretty annoying in techy stuff where you'd want to put in a few crank turns in between moves.

Overall, a very well made package. Also noting that they support approximately a billion different direct mounts, from the main SRAM/Shimano ones to the more esoteric, like Ingrid.

Mine is installed on a Horst-link/4-bar bike with significant kick back. What you feel first and the most is the lack of feedback in your feet over small chatter, especially on flats. In the bigger hits, traction is improved marginally in the grand scheme of things, but noticable, espeically under braking. Depending on the bike, would def put one on again, certainly before I would consider any other "fashion" upgrades.

 Birthdays man. Not everybody can race into there 40's like Minnaar.

 its tyres that have held him back more than anything not the bikes.

 @peaotterthegreat: Very likely. He was dialed on those Onza tires. I rode the Pinnr's for a season, and while they had good grip and support, they wore very quickly and even with the DH casing they punctured really easily. Not confidence inspiring when charging.

 @hamncheez - spoken like a true married man, listing marriage first before injuries, etc. as a reason for decline. Got a good laugh out of that!

 @Chippps: no comment haha.

 My bro in law doesn't like to wear knee pads and gashed his knee open (2.5" long to the tendon) in a rock garden. I used everything I had available in my small hiking first aid kit on my pack to keep that thing from bleeding. Sure wish I had a roll of tape...

 @Jordanh604: cause knee pads are for the pussies and the smart people, and he's not either, right?

 @Jordanh604: I’ve been ditching mine the past few rides because who knows. I will be wearing them this weekend. Started wearing them cause my buddy did the exact same thing.

 @Jordanh604: I remember the time I crashed in about 2007 and saw my kneecap. Worn pads on most rides since then.

 Introducing the all-new new Vee Minion DHR II

 That rear looks a lot like E13 AT tread, and even the subtle weave on the sidewall. Knowing Vee manufactures E13’s tires I wonder if these are just rebadged E13 tires?

 @chacou: came here to say that ! Not a bad thing, those e13 work pretty well especially in MoPo compound. Now maybe the casing and rubber are different but it looks like they are using the same molds than to do the e13. Considering e13's have been out of stock for a while and they introduced a new thread maybe the lost the right to use that pattern because Vee claimed it back ?

 @Balgaroth: Could be the pros just asked for a different tread pattern and Vee borrowed this one from E13 (if it is the same) to keep them sponsor correct.

 @chacou: Looks exactly like my LG 1 MoPo with another sticker.

 It differs in that the lower pivot rotates around the bottom bracket shell

 My understanding is: They co-developed the system and shared the patient for a long time. Now it’s expired I believe that they have diverged somewhat.

 Right? Like I'm going to pay a ton of money for my rad Hydras and then slow them down.... DOH!

 Yeah this was super interesting. Isn’t that just where the middle finger would grip? Wish we had more details on why…

 Yeah I'd like to know the answer to this question.

 Similar but Different IMO.

In my experience softer mid stroke with more progression and anti squat than SC in general. I THINK a bit more rear axle path based on link location but haven’t seen any charts. Better for techy chunky crap IMO.

 Cool thanks @Jdorph:

 From what I gather, it seems to be either related to the fact that they moved from Alloy bikes made in Temecula to Carbon bikes imported from overseas (though most other companies do this too) or the paint/design scheme on the bikes. Or Both. Admittedly, I can see how some of the designs could be polarizing but I do like how they push the envelope a bit and are not the same old same old.

 @RCederholm: True the designs can be pretty terrible, but the complaints about dated geo, components, etc. seems so over the top.

 The stfu guides work incredibly well. Also calms the bike over rough terrain

 Probably. Sign of someone with a shuttle pad on a truck normally.

 I believe that is called 'patina'.

 bit of WD40 would sort that out