slimboyjim

I'm interested in the brakes - excuse the back of a napkin ramblings (and massive over simplification) as I try and work it out! Sorry to nerd out on you all! You have 4 calipers running off of two levers, so surely that halves the pressure at each caliper (and you have to squeeze the lever twice as hard to achieve the same pressure), but then you have twice the braking area which doubles it back to normal? But then the rotor is only going to deal with so much heat? I'm ignoring the tyres in all of this... What are the factors that are most important in all of this and how do you go about working it all out - simple trial and error or something more elegant? What is the purpose of the dual calipers on each wheel - pure braking force, or something else? With a far greater breaking area I could see it being a bit 'grabby', but is this tuned out with, say, adjustment to the pad contact point?

I think we have to accept it's an event built for TV. That's why tricks trump gnar - it looks better to the casual observer. Personally I think it's a little bit of a shame - I always thought that the most interesting riders weren't those who did the biggest tricks, but those who picked the craziest lines (yes, I'm talking people like Gee and Brendog). Both types of riding/riders are incredible, but those who trick stuff are undoubtedly better for the casual observer (as well as MTB viewers that prefer big tricks). We have hardline, which caters to the race/gnar crowd, and it's awesome, but it is a single track with limited creativity. I now prefer watching 'Tour de Gnar' type stuff - I love watching people push their limits and succeed, and seeing what crazy limits people can see (sometimes on relatively benign terrain). That is the essence of mountain biking to me.

@lkubica: I've one of the last generation G1's, and this was a big concern of mine too. When I test rode it I asked to ride some fairly benign trails to see what it was like, and came away impressed. For me the bike fit better than what I had ridden before - you feel very much low and in the bike, rather than on top. This, at 6'2, want something I'd experienced before and I like it a lot. Obviously it is a bike that is good on high speed chunk, but where I think the length of the bike helps the most is on natural trails - greasy slimy bastard's where you're riding on the limit of grip constantly. The length and low centre of gravity means that any resulting slip can be controlled more easily, so even at lower speeds you can have a lot of fun. These are my favourite type of trail... However, by the same measure, trail centre trails are not the bikes forte. It will do them, but you need to attack the trail and get some speed up for the bike to really come alive when grip is so (comparatively) high. I wish I was fitter when riding these sorts of trail and, being honest, I do like the n+1 idea of grabbing a xc hardtail for riding the tame stuff (the G1 is my only bike) - something a bit more twitchy and unstable. Oh, and I'm trying to learn to jump properly still so was messing around on a local DJ line the other day - I can report that it's not a great dirt jumper on smaller jumps! Obviously, your local trails should dictate your bike and components, and there will be a lot of trail riders out there who may not be served so well by a bike of this nature, but for me it is a good compromise. Yes it's built like a tank, but I'm into bike ownership for the long run and I can see myself keeping this bike for another 10 years or more (I've had it around 5 and it's not missed a beat in that time, including various uplift days and a trip to the Alps)? I kind of view it as my forever 'being stupid' bike, as I'm getting a bit older now! Ha ha! Nb. As with any bike, wheels massively affect how it feels. Whack on some xc wheels and it will ride very differently from some enduro wheels. I've both depending on who I'm riding with and where.