New bike time!

[Dilstub]

Well there's a few boxes ticked!
Now... Boost or 142x12? Because that will narrow it down a little further.

I'm calling it now though, you're going to end up with a Nomad. You'll flirt with a few other options then find a good deal and turn money into bike. So real question now is, which colour? Remember that black is out for 2016!

Half the time I feel like just pulling the trigger and the other half I have myself convinced it's too DH-oriented.
I'd 100% go emerald, absolutely froth that colorway.

 

[Zaf]

Half the time I feel like just pulling the trigger and the other half I have myself convinced it's too DH-oriented.
I'd 100% go emerald, absolutely froth that colorway.

Haha, nah, the 160mm bikes all have great trail manners. They have to in order to position themselves in the category. But they're usually angled a little bit more races, so they do take off some of playful in favour of stability.
I thought the SB66c was playful before riding the Stumpy, that really demonstrated how much harder you have to work at it to make it pop, have to preload it more and the length means you need a little bit more ramp or speed to get it to go.

I am inferring from the category and what others have thought of the bike, but there's a lot of praise out their for the Nomad, you're going get one...and then I'll want one.

 

[Mywifesirrational]

Makes for very interesting reading, thanks for the link. I'll admit i'm very surprised with the results and probably need to throw a leg over one myself. Is the youies representative of most of your riding?
The rune is a sick bike, no doubt about it, but they won't run 26" properly for 2016 and onwards. So I'm stuck going over to 650B whatever happens it seems like.

Doing a bit of geometry comparing, the nomad seems super similar, even comparing 650B to 26". half an inch longer wheelbase, steeper STA, 0.15" longer chainstays. Nothing that would suggest it to corner and descend worse, other than the CCDBA, which might just be the worst shock I've ever tried. The monarch and then the RC4 that I switched to on the rune transformed the thing from average into a magic carpet ride.

One of the big things I took out of it was that pikes might be a bit flexy for a true AM fork. I'm into oly/powerlifting as well(80kg though, so a bit lighter), and ruined a set of lyriks at the crown last year. Onto another set of tapered ones that have been fine so far... HSC can be adjusted via shimstack, so that doesn't worry me unduly. Might have to test-ride one of those too and see how much they flex.

Live 30 mins from youies so I tend to ride there a lot, but also like riding at Buller, Baw Baw, Beauty, places with a lot of hill and speed.

Rune and nomad are similar but no the same, Rune is a lot more playful, Nomad climbs a lot better (STA), but main differences are the suspension kinematics, the Nomad ramps up a shitload, almost impossible to bottom out, but because of this if you not riding hard and plowing through shit, the suspension can be underwhelming.

Loved the CCDBA put one on the nomad as well, not as good as an RC4 from the previous build, but great for tweaking stuff, pondering a coil for the future.

 

[Dilstub]

Haha, nah, the 160mm bikes all have great trail manners. They have to in order to position themselves in the category. But they're usually angled a little bit more races, so they do take off some of playful in favour of stability.
I thought the SB66c was playful before riding the Stumpy, that really demonstrated how much harder you have to work at it to make it pop, have to preload it more and the length means you need a little bit more ramp or speed to get it to go.

I am inferring from the category and what others have thought of the bike, but there's a lot of praise out their for the Nomad, you're going get one...and then I'll want one.

I think I might have a different idea of what constitutes playful. I used to own this as a one-bike-for-everything and loved it, it would deal with everything from DH tracks to long rides.

I found though, soon as I switched to the rune I was having more fun everywhere. It cornered better, I stopped going OTB every week, and popped just as nicely, the only place it feels less playful is flat ground and pumptrack style flow trails. Can still get flat 270's on it though, it spins pretty well for what it is. It is more effort on flatter trails, but that's to be expected I'd think. The only real complaint I currently have is that it's not so great at tight switchback climbs, and standing up on loose steep climbs results in the back wheel losing all grip/weighting.
Basically, climbing manners in general.

A mate suggested looking at the bronson today too, so I may just have to test-ride that too.

 

[Dilstub]

Live 30 mins from youies so I tend to ride there a lot, but also like riding at Buller, Baw Baw, Beauty, places with a lot of hill and speed.

Rune and nomad are similar but no the same, Rune is a lot more playful, Nomad climbs a lot better (STA), but main differences are the suspension kinematics, the Nomad ramps up a shitload, almost impossible to bottom out, but because of this if you not riding hard and plowing through shit, the suspension can be underwhelming.

Loved the CCDBA put one on the nomad as well, not as good as an RC4 from the previous build, but great for tweaking stuff, pondering a coil for the future.

Ahh fair play. I'm out in the Yarra Valley, so there's probably a bit more 'hill and speed' to be found on my local rides than yours I guess. Any input on what makes it more playful? Just the suspension design?
I rarely bottom out the rune the way it's set up, the RC4 is set to have a shallow high-pressure IFP chamber.

Maybe I just had a shit CCDB. It either felt good over small stuff and bottomed out all the time, or used its travel well and felt very harsh.

 

[Zaf]

I think I might have a different idea of what constitutes playful. I used to own this as a one-bike-for-everything and loved it, it would deal with everything from DH tracks to long rides.

I found though, soon as I switched to the rune I was having more fun everywhere. It cornered better, I stopped going OTB every week, and popped just as nicely, the only place it feels less playful is flat ground and pumptrack style flow trails. Can still get flat 270's on it though, it spins pretty well for what it is. It is more effort on flatter trails, but that's to be expected I'd think. The only real complaint I currently have is that it's not so great at tight switchback climbs, and standing up on loose steep climbs results in the back wheel losing all grip/weighting.
Basically, climbing manners in general.

A mate suggested looking at the bronson today too, so I may just have to test-ride that too.

To explain a little of what I'm finding to be playful, my main haunt is Alice Springs, and we lack the elevation of other places, terrain undulates more and there are rocks and shit everywhere. More trail riding I guess, there's a bit of pedalling effort, although usually short, sharp and loose, followed by a descent that's much the same. There isn't stuff like what I was living and riding out in Wangaratta (and surrounding area), where there are some decent hills in which you put a solid climb in and then are rewarded with a solid descent. It is fairly marathon based though, average ride is going to 25-30km loops that you string together.

The Yeti is playful but it's a bike that hungers for speed that it doesn't quite get enough of out here. It might also be because I grabbed it in an XL and then fitted it out like a Mondraker forward Geo with a tiny little 35mm stem, so it has the long wheelbase which really starts to feel stable at speed, but it takes a little bit of muscling up and around tight switchback corners. It might also be why it seems less playful out here, the longer wheelbase needs a little bit more to launch it, and with its suspension you do need to preload a bit more to get it to pop up. In comparison to the Stumpy, both the 2014 and the 2016 frame that the '14 was warrantied with, they just "pop". It's effortless in how it pops, it turns little trail features and lets you flick off them and get into the air a little where the Yeti would just swallow it.

I find the Yeti to be a little big for out here, it doesn't have enough tracks to really stretch its legs out, taking it to Rotorua really made that abundantly clear. That bike given some gravity feed and room to let it pick up speed just becomes a new creature.

Your trails have some more of that, so I think sticking with a 160mm is a good idea.
Main guy I go riding owns a Bronson, I've ridden it on a few trails out here and it's a friggen dialed bike!! Even without a proper setup for me, I'm a little taller and heavier than Mint, so things were on the plush side. I found the sizing to be a little small, even on a Large Bronson the handlebars felt like they were in my lap, but that didn't stop it being an eye opener. The geometry update to the Bronson has made it more in line of a Boosted rear, mini-Nomad, and the Bible of Bike Test say that the new suspension feels fantastic. A Bronson might very well be on the money for you.

But don't discount the shorter travel crowd. The Trek Enduro team were on 140mm bikes all season, and were just throwing 160mm up front and a coil out back for the steeper courses, some of the Specialized guys were on Stumpy's for the stuff that wasn't bombing off alps all day, and even Graves was saying in his interviews that he preferred the SB5c with a longer fork than the SB6c for most riding. It really isn't always about the exact number on the travel, but how a bike utilises it that makes it how it is, and we've seen that time and again with some rigs feeling like they have more (or less) travel than they really do.

I better end this rant now that I've got paragraphs...sorry for the wall-o-text.

Still think you're gonna end up with a Nomad.

 

[Dilstub]

To explain a little of what I'm finding to be playful, my main haunt is Alice Springs, and we lack the elevation of other places, terrain undulates more and there are rocks and shit everywhere. More trail riding I guess, there's a bit of pedalling effort, although usually short, sharp and loose, followed by a descent that's much the same. There isn't stuff like what I was living and riding out in Wangaratta (and surrounding area), where there are some decent hills in which you put a solid climb in and then are rewarded with a solid descent. It is fairly marathon based though, average ride is going to 25-30km loops that you string together.

The Yeti is playful but it's a bike that hungers for speed that it doesn't quite get enough of out here. It might also be because I grabbed it in an XL and then fitted it out like a Mondraker forward Geo with a tiny little 35mm stem, so it has the long wheelbase which really starts to feel stable at speed, but it takes a little bit of muscling up and around tight switchback corners. It might also be why it seems less playful out here, the longer wheelbase needs a little bit more to launch it, and with its suspension you do need to preload a bit more to get it to pop up. In comparison to the Stumpy, both the 2014 and the 2016 frame that the '14 was warrantied with, they just "pop". It's effortless in how it pops, it turns little trail features and lets you flick off them and get into the air a little where the Yeti would just swallow it.

I find the Yeti to be a little big for out here, it doesn't have enough tracks to really stretch its legs out, taking it to Rotorua really made that abundantly clear. That bike given some gravity feed and room to let it pick up speed just becomes a new creature.

Your trails have some more of that, so I think sticking with a 160mm is a good idea.
Main guy I go riding owns a Bronson, I've ridden it on a few trails out here and it's a friggen dialed bike!! Even without a proper setup for me, I'm a little taller and heavier than Mint, so things were on the plush side. I found the sizing to be a little small, even on a Large Bronson the handlebars felt like they were in my lap, but that didn't stop it being an eye opener. The geometry update to the Bronson has made it more in line of a Boosted rear, mini-Nomad, and the Bible of Bike Test say that the new suspension feels fantastic. A Bronson might very well be on the money for you.

But don't discount the shorter travel crowd. The Trek Enduro team were on 140mm bikes all season, and were just throwing 160mm up front and a coil out back for the steeper courses, some of the Specialized guys were on Stumpy's for the stuff that wasn't bombing off alps all day, and even Graves was saying in his interviews that he preferred the SB5c with a longer fork than the SB6c for most riding. It really isn't always about the exact number on the travel, but how a bike utilises it that makes it how it is, and we've seen that time and again with some rigs feeling like they have more (or less) travel than they really do.

I better end this rant now that I've got paragraphs...sorry for the wall-o-text.

Still think you're gonna end up with a Nomad.

No no, it's definitely valuable input. I think your definition of playful is what I expect from my bmx, in a way. For an AM bike, being able to gap sections of trail, smash into corners and choose sketchy lines is more what I'd define as playful. The banshee fell into that category pretty well I'd say, while still being comfortable to ride. Based on that + the trails around here, I reckon the nomad might be the go. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the chance to head down to the LBS and ask them some questions/sit on the bike.

You're right in that some bikes definitely feel like they have more/less travel than the numbers show. From what I've heard through a few mates, the 29" wheel (which is what the Trek guys run) adds the feeling of extra travel over the 26"/650B. Yeti just seem to have some black magic switch infinity kinematics going on that produces an amazing suspension design haha

 

[antonfourie]

The Yeti is playful but it's a bike that hungers for speed that it doesn't quite get enough of out here. It might also be because I grabbed it in an XL and then fitted it out like a Mondraker forward Geo with a tiny little 35mm stem,

Should have bought a Mondraker then ....

 

[Zaf]

Should have bought a Mondraker then ....

As a guy who bought a Yeti... Seen how much Mondraker cost?

 

[moorey]

As a guy who bought a Yeti... Seen how much Mondraker cost?

No. Anton wouldn't have the slightest idea.

 

[Zaf]

No. Anton wouldn't have the slightest idea.

He's the importer isn't he?

 

[Boom King]

Should have bought a Mondraker then ....

As a guy who bought a Yeti... Seen how much Mondraker cost?

No. Anton wouldn't have the slightest idea.

He's the importer isn't he?

And your point is exactly?

 

[moorey]

He's the importer isn't he?

Thankyou Captain Obvious

 

[Zaf]

And your point is exactly?

Theyre prohibitively expensive.

 

[Boom King]

Theyre prohibitively expensive.

Sure but just because he's the importer, don't assume he has a clue.

 

[moorey]

Theyre prohibitively expensive.

A cracking yeti switch frame costs?
And by riding a spesh, you're endorsing the s-works wank.
Just sayin.

 

[moorey]

Oh, that's right, you RIDE s-works. Awkward.

 

[Zaf]

Oh, that's right, you RIDE s-works. Awkward.

Don't mock it till you try it, the Stumpy is a pretty great little bike.

 

[moorey]

Don't mock it till you try it, the Stumpy is a pretty great little bike.

You're not the mother of me. I mock EVERYTHING I haven't tried or can't afford.

 

[Zaf]

You're not the mother of me. I mock EVERYTHING I haven't tried or can't afford.

Haha! Why do you think I'm ragging on Mondraker!?