beeb
Dr. Beebenson, PhD HA, ST, Offset (hons)
Hi Folks,
Have recently gotten back into riding (after around 15 years!) after a mate auggested we hire some bikes and do a "one off" trip to Falls Creek.
I convinced him we should hire some bikes well before went and started riding down unknown trails fast downhill on a shuttle day, and things snowballed and now we ride pretty much every weekend.
We hired some Fuel EX's, but discovered we were both woefully unfit (surprise... ) and went and bought hardtails at that time, lol.
I ended buying/building an Octane Prone 29er (Size L) and set it up with a 120mm Fox Rhythm 34, Hope hubs, Spank rims, and XT groupset.
It's been a great bike, and while it's awesome fun to ride on fast flowy trails, the fact it's a hardtail and the occasional jarring jolts and hits that comes along with that on the rougher trails have seen it lose its lustre for me.
So, along came bike number 2.
This time round I decided to go dual susp and give 27.5 a go at the same time, so bought a Santaz Cruz 5010 Carbon CC frameset, another Fox 34 and built it up with XT drivetrain, Hope Brakes, same rim and hub combo, etc...
Ripper little bike - and I love how it climbs and does techy stuff - but I'll be the first to put my hand up and say I bought a size (or two) too small. I bought a size L hoping to make the turning circle feel a little tighter/responsive in the more technical stuff, but A) didn't account for the 40mm lower stack height and shorter reach leaving my knees feeling like they had nowhere to go when turning, and B) with me at roughly 6'3" I very rapidly found myself missing the slacker head angle and longer wheelbase (and associated front-end confidence) of the Prone on fast descents - this one will be disassembled and the frame and fork will be sold off to help fund a (hopefully!) "best of both worlds" Hightower or Hightower LT frameset and Fox 36.
Anyway - Thanks for reading my essay, lol! Look forward to looking around and gleaning (and hopefully eventually giving) some good advice.
Have recently gotten back into riding (after around 15 years!) after a mate auggested we hire some bikes and do a "one off" trip to Falls Creek.
I convinced him we should hire some bikes well before went and started riding down unknown trails fast downhill on a shuttle day, and things snowballed and now we ride pretty much every weekend.
We hired some Fuel EX's, but discovered we were both woefully unfit (surprise... ) and went and bought hardtails at that time, lol.
I ended buying/building an Octane Prone 29er (Size L) and set it up with a 120mm Fox Rhythm 34, Hope hubs, Spank rims, and XT groupset.
It's been a great bike, and while it's awesome fun to ride on fast flowy trails, the fact it's a hardtail and the occasional jarring jolts and hits that comes along with that on the rougher trails have seen it lose its lustre for me.
So, along came bike number 2.
This time round I decided to go dual susp and give 27.5 a go at the same time, so bought a Santaz Cruz 5010 Carbon CC frameset, another Fox 34 and built it up with XT drivetrain, Hope Brakes, same rim and hub combo, etc...
Ripper little bike - and I love how it climbs and does techy stuff - but I'll be the first to put my hand up and say I bought a size (or two) too small. I bought a size L hoping to make the turning circle feel a little tighter/responsive in the more technical stuff, but A) didn't account for the 40mm lower stack height and shorter reach leaving my knees feeling like they had nowhere to go when turning, and B) with me at roughly 6'3" I very rapidly found myself missing the slacker head angle and longer wheelbase (and associated front-end confidence) of the Prone on fast descents - this one will be disassembled and the frame and fork will be sold off to help fund a (hopefully!) "best of both worlds" Hightower or Hightower LT frameset and Fox 36.
Anyway - Thanks for reading my essay, lol! Look forward to looking around and gleaning (and hopefully eventually giving) some good advice.
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