Too Beaucoup!


But there's lots of them. Small enough to make shuttles pointless but big enough to punish the cardio system.

I can barely scratch together the time for Manly Dam a couple of times a week. Menai feels like another galaxy.


nzhumpy said:
If Possums was too tight how'd it go round Serratta, Ghania &Olive Oil? I think you just need more time to get accustomed to the bike as none of those trails are reaallly tight, uphill switchbacks you will notice...there's a few on DD that took me a while to master and my wheelbase is only 1168mm.
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I group popeye, olive oil and possums as the same track. Olive oil is where I really struggled. Too many close trees and tight switchbacks. I'm still getting used to 780mm bars and the huge curves I need to take to get the rear wheel to clear the apex.

Haven't done Ghania and Serrata but I'm sure the Pole will be fine. It's got plenty of bb clearance and straight line traction.

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Aren’t you on holidays though? skootch on down in the morning, a couple of laps of menia then have breaky at left bower in sutherland, then drive down to appin afterwards for a lunchtime ride.



Thats a fantastic day right there. Treat yoself, you deserve it
 
Ultra Lord said:
Aren’t you on holidays though? skootch on down in the morning, a couple of laps of menia then have breaky at left bower in sutherland, then drive down to appin afterwards for a lunchtime ride.



Thats a fantastic day right there. Treat yoself, you deserve it
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Do you have any idea how long it would take me to drive down there? I would need to buy an extra week of vacation.

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Oddjob said:
Do you have any idea how long it would take me to drive down there? I would need to buy an extra week of vacation.

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Ahhhhh, do you have any idea how much I'd love to have hills within driving distance?

If you aren't going to show your Pole the love it deserves.......
 
Cardy George said:
Ahhhhh, do you have any idea how much I'd love to have hills within driving distance?

If you aren't going to show your Pole the love it deserves.......
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There's love and there's Sydney cross town traffic.

I'm actually going to a dh course at Green Valley tomorrow so hopefully the Pole can handle the mclovin.

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Oddjob said:
There's love and there's Sydney cross town traffic.

I'm actually going to a dh course at Green Valley tomorrow so hopefully the Pole can handle the mclovin.

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Thats even further you knobhead!




Also why I said menia in the mornin, beat the traffic (leave yours at 6 and you wont get stuck crossin the bridge, easy agaist traffic once through syd.)


Yes I ride OMV/manly dam/ redhill dj’s plenty from my place. Quit yo bitchin

More varied trails you hit the less bored you become
 
Ok so after two weeks of leave and some solid riding time I've got some more comments.

When I got the Pole I was a bit worried that the Pole and the SAM would be a bit too similar (big long enduro bikes) but they are nothing alike. The Pole is a full race sled. It likes be pointed down a hill and going fast.

The fork and rear suspension are very active and good at eating up obstacles. I've got the air pressure in the fork right and the ramp control made a big difference at Green Valley. Green Valley also made me slow down the compression and rebound a lot. I kept the Monarch in the intermediate setting even on the dh course. The open setting just let the rear end get too loose. I expect that the Vivid will be better again.

Where the bike is less stellar is low speed direction changes. Railing berms or dropping into switchbacks is fine but slow flat or upwards s bends are just really awkward with the long wheel base and the raked out front end.

This is where the SAM shines. It's definitely sketchier at speed, but this translates into much much better manouverability at low speed. It's definitely the better trail bike, although it's bb is sometimes annoyingly low.

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Edited the fork post.

Also swapped out the Michelin Wild AM/Grip'r combo for a Specialised Butcher/Ground Control combo which I'm liking.

The Wild AM is a great tyre but probably better suited to the rear. The Grip'r was just too squirmy so that's going to be relegated to an XC front tyre. I've got a Michelin Wild Enduro front coming to match with the Wild AM.

I also have a Maxxis Shorty/DHF/Aggressor combo I'm keen to try out.

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Pretty spot on this review ..
He also reviewed the evo link when it first came out ... so he has spent quite a bit of time on it.

I sold mine a little while back ... and jumped on my 27.5 Zula recently
Although that was super fun as well on a purely XC track ... the steering felt so skittish around corners and I found myself pushing back and getting over the back wheel which didn’t help cornering.

Long and slack ... no going back
 
Well I've had my first proper mechanical on the Pole. I think I stripped the drive ring out of the Project 321 rear hub. It's been known to happen with the Torch freehubs according to the MTBR forums.

This makes the planning for Maydena in January easier. I've got a set of 27.5 DT ex511 and 471s laced to a Hope Pro2 Evos. I'm going to run a 27.5x2.8 Minion DHF and a 2.5 Aggressor combo. If I run a Shorty/DHF combo on the Legend and take a spare HR2 that should cover wet and dry conditions.

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Zaf said:
Project-321-hubs-quiet-loud-high-engagement-11.jpg


Expensive, unreliable, light, noisy.
Choose four!
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Perhaps. Lets see if they play ball with the 10 year warranty. It's a good thing I've got a stockpile of Hope Pro2 evos, including a red set to replace the busted P321s.

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Zaf said:
Just for reference, when I went looking for that picture, this was my Google search.
Top 3 result, gonna need some Sting-o's over here.
View attachment 349513

Sorry to hear it though. Shitty feeling when a freehub goes, not a fan of what happened with the Bonty's earlier this year.
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Yeah I saw that picture too. It's what led me to the mtbr thread. It's annoying but it just proves the value of stockpiling spares.

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Release the KRAKEN!

0158e6bbddf6f53ceb43e5e22ac83972.jpg
3a91ff350cb9b43ef7747c07ca502af2.jpg
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3944244af6bebc9cd7d0d2b0f9cd0538.jpg


So after fubaring the ring drive on my rear wheel I decided to go full monstertruck with 27.5+ tires. Behold the biggest freaking enduro bike with some huge tires!

With pressure down down down, the grip is up up up! In fact the grip is almost too much. It feels like I'm faster in the corners and way slower on the straights.

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A little surprised to see you using an EXO casing on the back, weren't tempted by the Double-Down?

Does the 2.8" front pair well with the 2.5" rear? It's a combo I've long thought about.
 
beeb said:
A little surprised to see you using an EXO casing on the back, weren't tempted by the Double-Down?

Does the 2.8" front pair well with the 2.5" rear? It's a combo I've long thought about.
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With such a big tyre, I thought the DD would be overkill given that I'm running dh Huck Norris. The combo is also heavy and draggy enough as it is. The slight increase in squirm just adds to the oodles of grip and squishy couch like feel.

It pairs really well. I always run slightly narrower rear tyres compared to the front, so this feels totally natural... for a freaking huge monstertruck of a bike.

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