I was lucky enough to have a day off today. So what did I do? I went for a ride. I gathered up a few friends to hit some local trails with me. One of my buddies that went was Ben C. It’s been 5 years since he last rode a mountain bike, and more like 7 years since he was Aliso Woods.
It was a beautiful sunny So-Cal morning. Temps hovered around 70-75 degrees absolutely beautiful. Brought out the Vholdr and my handy dandy video cam to capture some footage of us riding. Check it out below.
I almost forgot to mention that I rode the KHS Flagstaff, a full suspension 29er. I had never ridden a 29er FS before, but since my fork blew up on my regular bike, Moe was nice enough to let me use the 29er. I have to tell you, I didn’t have that much of a great experience with it. I’m sure I’m just used to my own bike and the way I have it set up was far from how the KHS Flagstaff was configured.
I had heard about how people say that a XC FS 29er with 3 inches of travel is like having a 5 inch travel mountain bike. These guys believe that the 29er wheels compensate for the extra 2 inches of suspension travel. Well let me tell you something, that’s a whole bunch of horse pockey to me! There’s no way that this bike felt like my AM bike that has 5″ of travel. In fact, going down some of the technical stuff wasn’t better on the 29er than it was on my 26er. If anything, I felt slower on the 29er. However, on the flats, I was rolling deep! That thing flew, its very smooth and fast.
I know that this being my first ride on a full suspension 29er and I do plan on giving it more time to get used to the feel of it all. I also plan on swapping the stems to what I like and see if all that I mentioned above can be dispelled by making a few adjustments on this bike.
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Show Commentscool! you look like your getting faster RL
Hi,
Happen on your website, nice video.
I’m amazed there is little to no shake in your image. Does your camera have anti vibration technology or is it all due to your bike suspension.
Southern Cal looks like a nice riding place, compared to Minnesota, which currently is 45 and cloudy.
Happy trails
Tony, I’m using the Vholdr camera. All I did was secure the camera onto the frame. I don’t know if the Vholdr has some specific stabilization thing in place…
Don’t be a 29er hater! The bike can’t compensate for ALL rider errors. Maybe your just not gangsta enough to rock the big wheels.
Not Gansta enough? Son, I invented Gangsta. Ok not invented it, but I was there when the idea of it came up.
But for reals, I think I am just used to riding my AM bike.