Mountain Bikes

[Deceus]

Cabell you almost died on that last landing there at Bryce. Nice save there bud

Also, I blame Cabell for my mountain bike addiction. If anyone ever comes to Richmond just send word! Beers and mountain biking in which ever order you prefer.

Damn bro, that looks like quite the upgrade over what I saw you riding last, YT makes good stuff. I really wanted a TUES for a while but they were out of stock and I found a good deal on my eBay Gambler. Pretty cool they have a 29er straight race setup and a freeride build as well. Say what you want about the wagon wheels but when you're as big as I am it just feels (and looks) like a normal bike lol. I still can't believe I managed to make the XL 29er Stumpy I had look undersized.

I really wanted to make it out to Richmond sometime but this summer just got too damn hectic. I hardly even rode the trails in my backyard, mostly stuck to park trips. Had a buddy come up from there to ride Massanutten back in March and he was telling me all about some the stuff you guys have in Richmond these days. Some really cool flow trails which are definitely missing out this way. If anyone was dying to try out the western slopes or bike park, I still have 2 weekends you can come crash (17th & 24th). I'll just be packing and relaxing once we get back from this final trip this weekend.

Anybody got any big off-season plans? Losing more weight is #1 for me. Building my hardtail has made me really want to dig into the sled a bit. It definitely needs a bit of love (okay a lot). I'll probably make an attempt to rebuild both the fork and shock, definitely need to replace the bashguard and give everything a deep clean. Got a creak coming from the frame somewhere so probably throwing a rear triangle rebuild at it as well. Kinda toying with the idea of just building up a new frame but I really like this bike. I'm super comfortable on it now even on black lines that used to make me shit my pants a year ago. Upgraded to Saint brakes up front and they feel so good. I'll probably do the rear at some point as well.

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I like how this thing came out but made a few mistakes.

People weren't just nitpicking when they said that seat tube is way too tall on the L/XL. Definitely not running a dropper with this frame.
The fork I bought had too much of the steer tube cut. It "fit" but I can't run any spacers underneath the stem and it definitely feels wrong. Takes way too much effort to get the front tire off the ground.
Should've gone with a longer stem too. The smart move would've been to run a few cheap stems at difference sizes before blowing $80 on a nice anodized one.

Other than that, the build went pretty smooth. Probably won't buy another complete bike for a while unless I'm adding to the fleet. Maybe an enduro/e-bike until I'm in better shape but doubt I'll have the cash for that for a while. It's nice having a set of components I like though. I won't have to rely on whatever build kit companies decide to throw at their stuff unless I want to. Probably swap the frame out for a Nukeproof Scout as that was the original plan.