Who Mountain Bikes?

[Matt Cashell]

You do a lot of climbing Bitteroot? I'd demo the giant first. My Trance 29er is very light on the front end. My only complaint with the bike. Hard to keep the front end on the ground climbing. Also have little to no steering control so it is bad on a tight technical climb. The geometry will change some with the smaller bike and would think this would improve. Great bike otherwise really like mine.

Yeah,

I like to climb so long as it leads to a descent! All the 29ers I have tried seemed like the front wants to wander on climbs.

My current bike is a Giant Reign 26er, and I don't have trouble keeping the front on the ground during climbs, even with pretty slack geometry and all that travel. My estimation would be the Trance 27.5 should be similar, but i will demo it first, as you suggested.

This thread makes me really curse the weather in Western MT right now!

 

[boom]

Scoot the saddle forward a
And get a longer stem? That will help push the front down a tad. I skuch forward on long climbs.

 

[Lukem]

hahah..i had that same bike!! my frame cracked also. one of the rear pivots split opened. loved that thing. no bike has ever fit me so well.

i replaced it with my current bike. in 1999. still riding it every week. every day this summer. i need a new bike. my forks and rear shock are getting weird. not worth the $$ to rebuild them.

here it is..and me.

View attachment 12281

Nice! Mine cracked right at the crank. Had it welded, but it made a popping sound at every turn of the crank. Made me nervous that it'd go at a really bad time. Brakes were awful, jarred my shoulders, but I loved that bike.

 

[Aron Snyder]

So I've been looking at SURLY bikes....has anyone else used them before?

I like the concept and it seems like a better option for hunting applications.

 

[Lawnboi]

So I've been looking at SURLY bikes....has anyone else used them before?

I like the concept and it seems like a better option for hunting applications.

Are you looking at their fat bikes?

 

[Aron Snyder]

Looking at both the fat bike and the ECR.

 

[boom]

So I've been looking at SURLY bikes....has anyone else used them before?

I like the concept and it seems like a better option for hunting applications.

..but i ride a Surly Cross check. the frame is the toughest! i have been hammering it. and in the beginning i was riding dirt trails with the thing. up and down rocky trails. trails i usually run with my mountain bike.

the thing about the Surly Crosscheck. they have this weird catchy thing about the frame. they call it FFF. it means "fatties fit fine". i can put ridiculously fat tires on my bike. i've thought about putting some 38mm tires on the thing and running some hunts off of it. i think it would work fine. they have updated the frame (and call it something else) to run disc brakes now.

you would need to make sure you can put luggage on the surly. i think the EDC is luggage ready.

 

[BowElkStalker]

This is what I want and do a little hunting.

Ibex trailer from Bob

 

[slvrslngr]

The Ibex is a great trailer! Just make sure you load it up and do some practice runs with it before the season, pulling a trailer changes the way the bike handles, particularly loaded and going downhill. I did a 600 mile off road tour with one, once I got used to pulling it, I hardly even noticed it was behind me (until I got to a down tree or a hill!). Set your bike with low gearing and it should do great.

 

[slvrslngr]

So I've been looking at SURLY bikes....has anyone else used them before?

I like the concept and it seems like a better option for hunting applications.

I've got a Surly Karate Monkey, but it's set up as a singlespeed. It's a versatile 29'r, not particularly light, but plenty tough. For the price, Surly's are hard to beat. One of their fat bikes would be all kinds of fun!

 

[dholla]

Check out this rig.
http://gearjunkie.com/fat-bike-for-hunters-cogburn

Surly makes solid bikes. They are not the most high end, but they are dam tough. All in all most frame quality is pretty close, components is where you want to splurge and have higher quality. If your drive train and brakes suck, it doesn't matter how nice the frame is.

Fat bikes are exploding in the market right now, I am sure you will find something to fit your needs. Let us know what you end up with.

 

[Arbutusbucks]

I know you can get a few of the Surly frames with rear rack mounts... That's a good idea for a hunting bike. I know there are guys that pull trailers but I just throw everything on my back and ride in....park it/lock it... Then hike from there.

I would recommend tubeless tires for both your rigs. I rode them this year and loved them. I was good for about two flats a year riding into or out of my hunting area, but none this year.

I'd sign up for Strava too, it's addicting as hell.

Also, bar mitts really help when it's cold out and starting out with warm hands is better than trying to warm up cold ones.

Have fun man.

 

[Bearhunter]

The Cogburn bikes are pretty nice. I got the opportunity to ride one this summer while working for Swarovski at the Scheels University school. Overall a light bike for the appearance it puts off. If I remember rite it was a 20 speed and was very easy to climb up even ground. The rear rack and all the attachments was a pretty trick system as well. Definetly would be a very effective tool in getting deep into the ID/OR/and WA gated logging road country! They are only available for purchase threw Scheels thou...

 

[PA-R]

I to have a specialized rock hopper 29 inch, brought it two years ago, discounted, model change. Ride mostly flat terrain, no hills here in S.E. MO. Bootheel, but do drive over in the Ozarks to ride. Great way to stay in shape, had to quit running because of my knees, no problem with riding a bike. Ride lots of gravel and dirt roads. Like Bighorse stated, stay in your comfort zone, takes a long time for this old body to heal.

 

[Cactus kid]

Mountain biking is my other mistress.

I'm relatively new to it, only about a year or so, but I had been interested in it for a long time. I had the opportunity to trade a pistol I never shot for a used (barely used) Yeti 575 and I jumped at the chance! Didn't put the thing down till deer season.

 

[Rent Outdoor Gear]

I ride a Felt Compulsion III and use a kiddie trailer to haul stuff in for hunting. Works pretty slick, but pulling the hills with 100+ pound trailer of elk will burn your quads something fierce. I know the owner of Felt & he's a hard-core bowhunter so I kind of like supporting his company. He worked for Easton back in the early days. Fantastic guy. Also ride a lot of single track in the spring and summer to stay in shape. Much easier on my knees.

DC

 

[jmez]

Scoot the saddle forward a
And get a longer stem? That will help push the front down a tad. I skuch forward on long climbs.

It is a bike geometry issue with the 29 inch tires. They pushed the rear wheel up under the seat to shorten the drive train length a little and it makes the bike pretty light up front.

It was mentioned in several of the reviews I read but I don't do a lot of technical climbing so didn't think it would affect me much. I would prefer a longer drive train to keep the front down better. It is a real pain on a steep climb unless you get up on the pedals and hang over the front end.

 

[Vance in AK]

I too raced for a couple of years back aroun 2000-2001, then moved back to Alaska. did some trail riding here, but not much. I still have my race bike, a K2 Razorback Grassroots Team with full suspension & mostly Shimano XTR components. I think this year I will try & get back into at least the local bike trails & commuting. Our offroad trail system locally is pretty short.

 

[bigfish b.c]

being from canada iam a norco guy have a hard tail & a fs norco sightkiller 27.5 tires love the tire size,ride 100-120 miles a week mostly closed logging roads & trails in summer. being 45 really helps my knees as i can train more on the bike vs running or hiking with heavy weight.want to add one of these & get rid of my hard tail
http://www.norco.com/bikes/mountain/fat-bike/bigfoot/

 

[S&S ARCHERY]

Good bike choice Aron, the duro's are great all mountain bikes. I race with a Stumpjumper 29er hardtail and love that bike, climbs like a beast and with the big wheels can still get down the mountain pretty fast. What tires are you running front / rear and are you running tubeless?