New Bike Day.... the powder blue girls bike

[Crosshair]

Hardly! Should have seen me and Freddie in there the other day

[weeksy]

That's slightly interesting...

Status rider rear sag
2022-06-15_08-52-45 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Trek rider rear sag.
2022-06-15_08-52-39 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Now weirdly the Trek had 200psi in it and seems to use 92% roughly when riding hard.

The Status has 225psi in it and seemed to use about 85% of max travel.

I guess that's the difference between a DPX2 shock and the Fox performance float evol. I'd consider swapping the Trek shock but it's some weird bottom end mount with the 'Reactive' and Thru Shaft version which i don't think uses the same eyelets, even under the mounting kit.

[irie]

A question - what are both bikes saddle to handlebar drop, and reach?

[weeksy]

A question - what are both bikes saddle to handlebar drop, and reach?

Ooooh that i honestly don't know mate and the Trek doesn't have forks installed so i can't even tell you the answer to that for now.

I did have higher rise bars on the Trek recently but dropped them back down to a 27mm rise (not 38mm) to put the carbon ones back on.

I did have a random moment of "maybe i should sell it and...." whilst doing so i was offered this in PX

https://www.pinkbike.com/buysell/3360828/



He wanted £500 + the Trek.

But while in some ways the Megatower looks awesome... the Trek is better for 95% of my riding i'd say.

So the forks are currently at Rotec Cycles getting a 150mm air-shaft installed. (approved by Trek for warranty) and we'll see how it rides with the 150s...

[weeksy]

interesting.... Chatted with TFTuned who tell me you can fit a standard eyelet shock.

https://www.tftuned.com/tf-tuned-mount- ... ikes/p3791
you need some of these.

https://www.tftuned.com/trek-rear-shock ... ware/p3518
some of those..

and of course a shock... it then runs a standard type shock 210*52.5. Hmmm interesting..

[irie]

So the forks are currently at Rotec Cycles getting a 150mm air-shaft installed. (approved by Trek for warranty) and we'll see how it rides with the 150s...

I upgraded the Trek Fuel EX 5 (2021) stock 140mm forks to Pike Ultimate Charger 2.1 RC2 150mm (from TFTuned) - was very nice. They're now on the Trek Rail 5 (2022) instead of the stock 160mm forks. Work very nicely with shock Megneg upgrade. I actually run a bit more sag in the shock to compensate for the lower front, works for me. Might get more pedal strikes but without being able to compare I honestly don't know.

[weeksy]

Well it's unlikely anyone could tell but the 150 shaft is in there

2022-06-16_05-21-45 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[weeksy]

Out for an early one to 'beat the heat'.

2022-06-17_06-49-43 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Out for an early one to 'beat the heat'. Forks work really well, but in honesty i'm not convinced someone of my level can tell the difference between 140-150mm. Either way, i had an excellent little test.

2022-06-17_06-49-31 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Should be able to soften them a bit more, so just whipped 10psi out, see how that feels next. I do like my forks softer than most would

Only disappointment was with Strava.. not because i care about where i am in the world, but i did want to compare my own ride against my own ride. But sadly it doesn't think i rode the same segment on ANY of the 3 runs, despite the fact it's a single trail that you really can't do any other way.
"Why it Did Not Match
Your Activity seems to have deviated from the Segment at 41%. We could not complete the match."

Ummmm if it had, i'd be lying in a tree by now

It also seems i prefer my tyres softer rather than harder, i started at about 25psi which is my norm, but felt a bit firm on the loamy stuff, took a bit out and preferred it, just checked and it's at 18.6psi... which is pretty low for me.

[Crosshair]

The GPS hates those woods.

[weeksy]

The GPS hates those woods.

Yeah at the end of the day it doesn't much matter. Even if the Status was quicker overall on a decent or two, i prefer the Trek for a much higher majority of my riding than i do the Status.

[Numnut]

Out for an early one to 'beat the heat'.

I've been riding to work at around half 6 this week and it's been lovely. Early finish today so I should be riding home at about the hottest part of the day

[irie]

So the forks are currently at Rotec Cycles getting a 150mm air-shaft installed. (approved by Trek for warranty) and we'll see how it rides with the 150s...

I upgraded the Trek Fuel EX 5 (2021) stock 140mm forks to Pike Ultimate Charger 2.1 RC2 150mm (from TFTuned) - was very nice. They're now on the Trek Rail 5 (2022) instead of the stock 160mm forks. Work very nicely with shock Megneg upgrade. I actually run a bit more sag in the shock to compensate for the lower front, works for me. Might get more pedal strikes but without being able to compare I honestly don't know.

Quoting myself, sorry!

Just bought 2021 C1 Debonair Air Spring Upgrade Kit Pike/Revelation 2018+ (160mm) About £40.

Will upgrade my Pike Ultimate forks FS-PIKE-ULT-B4 air spring and increase travel from the current 150mm to 160mm (which is the stock fork travel on my Trek Rail 5).

Seems to be a pretty straightforward upgrade.

[weeksy]

Can't go 160mm on mine according to Trek.

I did nearly buy a coil shock though

[Mr Moofo]

So the forks are currently at Rotec Cycles getting a 150mm air-shaft installed. (approved by Trek for warranty) and we'll see how it rides with the 150s...

I upgraded the Trek Fuel EX 5 (2021) stock 140mm forks to Pike Ultimate Charger 2.1 RC2 150mm (from TFTuned) - was very nice. They're now on the Trek Rail 5 (2022) instead of the stock 160mm forks. Work very nicely with shock Megneg upgrade. I actually run a bit more sag in the shock to compensate for the lower front, works for me. Might get more pedal strikes but without being able to compare I honestly don't know.

Quoting myself, sorry!

Just bought 2021 C1 Debonair Air Spring Upgrade Kit Pike/Revelation 2018+ (160mm) About £40.

Will upgrade my Pike Ultimate forks FS-PIKE-ULT-B4 air spring and increase travel from the current 150mm to 160mm (which is the stock fork travel on my Trek Rail 5).

Seems to be a pretty straightforward upgrade.

It is a piss of piss to do ...
Plenty of YouTubes about it.
If I can do it, you can ...
That said - not sure why you need 160mm unless you are riding real GNAR ...

140 mm works on all stiff of the Downs.
150mm should deal with most large jumps or drop offs

[irie]

I upgraded the Trek Fuel EX 5 (2021) stock 140mm forks to Pike Ultimate Charger 2.1 RC2 150mm (from TFTuned) - was very nice. They're now on the Trek Rail 5 (2022) instead of the stock 160mm forks. Work very nicely with shock Megneg upgrade. I actually run a bit more sag in the shock to compensate for the lower front, works for me. Might get more pedal strikes but without being able to compare I honestly don't know.

Quoting myself, sorry!

Just bought 2021 C1 Debonair Air Spring Upgrade Kit Pike/Revelation 2018+ (160mm) About £40.

Will upgrade my Pike Ultimate forks FS-PIKE-ULT-B4 air spring and increase travel from the current 150mm to 160mm (which is the stock fork travel on my Trek Rail 5).

Seems to be a pretty straightforward upgrade.

It is a piss of piss to do ...
Plenty of YouTubes about it.
If I can do it, you can ...
That said - not sure why you need 160mm unless you are riding real GNAR ...

140 mm works on all stiff of the Downs.
150mm should deal with most large jumps or drop offs

Trek Rail (alloy 2022) geo is designed around 160mm travel forks.

And yes, done it this afternoon.

[weeksy]

That said - not sure why you need 160mm unless you are riding real GNAR ...

140 mm works on all stiff of the Downs.
150mm should deal with most large jumps or drop offs

I think at times it's a confidence thing and a comfort blanket. Sticking my 140s to 150 just gives you a little sense of leeway, A little comfort blanket on some of the stuff that's closer to/outside your comfort zone. It doesn't matter that the bike was capable of it before, it's the now and the happy place you find yourself in.
It transpires i can fit a 210*55 which gives even more travel on the rear changing it from 130mm to 138mm.. Again, it could easily be argued i wouldn't 'need' it for the riding i do... but sometimes you want it even when not needing it.

However i may or may not have bought a Bomber CR for the Trek... but i'm having some buyers remorse on it now due to adding 500gr... It's only 500gr which obviously isn't much overall but it slightly changes the dynamics of the bike, what it's supposed to be and what it's supposed to do etc... So i'm not really sure now. I'm waiting to see what the seller says. It's not the end of the world financially either way.

[weeksy]

Out today and playing in the woods... it's a bit of a schelp over, but i didn't go nuts and it was quite nice.

2022-06-21_03-38-17 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

One thing the ride did show me is that on Saturday i probably went in too deep. It wasn't flat chat, but it was pretty hard intensity for a decent chunk of the ride, as i didn't stop at the main feed station i think to an extent i had a small bonk, which affected me as much mentally as physically, but sort of just killed any fun. Today was about 75% of that effort and all round it just felt a lot lot... well, nicer.

I did notice 2 minor issues...
1. My saddle is shot... it's creaky and horrible... it's now off
2. My shock is a bit slurpy in the intial part of the travel.

[Mr Moofo]

Ever since my shock came back from TF Tuned it has been slurpy - but I was assuming oil moving through restrictive apertures would do that ...

[weeksy]

Dunno, i'm sure this was silent before... but obviously when jumping/popping you always get a bit of 'something' in terms of noise..

I'm not going to lose sleep as i'm currently devising plan B with a coil shock... but that's currently in the 'maybe' stage.

[irie]

Just bought 2021 C1 Debonair Air Spring Upgrade Kit Pike/Revelation 2018+ (160mm) About £40.

Will upgrade my Pike Ultimate forks FS-PIKE-ULT-B4 air spring and increase travel from the current 150mm to 160mm (which is the stock fork travel on my Trek Rail 5).

Seems to be a pretty straightforward upgrade.

It is a piss of piss to do ...
Plenty of YouTubes about it.
If I can do it, you can ...
That said - not sure why you need 160mm unless you are riding real GNAR ...

140 mm works on all stiff of the Downs.
150mm should deal with most large jumps or drop offs

Trek Rail (alloy 2022) geo is designed around 160mm travel forks.

And yes, done it this afternoon.

Just tried it this afternoon, definitely a big upgrade on the previous air spring. Much more supple and soaked up small bumps far better. Quite surprised by the improvement tbh.