Month: August 2023

W/ Superdeluxe Air off the Wrecker and the DT Swiss Alloy XM1700 wheels

Swapped the shocks from the two long travel bikes. 1st thing I noticed was the Incredible quality of the Arrival’s linkage and shock mount hardware. The alignment of the linkage was fucking perfect. This contrasts sharply with the absolute crap alignment that Evils have.. installing the air shock took Zero effort. Installing the coil into the Wrecker took me like 10 minutes of fumbling and torquing things into a semblance of alignment before bolts would thread…

Jumping onto the Arrival with the air shock bolted on was refreshing. It felt great right away bouncing around in the driveway. At the old Wrecker settings the rebound felt slow and the sag was just about 25%. Seemingly… (I think this is how that works) the leverage ratio of the Arrival at top-out is lower than the Wrecker’s. I reduced rebound by 2 (faster) before it felt about right. Mental note made that clickers will maybe be one less or so for HSC and LSC.

So in the excitement to go ride I forgot to bring my shock pump so all the day’s testing was done at Wrecker pressure which is a tick too high. Sag at 25%. I wasnt too bummed to ride at 25% sag because it was to give me a feel for best climbing performance..

The initial climb was done with the compression settings as I had them for the Wrecker. -1 from center for each and the experience was not as good as I had hoped. The shock bobs a lot just from chain tension at that sag point. Clearly the anti-squat is at or below 100% at this position, disappointing for sure but more evidence of why the bike feels sluggish out of corners and jumps a bit lazily compared to my other bikes. I kept thinking to myself on the climb that this was basically a much higher quality and better looking Transition Spire. (Quality alone is worth it!)

Downhill this bike totally came to life for me, finally! Cinderella trail felt normal again. This bike felt settled and controllable even in the worst dry loose conditions this trail has ever seen. It felt as fast as it did last time out but now I could manage the front wheel and brake where I wanted. With the coil shock everything felt vague and sloppy up front. Today I was able to do whatever I wanted with no surprising wandering off my line. All likely due to the increased mid-stroke support.

One more DH test was run with an added LSC click and holy smokes! everything went calm. The bike went settled. Everything felt as fast as ever but my eyes…it felt like I had put some glasses on that let me see further down the trail and brought everything into better focus. .

Backing up to the 2nd time Uphill…climbing with the added LSC click was much more settled as well. It still felt less efficient than the Wrecker (and totally out of the league of the Tyee) but it was very pleasant. I thoroughly enjoyed it with these settings.

So.. next test I’ll bring the shock pump and run at 30% sag. I might need one more volume spacer (currently 1 installed).

This bike is going to be as I’d imagined but for a little less anti-squat than I’d prefer. Still this “lower than my imagined ideal anti-squat” might prove itself to be a plus for actual downhills. I’ve just been testing on relatively flat, while tricky, terrain.

Also,

I’m thinking that I should try a 30t chainring to increase the anti-squat. If I do that it will be part of a larger drivetrain swap to non-electric stuff with actual levers. Probably will save a pound too..going to old Gx and carbon cranks. (Rear XO transmission derailleur is 200g heavier than the old cable GX)

JMP on Alloy wheels

Swapped to DT1700 wheels off the Pivot. Immediately felt the difference.. even before leaving the parking lot. Immediate.

These wheels made the ride much softer. Bike feels wigglier during awkward uphill maneuvers. More so than the Wrecker. About on par with the much flexier framed Tyee, possibly due to the higher BB and lower anti-squat. Oh also it cold be the slack HTA and the floopy feel of the front.

I realized on this ride that the bike feels draggy. It’s sucking energy while pedaling. Not sure if it’s the lower anti-squat of the linkage, the lack of support from the rear shock, or the “transmission” drivetrain. It definitely is not as energetic feeling as either the Evil or the Propain.

Even with the draggy feel it climbs decently. The longer chainstay seems to help it stay pointed against the floppy front. Overall though I prefer more anti-squat at the sag point. This bike feels a little lethargic still. We’ll see how it feels with the air shock next time.

Downhill

Decided to ride Cinderella instead of Chaparral. Seemed safer.

Ended up feeling quite Normal. The wheels gave me the feel/traction I like and need. The brakes bed in and were great.

Shock settings remained at the neutral setting for both compression clickers. I ran two descents to test two rebound settings. I also toyed with a 1/3 turn of shock preload.

The bike feels long, and feels fast because of it. But it doesn’t rally with energy the way the Propain (my other long bike) does. It’s much more relaxed mid corner. The relaxed feel continues at corner exit too, with the initial pedal mash giving less acceleration than you’d get from either the Propain or the Evil. Not boring.. but not exciting either. Kind of Plain Jane.

Jumps were… you guessed it not exciting. Again it feels like it’s the low Anti-squat, or the shape of that curve…low energy from my feet. The rear of the bike still drags behind the front even when I reduced the rebound to feel much too fast everywhere else.(When I upped the HSC to position 4 of 5 for a short run on Skymiller trail it helped.. will have to try more trails with this setting if the air shock tests leave me wanting more…)

So, the bike is ridable now but I feel like there’s more to unlock. And also I need steeper faster trails to test it on.

Oh also.. I think I finally have a sense for Anti-rise in the linkage kinematics. This bike pitches forward when entering a corner in a way my other bikes do not. Its almost aggressive the way the rear extends. It’s possible that my riding positioning exaggerates rear lift but I think it’ll take some time to get used to. Not sure if I’lll be able to go between Evil and WR1 super quickly…

Clickers:

Reb: 9 in from full out

HSC and LSC at Centers

Annotated one day later…

Short ride in Joaquin Miller. Really shitty dusty and loose conditions.

Fork pressure at my Wreckoning preferred pressure of 62psi. Tires at 23psi.

Rear shock with – tad less than 30%sag on 375lb spring. Minimum preload.

Initial Climb:

The bike feels poppy and lively. Climbs well.. something between the Wrecker and the Propain. Hangs up slight more than Wrecker, bobs less than Wrecker. Not quite as energetic as the Tyee.

Jibbing and poping this bike are easy. Feels good punching around on flat trail.

The carbon wheels are noticeable. Standing to sprint I can feel their lateral stiffness. Even seated I think I can feel them.

Seated position feels Very normal. 40mm stem, bars at about saddle height. (Lower than I usually run)

Downhill:

I dont feel bucked my antisquat, thankfully. But it’s almost more the opposite. I might feel like the antisquat drops off too fast.

Initially I felt way too deep in rear travel. Clickers at (from center) -1 HSC, -1 LSC. Rebound…? Need to check.

After clicking the Comp clickers and retesting a couple of times on a short section of rocky DH… HSC at 0, LSC still at -1.

The coil does not support me well enough. Mid stroke is dead. Front get really vague way to quickly.

I don’t think this will be remedied with a progressive spring. I don’t know how anyone rides this bike with this shock. It’s pretty terrible.

Longer DH test on Chaparral

Fucking scary descent. Brakes not bed in enough and the lack of feel from the wheels and vague steering made for a thoroughly crap experience.

Other notes

• Compared to every 1st ride on all my Evils this is bad, if the Wrecker got a A grade this is a C-. Even compared to the 1st ride on the Propain this ride was bad. The only thing that impressed me so far about the ride/ride quality is the jibbing.

• Rear of bike is noisy in a hollow sound. May just be the carbon. Hopefully alloy rims quiet it down. It’s bad.

• I have zero feel for losing the front traction. Alloy rims will probably help me with this. Next test will be with XM1700 wheels off the Pivot.

• I feel awfully slow and shitty today. Partly the dirt. Partly the bike.

• Gotta go to an air shock. But not until the alloy wheels test.

• New Sram Transmission stuff works flawlessly. Super quiet and quick. But I don’t care for the buttons or the batteries or the extra cost and extra weight. Probably will swap it all over to the ebike and install GX stuff on the Arrival if I keep it.

Summary:

Need to test with alloy wheels. And then again with alloy wheels and the air shock off the Wrecker. Might be great that way…. For now it’s a bike for someone else, possibly someone that cares more about how things look than how they feel.