2022 Mountain Biking

[robertc3]

I now have 800 miles on my e-mtb & ride at least as hard on it if not harder. Either way, I feel I am definitely burning more calories & getting a more aerobic workout like on a road bike… just more fun .
With a little discipline I can still get the lung busting anaerobic benefits on the steep climbs especially when I’m riding with younger stronger analog riders. I even turn the motor off sometimes.



I definitely plan on selling my RipMo (a bike I luv) as it is redundant & my e-mtb does everything it does better. l am looking at getting a much lighter analog cross/down country bike.

The Transition spur is at the top of my list but unavailable right now

Transition Bikes

29 Inch Wheels / 120mm Travel / Effortlessly explore, seek, and pursue the mountain in ways you never imagined.

www.transitionbikes.com

Anyone have suggestions for something similar?

I am in the market for a downcountry bike myself and I have been watching and reading the reviews for everything I can find. The closest I have found to the Spur is the Rocky Mountain Element 2022. They are very similar in geometry, the element as a 130mm fork, but everything else is so similar except availability. You can actually find an Element in stores right now, the Spur is currently unavailable new anywhere that I can find. Transition's website says ETA September.

Pinkbike fawned all over both bikes. I think maybe they liked the Element a bit more. That could be recency bias, it could be that Pinkbike is located nearly next door to Rocky Mountain (I am leaning towards the Spur and being only an hour from Transition headquarters is a significant part of that), it could be the Element is really better. I don't think there is much difference between the two in spec or performance.

I am actually demoing the Spur on Saturday and I can get a street test ride of the Element next week at an LBS. https://99spokes.com/compare?bikes=...xo1-2022,rockymountain-element-carbon-70-2022

The other bikes in this general category for me are
Ibis Ripley
Pivot Trail 429
Specialized Epic Evo
Santa Cruz Blur TR

The Ibis and Pivot are more trail focused and the Specialized and Santa Cruz more XC focused.

 

[Andy Mink]

About 17 miles today on Peavine again with friend Jeff. We did more if the rocky, techy stuff. Several dabs and get offs due to poor rider skill . What's not too bad coming down can be pretty challenging going up!

Jeff

Say hello to my leetle fren! First rattler of the season.

 

[Philpug]

About 17 miles today on Peavine again with friend Jeff. We did more if the rocky, techy stuff. Several dabs and get offs do to poor rider skill . What's not too bad coming down can be pretty challenging going up!
View attachment 175849
Jeff

View attachment 175850
Say hello to my leetle fren! First rattler of the season.

View attachment 175851

Damn, I missed the snake??? Where was he?

 

[Andy Mink]

Damn, I missed the snake??? Where was he?

On the straight stretch coming into your favorite downhill flow line.

 

[4ster]

I am actually demoing the Spur on Saturday and I can get a street test ride of the Element next week at an LBS.

Cool . Please let us know what you find.

l did a couple of rides on the RipMo earlier this week just to see how the E-bike was effecting my fitness & l can report no ill effects, felt as strong as ever & average speeds confirmed it.

A couple of 40 miler’s both with over 4500’ vert. for me the past 2 days. Wasn’t planning on it today but yesterday’s afternoon rain made the brown pow too hard to resist…

 

[nay]

Thanks @Tom K.

I was watching reviews & comparisons this morning & except for the Top Fuel they were mostly confirming my leaning toward the Transition Spur. I have owned mostly Treks over the past 20 years so I will have to look more closely at the Top Fuel. Last time I jumped on a Fuel EX it was not comfortable. I was able to ride a Spur earlier this Summer & it just felt right

It does seem the Spur is rated tops by most..but…a lot of that is the extra downhill technical capability.

I’d be looking at the Epic Evo as well since the Spur is unobtanium focusing on as little crossover as possible.

Or I’d just give into the e-bike and forget about it, which is really the thing to do.

 

[nay]

Life is pretty busy right now, looking forward to a bit more sustained riding this fall. The exceptional monsoon does keep delivering.

 

[nay]

Some other stuff. Weird steep parallel root drops on loose kitty litter are really not my thing. Steep slickrock OTOH, is.

 

[Tom K.]

I am in the market for a downcountry bike myself and I have been watching and reading the reviews for everything I can find. The closest I have found to the Spur is the Rocky Mountain Element 2022.

Good writeup on the Element here from a guy that's been around forever:

NSMB.com - Rocky Mountain Element 70 Review

XC race? Short travel trail? The Rocky Mountain Element 70 is a carbon fiber weapon that does it all a bit differently. Just don't call it downcountry!

nsmb.com

Of the two, I'd buy the Spur. Stopwatch be damned, I want my downcountry bike's handling to have some pizzazz, not be a mini-brodozer/chunderbeast.

l did a couple of rides on the RipMo earlier this week just to see how the E-bike was effecting my fitness & l can report no I’ll effects, felt as strong as ever & average speeds confirmed it.

Now this is great to hear!

I've got a new Top Fuel coming soon, so have given myself a short mtb "time out" until then, so the desire is high upon arrival. Training for the Butte 50 used up my stoke a bit more than I realized.

Pic posting will resume in earnest at that time!

 

[4ster]

Of the two, I'd buy the Spur. Stopwatch be damned, I want my downcountry bike's handling to have some pizzazz, not be a mini-brodozer/chunderbeast.

My thoughts as well, & a couple pounds.

Now this is great to hear!

YMMV

 

[Wilhelmson]

Leisurely ride around town with my wife.

The river is dry. First time my 45 years.

 

[Andy Mink]

I managed to drag it out fairly early today and was rewarded with a not-too-hot ride. I like riding with others but sometimes it's nice to putt along on your own. Apologies to @Tony S for not getting my cables in order.

 

[robertc3]

Cool . Please let us know what you find.

My son and I both demoed the Spur on Saturday from Transition's Outpost near Bellingham and after 27 miles and 3,200' at Galbraith Mountain we both just loved it. Such a fun bike. I don't claim to be any bike reviewing expert, but I had a great day on the Spur. It climbed very well in and out of the saddle. It wasn't overly plush, it was firm to be sure, but it kept traction well. It got off the ground well on jumps and drops and barreled down some very rough and brake cratered descents with good speed. The ride mixed in many laps in the jump lines, some short climbs, a couple of nice long climbs, some techy roots and rocks going up, level, and down, flowy descents, and all the brake bumps you would expect from PNW trails that haven't seen rain in nearly two months. It felts like a great demo and for us, very representative of our everyday local conditions.

I had a couple of moments when I let it get going too fast and rolled up on obstacles for which I was not prepared, both were my issue, not the bikes. I was just having a ton of fun letting it rip up near the limit of my skill. The first time I hit the brakes so hard I actually unclipped both pedals and ended up with the stem in my stomach, but on my feet and fine. I have never had a bike stop that fast. The next one I was going too fast to stop and hit a decent drop into a minefield of a landing zone. It plowed right through the debris which was great because the only other outcome would have been me going OTB.

The rear shock was initially set with way too much sag (~40%, but it isn't even marked that high), but when I noticed it I was miles away from the shop, so I just rode for another couple of hours. It was softer than ideal under pedaling, but not terrible. I did get back and have them pump it up so I was at 30% and that was better for the climbs, but very firm. I was still using all of the travel on some jumps and drops. It didn't feel bad to use it all. It wasn't a slam into the end of the travel. I think I would settle around 32% and know that I will use all of the 120mm of rear travel every ride.

My only issue with the bike was the dropper post lever which was very hard to actuate. My thumb is actually still fatigued two days later. It is the weirdest thing to come out of a 27 mile bike ride with only a tired left thumb. If I get a Spur I will have to figure out something I can do to make the lever/dropper work more easily. I did have a ton of pedal and crank strikes. Most were early in the day. As the day wore on I figure out how to reduce the number, but this is a bike with a low BB, so some strikes are going to happen.

The Spur fits into a spectrum of short travel 29ers from most XC to most trail
Canyon Lux Trail
Santa Cruz Blur TR
Transition Spur
Santa Cruz Tallboy
Pivot Trail 429
The Pivot was the enduro version not the trail version, so that could push the Pivot closer to the Spur.

For me finding a bike that gives great all day riding and excellent descending abilities is what I am looking for. At present I can outclimb my son by enough that I would pay a weight penalty to get better downhill performance where I need the help relative to him. He will catch me on the climbs in a few years, but I will probably never catch him on the descents even with a better descending bike. Right now the Spur is the right mix for me. I don't know if a street ride of the Rocky Mountain Element will tell me all that much, but we will see. That bike is way longer and quite a bit slacker which could make technical climbs harder.

 

[4ster]

@robertc3
Thanks for the report. I have pretty much convinced myself that I probably won’t be happy with anything but the spur at this point. I will be looking for a medium X01 build.

 

[Tom K.]

The rear shock was initially set with way too much sag (~40%,

My only issue with the bike was the dropper post lever which was very hard to actuate.... I did have a ton of pedal and crank strikes.

The excessive sag and pedal strike issue are at least somewhat related.

For the dropper, I've got no personal experience, but two friends are big fans of Wolftooth's dropper lever.

With luck, I'll have my new Top Fuel by week's end. Going to be close with UPS....getting itchy!!!

 

[robertc3]

@robertc3
Thanks for the report. I have pretty much convinced myself that I probably won’t be happy with anything but the spur at this point. I will be looking for a medium X01 build.

I think you should call the Transition Outpost in Bellingham. When I talked to a couple of employees there they said that they had stock at the Outpost that wasn't listed on the website. You may be able to get one sooner that way.

 

[robertc3]

The excessive sag and pedal strike issue are at least somewhat related.

For the dropper, I've got no personal experience, but two friends are big fans of Wolftooth's dropper lever.

With luck, I'll have my new Top Fuel by week's end. Going to be close with UPS....getting itchy!!!

Definitely related issues, but reducing the sag didn't resolve the problem, just reduced it. In looking at photos of used Spurs for sale gashes on the end of the cranks is probably the most common damage. The biggest help I found was that I needed to adjust my pedal rotation just slightly going into a root or rock step up because the bike was getting to the obstacle just enough differently than my current bike that I was getting strikes when I expected my pedals to be clear of the rock. Just a bit of new bike learning.

Enjoy the Top Fuel!

 

[Rod9301]

My son and I both demoed the Spur on Saturday from Transition's Outpost near Bellingham and after 27 miles and 3,200' at Galbraith Mountain we both just loved it. Such a fun bike. I don't claim to be any bike reviewing expert, but I had a great day on the Spur. It climbed very well in and out of the saddle. It wasn't overly plush, it was firm to be sure, but it kept traction well. It got off the ground well on jumps and drops and barreled down some very rough and brake cratered descents with good speed. The ride mixed in many laps in the jump lines, some short climbs, a couple of nice long climbs, some techy roots and rocks going up, level, and down, flowy descents, and all the brake bumps you would expect from PNW trails that haven't seen rain in nearly two months. It felts like a great demo and for us, very representative of our everyday local conditions.

I had a couple of moments when I let it get going too fast and rolled up on obstacles for which I was not prepared, both were my issue, not the bikes. I was just having a ton of fun letting it rip up near the limit of my skill. The first time I hit the brakes so hard I actually unclipped both pedals and ended up with the stem in my stomach, but on my feet and fine. I have never had a bike stop that fast. The next one I was going too fast to stop and hit a decent drop into a minefield of a landing zone. It plowed right through the debris which was great because the only other outcome would have been me going OTB.

The rear shock was initially set with way too much sag (~40%, but it isn't even marked that high), but when I noticed it I was miles away from the shop, so I just rode for another couple of hours. It was softer than ideal under pedaling, but not terrible. I did get back and have them pump it up so I was at 30% and that was better for the climbs, but very firm. I was still using all of the travel on some jumps and drops. It didn't feel bad to use it all. It wasn't a slam into the end of the travel. I think I would settle around 32% and know that I will use all of the 120mm of rear travel every ride.

My only issue with the bike was the dropper post lever which was very hard to actuate. My thumb is actually still fatigued two days later. It is the weirdest thing to come out of a 27 mile bike ride with only a tired left thumb. If I get a Spur I will have to figure out something I can do to make the lever/dropper work more easily. I did have a ton of pedal and crank strikes. Most were early in the day. As the day wore on I figure out how to reduce the number, but this is a bike with a low BB, so some strikes are going to happen.

The Spur fits into a spectrum of short travel 29ers from most XC to most trail
Canyon Lux Trail
Santa Cruz Blur TR
Transition Spur
Santa Cruz Tallboy
Pivot Trail 429
The Pivot was the enduro version not the trail version, so that could push the Pivot closer to the Spur.

For me finding a bike that gives great all day riding and excellent descending abilities is what I am looking for. At present I can outclimb my son by enough that I would pay a weight penalty to get better downhill performance where I need the help relative to him. He will catch me on the climbs in a few years, but I will probably never catch him on the descents even with a better descending bike. Right now the Spur is the right mix for me. I don't know if a street ride of the Rocky Mountain Element will tell me all that much, but we will see. That bike is way longer and quite a bit slacker which could make technical climbs harder.

A slack bike will not make your technical climbs harder, and you need more travel

 

[4ster]

I think you should call the Transition Outpost in Bellingham. When I talked to a couple of employees there they said that they had stock at the Outpost that wasn't listed on the website. You may be able to get one sooner that way.

Thanks, looks like they are closed today but I found their site with contact information & will hit them up.


Yesterday’s ride had me in two different states. Beginning in California I rode up to star lake then over monument pass into Nevada.

Star Lake where I ran into 2 young women who were 40 miles & 6K’ into their Rose to Toads epic!

A really old tree (Bristle Cone?) on the way to Monument Pass

Into Nevada, Minden & Gardnerville 5000’ below. From here to Van Sickle was really tough riding. Many steep, sharp switchbacks & granite steps both up and down, definitely dabbed a few times.

Killebrew Canyon

Mott’s Lift at Heavenly

North Bowl

Stateline. I had only been on Van Sickle trail once before just before it was completed maybe 8 or 9 years ago. I remembered it as being pretty techy but after the section I just rode it seemed like an easy flow trail.

Heavenly Gondola

Fully sent & spent

 

[Tom K.]

@4ster you are covering some serious ground on that new toy!!!