I have an SE and i love it. It pedals great even without a lockout and i don’t think i notice the lack of it. That said, i’m not exactly a big sprinty power type and am not huge at around 148 lbs; i bet if you’re a real masher and needing power for a sprint finish you might feel differently, but i find that the pedaling feels great / not mushy and is fast. Honestly feels comparable to the mushiness you get naturally from low tire pressure.
the bike is capable and can ride a lot, but to me, it’s still an XC race bike, even with the extra few mm of travel. It seems Cannondale’s version of downcountry is to make an XC race bike that is rowdier than OTHER XC race bikes, which is fine. But if you’re trying to ride trails where everyone else out there is on an Enduro sled or 160mm trail bike, you’ll notice the difference. As someone upthread mentioned, you can hone your skills to minimize your bike’s deficits–in context, of course–but there’s still the concept of a right tool for the job and that’s why these other bikes exist.
So is a ‘down country’ bike like an epic evo a decent compromise for a 1 MTB stable? Local trails are pretty tight and twisty but I’m wanting to do 100 mile events like Austin Rattler, Leadville, etc.
I’m really looking forward to seeing how much different a TF is from my FEX I think my buddy is going for the TF after all so I’ll ride his and see, specifically on this one segment which I’ve been targeting, a 1.75mi flowy trail with some technical features and some berms and some optional jumps and tight spots and open spots, it’s really a great mix of stuff. I only have Strava to judge as I don’t race but I’m very happy with where the FEX 140/130mm has me compared to others, 36/4021, but the guys in the top 10 are worlds ahead of me and while I still have a lot to learn skill wise (I’ve had this new MTB a year or so and only ridden 300-400 miles of the 7000+ I did last year indoors and out) I do think that a more race focused bike could bridge that gap, IF I had the skill to match. Granted my FEX has the geometry of the FEX but without the heavier 36 fork and 2.6” tires it normally has, ive nicknamed it the Top Fuel EX being a blend of both bikes but still lacks the shorter travel and snap of the TF
At the end of the day, threads like this and articles about new bikes make me question whether I have the right machine, but as corny as it sounds when I ride the thing I realize it’s just perfect. Wish we had a trail bike thread but that’s not really fitting in with the racer crowd here but it’s nice to mingle with the XC guys since I feel like I fall more into that category anyway, even though I don’t race and have the wrong bike, but I still wear tights so it’s OK
Out of curiosity, how often do you use the full 140/130mm travel on your TFEX?
I’d be interested to ride some more of the down country bikes, I am interested in how responsive/supportive some of the 120mm bikes tuned are. For example, I tried a Trance (not down country but not heaps of travel) and it was tuned very much more towards squish than support. I’d love to try the Spark RC with the 120mm XC tuned suspension. I think for my riding it’d be faster for pedaling/racing, but I’d be less confident descending black trails.
Rear pretty frequently go up to 95% but never had the sag ring fall off yet, front never. I think I asked about the shockwiz here for that reason. I’ve used 80% or so at most up front. At the same time my front end doesn’t feel super squishy and rather supportive so maybe it’s on the more XC side of trail or I just have it set up really wrong lol it’s a 2018 Fox 34 Performance
The last time I did a ride on those flow trails I probably only used 70% of the travel because I was just keeping a smooth flow and not really trying to jump and jumps or anything, at most I was pushing hard through the pump track secrion
With th Evo’s flip chip in the high position. it will put the head angle at 67 with 120mm travel up front & 110 travel in the rear. The bike is long, though. My gf has one & it’s about maybe 2 inches longer than my Oiz TR. I prefer the Oiz in tight new england singletrack but take into account that I cut my teeth on bikes with much slacker seat tube & much steeper head tube angles. OTB incidents were a regular occurrence, especially with 26" wheels.
Haha, yeah my first “real” MTB was a ~2002 Giant XTC that was a size too small. I spent much time picking myself up after going OTB when the descents got steeper .
Changing front chainring one up or down you don’t normally need to change your chain length and can often get away with it. Just try it and see, it may have been on the longer side anyways.
I went with a Top Fuel over the FEX because it weighs a lot less. Like 4lbs less at the top component level. It’s a great climber. While I don’t have as much suspension for drops and jumps, I find that in reality, I only really imagine myself getting big air. I don’t fly near as far off those jumps in real life as I do in my mind, so it turns out the suspension hasn’t been a big deal. TF definitely a much faster bike on all but real rough steep descents perhaps.
Sounds right. Yea I’m really curious to try the TF out, my FEX is 27lbs at the AXS level with a low end crank, could likely get that down to 2lbs difference if I went to a carbon one. Maybe I should avoid riding the TF since I won’t go through swapping bikes anyway and if I don’t ride it I won’t know what I’m missing and have no regret.
I wonder how much of the speed difference comes from tires and how much from geometry and position. I have a hard time keeping the front end down on some very steep climbs but I only ride very steep stuff very rarely, and some of that may have to do with the 51mm offset fork putting the front wheel further forward too. I did see my average speeds jump a bit when I swapped my rear only XR4 for an XR3. I guess I can’t make up for short travel geometry but I think I’ve bridged the gap a bit in weight, hence my “Top Fuel EX” monicker.
Wish there were some locals here to ride with you guys seem like you’d push me in a good way
In my experience it’s the suspension tune/squish that makes the biggest difference. The weight of bike, wheels, and tyres is definitely noticeable, but to me secondary.
Maybe its good that I’m now blowing through travel on my more XC style rides where I just focus on smooth speed and not style or fun (but it’s always fun)
$4500 for the frame set. Seems like a value when compared to something like a Dogma frame. Seems like a tough sell for most MTBers, but obviously they won’t be able to meet demand so what do I know. Way past my budget but I still sent an inquiry to my dealer, why not! Looks beautiful.
I’m feeling buyers remorse for the Santa Cruz Blur that I have on order but no idea when it’s coming! That’s a bad sign…I clearly need professional help…Or a higher paying job…
Curious about the TREK Supercaliber it seemed to get a lot of hype when it was announced and now most things I read are kind of meh. What’s the deal with the Supercaliber?
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. Not my taste, but I can definitely see it’s appeal to those that love the DW suspension/Ibis brand!
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