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So I took the new to me Kona Private Jake out to Walnut today. Did ~11 miles, and crashed twice. I remember why I have a full suspension bike now. It was a lot of fun but I had to unlearn a lot of my lines. Windy was interesting to say the least, and severe tried to OTB me in a couple places. I need to try it with less pressure in the tires also. All in all it was a really fun day, but I prefer my Scalpel out there.

Started out with a 75mm dropper that i also never used but have changed my mind now that STs have gotten shorter and dropper travel longer. I found the dropper can really add some room to move around during the slow speed rocky trialbike riding here. Once you get to some elevation and let go of the brakes , the first thing you want to do is lower your CG. Dropper again. For exercises, I started doing squats on a wobble board a couple of years ago and it really improved not only my balance and controlling my CG, but also strength. I also incorporated a handlebar into my routine to simulate simulate being on a bike performing a manual. Looks odd at gym but no worse than the morons pushing a tire around the parking lot when its 100*.

I heard that carbon bars might not be that safe but Im not sure. Asking for a friend.

Selling my lightly used kona honzo frame size large. Frame was purchased new last year and has around a dozen or so rides on it with only very minor scuffs etc. Selling with shimano BB, 148 boost maxle and 31.6 seatpost shim only. Can also send more pics if needed and will include a barely used 34.9/125mm lev integra dropper for extra. Very hard to find frame in this size, and in this condition. Thanks

Some people never learn to appreciate drop bars, but most who don't have never ridden a drop bar bike that is set up to fit them properly.

This is why I do the various Les Mills classes. Body Pump, Combat and Attack.

The picture above of the squatting man has me thinking... I have been working on relearning how to move like that. It's an essential, normal, natural ability that most Westerner s have lost. It's very likely that I enjoyed my brief experiment with a dropper post because it caters to my specific kind of laziness and inability to move. I have to wonder how much a dropper post and other affectations of modern mountain bikes are made "necessary" by the poor health and movement of modern living. Sitting all day at a desk, in a couch, and in a car, lousy diets, overly- supportive footware, movement that is restricted to compartmentalized "exercise." I live this way too for the most part, but I am aware of it and work to limit my helplessness. Riding my bike is one of the few aspects of my lifestyle where I can choose to use or restrict my reliance of the crutches. Maybe a dropper is not a crutch, but I don't find it to add anything to my riding experience just yet. Edit- not saying that a dropper is a bad thing or that it does not make some trails and terrain a lot less treacherous and more fun, but I worry about relying on it as a crutch.

Yes, I'm definitely going to do that. I started a similar forum on my other site recently, as there had been several "Share the love..." threads over the years, some rather long. It's easier to deal with in a forum where people can start and maintain their own topics. Much easier to see what's actually available, as opposed to foraging around a thread that could potentially be over 100 pages in time.. Thanks for the suggestion, and glad you're enjoying the forum! ..Al

From what I read about it, it's locked out on smooth terrain and active when needed. I never lockout my fork or shock. Never really saw a need to.

i am signed up for spider mountian, and it will be my first enduro. i just ordered knee pads, and i'm 50/50 on the full face, sounds like its not needed, but i'm planning on going to angel fire at some point, so i might just buy one. i have the Fox Proframe on my radar.

Dont know if i will be ready to ride, but did my first training ride today and it hurt. Did about 30 road miles not including courtyard/jester/yaupon and BCGB main trail. Doing 2 of the trails each week plus one big ride 30, 35,40,45,50, 60

I prefer too much gear to not enough. Glad I had this on last year when the asshat on the gixxer hit me.

I would do it. You don't need it till you do then....your brain is fucked or you're facing dental surgery. Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Maybe cool if you're a pro trying to squeeze all you can from a fraction of a second, but for the rest of us, gimmick (like so may other things).

It's nice meeting good people, and getting a bike at the same time. Ahhh, life is good sometimes!

Yeah, I think I've decided to keep my dropper. Ideally I'd upgrade to one of the KS Lev CI models, and take comfort knowing I have the lightest dropper I can have. But they are super f*cking expensive, especially when you start looking at the ones with longer drop. So I'll just keep my cheapie Brand-X Ascend 120mm that weighs 550g for now. BUT I am SERIOUSLY considering buying an e13 TRS+ 170mm dropper in the not-so-distant future. Maximum drop, the reliability/serviceability of a SPRING, and 10g lighter than my current dropper. Again, thanks for all the replies. -cls

I use my dropper constantly, even at places like walnut. Whenever there is a long sweeping turn that i know i won't be pedaling on, I lower the dropper to lower my center of gravity. I use it for low branches, i use it in tight technical sections, i use it dozens of times each ride.