Mountain biking madness
 

So I had a blast yesterday riding about 6 hours worth of single track with some old friends. I took out the M80 for the first time since I modified it for SS duty.


We got to talking and it made me wonder some things.

There are a lot of SS options out there, but no native-FG steel MB frames? I know that for a while there, and probably somewhere on the margins of mainstream FG riding, there is a group of FGMB riders. Did they fade away because of the difficulties of running fixed longterm for singletrack, AM, etc?

I am buying my CXSS rig in May. How gnarly a SS (with some snappy switchbacks) can something like the All City Nature Boy handle? I guess this is directed at Charlie, but I thought it merited opening for input from others I might not realize are secret SSCX racers.

It's good enough for the skinny kids, but if you weigh more than 120 lbs. you really need some tire volume. The kind of singletrack I ride has a lot of rock features to contend with, and that can really play havoc on a rim that isn't supported with a large, wide tire. It's tough to manage side loads on tires with a typical CX tread as well.

hmmm, maybe this is serendipity...

i am a lifelong mountain biker & sporadically ride off-road fixed. in fact, i just got back from single-tracking at the mtb park on my "hipster mountain bike" & was going to post it in the "today i" thread, but why not here?

so what is the difference between a ss & a fg mtb? i think it may be the cog, amirite? there are plenty of steel track-end ss mtbs like monocogs, karate monkeys, later model gt peaces, se stouts, bikedirect deadeyes & more that make fine "native-FG steel MB frames". just throw a tomicog on if it has a disc hub or surly makes a variety of fixed 135mm rear hubs.

@striknein...i feel ya on the big tires & any of the above would have no problem handling what you describe. i am pretty old now & slowed down quite a bit so i like riding my skinny tire bike on the trails, it makes me feel like i am challenging myself at least a little & lemme tell ya...the place i was at this afternoon is plenty rocky. i do not hesitate to ride it anyplace i take my stout or stumpy.

@Santaria...if you are serious about fg mtbing there is a fixed thread in the ss forum on mtbr & even though it stopped quite awhile back you can still access & find lotsa good info on 63xc.com.

anyway, today i...

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...100_3883-1.jpg

The regional singletrack here, at least the front 1.5 or so miles is pretty tame. I found out yesterday that there is a hidden side route that slashes across the ravine that runs next to it. There are a series of 15-20 foot drops where you are at about 75-85 degrees from 0 into the drop with climbs back out at around 60-70 degrees. Its avoidable, and I would not see it as possible on a fixed gear MB. The immediacy of the drop would push your spin up toward the 160 RPM range almost instantly.

This isn't really rutty, just sandy with a bit of loose soil. A 29er washes out without a good tire on the front or lowering your PSI so you can get more bite on the front.

The only part that makes me hesitate on the fixed aspect of riding this particular trail is that the switch backs toward the last 2 mile section (it is about 6 miles total) are fast. You probably would do well with a 165. There are only 2-3 straight sections where you can really barrel roll someone in a race here (another story). Two years ago I rode this on my Karate Monkey and, other than not being prepared for a 6 foot climb on the back part of the more sketchy "shelf" section, it wasn't too bad.

This video sucks, but it is of the only trail here.

of course you got to be realistic...no fixed gear am, fr, downhill, slopestyle for me ;)

but like i already said, i am old & a little broken-down & have, as a consequence, finally learned that faster is not always funner. i can get my steamroller (& i do ride my stout with a tomicg sometimes as well) around a few of the mtb parks here in my locale pretty good & fg xc is a real hoot...

I hear ya. At 38, I'm not feeling like a spring chicken no more. Not the slowest guy around, but I don't have any more delusions of grandeur, mostly.

http://www.mattchester.com/

fixed mtb drops

Is it possible to tell what trails you can do this on? Or would you have to ride it first?

Basically, is there a difficulty rating or something? Only been MTBing once with a friend, walked up so many hills. Riding something like in the video above seems really fun, especially on a something like a steamroller.

For me, I already have a M80 w/ a SLX wheelset, so there is always the ability to throw it back together quickly and go geared. I'm really grooving to the idea of building up a Fixed KM now.

I'm sure I've posted this pic before, but older mountain bikes with horizontal dropouts make great conversions.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e2...k/IMG_2679.jpg