Within minutes after we arrived from Seattle in tiny Oakridge OR for five days of mountain biking, it began to pour down rain.

Hey, don’t blame us. Yes we came from the Rain City. But is that a bad thing? Everywhere we go, they seem to want rain.

Whatever the case, no amount of wet was going to dampen this trip. Over the years we’ve ridden most everything Oregon has to offer. The ABCs: Ashland, Bend, Cannon Beach. The epics: North Umpqua River Trail, McKenzie River Trail. Even Portland. What there is, at least.

But never Oakridge. Its reputation as a mountain biking destination had kept growing, pushing it to the top of our most-wanted list. But one thing or another got in the way.

So here we were, watching the angry storm clouds roll in, wondering if fate, after all this time, was playing us a dirty trick. All this buildup, only to get rained out?

No worries, they told us. The trails were so thirsty we’d be lucky to tell if it even rained.

Oakridge Oregon. Population 3,300. Looking around, you’d think this is the home town of the Oak Ridge Boys. You know, the country-western group. From, as it turns out, Tennessee. I expected Elvira herself to come bopping down main street any time.

But no. This Oakridge is a former logging town that looks a bit worn around the edges. Mountain biking is the biggest thing it has going for it. When you say that about a town, any town, you know it’s not going to make Zagat’s.

“How many stoplights do you have in Seattle?” the bike shop guy at Willamette Mountain Mercantile asked when I called for directions to his store.

I said I didn’t know exactly, but it was probably pushing six figures.

“We’ve got one. On the main drag. And our shop is just beyond it. You can’t miss it.”

Now, parked right near the stoplight, I’m thinking it’s a mystery why they have even one. This is not meant to be snarky. If this intersection was in Seattle, it wouldn’t rate a stoplight.

But if they didn’t have a stoplight, maybe people wouldn’t stop at all in Oakridge. As it is, locals expressed surprise that we were staying a few days.

“Most folks just stop for the day on the way to Bend,” one confessed.

We really wanted to like this place. Coming from the big city, we saw huge potential. At every turn — and there aren’t that many — Jim and I wondered why the town braintrust hadn’t fixed up this or renovated that.

So much could be done. Get some marketing minds in here, raise some investment capital there.

Put in some signage so folks don’t miss the “other” downtown a couple of blocks off the main highway. (There actually is a signage plan in place, we were told. It’s just that no one had gotten around to implementing it.)

Get some specialty shops. A clothing store, a fusion restaurant. A night club. Get some music going, jumpstart some night life.

Change the name of the world class bike shop from Willamette Mountain Mercantile to oh, say, something like Oakridge Bike Shop. (In fairness, it shows up that way in Google.)

Combine the parks concerts hardly anyone shows up for with the hugely popular Mountain Bike Oregon gatherings. The beer garden revenue alone would fatten town coffers enough for at least a decent sign post or two.

Oakridge, we agreed, needed big ideas. Vision. Development. Infrastructure.

But while we were feeling sorry for Oakridge, while we were busy fixing it, something happened.

Over the next few days, as we rode the epic trails and enjoyed the pub grub and chatted up the locals, we noticed something.

People seemed happy. They liked it here. Most of them had lived in Oakridge for some time. They’d come, they’d stayed. There had to be a reason.

They were perfectly aware of Oakridge’s “opportunities.” They knew it could improve in oh so many ways. But you know what? As it was, things weren’t so bad.

Gradually we city dwellers saw what they meant. Oakridge began to grow on us. People weren’t hunkered over their iPhones and laptops all the time. They took time to say hello, sit down and talk.
We realized that half the trails could be ridden right from town. For the rest, having a local shuttle always on the ready was not too shabby.

Downscale was showing its upside. We could almost see cashing out in the Big City and buying a house here. $50-$60k would get you a pretty good place, we were told.

By the time we said goodbye to Oakridge four days later, our big ideas were shrinking fast. Within three hours we were sitting on I-205 in a massive traffic jam outside of Portland, thinking about how we’d hardly ever even been behind a single car in Oakridge. By the time we got home to Seattle a traffic-delayed seven and a half hours later, we were ready to turn around and go back.

In Seattle, people were rushing everywhere. At every turn — and Seattle never runs out of turns — there were lines of busy people looking pretty beaten up. Or sad. Or crazy angry.

When we thought of Oakridge, the John Lennon lyric kept ringing through our head: “Everybody seems to think I’m lazy. I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy. Running everywhere at such a speed. Till they find, there’s no need…”

Yes, things could be bigger and better in Oakridge. It has only one of the things big cities have lots of. A bakery. A library. A pub. A breakfast cafe. A Mexican restaurant, a hamburger joint. A bike shop.

A stoplight.

But it’s got lots of things big cities don’t. And that’s probably what’s keeping it the way it is.

The post The Truth About Oakridge OR appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

It was everywhere. Shoes, helmets, wheels, clothing. Even Brian Lopes was riding it on a bike.

Orange. We used to snicker at orange stuff. The first orange bike we remember seeing was from a British company. Named Orange Bikes.

Yowch, it hurt our eyes. The only good thing we could think was, at least the hunters won’t have an excuse for confusing us with deer.

At Sea Otter, we began to wonder if there was anything new that wasn’t orange. Helmets, grips, shorts, shoes, saddles, stems.

You wouldn’t find this much orange at a prison roll call.

Then, recently our best riding buddy got an orange Rocky Mountain Instinct. And we have to admit, it grew on us.

Kind of like green mold. Only orange.

We’ve evolved to the point where we actually like orange on bikes. In moderation.

We’re not ready to call orange the new black. But maybe it’s the new gold. Suitable for highlights, judicious bi-coloring, whatever. Spacers, pedal caps, hubs.

At least it isn’t as bad as last year’s dominant color: aqua. Now that we just couldn’t take.

The post Sea Otter Classic 2015: Orange is the new black appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

We’ve been riding (and walking) the Xanada Trail outside of Leavenworth WA for several years now and been fascinated by its progression. But it’s been pretty much a Pacific Northwest secret.

Now a couple of videos have surfaced to give Xana its du.

The first head-turner came from Evil Bikes’ Luke Strobel and Lars Sternberg. These guys are pros, so you’d be advised not to try this at home. Especially at their speed. Or if you’re a first timer to the trail.

That said, Xanadu isn’t quite as hairball as their video makes it out to be (@2:20 to 3:20). When my wife saw it she made me swear I’d never ride the thing. I did but had my spokes crossed the entire time.

Don’t forget, you can always get off and walk.

A more representative video for the typical rider just got posted. It’s not only a spectacular video for any mtb ride, it captures Xanadu better than any I’ve seen. An expert rider and videographer, Coby Trudell, took a lot of trouble to do this, as anyone who understands solo ride documentation will immediately appreciate.

Anyway, the purpose here is to introduce and stoke folks to ride Xanadu, a jewel of Northwest biking.

ONE LAP – Lars Sternberg & Luke Strobel, Xanadu on Vital MTB

The post Xanadu: Mountain biking’s stately pleasure dome appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

But now that the hoopla is dying down, it’s time for some perspective. To move from “It’s great!” to “It’s great, but…”

Yes it’s great to have new trails. For years, nay decades, it’s been impossible to build new mtb trails. Too much hiker opposition, not enough money, too little political clout.

But now we’re in the midst of a trail building explosion. Just about every nook and cranny of the US has something going on, with lots of community support.

In reality, there’s really only one new trail being built. Over and over, everywhere.

That trail is fast and flowy. It’s steep and wide and highly bermed, with launches and doubles and jumps and tabletops. It’s incredibly fun, too… as long as it lasts.

The Flow Trail is the perfect example. It’s 4 miles down and takes around 15 minutes to do, if that. It’s essentially a bike park trail not in a bike park.

If there were lifts or a shuttle, it would be more repeatable. But so far there aren’t, and few riders have enough in the tank to do multiple runs of the Flow Trail on the same visit. By the time you climb back up on steep fire roads, you’re fried.

Plus it’s one-way-only. This is a real downer, as a new trail really should be two new trails, because riding up and riding down are two different experiences.

In any case, while we all love flow, it’s just one component of trail joy. And here’s where the Flow and other new trails seem to be missing the boat.

Classic mountain bike trails — converted hiking trails, really — have their limitations, but monoculture or homogeneity isn’t one of them. Packed with switchbacks, loose rock, steep climbs, natural obstacles, twisty descents, loamy cush, river crossings, you name it, they offer constant challenges, skilz tests, variety and scenery.

Granted, the one thing they typically don’t have is flow. But there’s so much else going on, you don’t miss it.

I like going fast as much as the next rider. But I also like picking new lines, riding up as well as down, being tested by natural terrain and being able to ride all day without repeating myself.

New trails ought to offer the opportunity for glorious hybrids. From early descriptions I thought the Flow Trail would have, in addition to flow, a lot less quick elevation loss, a lot more length and variety. Maybe even some climbing. Prolong the ride, give it texture, make it interesting.

Instead we got The Flowtobahn. A freeway.

Flowtobahns have their place. But my question to IMBA (to which I belong), to local clubs (I’m a member of 3) and to trail builders (I volunteer when I can) everywhere is, does every new trail have to be a freeway?

How about bringing back the kind of trail we all learned on and learned to love? You know — singletrack.

The post The New Soquel Demo Flow Trail: A contrarian view appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

Which is a good thing. With bikes like these going for $6,000 to $10,000 or more, you kinda wanna get a feel for how they ride before you buy.

But there is an art to the demo. And a respect as well.

The first thing to remember is keep it as short as possible. Others are waiting in line. This obviously doesn’t apply to demos where you’re paying for the privilege, but in most cases you’ll be much appreciated for consideration of the next rider.

Don’t be surprised, though, if demo bikes aren’t all new and shiny. A lot of the time they’re kinda beat up. Face it, there’s not much down time for fixing, refurbing, replacing. When they’re not being ridden, they’re being transported in a truck somewhere.

As a result, over time the bike’s parts and performance really suffer. Shocks lose the butter and become hard to tune. Tires go bald. Pivots start creaking.

It’s a shame, because ideally, demo bikes should all be top-of-the-line, brand new, totally pimped out rides.

Think about it: You ride a $10,000 demo bike, you’re going to be blown away no matter what its idiosyncrasies. You’re going to want one. And if that means going for the $3,500 “special blend” instead of the one you rode, then that’s OK. Because it’ll always be in your mind that you can upgrade or tweak the bike to ride like the demo.

Instead, demo bikes often get the cheap builds. I guess I can see why: They’re cheaper if they get trashed or broken. But it’s counterproductive in the long run.

If you demo a TOL carbon frame with cheap components, and it’s been pounded on for a few weeks, my experience is that bike is not going to impress.

I had a sobering reminder of all this when demo’ing Ibis’ new HD3 three times over the space of a few weeks. Yeah, I know: I’m lucky. I live less than two miles from Ibis headquarters.

My first ride just blew me away. Everything was new, of course, and worked the way new stuff does. Wow, I could climb and rail my favorite haunts like never before. The tires were grippy. The shocks were plush. The drivetrain shifted like a Ferrari.

Four or five weeks later, the same bike wasn’t so rockin’. Everything was pretty worn in, or worn out. You can’t make an HD3 ride bad, but compared to a brand new HD3, this bike was a hurtin’ puppy. Put it next to a newly outfitted competitor like the Mach 6, say, or Intense T275c, and it would suffer by comparison.

All I’m saying is that when demo’ing, try to get a well-maintained bike. And if you can’t, take into account the wear factor. Cut the bike some slack if it’s a bit trashed. It’d be a better ride if it was yours.

You’re also going to want a demo to-do list. Because you can’t, or at least I can’t, keep all the pointers in mind when I prep the demo.

I put together the checklist after discovering there’s a big difference between just riding a bike, and riding a bike as if it were your own. In the former instance, you hop on and take off. You might make adjustments during the ride, but probably not. You basically just want to ride! So you ignore things that on your own bike would drive you nuts.

If you’re serious about buying the bike, though, you’ll want to take care of the tweaks before leaving the demo pit. Here’s some things to look at:

1. Sizing. Make sure you get the right size. Figuring that out is not as easy as it used to be because the new enduro-influenced breed, with its stretched top tubes, steep seat and slack head angles, and short chain stays all mean a former M may be an L and an L may be XL. You’ll be assigned a certain bike size based on your height, but that’s no longer the best rule of thumb. Instead, you need to sit on the bike and figure out what feels comfortable.

2. Shock sag. They’ll set it by your weight, but again, your preferences may vary. Give it the lean-and-push test to dial the sag where you want it. (This admittedly might take a bit of riding to figure out, though.) Good demo staff will get the sag set up right before you take off.

3. Tire pressure. Again, check to match your preference. Most demo bikes are pumped up way too hard.

4. Saddle fiddling. Height adjustment isn’t a biggie any more because of droppable seat posts. But position and tilt of the saddle is. This again can make a huge difference in the enduro platform. I’ve gotten bikes (especially Pivots, due to laid-back seat angle) where the saddle is slammed all the way forward. Or tilted slightly upward. Other times the saddle is pushed back and the nose tilted down. I myself like a level saddle centered on the post, where possible, because it makes apples-to-apples comparison easier for other bike geometries. This adjustment is especially key because if you get out on the ride without the right wrenches, you won’t be able to make any tweaks and your demo quality will suffer.

The other thing to check is nose alignment with the stem. I’m always amazed at how far out of line the saddle can be on a demo bike. And a few degrees can really throw off the bike’s ride feel.

5. Brakes. Check to make sure they’re adjusted properly, and there’s no rotor drag.

6. A way to record your experience. For referencing, you’ll want to make a record of component brands and stats, like width and style of handlebars, length and rise of stem, brand and model of suspension, etc. etc. I enter them into a list on my iPhone, but speaking them into the phone mic also works, or just use pencil and paper.

7. One additional way of keeping a record is to take along your GoPro or helmet cam and speak into it as you ride, a running real-time record of your impressions. Kinda geeky I know, but I’ve found it useful not only for documenting but also for on-the-bike reviews at my blog.

For all the above reasons, it’s handy to take the following equipment along on a demo:

Allen wrenches
Shock pump
Tire pump
Smart phone
Camera/action cam

Along with your other usual gear of course.

It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, the most important facet of the demo is the ride itself. Be sure to stretch the bike, take it challenging places, do interesting things. Most of all, have fun! If the demo bike isn’t more fun than riding your own bike, after all, you’ve wasted your and the bike maker’s time.

The post The Art of the Mountain Bike Demo appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

Each year, Sea Otter marks the de facto coming out party for bike debutantes, from lightweight accessories to trendy builds. That’s why we like to go early. You can see all the new stuff, talk to the vendors, and get a feel for where the industry is headed.

We don’t have any crystal balls around here. But that doesn’t stop us from using our imaginations to conjure up what we’d like to see at Sea Otter 2015, running from April 16 through 19 at the spacious Laguna Seca grounds near Monterey. Here’s our Top 10 wish list:

1. Wide-rim tires. Wide and super wide carbon rims are all the rage, with good reason. They’re stiffer. They offer lower psi for better cornering, climbing and overall traction. They’re more stable and predictable . They look cool. The only problem comes with the tires. Their knob patterns weren’t designed for low pressure and squashed profiles. We’re sure hoping to see a new category of wide-specific tires from leading manufacturers like Schwalbe, Maxxis, Continental and Specialized. Who knows, maybe one of the lesser known brands or even a startup might debut something cool.

2. Customizable Fox rear shock. Fox is being left in the innovative dust by RockShox and Cane Creek, and X-Fusion is coming on strong as a like-for-like competitor. We expect a resounding Fox answer to the DB Inline’s and Monarch DebonAir’s fine-tune capabilities.

3. Longer, lower, slacker 29ers. A huge boost from BIKE magazine’s annual Bible of Tests put Evil’s new Following 29er at the top of the forum buzz list. Early adopters are raving about The Following’s go-big performance characteristics, bringing enduro and even bike park handling to the big hoops. Seattle-based Evil isn’t listed among exhibitors (as of this writing) but we’re hoping it will still have some presence at Otter. Given the ungodly demand, it may be asking too much for bikes in a demo pit, but failing that, at least a Following or two to ogle and drool over.

4. A Santa Cruz Bicycles reboot. It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since Santa Cruz rocked Otter with the amazingly lightweight, fast, and cool-looking carbon Bronson. It was the bike that lit the fire on 27.5, which today is fast becoming the dominant mountain bike platform. But two whole years in the bike biz, coupled with advances in geometry and shock tech since then, has the Bronson looking a bit long in tooth. Santa Cruz needs an answer to Ibis’ hot new HD3, and a Bronson update seems like the logical path — as would, on the 29er side, a Tallboy refresh. For that matter, the 5010 may get a goose. Or equivalents — Santa Cruz sometimes just comes out with a whole new bike rather than a 2.0 or 3.0.

5. Something big from SRAM. There are a number of possibilities here, and as a Presenting Sponsor SRAM will have huge presence at Otter. Here’s what we’re thinking: Entries into the super-wide carbon wheel category, where SRAM is noticeably absent; a direct-mount chainring setup similar to Race Face’s Cinch technology; a lighter, hollow carbon crankset update of its XX and XO cranks, again in response to Race Face’s Next SL. And SRAM could have something completely new up its sleeve, too. One to watch for sure.

6. Ripley 2. There’s no fanboys like Ibis fanboys, and we’ve been agitating for a longer, lower, slacker Ripley for some time. Like, say, The Following. With Ibis scrambling to fill HD3 backlogs, a Ripley upgrade might not be in the cards. But we’re blue-skying here and would love to see such a thing.

7. Boost 148 axle/hubs. The rapid adoption of 27.5, coupled with continued popularity of 29ers, has the hub folks all in a lather to widen and stiffen axles. Trek already is offering this wider standard, and Industry 9 has a set as well. This one’s a bit controversial, as it poses numerous thorny implications for bike design overall. I mean, I already rub the chain stays too much. But we’re eager to see and maybe even demo the stuff up close.

8. Hemp clothing. Hemp is wool without the pain. You can re-wear it without washing (till it stands upright on its own!), it’s more durable than wool, it’s cheaper and it offers the same insulating qualities (warm in cold weather, cool in hot weather) without getting clammy from sweat. Most of all, it’s a natural fiber. We went over to wool a few seasons back and have dumped all our synthetics. Most cycling garb still is predominantly polyester and we’d love to see hemp get into the bike clothing game.

9. POV camera mounts/selfie help. While we still enjoy mtb videos, minute after minute of a bouncing noodle of dirt has gotten old. We’ll be looking for innovations in camera mounts like the rear axle mount we’ve seen on some recent vids. But what’s really coming on strong is multiple-camera selfies. Multiple cameras allow side shots, trail-level action and other points of view to augment the on-bike footage. (Sure you can use the same camera for different POV but that’s more time and trouble, and we’ve got 3 cams sitting around anyway.) GoPro’s booth is always buzzing at Sea Otter and we’ll be looking for the latest gizmos there. Keep an eye out for drones. We love those overhead shots of mtb crickets bouncing along the landscape!

10. The Unexpected. We can’t imagine what else might turn up in the aisles. But we love surprises and figure the Sea Otter Classic is the place you can most expect the unexpected. See ya there!

The post 10 New Exciting Things We Hope for Sea Otter Classic 2015 appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

The courage to ride what I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

(Apologies to Reinhold Niebuhr.)

The post Mountain Biker’s Prayer appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

It was a kind of greenish blue. Close to cyan on the digital color chart. Not a bad color for baby pajamas. Or a kitchen bowl set. Come to think of it, Apple had an iMac in the exact same shade. Somehow it didn’t make the transition to the MacBook or iPhone.

But aqua on a mountain bike??

There was lots of snark on the forums at first. Then some guys said oh well, the bike is too good to pass up on the basis of color alone. Santa Cruz quickly added a stealth black option to the Nomad color palette. And it quit calling the color aqua, substituting “turquoise” instead.

OK, we thought. An aberration, whatever you call it. Time to move on.

Then Yeti issued its hot new carbon frames, the SB5 and SB6, in what it called turquoise.

Not to be outdone, Ibis came out with its long-awaited Mojo HD3 in turquoise. Only it didn’t call it turquoise. It called it “blue.”

I guess it’s blue. It’s blue like, say, baby poop is green.

But what exactly is this? Why all these boutique, high-end, custom bikes going for this arguably atrocious color scheme?

Now there is precedent. A color called aquamarine has showed up on Porsches.

And Harleys.

But there’s a reason you don’t see a lot of them around. Or anything else in “aqua.”

It’s just not a great color.

We think maybe the Taiwanese carbon factory where most of these bikes get made scored a great deal on some surplus aqua paint somewhere. Maybe from the US Navy. Or a Japanese toy company.

So what the hey, Ibis and Santa Cruz and Yeti and who knows how many other suckers to come said OK — no doubt in order to keep their $2,999 bike frames “affordable.” (Actually, the Yetis are in the $3,400 range. But still a bargain!)

Fair enough.

We’re patient. We can wait till next year’s models come out.

We bet they won’t be offered in aqua.

The only problem is, as a result they’ll probably cost more.

The post Mountain Biking’s Aqua Conspiracy appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

Here’s why:

The “fattie” rims are catching on. I ride around Santa Cruz, and they’re on virtually all the new bikes folks are riding, from not only Ibis but Santa Cruz, Intense, Yeti and others.

The issue being this: Existing tires are made for narrower rims.

Fattie rims allow lower air pressure for greater traction. But they spread the tires out. This increases traction simply from greater tire footprint. But the tread pattern on traditional tires doesn’t typically match up to the fatter, flatter profile of the tire.

The workaround so far has been, choose a tire with a round rather than square, or aggressively side-knobbed, tread pattern. The typical choice for winter (wet, muddy, soft-surface) riding has been the Maxxis High Roller IIs or Minion DHFs.

They’re stout tires with burly side casings that work well for navigating the slop. But they won’t be the first choice for spring and summer riding once things dry out.

The small-block tires, Maxxis Ikons, Schwalbe Racing Ralphs, Kenda Small Block 8s, have a round profile. And their shallower tread is great for ripping the berms in summertime.

But they have flimsier sidewalls that tend to flop under low pressure. You have to air them up to keep them stable at speed on berms and corners.

That’s why we’re guessing the tire industry will come up with new lines for the super-wide carbon rims. And Sea Otter 2015 seems the perfect place to roll them out.

We’ll be there, and watching…

The post Sea Otter Classic 2015: Wide tire watch appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.

It makes sense. Non-riders have no clue what to give us, especially since riders are (according to the poll) simply going to give themselves the presents they really want.

What to give the mountain biker who has everything? Nothing! He’s or she’s already given it to themselves!

But it raises the question: Just how merry is your Christmas this year? (Assuming you’re not trying to keep it a surprise for Christmas morning…)

I admit to the following (so far):

Ibis 941 wheelset
NNic/RaRa tire set
Endura Singletrack shorts
Camelbak Volt pack
Titan bike stand
Park tools: chain whip, 8mm allen, chain wear gauge
Topeak digital psi gauge
Set of 10 presta replacement valves

I’d love to have an Ibis HD3 on the list but they’re hard to get and I’m not yet sure of sizing…

Anyway, swing on by the MTBR.com forum for more goodies. The poll seems confirmed by the forum discussion: The good stuff is going straight to the giver!

The post So what DID you get yourself for Christmas? appeared first on Bike Intelligencer.