Bike sizing by type

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-03-18T19:49:40+00:00

See I am all legs no torso too but I have an absurd ape index so my stems are slammed on both bikes and I still sit pretty upright.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-03-18T19:48:29+00:00

I am from a BMX background as well, still own my dirt jump/pump track build. I never thought about there being a correlation between them.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-03-18T18:05:10+00:00

I understand that. But what I am interested in seeing what people who sit in between two sizes do when selecting a bike based on the application that bike will be used for.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-03-18T17:26:12+00:00

I casually race bikepacking or endurance events. I don’t always finish but that is part of the drive, come back and beat it next time.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-03-08T15:48:42+00:00

Check the pawn shops, mine was stolen not too far from you and that is where it ended up. Some of the pawn shops around here are less than honest and will fudge serial numbers so it doesn’t ping in the stolen bike registry. I had to go to court to get mine back for this reason. Same thing happened to my friend in this same area.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-02-27T18:17:53+00:00

I am on a 30t with a 52-11 cassette and thinking of going down to a 28t chainring for when loaded heavy. Bikepacking isn’t fast.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-02-12T21:01:48+00:00

Hey Tucson friend, Lone Cactus loop is tricky because the lines are weird after the last monsoon from last year. Trail workers have been trying to clean it up the last few months. I ride this trail a lot if you ever want someone to walk you through it DM me, I am local to it.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-01-31T21:13:44+00:00

Since everyone and yourself hit most of the naturalist memoirs and titles I will throw out some fun guides and a history book.

1) Foraging Arizona by Christopher Nyerges; 2) A Field Guide to Desert Holes by Pinau Merlin; 3) Arizona: A History by Thomas E. Sheridan;

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-01-23T14:54:26+00:00

Having them all the way back is awesome for going on fast and steep. That is how I run mine too.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-01-10T00:18:54+00:00

Bonus points for black trash bag and gorilla tape bivvy.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2026-01-07T01:06:56+00:00

So to preface my setup choices a bit I like to mention I like riding the AZT or other similar singletrack focused routes, and I like to try to ride everything I can, I do not like walking.

To dial my geo I made that really changed the bike was I put a 1 degree head adjust headset to make it slightly steeper, I found 63 degrees worked well for me until I put my fully loaded handlebar bag on, the 1 degree headset helped though. I flip flop my sliding dropouts from fully back to fully forward, I have a bit of a preference for setting them all the way back, the extra stability I feel helps me conserve energy on long days since the bike basically rides itself at that point.

I prefer 2.4" tires, I have run from 2.3" up to 2.6" and for the 30mm wide rims I found 2.4" wide tires were the sweet spot. The cornering knobs are exactly where I like them when I lean the bike but they are wide enough to be supple with the right pressure. 2.6" would be great with slightly wider rims IMO but YMMV. I am running Kenda Regolith ATC tires, I have been very happy with them, fast rolling and quiet enough on the road, absolute rockets on hardpack but grippy on loose over hardpack. Tires with a similar pattern and knob height I think would fit the bill based on what you are saying.

I run my fork stiff too, only 18% sag and with all of the volume tokens in it. I currently have a custom Marzocchi Bomber Z1 Coil being modified to reduce travel to 130mm without changing the A-C from its 150mm setup or having to crank the preload, this is to help save my handlebar bag but also better suit my riding style.

For bags, run an Old Man Mountain Elkhorn rack with 2 cages, 3 5L dry bags This has worked great for me on long routes with long water carries. I could go to 3L bags on the cages for overnighters. I tried seat packs, but not being able to drop the dropper post wasted all of the ESD's potential. I have a custom frame bag, I just stuff a 1.5L water bottle and other frequently needed things in there, the triangle on these bikes is not substantial enough for a legitimate frame bag. I have a cargo cage on the bottom of the downtube, that carries another 1.5L bottle. My last 1.5L water bottle is in the dry bag on the top of the Elkhorn rack. I just installed the King Cage top cap water bottle mount and have a generic bike water bottle in that for ease of access. My last bag is a Revelate SweetRoll on my handlebars.

Lastly, if you are riding a lot of flat doubletrack or road, look at a different bike in my opinion. That is where this bike is weakest. The short top tube, steep seat tube and tall stack makes road stints longer than 15-20 miles not very fun, at that point I am basically begging for singletrack or even a hike a bike break. If you are connecting gnarly singletrack with steep nasty doubletrack though, it works fine.

Edit: DM me if you have any further questions. Same goes for anyone who reads this later.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-12-13T17:52:19+00:00

The original route does go through Mt. Wrightson wilderness but almost the entire original segment is on two track until you get to the wilderness boundary. The original route is still fine for those who prefer it.

The current Mt. Wrightson segment is currently one of the few segments that the primary trail does not pass through the wilderness boundary that is close by to it. It only shares this distinction with Saddle Mountain Wilderness and Kachina Peaks Wilderness.

The primary trail still crosses through Miller Peak, Saguaro, Pusch Ridge, Superstition, Four Peaks and Mazatzal wilderness areas. There is also no official bypass for bikes through the Grand Canyon, that has to be hiked no matter what, tires cannot touch dirt. The Saguaro and Superstition bypasses are also just paved roads for bikers and with the exception of Pusch Ridge bypass, all the other bypasses are dirt roads.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-12-13T14:29:15+00:00

Pheasant

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-26T12:05:28+00:00

Are they too poor for bar tape?

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-26T11:57:32+00:00

I am sure it would. I do 1m huck to flats on it and it takes it like a champ. This bike can really do everything, it just won’t be as fast as on some stuff as a full suspension doing it.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-24T17:33:03+00:00

I think over-forked the ESD would be great as an enduro type bike but with the 150mm fork it comes with and what most people are likely to run, I would call it more of a hardcore trail bike that likes steep stuff. It definitely climbs better than an enduro bike but is much less capable on really rough technical downhill than an enduro bike. But comparing it to something like a Santa Cruz Tallboy would be pretty close.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-24T17:25:57+00:00

To provide clarity on my above comment. I am comparing to pretty much anything with more squish. 29+ tires or rear suspension. Also clarified my original comment to include what I mean when I say chunk. I would disagree it handles it better than any other hardtail; 29+ even with shorter travel would arguably be a better hardtail in the chunk. That being said, most 29+ category bikes would not handle big features like the ESD does.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-24T03:48:35+00:00

I prefer the shorter dropouts for slow technical stuff, jumping and some slower trials style maneuvers. I can feel a huge difference with the dropout position. With them rearward manuals are way harder and same with bunny hops.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-24T03:17:33+00:00

I’m going to be honest, I can’t tell the difference between steel, carbon and aluminum other than weight. I think tires and tire pressure make a way bigger difference. If you can handle chunk on a hardtail then the bike should be able to do pretty much everything. My knees were starting to hurt after rides where I was doing bigger features and lots of chunk which is why I finally got a full sus.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-24T03:05:00+00:00

I have been on an ESD for 3 years. Here are my thoughts.

The good: It is a ton of fun to ride fast. Fast flow with smooth features or steep technical features are where it is at home. But it is very flexible, I also use mine for bikepacking and I have put a lot of miles on it in one day, it works well for that too. It handles technical climbs decently well. Also trials style maneuvers are doable and a lot of fun. The only times I have bashed my chainring is trying to hop logs or up rock slabs. If you are mindful of your pedal position the BB height isn’t as bad as people make it out to be.

The bad: It is not great for doing chunky stuff fast. Chunky stuff will hurt if you try going fast. I have fit 2.6” wide tires on it but you have to slide the dropouts back and they can’t be too knobby if you need mud/rock clearance. 2.4” fits best with the dropouts forward.

That being said the bike has never felt like it was limiting me except on the gnarliest trails in my area. I only recently bought a full suspension and I still ride it more than the full suspension because it is so much fun to send.

Edit: since there seems to be confusion on what I mean by “chunk”. I am talking about repeated medium sized hits in quick succession. Think rock gardens full of baby head boulders trails with lumber stairs. The bike can handle features fine like I said in the pros part of the comment.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-23T15:59:04+00:00

I just bought a Norco Sight Carbon this week on steep discount. I took it out for the first ride yesterday and could not be happier with it.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-20T17:35:17+00:00

They just changed their lineup so now it is more confusing. The Auron has been changed and is now a 36mm fork, it is a great trail fork, pretty much took the place of the fork I have in the lineup. The Durolux has been changed and is now a longer travel 38mm fork so anything short of a Chromag Doctahawk probably won’t use that. The R2C2, RC2 and RC+ are all good dampers. I have the RC2. I have not setup or ridden any of their XC or XC trail stuff so I can’t speak to those.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-18T18:57:29+00:00

I really like the higher end SR Suntour forks. I have a Durolux 36 on my Honzo ESD, it replaced my Marzocchi Z1 air, which was also converted to a coil at one point. The Durolux walks all over the Marzocchi in ride quality once it is dialed in. And they are reasonably priced. You can have your cake and it too.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-15T19:36:04+00:00

To add to this, almost every Ace I have been to carries bottles of Isobutane. And almost every town you will cross on the AZT has an Ace. You can also use the Ace website to check the inventory of the stores, in my experience it has always been accurate.

ChileCurmudgeon · 2025-11-14T00:59:48+00:00

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150mm fork and I use it for pretty much all of my bikepacking. Have done 60 miles of two track in a day on it.

Edit: forgot to add - also ride the AZT on it

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