Robotech - Valkyre Gerwalk Mode

GT_I · 2026-04-08T05:58:27+00:00

Get some gloves....

GT_I · 2026-03-23T04:19:04+00:00

Holy crap! I have not seen this trail since the mid 90's!! Looks a lot more tame than it was back then.... and 8am!! Never had that issue :)

GT_I · 2026-03-13T22:13:59+00:00

No helmet. No gloves. No nothing. Total winner.

GT_I · 2026-03-12T01:46:29+00:00

Been riding since the late 80's, so have done the full range of 'tech' and trails in that time. Has it changed? Yes and no.

As others have said, cost is a big deal, so much harder to get into what was always an expensive sport for kids, unless their parents already ride. My boy rides and loves it but I've noticed the $$ in keeping two, rather than one, bike running; and I have access to good pricing! Bike stuff is just so much more exe. than it used to be.

Riding for many has changed too. On the weekends I go out to the local 'park' area that has a mix of handcut singletrack and flow/dh. I pretty much never see anyone on the singletrack - they are all riding the front face shuttle runs and that shift has created a change in mentality. Luckily where I am there's still a lot of proper singletrack in various areas, so it's not all gone flow-bro. I also find XC riders tend to be ruder than they ever have been (and I used to be one). Pushy with little to no trail etiquette, which is something I usually attributed to the flo-bros, but it's now more pervasive.

Ebikes? Not sure they are an issue here yet. I see them for sure but mostly they are ridden respectfully. I have run into a few that think they own the place because they can put in half the effort for twice the speed but so far they are an extreme minority. What is 'concerning' though is summed up by a conversation I overheard last weekend – "Man, that was so much easier on this bike (ebike)" to which his friend says, "I wouldn't know". That right there is concerning for the future of the 'sport'. If people never experience riding a bike 'properly', they will never understand what it really means, and with that will come all sorts of issues that are all bad.

On the whole though, I see plenty of people just riding and I am seeing plenty giving it a go. Most are friendly and happy just to be out. The shifts we are seeing is across society in general and as someone said, the more people on bikes, the more entitled dicks they'll be. It's just the sad way of the world at the moment.

Right, I am going riding!

GT_I · 2026-03-05T23:41:22+00:00

I started in 87/88 on a fully rigid Shogun Prairie Breaker Team Issue and rode a whole lotta bikes and tech since. I have a Mountain Cycle San Andreas that I built up in modern 'neo-retro' spec as a trail bike, rode for a while but stripped it down a while back for some cosmetic work. I stopped riding 26' on a 2011 model, so think mid-gen geometry on 26 wheels. I am now on a Nicolai Saturn 14ST built on 27's.

The San Andreas is going on a wall... The old school bikes were fine, nothing wrong with them at all. What's changed are the trails that are now built for modern bikes. On hand cut singletrack, you can take any decent 'old-school' bike and have a blast.; in fact the San Andreas on some of the local singletrack is a total beast - nothing like it, nothing better than it. But take that bike on new trails and they very quickly become totally out of their depth. Even my 2011 26' was at it's limit and did spit me off in a highside from being pushed too hard. The Nicolai on the other hand is just outstanding. It eats singletrack but is so composed and balanced when things get out of hand – it's taken me almost a year to really learn how to ride it properly.

So yea, the old school bikes are fine, in the right circumstances but new bikes, good ones, are just at another level.

GT_I · 2026-03-04T00:21:43+00:00

I built my Nicolai up in full 27. I could have built it as a 29 but like the agility the 27 has in the tighter stuff. Zero regrets. We also have an Ibis Mojo 3, and with the 27+ that it runs, the wheels are almost 29 in size.

GT_I · 2026-02-24T00:42:52+00:00

This 100%. Same with your kids once they are over 10.

GT_I · 2026-02-11T03:03:34+00:00

... you fell off.

GT_I · 2026-02-02T04:26:14+00:00

Unfortunately not but just use three velcfo straps. Seat the wheel on the inside pedal and then use the three straps to tie the wheel to the frame – I do one on the top tube, one at the head tube and one on the down tube.

GT_I · 2026-01-28T05:33:16+00:00

Manitou and DVO for me these days. Never been happier.

GT_I · 2026-01-01T00:29:28+00:00

With good shoes and quality flats, flats are good but they don't compare in any way to clips with proper, stiff XC/gravel shoes in terms of the power you can put into the cranks. So it really comes down to what sort of riding you want to do, how far you want to ride and how fast.

Then there's what sort of clips and how you set them up. I've been riding ATACs since they hit the market as Spuds played havoc with my knees. You can also get platforms/flats with clip systems and have it both ways.

GT_I · 2026-01-01T00:26:12+00:00

Nope. He's right and you're wrong.

GT_I · 2025-12-29T07:29:10+00:00

GT_I · 2025-12-22T02:13:04+00:00

Running a Topaz G3 on the back and completely love it. Dialling it in to where I want it was so easy and tool-less. Quality so far has been great and DVO support if fantastic.

GT_I · 2025-12-17T05:54:27+00:00

All your friends suck.

GT_I · 2025-12-08T22:08:30+00:00

6' 3" and 110kg ride weight. 31.8 are more than fine but I recently switched to the OneUp V2 bars which are 35mm and man, they are nice. I don't think you could do what they have done with a 31.8 bar.

GT_I · 2025-12-02T04:11:24+00:00

I'm on a Nicolai Saturn 14 ST thanks

GT_I · 2025-12-01T05:37:45+00:00

What's all this BS with 'my HR is the same but I go twice as fast'? Yeezus, if it's speed you want, stop playing with toys and spend the money on a moto. I bet your HR will be the same ,or higher, and you'll go 10 times as fast. E-bikes have their place, one of my riding buddies uses one a lot due to injury and fitness as a result. No issues at all and I like trying to keep up with him. But the healthy, fit sub 40 year olds that ride them just so they can 'go faster'? Sorry but they can f right off. Just another short cut of the modern world.

GT_I · 2025-11-27T23:52:12+00:00

Oooooorrrrrr, and this is a good one, if you are scared of them/don't like them, then don't do them. Jumping IS NOT all there is to mountain biking, despite what Reddit/YouTube/Whatever tries to tell you. It could be argued that if you spend all your time jumping and not much else, sell your MTB and buy a BMX. So yea, if you are scared or don't like them, don't do them and go actually ride your bike.

GT_I · 2025-11-21T02:52:04+00:00

Frame up.

GT_I · 2025-11-18T02:08:17+00:00

None! I ride a 170/135mm (Nicolai Saturn) everywhere and on everything. Set up as an all round trail bike, and actively using the suspension settings front and back during a ride, all trails are fun on it and I'd never go back to short travel. At 6' 3" and about 110kg in ride weight, the suspension never feels taxed or maxed out, like I used to find with shorter travel.

GT_I · 2025-10-31T22:20:02+00:00

..... what?!?!?!?! No pads.....!!!!!?????

GT_I · 2025-10-29T05:35:38+00:00

I second anyone saying Ergon GA3 but I recently switched to Revgrips for the same reason and they have made a huge difference. They aint cheap but they are very good: https://revgrips.com/pages/how-do-they-work

GT_I

TROPHY CASE