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climbing on the Nomad

1K views 13 replies 13 participants last post by  man w/ one hand 
#1 ·
Just built up my Nomad1 and I love it so far. Rides great, but it doesn't climb as well as I want it to. I'm not expecting it to feel like my XC bike, but I was wondering what changes would help. It feels slow and a little squirrely on technical uphills.

It could just be a factor of things but.. I thought maybe you guys with experience could help me out? First, I'm not used to the laid back geometry. Coming from a Giant Anthem, the angles on the Nomad are much slacker. The build of the Nomad may contribute to the sketchy climbing as well. It's got a 180mm coil Totem, DHX coil, Saint Cranks, and a Bombshell Crusher wheelset.

Is 180mm too much for the Nomad? Seems like most people get 160mm. Is that 20mm a huge difference? Or is it the weight of the wheels that is making climbing feel slow/sketchy? Not sure how much they weigh, but I know they're super heavy and I probably don't need them since I'm fairly light (145 lbs).
 
#2 ·
Wheels, cranks will prob be biggest things. you need to cut rotational weight.

depending what your doing with the bike, the totem could be good or bad. personally i think its tall,and you should try something with travel adjust.

id stick with a coil shock though. the1st gen's were moneyyyyyyyyyy with a coil.

as light as you are, you could swoop a ti spring from this guy

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/maico_rider

at 145, prob a 350 would be about right, or slightly light.
 
#4 ·
180mm totem

the talas is a great idea.

180mm fork is a touch much for techy climbs etc IMO.

I gotta say that I've never ridden my nomad (gen1) with a 180mm fork - i'm sure it rips on th DH.
 
#6 ·
silverstick said:
the talas is a great option. my 07 nomad crawled up techy climbs with talas slammed like no other. Another option which I just discovered is the Nomad is a descent climber with a totem on the front if it has a 8.75" x 2.75" shock in it.
any info on the travel, and geometry with that shock stroke sounds interesting. I cant decide yet between the tracer vp or A nomad, I am starting to lean towards the nomad.
 
#7 ·
Talas is great on the Nomad, I have the fork set to 130 for climbing techy stuff, and on those steep long fire road 100 is good, then flip the lever to 160 for the fun of your life going down hill, probably the Totem at 180 and heavy wheels will certainly dull the climbs, more of an uplift set up.
 
#8 ·
yeah, the 67 degree standard on a 160 mm fork is a bit sluggish. The same 30 pounds on my 68/69 degree BLT2 feels much better. I demo-ed the Nomad2 alot lately.

180 makes the front 66 degrees? 10-20mm per 1 degree dif. No wonder you have a hard time climbing.

Change your fork to a talas. That is your solution. At 130mm if adjusted down for climbing, you are at almost 70 degrees head angle. In the old days, xc race bikes are at 71. They climb superb.
 
#9 ·
Yeah, I think you have several things working against you here for climbing...the tall fork, heavy build, etc. You didn't mention what type and weight tires you're using or the stem length. What's the overall weight of the bike? The best bike design with a boat anchor weight penalty still won't climb well. Still, it all depends on what you're trying to do with the bike. You may want to leave it as is depending on its main use category.
 
#10 ·
That build leans heavily toward DH and freeride over climbing. Every bike has a range within the continuum of XC/climbing through all-mountain to DH/freeride. The Nomad frame can be built between solid AM through freeride and light DH. Yours is the latter. I have a friend with a Nomad that used to have a 36 on it, now with a 66. Another buddy rides an Intense 6.6 that made the same switch this past off-season and I've done the same with my VPfree.

The results from "that extra inch of travel" are predictable. Not only is the bike taller with a 180mm fork, it also will ride deeper in its travel which means you're hanging out with old buddy bob far more.

Longer suspension becomes more critical with setup specific to an application as well. Is the sag set to be balanced in a descending attitude, or for climbing? A stiff preload in the fork will be great for the added weight load descending but will send the handlebar reaching for the sky.

In the rear, getting the shock dialed in is crucial with the Nomad frame. As you're torquing the pedals, unless you're right in the VPP window, the chain tension will be working against the travel to re-set in that window. More sag = downhill control, riding "in" the travel. Less sag means those climbing bumps will be closer to the VPP window and less kickback at the pedals.

I also think generally faster compression/rebound will aid technical climbing but for descending you'll want to slow things down.

Unfortunately, there isn't a 'one true setup'. You have to choose the powerband, at the expense of some performance elsewhere.
 
#11 ·
Get the Talas if you need it to climb. I bought my nomad 2 yrs ago with the 36Rc2, using a 50 mm stem. The intention was for down hill performance, but it sucked for climbing, front end was too tall and you could not keep the front end on the trail. After a lot of parts swapping I ended up with an 08 talas and used a 90mm stem, and got the bike down to 30 lbs. It climbs really good now, and descends acceptably, but my set up will never match the performance of a true DH or FR bike or a Nomad set up specifically for DH/FR.
 
#12 ·
Talking about going from one extreme to another!!! Im sorry but your set up is big time favouring going down rather than up.

Mine has a 160 travel fork with no travel adjust. I run a 70 mm stem which many will consider kind of long for a AM/freeride bike. I also run my bars as low as I can with out hurting my descending. With my set up climbing is fine for anything except on steep switchbacks.

Re. wheels, I have two wheelsets, one heavy duty downhill and the other is a lightish heavy duty trail. i kind of think that you could do all right with your setup if you have wheels and tyres that you dont have to fight to get moving. Maybe check out your bar stem thing to.
 
#14 ·
Jus' put a new upper bearing section of a zero stack 1.5" to 1 1/8" intergrated headset in my Nomad to allow me to use my old 05 66rc when I do heavy dh. I love my 06 66sl but the 66rc is about 1 1/2"'s taller and will fit the job nicely when I'm back up in Wilsons Creek or Boone on "bombing missions". I won't be using the 66rc for any runs that include extended climbing due to the reasons stated above.
FYI: I had to use a tall stack height FSA PIG DH PRO for the bottom bearings, to allow the crown of the 66sl to clear the bottom tube.
 
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