[Curveball]

So I once had these same thoughts, get a dual slalom or slopestyle bike for playing on trails, but then I bought a good one .... and it sucked! Squirrely as all get out, made me think I was gonna die.

Steep HTA are terrible for playing around, they're twitchy at speed, terrible on landings, require more skills and more concentration, not forgiving at all.

Short wheelbase and short chainstays, yes, but not a steep HTA, oh hell no.

I think it depends on just how steep you're talking about. 67 degrees seems pretty good for both stability and playfulness. I don't think I'd ever enjoy a trail bike with 69 or greater HA.

The new Shred Dogg looks pretty slack, but with the shorter chainstays it could still be a very fun bike.

 

[Scott2MTB]

I'm coming over to your house.

Our trails are still either buried in snow or are unridable due to freeze/thaw. I guess I'll have to stick with skiing for a while longer.

I've had my first two rides on the Topaz and I have to say I love the feel of that shock and it did't take much fiddling to get a great ride, right out of the box basically. I was also surprised at how much effect even one click of the rebound dial has.

 

[Nurse Ben]

I'm coming over to your house.

Our trails are still either buried in snow or are unridable due to freeze/thaw. I guess I'll have to stick with skiing for a while longer.

or come south, we're snow free and riding now, could do a double day: ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon

 

[Nurse Ben]

I just like a slacker HTA, it's not pesonal, but to date I have not found a negative to being slack whether on dirt or snow. I think a geo adjust with a built in angle set would be awesome, hopefully that's on GG's radar.

I'd even like to see a slider drop out, but so far that's not been popular with the FS crowd. How cool would that be to have a range of CS from 420-440.

Not really sure what you're trying to say here.

Are you are suggesting I need more skillz and/or I should just shut up and accept slack HAs because you rode a dual slalom bike a while ago and didn't like it?

(I'm being tongue in cheek here)

Seriously though, I don't know what that has to do with having a geo adjust headset that did HA too (for those of us unskilled folk who would like that sort of thing)

 

[Andeh]

If anyone is looking to upgrade their size small alloy Shred Dogg to carbon, I'd be interested in taking your alloy frame off your hands. It's got to be small though, medium is too big for me in their old sizing scheme.

 

[stripes]

If anyone is looking to upgrade their size small alloy Shred Dogg to carbon, I'd be interested in taking your alloy frame off your hands. It's got to be small though, medium is too big for me in their old sizing scheme.

PM sent.


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[Curveball]

or come south, we're snow free and riding now, could do a double day: ski in the morning and ride in the afternoon

That would be awesome if I had the time. I've never skied Bachelor yet.

The open forest trails of Bend are a nice change from our steep and brushy terrain. I miss riding there.

 

[Nurse Ben]

Umm, that would be Tahoe

Better riding and better skiing.

That would be awesome if I had the time. I've never skied Bachelor yet.

The open forest trails of Bend are a nice change from our steep and brushy terrain. I miss riding there.

 

[Curveball]

Umm, that would be Tahoe

Better riding and better skiing.

Doh! I think I mixed you up with Sparti who is in Bend.

Yeah, I'd love to both ride and ski in Tahoe.

 

[chileconqueso]

. Just picked up a megatrail shred dogg smash! It came with the smash seat stays! I’ve only given it the driveway test but I’m excited!


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[stripes]

. Just picked up a megatrail shred dogg smash! It came with the smash seat stays! I’ve only given it the driveway test but I’m excited!

Soooo purty..

 

[burkawitz206]

SD is still alive and kicking. First longer ride of the year yesterday on Tiger Mountain up here in the PNW, there is a fair amount of snow on the top 1/3 but the lower trails are all great right now. Snapped this when I took a break at about the 3 hour mark before dropping into EBAD which is one of my favorite trails.



I recently took the bike in to the shop to give it some attention after I put over 100 hrs on it and it feels a lot more smooth and glued to the ground now. It wasn't bad before but the did say that all but 2 of the pivot bearings were shot and needed to be replaced (disclaimer: my fault I ride in the rain and shite weather if need be).

 

[pixel_nut]

Sweet shot burkawitz! I've made a move to the Bentonville/Fayetteville AR area and just dropped coin on a Marzocchi Bomber CR 230x65mm coil to convert my '17 Shred Dogg into a 165mm Megatrail as needed for shuttle days at Lake Leatherwood, and if it gets here in time, I'll be throwing it right into the fire at Windrock DH park in Tennessee in a few weeks!

Weight be damned, this shock offers the value I've been needing to act on diversifying my setup and commiting to holding onto this wicked bike for quite awhile longer!

I bought the cheapest $30 Fox coil on offer and worldwidecyclery is installing the mounting hardware free of charge before sending it my way! I called them up and they were an amazing help, giving me exact part numbers for the things I needed to fulfill my order and getting me settled on a 400# spring which I'll report back on as well (Rider weight 165-175ish).

 

[burkawitz206]

Looks like you are in for some fun pixel! Is your signature correct in that you already have a coil fork? I have several friends that run the Push ACS3 conversion like you and they all say it is no contest between it and any of the air forks but I don't think I have any complaints about my Fox36. Did you have any problems running coil fork and air shock, assuming you did have your bike set up that way for a time? I am only about 165 myself and have been riding the coil vs. air fence for awhile now.

 

[pixel_nut]

Looks like you are in for some fun pixel! Is your signature correct in that you already have a coil fork? I have several friends that run the Push ACS3 conversion like you and they all say it is no contest between it and any of the air forks but I don't think I have any complaints about my Fox36. Did you have any problems running coil fork and air shock, assuming you did have your bike set up that way for a time? I am only about 165 myself and have been riding the coil vs. air fence for awhile now.

Correct! I'm 158lbs body weight and tried the orange coil first but found the blue to be a much better ride quality higher up in the stroke at 19% sag.

I haven't honestly put my hands on any of the burlier forks, just Pikes, Lyrik unconverted and others, so the Lyrik air was the closest I've gotten but the amount of difference it made in traction, small bump compliance, and just basically shrink-raying the rocks that you're rolling over is totally tangible. I was at 150mm air and opted for 160mm coil kit.

No issues in balance between the front and rear other than it being pretty obvious that the rear doesn't behave in quite the same way when the **** hits the fan. I'm totally used to it and it's given me no problems at all, in fact I fully plan to keep the super deluxe can for trail riding when I want to ride with friends all day up and down the Ozarks and am not being shuttled.

If I just had a pool of money I'd probably get a 230x57.5 Topaz to replace the super deluxe because it leaves a little to be desired.

 

[burkawitz206]

A tad bit sloppy up on Tiger today, but fun! I have been kicking around the idea of getting a longer shock and running my bike as a MegaTrail in trail mode exclusively.

 

[Ganderson]

A tad bit sloppy up on Tiger today, but fun! I have been kicking around the idea of getting a longer shock and running my bike as a MegaTrail in trail mode exclusively.

After a year of experimenting, that’s where I ended up with my SD.

I feel like the Megatrail was the original design intent of the frame and it just works best in that mode.


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[burkawitz206]

Ganderson, do you ride it in trail mode on any rough stuff? The reason I am considering it is looking at the 2018 MT geo chart I would get a ~340mm BB height and 150mm travel which would be a sweet spot for the stuff I ride near my home. There are a few trails in the area that are a bit of work on the SD in trail mode.

 

[Ganderson]

Ganderson, do you ride it in trail mode on any rough stuff? The reason I am considering it is looking at the 2018 MT geo chart I would get a ~340mm BB height and 150mm travel which would be a sweet spot for the stuff I ride near my home. There are a few trails in the area that are a bit of work on the SD in trail mode.

Yeah.. our regular riding around here is pretty rocky and rough. I am running a Float X2 as well which makes a huge difference in the quality of rear suspension.. the stock super deluxe in SD mode was a terrible setup for me.. it wont go back on the bike unless I have it custom tuned.

I find the BB height in gravity mode pretty unusable around here and bumped the front fork up to 170mm to slacken and raise the BB a bit more. This is where I've found my happy place with the bike.

 

[Curveball]

Ganderson, do you ride it in trail mode on any rough stuff? The reason I am considering it is looking at the 2018 MT geo chart I would get a ~340mm BB height and 150mm travel which would be a sweet spot for the stuff I ride near my home. There are a few trails in the area that are a bit of work on the SD in trail mode.

Hey, I just thought that I'd add that's where I'm at. MT in trail mode with a 170 fork. It's working out quite well on our local trails. I only rarely use gravity mode because of pedal strikes.

I'm considering changing back to SD mode after I go up to Stevens, but MT is working really well on our rough chunk like NOTG.