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Thanks gents! Sorry for the crap iphone pics.

Holy crap, congrats, what a lovely bike! How big is the Goma in the rear and how much rear clearance do you have there? Your Derbys make those tires look extremely yummy.
Rear is 2.25. It's a pretty big tire... 705mm (27.75") Diameter, 60mm (2.36") wide on the Derby, so probably 57mm wide on a Flow. Clearance is decent and it's as big a rear tire as I'll ever want to run.




Front is a 2.4, measures 715mm dia, 64mm wide (2.5").
They're fun, really round and quick steering... you can really lay them over, and they feel much lighter and livelier than I expected just looking at them... good rollers... and voluuuume aplenty. Running 17psi front currently....they're sticking to limestone and plowing through chunder like champs, but they're a little more drifty, especially in kitty litter corners, compared to a DHF. Zero mud experience with them. Great feeling casing, compound, and price. The rear was really f#cking hard to mount on my newer Derby rim with the shallower channel...I'll see if it's loosened up any soon...need to do a sealant check.

I can't zoom in on your pics, but it looks like you're running XTR brakes and Hope rotors. What size rotors? I've heard anything above 160 and the rivets rub on the caliper? Have been thinking about a similar setup, just didn't want to get the wrong rotor size with trail XTRs.
Yes, XTR brakes, Hope rotors 183 f, / 160 r. The lower tab on the caliper had to be filed a little bit on its edge...front brake only... no biggie. I have another 183 rotor that I might put on the back.



Nice bike Bacon! Congrats
Thanks Dude.

This thing really f'n SHREDS....Everywhere...Everything... Love it!

 
I rerouted my LEV cable. Saw this somewhere on Mtbr, probably in this thread, but anyways it's way to go IMO. Housing should be black, but the one I bought was a brake cable and didn't fit the LEV cable end so it's blue for now. Makes it easier to see how it's routed. Once i swap it to black it should be really unobtrusive. It keeps the top tube clean and the cables just flow better up front, tough to describe but it works better. Only downside I see is that it's tougher to raise the post in order to clamp it in a stand. Now I have to disconnect the dropper cable to get enough post to put the bike in the workstand.

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Recent HDR Thoughts

Made some recent updates to my beloved HDR650b and wanted to share some thoughts, none of which is particularly new info, but perhaps useful to some.



I've been riding Ibis for a while and continue to love the bikes and the company. Went to the HDR mostly out of curiosity around 650b and liking the option of going back to 26" if I wanted. This bike has exceeded the fun factor of my HD, which was already my all-time favorite bike. While I have a 29'er hardtail, I really use my FS bikes for everything. In my mind Ibis makes Mountain Bikes, meaning you use them all over the mountains. :thumbsup:

Previously I'd been running PUSH'd Fox 34, Float CTD shock and the stock Ibis wheels(more on those later). Part of what I like about working with PUSH is having someone on the phone who knows your kit and if you need servicing it's just done, vs sending back to a big company that may not give a rats ass. I've been having PUSH tweak my Fox kits for 3-4 bikes now and they've always been able to get things to damn near perfect for me. And they did again, but I was feeling a few things were not quite dialed:

1) Rear was getting a bit "overworked" in the chunder chunk. Prior to this HDR I was on an HD 26" which I'd also had PUSH'd and it definitely seemed to handle some of the particularly nasty sections with a bit more grace. I didn't think it was just a matter of travel, but *quality* of travel.

2) Front end "point & shoot" stiffness. I had a Float 36 on my HD and I miss that level of burliness. The 34 gets 75% of the way there, but in the real chop it has moments where it's definitely out of it's element.

So I went in for a DB Inline and RS Pike. Both kits have been out a while now (long while for the Pike) and things seem well proven for both. Some are calling these a real perfect match for bikes of this sort and I have to say that after a little bit of play time on them, I think this is a pretty fantastic setup. I'm still riding them with basically just sag set so I can get a feel for what the vanilla defaults feel like, though I did add full air spacers to the Inline.

Both the Inline and the Pike do an incredible job of using their travel incredibly effectively. I can bottom the Inline but it feels like it handles itself equally well with the big hits and the repeated chunky stuff, where the Float would start to get jammed up. The Float was fine on larger hits, but would lose some grace on nasty rock gardens at speed. The Inline seems fine with those bits.

The Pike is really about getting to 36 levels of stiffness with 34 weight and incredibly smooth travel. I've only had a handful of rides on the Pike, but the front end stiffness is just appreciably better. I know some riders are pushing the Pike into borderline DH situations so it seems this thing can take abuse.

Wheels. I ditched the stock Ibis Stans wheels, which were fine, and had a set built with the Light Bicycle 650b wide rims and CK hubs, as soon as CK released their XD driver. Of course, this was literally the week Ibis announced their wheels, which I likely would have opted for had I known they were coming! As nice as the Ibis wheels are, I'm happy with the CK+LB combo and they've been holding up well.

More importantly, the wide rim revolution is REAL. Being able to run 18lbs front/rear is amazing. I've literally cleaned with ease some tech climbing sections that used to be 50/50 at best and it's definitely about being able to find traction due to the big volume and lower pressure combo. Wide rims are the shiznoink.

Anyway, the HDR just gets better. It was fantastic before, but the changes definitely plussed it out and the fun factor is higher then ever. I know everyone on the list is frothing over the New Ibis Thing That We Don't Know What The Fark It Will Be, but I'm having too much fun on my HDR to worry about it right now! Happy Riding!:thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the insight on the DB inline and Pike. I've been debating both as well, but since I want to stay married, I'm probably going to only change the shock or fork on my HDTR 650 (both are currently stock fox 34/float). If you had to pick one, which would you go for, the Inline or the Pike? (or the wheels?)
 
bike's looking good Benja. I'd be careful experimenting with low tire pressures and those rims. I've had good luck with the LB rims but never run less than 30 psi in the rear, usually 33-34. I got 18 months out of my rear rim before having to replace it, but I wouldn't expect it to survive very long if your pressure is low enough that you are getting regular rim strikes from bottoming out the tire. I wouldn't expect ANY carbon rim to last if subjected to regular rock strikes, but the LBs in particular have proven vulnerable to them if you read the various threads.
 
If you had to pick one, which would you go for, the Inline or the Pike? (or the wheels?)
...wow, that's a tough call.

I really wasn't *hating* anything on my existing setup, more just a feeling that it could be better. Honestly, the Pike is already feeling like it's going to be the biggest improvement, even though I've had it on the least amount of time. I've spent so much time on bigger forks (36 Floats and Marzo 66's) that I'm really used to having a fork that is unflappable in all situations. Going fast into nasty stuff demands a confidence inspiring front end.

The 34 is NOT a bad fork by any stretch (2014! Never rode the 2013 which was funked up AFAIK), and I have to say that the PUSH work made it pretty great, but the Pike really is an incredible combo of robust+lightweight+great feel in wide range of terrain. The hyperbole is real, RS really did a good job with this thing.
 
Awesome build Benja.
I keep looking at those DB Inlines and thinking... Hmmm...
But I need to settle down...

Love your comments about wide rims and low pressure...LOL Totally agree.
But I can't do 18 rear either, at 170 lbs suited up.
 
I can and I am 175 nekkid. I do 20PSI max, 17-18 for max. traction when needed, I went as low as 5PSI once when I had a slow air leak and was too lazy to air up on trail. Below 10, the tire became squirmy but it never burped and the Derby rim survived the ordeal without an issue, too. I have over a year of riding on my Derby rims and besides a few surface scratches from rock strikes, they are as strong as new.
 
I can and I am 175 nekkid. I do 20PSI max, 17-18 for max. traction when needed
What StiHacka said. I should edit my post; 18psi is my lowest regularly run PSI. 20 is typical, 25-30 feels like too much. 18 does not feel squirmy on dirt.

I'm 170-175 with full kit on.

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On the DB Inline, were you able to reuse the mounting hardware/reducers from the Fox?
I was, but had to push out the stock CC bushings.

I was using Fox compatible bushings from PUSH, which I was happy to keep, in part because they're red & black and match the Pike up front. ?

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