On this topic, do you guys think 27.5 tyres for dirt/pumptrack/slopeduro will still be available for the foreseeable future. I go through a lot of tyres since i also commute around 100k a week, in addition to pumptrack twice or trice a week, so the rear tyre last for less than a year. For exemple ive got a feeling that the kenda sb8 might be discontinued in a near future since theyre probably not selling a lot of those, same for a lot of 27.5 "XC tyres" that people use for dirt conti/schwable/maxxis..
Honestly, Buy a cheap fixie. It'll work out cheaper in the long run by minimising the ware and tare on your mtb
As far as 27.5" slopeduro tires, your best bet might be the various semi-slick MTB tires that are out there. Schwalbe Rock Razor, Maxxis Minion SS, Specialized Slaughter, etc. Personally I went with the Teravail Ehline on my Status and I'm pretty well impressed.
I’m pretty happy with Peruvian swing-set tubing. The process was a little maddening but overall it came out pretty bang in for the geo I was shooting for.
Man I just went looking for yours in your albums (looks sick btw) and got majorly distracted by that green Mountain Cycle. You still got that? I used to love those things.
But yeah for this application Marino or another custom builder seems like the move, if you're patient. Not much in the production realm really exists in that specific niche. The geo on my trail bike and DJ bike have both been bang on from what I can definitively measure, minimal custom frame weirdness in building them up.
Here's my new 2023 Custom GT La Bomba. My first "sponsor" back in 2008 was GT's Finnish distributor where I got to buy a 2008 GT Ruckus for a few hundred. It had a Suntour Duro fork and was cool back then. Now 15 years later I decided to build up a GT Labomba with a Suntour fork, now a Durolux. I LIKE THIS BIKE!
(And for the 27,5" fork conversation up there this is a Durolux 27,5" lowered to 90mm)
any downsides to using an enduro fork compared to a specific dj fork
Nope. If you're lowering it, the stanchion overlap will help stiffen and strengthen the fork too.
Yup all the best DJ forks of the past 15ish years have been all-mtn/enduro forks, lowered via either homebrew methods or factory packages (831 36, pike DJ)
The wheel size and axle spacing split is annoying, but theoretically boost front hubs probably benefit our kind more than anyone else.