Ask Pinkbike: Searching for Grip, The Geometron, and Riding Wet Roots
Here at Pinkbike we get inundated with all kinds of questions, ranging from the basic "Can I have stickers" to more in-depth, soul searching types of queries like if you should pop the question or what to name your first child. Ask Pinkbike is an occasional column where we'll be hand picking and answering questions that have been keeping readers up at night, although we'll likely steer clear of those last two and keep it more tech oriented.
Get a Grip
Question: Pinkbike user gooselogan asked this question in All-Mountain, Enduro and Cross-Country forum: I'm finding that my Stumpjumper EVO feels pretty sketchy and lacks grip compared to my brother's Nukeproof Mega, a bike that feels planted and like it has endless traction. It isn't giving me any confidence in being able to push harder and go faster. Is it just a case of playing with the suspension more, reducing the rebound, and making it softer? I'm running a Pike and Monarch Plus, with sag set to around thirty percent.
 | It sounds like you've ridden your brother's Mega and you're not just taking his word for it, and we both know that your EVO is a hell of a bike, which leaves one possible reason for your lack of faith: poor bike setup. The two things that you'll need to look at are tire pressure and suspension setup, and I can tell you that the latter will certainly need some tinkering with. Your quoted thirty percent sag figure will work on the back of your bike, but running that much sag up front will only result in way too much fork dive which in turn can make for very unpredictable handling. Here's why: picture yourself riding along quickly on a relatively flat trail, taking corners while off the brakes as you're supposed to and having a good time. Now, picture yourself attacking a steeper or faster trail, and you applying a load of brake or even just the angle of the trail will cause your fork to compress deep into its travel, thereby effectively steepening your bike's head angle and making it handle about as well as a '90s era cross-country race bike. The problem is that your under-sprung fork is making your EVO handle a certain way in one corner but then in a completely different way in the next. It will also unweight the bike's rear end, which will make it lose traction under braking earlier than it should. I always tell people to forget about running a set sag percentage when it comes to front suspension, and instead go with what feels right, which is usually way stiffer than even fifteen percent sag. Too little rebound and too soft of a spring rate will make for a very unpredictable bike, so be sure to add rebound damping as you go up in spring rate. The other thing to look at is tire choice and air pressure. Are you running shitty tires, or are your tires pumped up too hard? Or maybe your shitty tires are pumped up too hard, which would be even worse. Buy yourself a digital pressure gauge and tinker with it; you might be able to go as low as 20 PSI depending on terrain, weight, and tire and rim choice, which is going to greatly improve traction. Use that gauge to see what your brother runs his tires at as well - it might be as simple as dropping down from 30 PSI to 25 PSI, which is enough to make a world of difference. - Mike Levy |
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 The right suspension setup and tire pressure can make a world of difference, especially when things get loose. Dave Trumpore photo |
Will a Geometron Make Me a Shredder?
Question: bumpytrack asks in a PM: Just a fellow rider here from Alberta. I'm a casual mtb rider and currently enjoying the benefits of the 27.5, longer reach and short stem [of my Santa Cruz Nomad.] I've been particularly interested in the Mojo Nicolai Geometron. It seems like quite a shift from even the new-school geometry being deployed on mountain bikes. What are your thoughts about it? How much would a very average rider like me benefit from it? I'm an amateur rider, intermediate (no jumps or big park stuff), but I do enjoy doing the all-mountain stuff. My biggest weakness is on the descents, particularly cornering. I'm a pretty decent technical climber in my humble mind. My rides are usually one to 1.5 hours of single track climbing and about 45 minutes descending.
I am wondering how us amateur leisure riders would benefit from the Geometron geometry as compared to shredders? I guess you would agree that investing in some good skills coaching would be a bigger benefit than trying to use geometry to improve my overall riding - IE: learning to weight that front wheel on the descents.
| Your Santa Cruz Nomad has a lot of performance waiting for you that is yet to be unlocked. You don't need a bike with deviant geometry like the Mojo Geometron. Your riding is probably only limited by experience and the difficulty of your local trails. Skills coaching at a venue that offers a lot more variety of terrain and features would get you to where you want to be in one week, while switching to a new bike with exaggerated geometry would only serve to marginally expand your comfort zone. If you are as good a climber as you stated, you made a good decision to purchase a bike that favors descents and technical riding. Most riders buy and set up their bikes to showcase their strengths - climbers ride lightweight bikes with steep geometry and descenders prefer slacked out monsters with lots of travel - which is totally wrong. Riders should equip themselves with a bike that provides more confidence or improves performance where they are weakest. Ten-time DH World Champion Nico Vouilloz always set his bikes up to improve his weakest attribute. If he needed to pedal faster to beat a rival, he would run lighter wheels and cut his tires into semi-slicks, knowing that his technical skills would help him to minimize the time he lost on the steeps in order to take advantage of the extra speed his equipment could give him on the flats. Choosing a left-of-center design like the Geometron makes sense for an accomplished rider who is looking for smaller improvements to fine tune his or her performance in very specific situations. Your Nomad is a PB favorite for good reason - a proven all-mountain design that has been distilled to provide a wider, more useful range of pedaling efficiency and handling skillsets. Stick with what you have and, after you graduate from your skills clinic, consider using a suspension setup that favors descending, as well as more aggressive tires, a bit more bar width and height and perhaps, moving your cleat back 6 to 10 millimeters to better center yourself on the pedals. Bank on your climbing skills and tune your Nomad to unlock more speed and confidence. - RC |
There is more performance waiting to be released from the New Santa Cruz Nomad than an average mountain biker would dream of using.
Riding Wet Roots
Question: Pinkbike user benocornish asked this question in the All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country Forum: I noticed that today when I was out riding that my biggest problem is wet roots. I ride them in the dry but as soon as it rains and they become wet and slippy I have no chance. So how do you guys ride them? Any tips? Thanks.
| Riding through wet roots is a tricky skill to learn, and it can be especially frustrating since they have a tendency to pull your wheels out from under in the blink of an eye, leaving you writhing on the ground and muttering (or shouting) every curse word you know. But there is hope, and with practice those slippery demons will start looking slightly less menacing. The first step is to find a section of root-covered trail to practice on, one that's not too steep, but with enough pitch that you can roll through it without pedaling too much, and ideally with an obstacle-free entry and exit. This will give you a chance to get used to how your bike reacts without also worrying about falling off a cliff. Once you've found a good practice zone, remember to relax. Stay calm, and try to picture yourself hovering or floating over wet roots when you ride through them, rather than smashing through them. Extra finesse is the key here, and you'll want to try to avoid any sudden or erratic movements. A light touch on the brakes is also helpful - just like driving a car on ice, panic braking is a sure way to start skidding out of control. Whenever possible, try to run over roots at a 90 degree angle - otherwise the chances of your tires slipping are greatly increased. You may need to alter your line choice compared to the path you would normally take in dry weather to accomplish this. As far as equipment goes, slightly lower air pressure in your tires can help provide a little extra traction in wet conditions, but there really isn't a wet root specific tire. Mud spikes can be scary on roots, since the tall knobs have a tendency of folding over, and low profile XC tires aren't usually much help either, which is why in my neck of the woods I tend to gravitate towards something like a Maxxis Minion DHR II or DHF in the winter time - they'll still slip, but they're predictable and can also handle the mud that usually precedes and follows wet roots. No matter what, it's highly likely that your bike won't behave exactly how you want it to, which is why it's important to work on getting comfortable with a little extra rear wheel movement. Look ahead, and focus on keeping that front wheel on track. That back end may swap around from side to side, but maintaining momentum, staying calm, and looking ahead will help you get though the slippery nastiness. Before long you might even start enjoying the challenge that wet weather riding brings - there's something deeply satisfying about getting through a jumble of treacherous roots without putting a foot down. - Mike Kazimer |
Scary fun.
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This guy should spend his money in golf or anything else, please get out of my beautiful sport.
Having a nomad and dont ride it like it should its like having 90's version of pamela anderson as a girlfriend and not f*k her every single night
I also find it takes me a few rides to get accustom (mostly mentally) to the wet roots again in the fall.
It works great until it goes wrong... and then it goes wrong really fast.
Yes, nomads are small. Medium frame:
585 ETT
415 R
That is small for a medium bike. Too small for me and I'm 5'6".
"Your riding is probably only limited by experience and the difficulty of your local trails. Skills coaching at a venue that offers a lot more variety of terrain and features would get you to where you want to be in one week, while switching to a new bike with exaggerated geometry would only serve to marginally expand your comfort zone."
" it's highly likely that your bike won't behave exactly how you want it to, which is why it's important to work on getting comfortable with a little extra rear wheel movement"
Wow, that's a lot of common sense to pack into one post. This is the internet - where's the hyperbole? Sarcasm aside - those three nuggets are huge. Over the past year:
I replaced my stock Nobby Nics with Minion front, High Roller back, went tubeless, and started aggressively going lower in pressure - and it's like a whole different bike. Made another leap when I started tuning the suspension a bit. Huge win at low cost.
Took a skills clinic - huge difference to my riding. Best MTB-related investment ever.
Started getting religious about riding in sort of a constant state of loose preparedness, similar to what you'd do skiing varied terrain. Hugely reduced crashes and white knuckle moments, vastly increased enjoyment.
Nice job guys.
I think the high pressure thing is common with roadies and CX riders crossing over into MTB, but there also seems to be a widespread assumption that lots of tire pressure keeps you safe.
I can appreciate the argument behind this statement, but I definitely don't agree. If you are a racer I get it. Winning is everything. If you are a weak pedaler you need to shore up your skills in this area to win. And the reverse may be true if you are a great climber.
But every day riding isn't about winning. It's about fun. So I don't think buying and rigging bikes to play to your weaknesses necessarily makes sense outside racing. If you are a good descender and it's what you like, then gear the bike to that. You can always slog it up a hill and be able to push your skills and the fun to the absolute max on the descent. If you are a wicked climber, than build it to that strength and feel like a powerhouse on the climb.
It's always important to work on your weakest areas. But don't suck the fun out of where you excel in pursuit of it.
Up side is: I am gettong faster then an Enduro ride in the climbs and faster in the decends as a XC rider, as I ride with a guy that almost won a 24-h race in 2 man group category...
F*ck yeah!
it's easy if you ride smooth bikepark trails, it's not if you ride "natural trails" or hiking trails full of roots, rocks and switchbacks
One of the best DH trails I know is a one hour hike for a 5 or 6 minute DH. This trail is featured on Pinkbike quite often. There is no shuttle capability, so the ratio for that would be 10:1 if you descended in 6 minutes, or 12:1 if you can do it in 5 mins.
It just math, and it's not fire roads.
My point was that I ride up on fireroads and I ride down on trails. So since my average speed is like probably 7km/h uphill, i would need to have an average donwhill speed of 42km/h to respect your 6:1 ratio. And an average of 42km/h is just impossible on technical trails.
I will time myself uphill and downhill next time.
If planted is the feel you are after and you already have 30% sag in the shock, slow the rebound down a few clicks and see what that does. Try a tubeless wheel set up as well, you can lower your PSI waaay down and that will be huge.
Generally have to tune it by feel after it's ballparked while doing the super scientific jump-in-the-parking-lot-hump-the-top-tube-test
Not sure how you would get full travel at 15%, unless you are pro, riding wolrd cup courses, or are smashing into flat landings and obstacles instead of unweighting at the right time. I'm hitting 6-8 foot drops and large jumps and only sometimes get full travel at 30%. There are such things as transitions that should mitigate how much travel you use.
Add air & decrease sag, or add a bunch of compression?
That said they don't make it anymore, but they do have the yellow (kirrin), which is the same but with slightly longer knobs. Problem these days is the width.
My advice to bumpytrack is to try and get a test ride on a Geometron.
Levy with the QOTD.
'nuff said
Specialized bikes? You are paying a premium for a sticker, graphics and marketing. I guess it works.
Not refined, mediocre quality, noob rides.
'nuff said
I tried the nomad, not convinced at all. There's too much commercial hype about Santa Cruzes bicycles these days...