KidWoo's 29 Review

[rideit]

If stunter kills you, can I use your body to build a step up? You won't be using it anymore.

[stuckathuntermtn]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-TGR-community

FUCK YOU
lol

[kidwoo]

some people are so fucking nitpicky and everyone else into the "I'm so core" pissing match eats it up. .

I'm definitely picky. Not so much 'core'. Why? Because I ride with people on a regular basis who are way more capable than me in so many ways, and I'm smart enough to know their strengths in a given area. That's called reality.

I don't write ski reviews. I've written one series on the development of a ski that I and a few friends have wanted for years. And if you've read what I wrote, you'd know I messed up a few things that didn't live up to my holy standards, hence a second version. That's not even close to 'reviewing' something that I had no part in developing. And if you weren't such a tard, you're remember that's exactly WHY I wanted to do that ski in the first place. Too many others like it were all doing something a lot of people didn't like.

You have yet to do anything to make it better, or somehow up to your standards.

Really?
You want to bet? I'll put 10 grand down I can prove where I directly influenced at least two very well known components available for sale right now in the bike industry in no insignificant way and in no uncertain terms.
Go ahead. Help me pay for a prototype tire run.
Careful, we're dealing with reality now. Not the one you make up to make yourself feel better.

So step up or shut the fuck up.

[kidwoo]

If stunter kills you, can I use your body to build a step up? You won't be using it anymore.

You've been reading my will haven't you?

Cuz that's what's in there. Either that or a gravestone built like a quarter pipe. With pool coping. Can't remember which one we decided on.

[rideit]

I have said the same thing since I was 14 or so. There is a graveyard in Syracuse that is super hilly, so they built all of these ridiculous Victorian tombs into it. Some of them are awesome, perfect gap jumps over the entrances.
Always thought that would be a fitting 'giving back' .
But I would rather be cremated now, and have my ashes spread over Horseshoe canyon and Nemos/Grumpy's/ rush hour (all trails I designed and built)

[KoKopeLLi]

Maybe I'm just tired of watching it not snow while the lifts don't spin and eating a lot of ramen noodles.

You've been in missoula for how long? < ramen , > anti-psychotic medication

[kidwoo]

But I would rather be cremated now, and have my ashes spread over Horseshoe canyon and Nemos/Grumpy's/ rush hour (all trails I designed and built)

Aw man.........so much potential there.

You should get your skeleton mounted up on a stand just waving to everyone at the trail entrance. With a cowboy hat.

[rideit]

Fuck yeah!

Next year I want to put a skeleton hanging upside down in the wrecked truck on Parralell (Teton Pass)
It will need a hat and a bandana!

[joetron]

The Krampus eh? Nice frame/build(creative thoughts) but fuk it appears you would need hulkish legs to get'r on that rig? <- Hit it and write about it.

I've never received death wishes from any reviews I've written, so clearly I'm no Woo. However, no need for Hulk legs on the Krampus. It has been said that when I wear shorts, it appears as if I have Muppet legs.

[kidwoo]

It's pretty rad when your beard is wider than both your daisy dukes and your quads.


Is that bike as bouncy as it looks? I keep imagining building up bounces until you could pretty much boing over elk.

[joetron]

Here in UT, we boing moose...all...day...long

It can be a little bouncy if you are riding like a goober, but once you relax and get your Barry White on, it just cruises. I would love for you to ride this thing Kev. Its just so different, and it rips.

[awf170]

Just here to chime in on how fucking outstanding stuckathunter has made this thread, and how I really want to try a short chainstay long travel 29er. Carry on.

[kidwoo]

It can be a little bouncy if you are riding like a goober,

There's no other way I'd want to ride it. Seriously....there's no way I could help myself. It just looks too boingy.

I've got some vacation I need to use before the end of the year and I'm not going anywhere for the holidays. We should go play with that thing on some slickrock (like it looks like you already did)

[Jiehkevarri]

So, like, um, er, I thought kidwoo wrote a decent review based on his personal experience? I thought it was a pretty good review because he talked about how surprised he was that 29ers didn't really suck like he had predicted. Then I thought he did a pretty good job of saying that some folks will prefer 29ers and some will prefer 26ers and that he personally thinks he'll stick with a 26er for now because they suit his abilities and style. Then there was something about his personal preference in tires.

I got pretty much this same impression of the article. So, thank you, I found the review pretty informative.

I didn't read all the rant of the thread. But I've noticed this one thing about 29ers. For our trails (from over the pond, southern Finland) they rule - the reason: our trails are flat/rolling terrain at best. Our trails even look a bit like "Shore"/BC (similar flora/vegetation, I guess) but we just lack the mountains. So, for roots, steep rolls, ledgy techy (small) climbs etc. I feel that the big wheel just saves your energy, and obviously the benefits shine more if you are fairly big guy (like me). High speed cornering and/or pumping the trail at speed are not the issues here for our regular trails...it is more like "pedal, pedal, pedal" all the time and keep cleaning the continuous flow of (technical) obstacles - and once in a while roll/drop off something steep but usually quite short. Because of the relatively low speed, you can ride the trails with fully rigid (26er) but big wheels and/or suspension just make everything much more enjoyable (IMHO).

Couple of pics from our trails:
- pedal over the roots, this section has 2.5 kilometers (about 2 miles) of this flat trail "pleasure" Definitely wagon wheel country!

- this looks pretty much like many rolls in eg. LeeLau's pics. Just that after the roll it is flat trail again (EDIT: we ride this kind of stuff all the time and the woods are full of rocks like this. The only difference to Canada is that the vertical elevation is usually up to 50-70m (150-250feet or so) Actually the figures looks pretty depressing...but the trails are still super fun because of the all the roots/rocks!)

EDIT: Another one, me on the rigid 29er (which works pretty well for this kind of stuff). This is very typical "roller" for our trails

Just sold my Specialized Pitch -10 (26er) and waiting for Stumpy FSR 29er EVO to come. Pretty stoked about the new bike.

EDIT: Not to hijack thread or anything. I've just noticed that usually you don't see any reviews of bikes on the trails like we have (flat/rolling but still technical).

[stuckathuntermtn]

no way man. It's you sucking. Kidwoo says so. Did you see him take it all personal when I said HRII 650b, yo? Do you know how hard that was without a number row on my phone?
FUCK!

I'm gonna go pick up some antipsychotics and crush them in my ramen.

[XtrPickels]

no way man. It's you sucking. Kidwoo says so. Did you see him take it all personal when I said HRII 650b, yo? Do you know how hard that was without a number row on my phone?
FUCK!

I'm gonna go pick up some antipsychotics and crush them in my ramen.

Whether or not you know it, you're one of the worst posters on TGR. You have added very little of value to the community and frankly all of your postings are being pissy about one thing or another. Please, stop douching up this and every thread that you post in and quietly fade into the back ground.

You have never posted a trip report. Never posted pictures. Never offered a good sale.
You have whined about road bikers, tires, your arthritis, where you live and countless other things.

Stop for a moment and think about yourself. Don't hide behind a veil of insults and butthurt.
Maybe you're clinically depressed. Frankly I don't care. You're a hemorrhoid.

To think that you can moan about what kidwoo says and does is absurd. While opinionated, he has added more to this place than 90% of the members, myself included. You complain about him being picky, yet its you who feels righteous enough to judge others. A bit ironic, don't you think?

[tellybele]

Whether or not you know it, you're one of the worst posters on TGR. You have added very little of value to the community and frankly all of your postings are being pissy about one thing or another. Please, stop douching up this and every thread that you post in and quietly fade into the back ground.

You have never posted a trip report. Never posted pictures. Never offered a good sale.
You have whined about road bikers, tires, your arthritis, where you live and countless other things.

Stop for a moment and think about yourself. Don't hide behind a veil of insults and butthurt.
Maybe you're clinically depressed. Frankly I don't care. You're a hemorrhoid.

To think that you can moan about what kidwoo says and does is absurd. While opinionated, he has added more to this place than 90% of the members, myself included. You complain about him being picky, yet its you who feels righteous enough to judge others. A bit ironic, don't you think?

Yeah, agreed. Ironic indeed.

I thought it was a review that provided a fair bit of good insight from from someone who knows some shit about bikes and relates it well. I understand the bias and it was noted by the reviewer so it was easy to glean the info. I like Ardents he says they are shit. Big frikkin deal?! We have similar geo prefs so i understand where he is coming from RE: a few of his POVs. I have ridden a fair bit of the Eastside and totally understand the suckage that would occur with the Ardent in those soils... Speaking of Eastside, KidSpew, you should review a monstercross bike and a pair of bibs....as they relate to getting from tub to tub, if'n you know what I mean.
I find it funny how people get butthurt and judge others based on the other's pref for an item/object that they like for recreation?! But, I am a hypocrite when it comes to judging
My personal hypocrisy lies with the TexasWheelchair, I frikkin loathe the shit outa what they have done to a fair amount of what used to be good BC rides in Montana.

[D(C)]

A great review by kidwoo followed by some grade A irrelevant banter... This thread is so full of win.

[LeeLau]

I got pretty much this same impression of the article. So, thank you, I found the review pretty informative.

I didn't read all the rant of the thread. But I've noticed this one thing about 29ers. For our trails (from over the pond, southern Finland) they rule - the reason: our trails are flat/rolling terrain at best. Our trails even look a bit like "Shore"/BC (similar flora/vegetation, I guess) but we just lack the mountains. So, for roots, steep rolls, ledgy techy (small) climbs etc. I feel that the big wheel just saves your energy, and obviously the benefits shine more if you are fairly big guy (like me). High speed cornering and/or pumping the trail at speed are not the issues here for our regular trails...it is more like "pedal, pedal, pedal" all the time and keep cleaning the continuing flow of (technical) obstacles - and once in a while roll/drop off something steep but usually quite short. Because of the relatively low speed, you can ride the trails with fully rigid (26er) but big wheels and/or suspension just make everything much more enjoyable (IMHO).

That's super interesting to read. Shore trails are portrayed in the movies and pictures with skinnies, woodwork and steeps. The portrayals miss the fact that Shore trails (and Whistler/Squamish to a lesser extent) are full of momentum robbing obstacles like rootballs, Good riders can use the superior inertia of 29er wheels to keep the speed and momentum up on these show tech trails. Noob riders are going to stall out, flail and constantly have to stop/start. The bigger wheels don't do noob riders much favour in that situation.

That's not the case in the flowier less momentum-robbing trails of most other places on the planet where one can keep wheels rolling most of the time without needing a whole pile of technical skills. Which is why I think 29er wheels might be getting the dumb-it-down reputation

[rideit]

Thin crust, or Thick?
Or two slices on top of each other, Saturday Night Fever style?

[schuss]

I'll agree that it matched my impressions of 29ers -
They're more efficient at just rolling over all the little things you encounter on the trail, but you pay a slight nimbleness/stiffness penalty. It's all in what you're looking for in a bike.
Woo has been pretty honest about the fact that he loves to rail turns and play around on his bike. He is not an XC racer, nor does he want to be.
Now in terms of tires, he's thought through on a lot of things and identified some factors that may be helping/hindering peoples riding styles then attempted to share it with the community. If people have varying opinions, he generally picks their brains to find why that opinion exists - have they tried both types of tires, what's their riding style etc.
A lot of the tire laments from him I think stem out of the fact that he CAN'T do an apples to apples comparison as tires with the handling characteristics he prefers are not available, thus he ends up biased due to something non-frame related.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Sorry, I'll try to use MS Paint more to sketch out my ideas.
until then:
8========>
^^^suck it

















*not actual size

[kidwoo]

KidSpew, you should review a monstercross bike and a pair of bibs....as they relate to getting from tub to tub, if'n you know what I mean.

Those would be some rad pics.

Can you imagine the hippy outrage when I keep the bibs on?

[ticketchecker]

are we there yet? i have to go to the bathroom....

[scrublover]

I got pretty much this same impression of the article. So, thank you, I found the review pretty informative.

I didn't read all the rant of the thread. But I've noticed this one thing about 29ers. For our trails (from over the pond, southern Finland) they rule - the reason: our trails are flat/rolling terrain at best. Our trails even look a bit like "Shore"/BC (similar flora/vegetation, I guess) but we just lack the mountains. So, for roots, steep rolls, ledgy techy (small) climbs etc. I feel that the big wheel just saves your energy, and obviously the benefits shine more if you are fairly big guy (like me). High speed cornering and/or pumping the trail at speed are not the issues here for our regular trails...it is more like "pedal, pedal, pedal" all the time and keep cleaning the continuous flow of (technical) obstacles - and once in a while roll/drop off something steep but usually quite short. Because of the relatively low speed, you can ride the trails with fully rigid (26er) but big wheels and/or suspension just make everything much more enjoyable (IMHO).
.

That sort of stuff is very similar to my riding area, primarily an hour any direction from Danbury, CT. Not a lot of vert, lots of rocks and roots. Climbs and descents are fairly short, and building stuff to be smooth/fast/flowy generally requires a metric assload of work.

My rides on big wheels around here have been "meh" so far. Like the way they handle rolling over chunk hate the way they are on slow speed trialsy stuff, and some of the quick directional changes. For how I prefer to ride, they have not yet offered me enough advantage to swap.

Still open to the idea though. If I ever get a ride on a 29er that blows me away, I'll go for it.

Otherwise: this has been an immensely enteraining thread.