Do I really need an new mountain bike?

A few weeks ago one of my regular riding buddies, V, got a shiny new mountain bike. Now V and I have been riding road and cyclocross bikes together for a few years and we have been searching out more and more difficult terrain -- Skeggs, Demo, Etc. Routes that saner riders tackle on full-suspension mountain bikes.

Last weekend we rode the classic Montebello/Stevens Canyon loop, a 2.5 hour, 20 mile ride with ~2800 feet of climbing. Since V's cross bike was down for maintenance he showed up on his mt. bike.

Locals will know that it has been raining pretty regularly for the last few weeks and we have had a series of strong Pacific storms. The canyon descent is in pretty rough shape, lots of downed trees and branches and rivulets like small canyons to that try to suck you in. Pretty tough going on a cross bike. Even a cross bike with fat 40mm tires.

So, in a vain attempt to keep up with V, I crashed. I lost the front end awkwardly during a muddy creek crossing that involved a downed tree. V saw the whole thing. It looked much worse that in was -- over the bars and head-first into a rock filled creek bed. I emerged a little wet but without too much damage. I blame the bike. My wonderful Clement MSO tires were covered in a smooth, solid coating of mud rendering them pretty useless. I've looked for more agressive treaded tires in this size for years without much luck. So, for the remainder of the ride, my thoughts turned to my old mountain bike with massive 2.5" mud tires, certainly a better tool for this kind of job.

I haven't ridden my Mt Bike much since I returned to CA. In fact I only rode it once during 2012. It's been so neglected that the rear shock seems to have locked up. As a christmas gift V took it to a shop to have it overhauled. the shop suggested that it would be cheaper to replace it then to overhaul it.

Well, I guess it is almost 13 years old so I took a critical look at the parts and have to agree that both front and rear shocks and the brakes are in need of replacement. The wheels were rebuilt just a couple of years ago and the drivetrain has a new XTR cassette and CN-7700 chain.

So I conducted the classic exercise -- searching for discount replacement parts on-line. I created spreadsheet, found a number of forks, shocks and brake options. In the end, the bike shop guy is right, every upgrade model I built showed prices that were just a few hundred dollars less then a complete new bike.

Then I spoke with an old friend who owns Passion Trail Bikes, a Mt. Bike specialty shop in Belmont. He suggested -strongly- that I go with the whole new bike. He pointed out the significant improvements in every performance category over the last 13 years. Suspensions are much longer, frames lighter and stiffer, brakes stop harder and feel better.

I'll admit that I bought my previous bike, an Intense Tracer, without riding it. I had ridden a bunch of Specialized FSRs that use the same suspension design so I assumed that the Tracer would feel the same. After I got it I realized that the Tracer had a couple of handeling traits that I later found quite annoying. I livend with tem for 13 years so I don't want the same thing to happen this time.

So, to get a feel for how improved current bikes are, I rented a 2012 Ibis Mojo SL-R for the weekend. It's a 26" wheeled trail bike that weights about 28 Lbs. fitted with Shimano XT parts. Next weekend I'm going to rent a similarly equipped Santa Cruz TallBoy to try out a modern 29er.

Last night I rode Montebello/Steven's Canyon on the Mojo and knocked almost 10 minutes off my best time on a cross bike. The Mojo was 4 minutes slower on the climb but almost 15 minutes faster on the descent. This is especially impressive give I was riding solo on an unfamiliar bike so I was pretty cautious on the descent.

This is my first time riding a "dropper" seatpost since I took the Hite-Rite of my Yeti in 1992. I like the control mounted on the bars, but I have to admit that I was a little tired on the descent and I hade to raise the seat a couple of times just so I could sit a little and rest the legs. Also the Steven's Canyon descent isn't really technical enough to actually need to drop the post. I've descended it over a dozen time this year alone on a cross bike with a full-height saddle.

I have run short bar ends on every mountain bike since the late eighties. I really like having alternative hand positions that mimmic hand positions on a road bike. As I type this my wrists and hands are a little sore from the 2.5 hours ride last night on just a straight bar.

So all in all, I really like the Mojo. It handels well, climbs well and descends better them I can. I've got a couple more rides on it, then next weekend we will see what a modern 29er feels like.