Just had a test ride on a Specialized Stumpjumper with a carbon fiber frame. Very nice bike, and not at all twitchy like the other 26" bikes I've test ridden. The suspension felt very strange though. The rear felt undersprung while the front felt too hard, yet both were set up for a 180lb rider. :scratch I also noticed that despite it's lighter wheels, I couldn't bunny hop or wheelie it any easier than my 29" Superfly. :dunno

Sugar sand is absolute hell. Riding through that stuff can be exhausting, even on flat areas. Last week I investigated the new trail out in Mt. Dora. It looks pretty manageable in the videos, but many riders warned that it's a real 'leg burner'. They weren't kidding. From start to finish, I was either riding down a steep hill or riding up a steep hill. After about 20 minutes of that I decided I'd had enough and drove up to Santos. They have some steep hills up there as well, but thankfully they're relatively short stretches.

One of the best seats in the house, though.

:scratch Isn't a 105 caadx like $1500, list?

Are those silver, or unpainted? I'm a sucker for a raw aluminum finish....

:nono The best seat in the house is on a bike, in the race.

indeed. I rode photo-moto at a triathlon once, was a great experience. I could see doing a lot more of that if I didn't have a full time job.

No, but it does mean having more fun. :ricky

Which makes it a chick magnet, right? :lol3

Too late! I traded in the HT for the FS.

Makes me glad I wasn't around in the 19th century. :lol3 I just put clipless pedals on mine. $50 bought me more power, and now I can bunny hop (sort of) by pulling up on the pedals. Not to mention the street cred I'll get just for having them. :bow

It's raw, and the group is actually rival, but we have so many take off groups at the shop that I'll just switch it out. I think list is $2300.

I was also riding rigid back in the day when anodized purple bits were cool and xt was the hottest setup available. Suspension allows me to ride with more finesse. I can load the front or rear and clear those roots and logs...not plow over them. I have to change some seals and bushings every few years, but otherwise, no trouble. A team scalple is my next bike.

Er...scalpel

Be sure to research what you rode, on the Specialized site. If you rode the FSR Expert Carbon Evo, then there's a reason it feels the way it did. It's not a ~general purpose, MTB like the XC bikes you've had. The Stumpy is laid back, which puts more weight over the rear, hence the undersprung/too hard feeling you note. Your inexperience is partly to blame for the inability to bunnyhop. You're not going to be very good at it, when you're on a squishy, long-travel bike. They absorb the energy you're trying to put into the suspension. This bike is designed to go blasting over terrain; not perform BMX tricks.

Less than two hours until the Ragnarok goes off. I'm trying to find local weather on the TV to see if I'm gonna get hailed on.

All I can find are infomercials.

I'm watching one for spinning right now.

The irony is just too much. :lol3

Yep, that's the model I rode. Unfortunately the sales guy I talked to previously, who owns a Stumpjumper himself, was busy with another customer, and handed me off to some girl who didn't seem to know much. I'm sure he would have told me what you did, and probably recommended a different bike.

I talked to a different sales guy who was honest enough to tell me that the Trek Superfly 100 was more than capable of handling even the toughest trails at Santos, and that I should probably stick with that until I get more experience under my belt. I spent part of the afternoon practicing the bunny hop, and reached the point where I could get the front wheel pretty high off the ground. The crankbrothers clipless pedals I fitted to the bike allowed me to pull up the rear wheel with my legs, but not as much as I'd hoped. I might try putting more air in the rear shock and see if that helps. I'll be attending a mountain bike class at the end of the month, so I at least want to get the basics down before then. :1drink

I would agree with that.

I think when you look at the ratio of extreme versus less-technical terrain, of where you ride, you'll enjoy that Superfly much more than something like the Stumpy or Enduro. I feel like the guys that are breaking stuff, down there, are just overriding, if not abusing, what they have.

Stick with it. :thumb

I'm continually amazed to see how honest the salesmen in bicycle shops have been. I'm accustomed to dealing with car and motorcycle salesmen who will tell their customers anything in order to make a sale, but the ones at the various Trek and Specialized dealerships have actually talked me out of spending money that I was fully prepared to spend. How rare is that sort of thing today?