I have two mountain bikes - a 1999 Bontrager Privateer with front suspension and drop bars, and a rigid Singular Gryphon with drops. I have taken the Singular out on steep fireroads with Marathon Supremes, but I have knobbies on order. It's about to give up its gears to another bike, and become a singlespeed. I use the Bontrager offroad, mostly in Annadel Park (Santa Rosa, CA). Steep, rocky fireroads, smooth fireroads, singletrack up and down. I started riding bikes with a rigid mountain bike, and they're as "real" as any other kind of bike, especially if you're exploring, and maximum speed isn't a goal. Big tires (~2") do a lot of the work, and bent legs and arms do the rest. After mountainbiking with a friend who has a wide saddle and a dropper post, I think a narrow saddle does the same job (get your butt out over the tire), but cheaper and lighter. A saddle with "clipped" ears probably won't be as comfortable as a B17 out and about, but a B17 is going to impede your ability to slide off the back of the saddle. At least it does for me. The other maneuver is to simply drop the saddle for descents, and 'float' above it. I like flared drops a lot, but flat bars work fine, too. I'm not a big fan of albatross bars or similar offroad, but people use them. I wouldn't start with them.
If I was to spec a Hunqapillar as a "real" mountain bike, I'd get fat knobbies, a bullmoose bar (or Midge bar), and a narrow saddle. And that's it. Philip www.biketinker.com On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 9:48:15 AM UTC-8, David Stein wrote: > > New to the group. Have a Hunq on order. I've seen a number of threads > dancing around this topic (including the recent 'Hunqapillar as a true > mountain bike' thread). Wanted to ask the question a different way, how > many mountain bikes do you own, what are they, and when do you decide to > take which bike out? > > I just got into mountain biking/trail riding after years of road riding > (Bay Area, mostly fire roads for now, some single track). I suck at it. > Trying to get better. Salsa El Mariachi with front suspension. > My interest is in exploring mostly, not necessarily going fast or racing, > but that being said I haven't met a downhill that hasn't resulted in a > crash or three (including the demo ride in Shell Ridge I took the Hunq on). > When I ordered the Hunq the idea was to use it as an all-rounder (mix of > fire roads, light trails, city riding, commuting) and my Salsa El Mariachi > 29er to take on more technical terrain and single track. But after another > couple more harrowing rides, I decided the Salsa wasn't for me and sold it > (I think it was the 29er wheel size that I didn't like, I am short and it > wasn't nimble enough, though maybe it was the general geometry of the > frame). So now, I'm left with the choice of running the Hunq as my only > mountain bike with two sets of wheels (2.1 smart sams on one and 1.75 green > guards on another), or using the Salsa money to buy an additional > singletrack specific bike with front suspension (and using in conjunction > with the Hunq, the ole N+1). Curious to what other people are doing. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
