Znarf profile

Cool! Thanks for the help!

Hey Cooper! 

Thanks very much! Your insight is fantastic!

I'll order up some knobby tires and we'll have some fun in the forest. Small bike without crankset and drivetrain is a great idea as well. It's just astonishing how time is fleeting / rapid the changes are with little kids. 

I remember him mumbling and crawling through our apartment and now he's running, telling stories and directing me over specific rocks and roots. So far he's loving technical climbs and always encouraging me to go faster :)

Thanks for the info, very much appreciated! 

I am a bit torn right now. I bought an Elvent 12“ Strider bike on a sale a year back. I swapped in some nice kids handlebars a Syntace 30mm stem and my son can ride it now. 

It has almost exactly the same geometry as the KRS, but high volume street tires right now. Only thing missing are the knobby tires and the brake.

It is magnesium and incredibly light. Sub 3kg right now. 

BUT I can’t mount a brake.

He’s interested in some singletrack riding, but the slick tires don’t work for that. I am sure he’ll come out with us, as my wife and I are both bikers. 

I could buy the  Vee crown gem tires and end up with a comparable strider to the KRS. But without a brake.

I could also give the current bike to some „roadie“ friends and buy the KRS with the brake. 

I can’t really estimate if a brake is a „game changer“ or not. 

I’d expect he could ride only rather mellow grades even WITH a brake. 

But if the brake was a night and day difference/ would open up a whole level of rideable terrain I’d shell out for the KRS with brake without hesitation. 

Trying the one we have already is possible, but the tires would be 40€, which I could also throw toward the KRS…

As a dad of a two year and two months (eight weeks are night and day in terms of new abilites) old son (whose name also starts A) this will make my article of the year 2024. :)

We also live close to a lovely (though mostly unsanctioned) trail system and I clocked loads of rides here in 2023. 

We started to ride our Shotgun seat on hiking trails and the pump track on a tiny strider and it is so much fun. 

And challenging in many ways. Bar Mitts and Goggles have been a game changer. 

He‘s still a bit too short for a bigger strider, but I‘ve been visiting the Shotgun Dirt Hero for a while. 

Could you recommend what inseam/height is necessary for the Dirt Hero? Would you leave the brake off to start with? 

cheers 

Franz

I was very curious for this new Ibis. With long legs and arms and typically between L and XL on most frames, I have a very hard time imagining me on a large with this tiny headtube. 

I’ll have to test ride. Maybe an XL with 3cm of spacers below the stem, but I’m highly skeptical. 

My current large frame has 130mm headtube, 480mm reach and 657 stack with a 170mm fork. (I ride a 180mm with around 10mm (headset top cap and 5mm spacers) and a 20mm rise bar. Feels perfekt with 440mm chainstays.

Most fork manufacturers forbid more than 30mm of headset spacers btw…

Nice, informative article!

If you already don‘t feel jazzed about the suspension right now, wouldn‘t it be the right thing to have them re-shimmed or upgraded even for the review? The Carbon 50 isn‘t „affordable“ anyway. Most buyers in this price range will just upgrade, no? So it would be interesting to see what the frame is capable of…

@Tashi:

This assessment sounds a lot more realistic to me, and a bit fatalistic also. 

In geologic times human society will (most certainly) be a mere blink (which could mean a couple hundred thousand years or a couple hundred million years).  Like several organisms/systems of organisms which "dominated" earth for longer or shorter periods in the past 4.5 billion years, we humans affect our environment as a species. Like them we will be extinct at some point or changed so much that we probably wouldn't register our far descendants as humans. (maybe A.I. will be our heritage?) 

If we look at a human timescale rather than a geological one however, I'm sure there are some people in the world who'd argue for or even benefit, if we made sure that the planet won't be largely inhabitable for humans in the next 30-50 years. Every year, decade, century or millennium we postpone this state would be a win (especially for posterity and people who still want to live).  

Why isn't that an argument for living/milking the moment in the sense, why care, we are fucked anyway? 

Because we can greatly influence the rate at which we degrade our habitat and there are new ways, means and systems (not ONLY technological) which were never available before and might offer solutions or prolong the inevitable (remember, in geological timescales). 

I also believe that human consciousness and ability to reflect, morals, scientific and social progress should be a motivation to try and make things better. 

Imagine if everybody in the 18th century would have accepted slavery, hunger, disease, (religion ;-)) or the absence of human rights as inevitable and as a consequence would have given up. There'd be no bikes today, illegal trail builders would be hanged or quartered and for what it's worth, my life would have been a lot worse for that alone. 

We as consumers and individuals form society, economy and global populace and I therefore am of the decided opinion that we can influence or at least try to influence the direction we/it/this is going, however small that individual influence might or might not be. 

I am not trying to convert/brainwash anyone here, I DO enjoy the conversation and find it remarkable, that the tone stays polite even with this topic, which is a big compliment for the NSMB audience not many online communities warrant!

I beg to differ. Yes, corporate and global industries like construction, power plants, manufacturing etc. have BIG impact on total greenhouse emissions, but there is a lot an individual CAN do. If you burn a gallon of fuel, the emissions WILL be in the atmosphere. If you DON’T, they won’t be.

Especially if your income lies above the global average (which it probably does, if you own a device to post in this board), you have choice and responsibility.

Every bit you do for the environment WILL have an impact. And if you lead by example, others CAN follow. It‘s like democracy…

I am no saint, I consume more than I ideally should, but my family rearranged our lifes a couple years ago and reduced our carbon footprint by 60-80 percent. While changing our way of life a bit, it for sure didn‘t decrease our happiness. It is much cheaper, we could/do work less now, with more biking btw.

While I find these articles on cars well written, with great pictures and I also am emphatic with the joy these cars hopefully bring to their owners, I wondered several times if the glorification of cars on a biking website is right.

I love vintage cars and these travel vehicles suggest great freedom, that‘s why everyone loves the idea. If I am totally honest though, I am experiencing freedom much more intensively if I just ride my bike. Even on local trails, pedalling right from the doorstep TO the trails, or build or repair trails.

Glad you like it so much! 

One question on the „same cadence“ - friends spinning away thing though: 

Couldn‘t you just go one gear harder and be as quick? At least on a road the mullet setup shouldn‘t pedal slower, apart from the small effect of a different seat angle. Same tire model/wheel of course. Or is there more to it?

I have a linkglide XT group on my electric cargo bike, which I ride up and down steep gravel roads for commuting with my kid a lot. 1500km+ on it, it still shifts like new and the chain seems to be good to go so far.

Freaking 48t chainring seems to minimize wear as well, as the big cogs see actual use on the cassette.

I have to say, the REEB bikes are stunningly beautiful - I'd love to try one. Looking forward to some pics!

I have to yet to snap some worthy pics of my "new" trail bike. (which is all recycled high end parts on a closeout Ibis Ripmo V2 Carbon frame) I didn't expect to be blown away, but I am - this thing is light, fun, efficient and capable in a very subtle way.

Of course there are so many hype reviews - honestly I believed them too good to be true. Turns out, they weren't. It's a standout bike (for me).

My "main" ride will continue to be the Madonna Raaw I've ridden for now five seasons. No need or desire to change.

I´d also love to try a current"ish" Reign. Had the 27.5" model for a while, was a cool bike, confidence inspiring. The seat angle didn't work for me, but seems improved on newer iterations.

If you got an "old" Lyrik - get a PUSH HC97. It's amazing and keeps the fork up there all the time, without making it less plush. It opens up amazing in the rough stuff and is top notch for steep stuff, too. I don't need to twiddle the dials for different trails, like I had to with the stock charger setup. The fork works great with one setup in very different scenarios...

I tend to think that a lot of what makes a low bar height feel great can be compensated with good technique on modern bikes with proper weight distribution, to a certain extent, even at higher bar height (and results may vary, in relation to body proportions, strength and frame geometry).

;-)

With proper reach, chainstay length, bb drop and bigger wheels I can comfortably and safely ride bar heights I couldn‘t have ridden a proper corner on my 26“ bikes way back then…

I have a lot of buddies riding Madonnas over here, these bikes last and are great for burlier riding.

One is about 1,68m and rides the V1 with a 20mm riser and 5mm spacer below the stem. Bar height isn‘t a worry. He can even barely fit a 180mm Oneup V2 slammed. Loves the bike with full 29“ setup, but is mullet curious with a Fraezen link aftermarket rocker.

If money is a concern, a V1 or V2 could be a bargain right now…

The V3 looks intriguing, but I see zero reason to upgrade my V2. I have long legs and no urgent need to try Mullet, besides curiousity…

Hi,

it is a size Large 2019 Madonna V2. I ride it with a 65mm stroke shock, that results in 172mm travel, but set sag for a 60mm stroke, which would get the regular 160mm. BB height is spot on then.

I have a 180mm Lyrik on there, but rarely use the last 10-15mm of travel on the fork. The fork is rather linear with a Luft-Fusion air spring. I have an EXT Storia V3 coil in the rear and that is also rather linear, but ramps up a bit with the HBO.

When set up right, the fork and rear travel feel astonishingly similar in how they use their respective travel - this makes for incredible predictability and feels absolutely intuitive to me. I find it remarkable how much difference in performance and feel single components or even settings/setup can make. Before the Madonna I was switching bikes frequently, but I have yet to find a better replacement for it. And also it feels so dialed now, that I feel I am just now extracting the most out of it…

My trails are comparable to blacks in North Vancouver, some resemble natural blacks in Whistler, but with grippy sandstone and only occasional granite. It used to be humid and wet, but the three last seasons were rather dusty. Right now it is massively soggy for the first time in years. We have a lot of illegal trails, which are steep and rooty, but also some official ones, which resemble the flowier stuff in Squamish. We don‘t have extended slabs, sadly :)

I am located in Heidelberg, Germany.

I‘ve spent five seasons (and will continue to do so) on a Madonna V2 with a 180mm fork. The higher stack on paper for the v3 is actually just because of longer a-c. So my V2 has the same stack numbers. 

I find it incredibly comfortable, it climbs great, I wouldn‘t want it any lower. My trails are mostly steepish though. It absolutely works on flat terrain, with enough pressure/spring rate in the rear shock.  I have 10mm spacers below my stem and 20mm riser bars. 

I experimented with bar height, there is definitely a point where performance suffers, both for minimum and maximum height. And my „comfortable=fast“ window is surprisingly narrow/specific. Stem length seems less critical between 35 and 50mm. 5mm too much or little spacers though feel critically cumbersome. Wierd.

I needed some time to adapt to a higher bar setup. I tend to keep my legs straighter, bend the knees less and my hips/torso become much more stable when descending.

I did exactly that on a 23 SD Air. The new body was 30€. Shock needs to be depressurized and disassembled. But if it‘s due a service anyway…

One time a friend bought a 100 foam rings on aliexpress for a couple bucks. He raved how they were so much cheaper. Turned out they didn‘t hold any liquid. Maybe the material they were made of would have been perfect for tire inserts in that regard.

Apart from that I used Fox 36 foam rings in 35mm Lyriks. Worked. Other way around as well. Installation can be tricky, if they are too loose and get caught in the bushings and rip. But you‘d feel that for sure. I did and had fun to fish all the bits out of oily lowers…

The bearings on my Raaw Madonna last multiple seasons, which is a first for me. 

My wife‘s Santa Cruz Hightower LT also runs smoothly for a long time. 

Never pressure washing them and wiping them off with a wet rag instead of excessive water with a hose or bucket also increases bearing life drastically for me.

Incredibly cool bike! Best thing that can happen to kids. 

My dad rode me around on a similar Longus on a top tube mounted child seat. That got me hooked on mtbs…

Have you bought already? 

A thing to keep an eye on. Several friends of mine had headtube issues/failures with the current enduro. They had little cracks in the carbon headtube where the bearings sit, upper end. Freaking creaking and all their frames got warrantied. No catastrophic headtube ripping off or something. The ticking/creaking drove them nuts before anything happened. 

They all ride the black/white s-works now, while they originally had flashy colors. (I loved the red one most!)

That said, they got new frames without questions (some waited almost a year though, covid…). And new frames are supposed to have a new layup, we will see, if they hold up.

They also mostly love how the bike rides, very plush, not a fantastic climber, but great descending bike. 

Looks spectacular.