A "PHOTO" of your bike -keep the text short-

[bitterrider]

My shrine to cycling

[MCSmith]

Here is my Giant Talon 2

Best bike I have owned by far.





Here is some BBG goodness!!



And a new stem that my dealer allowed me to swap out with the stock stem..gotta give props to Main Street Cycling!

[TheyCallMeBruce]

Not For Sale.

Now That's awesome! Interested in a trade for a pair of Specialized TriCross'es?

[FLIPMODES]

Here is my Giant Talon 2

Best bike I have owned by far.





Here is some BBG goodness!!



And a new stem that my dealer allowed me to swap out with the stock stem..gotta give props to Main Street Cycling!

Nice bike. How did it ride yesterday at Stony? Can you tell the difference between your Giant and your previous Trek?

[MCSmith]

Here is my Giant Talon 2

Best bike I have owned by far.





Here is some BBG goodness!!



And a new stem that my dealer allowed me to swap out with the stock stem..gotta give props to Main Street Cycling!

Nice bike. How did it ride yesterday at Stony? Can you tell the difference between your Giant and your previous Trek?

Night and day! For me their is a big difference.

The Giant fits me right, I do not feel like its top heavy, it is balanced nice.

The only issue was the small block 8 on the front, it washed out a lot!

[Mack]

Here is my Giant Talon 2

Best bike I have owned by far.





Here is some BBG goodness!!



And a new stem that my dealer allowed me to swap out with the stock stem..gotta give props to Main Street Cycling!

Nice bike. How did it ride yesterday at Stony? Can you tell the difference between your Giant and your previous Trek?

Good lookin' bike mike. I don't know why, but that trail looks familiar for some reason .

[kyle_vk]

Rode Boyne Highlands for the first time....what a riot! Although I don't think i'll ever do it clipped in again.

My friends wahoo aftermath. Landed a second jump long in the flats and taco'd the back rim, carried to much speed into a turn and went straight into a tree with the front...easy way to trash two wheels!

[mtbfree]

My friends wahoo aftermath. Landed a second jump long in the flats and taco'd the back rim, carried to much speed into a turn and went straight into a tree with the front...easy way to trash two wheels!

Haha, yep... I learned the hard way as well: XC wheels don't do DH riding for very long.

[iamkickstand]

My friends wahoo aftermath. Landed a second jump long in the flats and taco'd the back rim, carried to much speed into a turn and went straight into a tree with the front...easy way to trash two wheels!

Haha, yep... I learned the hard way as well: XC wheels don't do DH riding for very long.

DH Wheels don't do DH for very long

Just took my wheels in today to get straightened up.

How'd you like riding Boyne Highlands? I was up there on Saturday, so much potential.

[LuckyCharm4x4]

My friends wahoo aftermath. Landed a second jump long in the flats and taco'd the back rim, carried to much speed into a turn and went straight into a tree with the front...easy way to trash two wheels!

I thought about buying that bike, but I was told that the wheels wouldn't hold up due to them being single wall'd. I got the Marlin instead which has double walls.

[ArcticRobot]

Rode Boyne Highlands for the first time....what a riot! Although I don't think i'll ever do it clipped in again.

Too bad, Shimano DX PD-M647 and 510 Hellcats is the way to go. Will never ride flats again.

[Jerry68]

My "Wednesday Night Pisgah Area SORBA Bent Creek group ride" bicycle of choice. Riding a full rigid 26er has really fine tuned my line selection skills, and the 1X9 gearing has improved my ability to grind out long climbs.

[kyle_vk]

How'd you like riding Boyne Highlands? I was up there on Saturday, so much potential.

It was a ton of fun...my first time doing any dh/freeride oriented trails, or even using a bike lift. I was surprised at how much it highlights the geometry of an XC bike, at first i felt like i was going to go over the handle bars on the smooth stuff...let alone the rough. It made me much more conscious of my braking, i've never been good with my front brake but using only my back brake (with the tire i had) was futile. I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying out some more of the runs, hopefully without breakdowns stopping the day early. The only bad part of the trip was that it made me want a more "AM" style bike even more than i already do

I thought about buying that bike, but I was told that the wheels wouldn't hold up due to them being single wall'd. I got the Marlin instead which has double walls.

Funny you say that because he debated the same thing, but when its your first bike and your not planning on doing anything "crazy", there's only so much you can plan for.

Too bad, Shimano DX PD-M647 and 510 Hellcats is the way to go. Will never ride flats again.

I'm rocking 5.10 maltese falcons right now, which are a clipless/platform model and i love them...but there was a lot there that was beyond my skill set and i could tell i was holding back a bit because i didn't want to tumble down any hillsides. I love my m520's for the riding i usually do, but there's not much in the line of platform when you un-clip, id rather just get a decent set up platforms to throw on when i go somewhere like the highlands than get an in-between set that i don't need the majority of the time.

luckily he was wearing my gopro when he wrecked so i'll get a video up here eventually.

[trout_smith]

My "Wednesday Night Pisgah Area SORBA Bent Creek group ride" bicycle of choice. Riding a full rigid 26er has really fine tuned my line selection skills, and the 1X9 gearing has improved my ability to grind out long climbs.

Props for riding down there on a ridgid! I rode my hardtail down there a couple years back and just about trashed it. I decided I'm going to borrow/buy a FS next time - at least on some of the crazy rock-drop-strewn trails we were on. Now, DuPont, that was fun and flowy on the HT.

[iamkickstand]

How'd you like riding Boyne Highlands? I was up there on Saturday, so much potential.

It was a ton of fun...my first time doing any dh/freeride oriented trails, or even using a bike lift. I was surprised at how much it highlights the geometry of an XC bike, at first i felt like i was going to go over the handle bars on the smooth stuff...let alone the rough. It made me much more conscious of my braking, i've never been good with my front brake but using only my back brake (with the tire i had) was futile. I'm definitely looking forward to going back and trying out some more of the runs, hopefully without breakdowns stopping the day early. The only bad part of the trip was that it made me want a more "AM" style bike even more than i already do

Too bad, Shimano DX PD-M647 and 510 Hellcats is the way to go. Will never ride flats again.

I'm rocking 5.10 maltese falcons right now, which are a clipless/platform model and i love them...but there was a lot there that was beyond my skill set and i could tell i was holding back a bit because i didn't want to tumble down any hillsides. I love my m520's for the riding i usually do, but there's not much in the line of platform when you un-clip, id rather just get a decent set up platforms to throw on when i go somewhere like the highlands than get an in-between set that i don't need the majority of the time.

luckily he was wearing my gopro when he wrecked so i'll get a video up here eventually.

Yeah, the geo on a AM, or freeride , DH bike makes a huge difference. People always ask if you can ride a XC bike out there, and you certainly could/can, but having a dedicated gravity bike certainly makes it a lot more fun. Hopefully you're able to make it back out there! Gravity riding is a hoot.

I have ridden clipped and platofrms, and mentally I just am a lot more willing to push the envelope on flats. I didn't realize it, until I switched back to flats on my XC bike just how much I was letting the clips get the best of me from that standpoint.