Down Country bikes with remote lockout routing

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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prebsy
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Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2012 10:52 pm
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by prebsy

A bit of a weird one. I love my xc bike and also love riding trail bikes but let's be honest... they don't pedal like xc bikes, even if they are great for their category. I would love one bike for everything and the new crop of down country/ mini trail are getting close for me. Rocky element, 2022 top fuel and the 2022 spark to name a few. Unfortunately I just can't live with the concessions of the new spark, namely the routing.

The info isn't really readily available but does anyone know which new down country bikes offer routing for a remote lockout. I'd love to grab something that can hang on the downhills but doesn't pretend it's an XC bike and offers the cheater lever.... that a trail bike so desparately needs.

Off the top of my head I know the epic evo offers routing, yt izzo as well.


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smartyiak
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by smartyiak

I have a Kona Hei Hei CR/DL. It doesn't come with remote lockout, but has routing for it. I LOVE IT! It is really my favorite bike...EVER. It's great.

Note: I have twist lock. I know opinions vary (on Twist lock (and lock outs generally), but I like it a lot and use it many times on every ride...glad I have it.

js
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by js

Specialized Epic Evo and Santa Cruz Blur both have the routing. Pretty sure Orbea, Canyon and Cannondale do too.

I'd guess there are a ton of bikes like that, where one frame is used for the XC race weapon and slacked out / beefed up a bit for a DC model too.

There's a good collection of reviews for these frames on Flow & PB:
https://flowmountainbike.com/tests/best ... s-country/
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/video-202 ... table.html
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/welcome-t ... ition.html

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prebsy
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by prebsy

fair point js. I kind of skipped over the beefed up pure race rockets as they are a bit svelte for my particular use case though great options for others. There is also a lot of comparison and choice in that area.

I'm searching a bit deeper,this latest crop is able to hang with short travel trail bikes, hell the top fuel won bikeradar trail bike of the year (weird). I know these bikes , no matter how they brand them can't accelerate with the race rigs but with a remote lockout, especially 3 position you can get a lot of that back. I do think the spark is sort of the perfect format of geo and travel for me but i'd love to find something without... all the nonsense.

Confusedrob : that mondraker might be the business, not sure how it flew under the radar I'm struggling to find any reviews out there since the 2022 update... where it looks like they went from 100 to 115 in the rear.

ConfusedRob
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by ConfusedRob

prebsy wrote:
Tue Aug 30, 2022 2:57 am
fair point js. I kind of skipped over the beefed up pure race rockets as they are a bit svelte for my particular use case though great options for others. There is also a lot of comparison and choice in that area.

I'm searching a bit deeper,this latest crop is able to hang with short travel trail bikes, hell the top fuel won bikeradar trail bike of the year (weird). I know these bikes , no matter how they brand them can't accelerate with the race rigs but with a remote lockout, especially 3 position you can get a lot of that back. I do think the spark is sort of the perfect format of geo and travel for me but i'd love to find something without... all the nonsense.

Confusedrob : that mondraker might be the business, not sure how it flew under the radar I'm struggling to find any reviews out there since the 2022 update... where it looks like they went from 100 to 115 in the rear.
I suppose that not being a 'main stream' brand they don't get that much in the way of publicity (which is unfortunate as they are seriously decent). There's a bikeradar review here, https://www.bikeradar.com/features/bike ... dium-dc-r/, that goes over the DC set up but in it's previous guise with a shorter stroke shock out back. As far as I know, that's also the only difference between the two models, shock stroke/ eye to eye length.

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prebsy
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by prebsy

yeah , watched the pink bike review of the older model and they complained about the shock tune as well so hoping they addressed that wile upping the travel.

smartyiak
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by smartyiak

Prebsy,

Your location says SLC...have you considered the new Fezzari (I know: the name) Signal Peak? The TR version doesn't come standard with lockout, but Fezzari seems very willing to work with customers and since you're right there...prolly doesn't hurt to stop by and ask. Just an idea.

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prebsy
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by prebsy

nice offering. i reached out but when i asked for the remote on the trail shock they ghosted me... i'm guessing they only stock it for the 100 lol. it's a real bummer trying to find an aftermarket shock especially with so many companies using custom tunes now....

trying really hard not to buy a spark and put a 130mm grip2 on it lol

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prebsy
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by prebsy

Thanks for all the suggestions. I ended up grabbing a spark RC comp (cheapest way to get the frame).
I was really interested in the mondraker but the pricing was pretty awful... 6k for an NX build. I also liked the signal peak TR but they did not offer the 115mm frame with a remote.

I'm planning to run 2 wheelsets and maybe even 2 forks. So far it really fits the description as it's very plush when open but the twinloc allows you to ride it like an XC race bike.

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