The official Random MTB stoke thread

I bought a Trek. Once. About twenty years ago. Haven't needed to since because they are great with the warranty! I'm probably on my 6th frame by now.

Good to hear that.  I have been in touch with both Trek, & my dealer friend who owns the shop I bought it from.  He said that it is highly unlikely they will reject my claim.  It seems pretty obvious that this is a "normal wear & tear" issue.  I have never had a real crash on this bike & as you can see from the photo, the crack is right in front of the weld.
Thanks,
JF

Yes, like Epic said they should warrenty this.

I'm not sure if Trek and Fishers warrenty is the same.

I cracked my friends Trek OCLV on both chainstays, and they said it was abuse. They would not replace it. Said it was damage from chain suck. They wanted to fix it for $300. My friend got upset, and just left the frame at the shop. (It had already been 'fixed' once before).

Some things that I would clarify. This is if you are just getting the frame.

Make sure they are going to replace the WHOLE frame. Sometimes, they try and give you the front triangle, and make you retro-fit, the old rear swing arm. This is a pain in the butt, particularly if the cable and brake line routing is different between year models.

I had to fuss to get the lower portion of my Gary Fisher HiFi's lower triangle warrentied (along with the front triangle). The cable and brake hose routing, from the 07 to 08/09 is completely different. The bottom bracket cup 'wallowed out' on my 07. No one I have run into has had this problem. It took a loooong time to get this transaction complete. It took so long, I went back to riding my Cake and built up my Ventana 29er, during the wait. 

So now I have an 08/09 model with upper carbon stays and Fox shock from the 07 model. The derailleur cables use the 08/09 route. The rear brake uses the 07 route. The frame is painted the 07 blue, but its an 08/09 frame.?
 
Evidently, the frames come in from Tiawan, and are painted here in the US. They put a sticker on it made in the USA of foreign and domestic components. Whatever!

Basically, make sure everything is going to fit. Headset, cables, hoses, fork, shock. You definitely want the new rear triangle, with the pivot around the skewer.

Hope this helps you obtain that sweet ride!

Thanks for the heads up.
JF

 My experience has been much more positive. I think it's important to go to a dealer that gives a damn (and hopefully sells a lot of Trek) who will plead your case for you. I boughta Trek 9500 full-sus bike. Broke it at the seattube (where the rear brake cable went through), they gave me a whole new one. Broke that. Broke it again. Said, "this ain't working let's try something else". They sent me a first gen. 9900 OCLV frame. They also swapped my broken Showa made Trek DDS3 fork for a Mag-20. Broke the 9900 a few times sometimes they repaired it, other they replaced it. I paid extra one time to have it custom painted like Paola Pezzo's Fisher (they did my Judy SL and stem to match). That's the last bike I broke. I have a mint new Trek Elite 9.8 OCLV HC frame now.

Bottom-line, use some Sugar.

I'll also add that I'm a pretty loyal Trek customer now and have a LeMond road bike and have gotten other Trek/LeMond/Fisher bikes for family.

More good points Epic.  So far, it's been sugar.  I've made them aware that this is my 3rd Trek bike in 6 yrs.  My roadbike is a Madone 5.2 & I had a Fuel100 before the EX9.  They told me to go to a dealer near Tahoe which is where I am now, but that is still pretty far.  I think I will wait till I'm back in Utah in a few weeks & let my local shop deal with it.  At this point I have no reason to believe they won't make it right.
Thanks,
JF

Believe me, I gave this Fayetteville guy enough chances. I was very friendly through it all. I even offered to purchase the HiFi rear triangle. He finally got the lower portion for me. I got the impression he didn't want to upset the rep. I did get new new pivot bearings. But, I bought a new Zero-stack headset, and crank bearings, at full shop price.

I had Fayetteville guy replace the main pivot bearings on my Cake. I asked him to use the factory Loc-tite. After a few rides (on gravel roads) it developed some play. I then took the bike to my friendly dealer in Buckhannon, a few hours away. He took it apart and showed me that NO loc-tite had been used.

When I got, my HiFi back from the Fayetteville guy, the chain dropped off after about 100 yards of riding. I have never gone back.

I'm done with him.I just won't go back. No harsh words or anything. Its sad because, he is just down the street from where I work. And well, I've spent thousands there on bikes, parts, and gear. I should get some service. I hate being someones 'rent-a-friend'.

In the end I go back to my real friends, the shop owners in Buckhannon and Elkins. It is just a pain to travel up there, when I could be doing something else.

JZ, ^ I am waiting till I get back to my local shop in UT, where I know they will take care of me.  Trek suggested that I just go to a dealer near where I am now, but I don't want to risk a repeat of your experience.  None of my friends in Tahoe are Trek dealers.
Thanks,
JF
Wish I could post some stoke... maybe when my bike is back on the trail.

 Perhaps you should ask for a loaner bike until this is resolved. 

Its been a while since I've been in this thread but its time to put my big girl pants on and post some Mitten Stoke!!
(although its nothing like the gnar that epic posted.  You guys are NUTS!!!)

So here's my saga from the mitten
We've been doing the usual after work rides on a weekly basis, which has kept me moving even when I don't feel like moving.  This was the year that I was going to tackle some stuff that I couldn't get past in the past.
I've had a few occasions where the "what gets in your head" got in my head and kept me from doing things that I should be able to do. On other occasions I did stuff that was out of my comfort zone and I came out with a huge grin and went back for more.
One area where I advanced was airing over logs and rocks, which is something that I've always rolled over in the past.


I'm definitely getting more aggressive on most days(still have weird funk days)


Mapping:
In the beginning of the summer I download the Iphone App iMapMyRide, but I never took the time to set up my account, so I didn't use it for a long time. 
Last night I decided to try it out and now I wonder why I didn't take the time to do this earlier in the season! 
Here is the link to the ride which is kind of anticlimactic since it was a short after work ride, but still, it feels great to get out there and get your juju back after a stoopid day at work.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...25189141457070

Hope I didn't bore you too much, but I thought I'd share a bit of what's been going on in the Mitten State.
Thanks for reading 

 Other than the usual mt bike rides after work and on the weekends, without exploring much on new trails, there haven't been many stoke moments, until this weekend.
A puppy adopted me about 4-5 weeks ago, which the vet determined to be 14 weeks old on August 26th, so he's just about 16 weeks old now.....
DH has taken his sweet time getting used to the idea of having a dog around, especially one that is most definitely rott, but this past weekend was a big step.  On Saturday morning as we were getting loaded up for a ride, before hitting the boat for the rest of the day, when the puppy was bouncing all over.  DH says,"we should take him along."  I'm thinking not such a good idea since he's just healed from a broken paw and has young developing hips, but DH urged on.
We took Jester on the ride, but shortened our planned ride considerably to make sure we didn't over do it.  Taking turns with one of us leading and one of us following, ........

JESTER LOVED IT!





We took extra water and a disposable cup to give him frequent drinks.....which he lapped up eagerly...


We stopped at the Clam River for an extra long break to let him get a refreshing drink and take a quick dip.
He really isn't fond of water, so he only waded a little bit...







He went nuts this morning when he saw me load up my stuff to ride again, so I'm guessing he's going to be my mt bike buddy for the duration, but he's going to have to wait until next year so we make sure he's developed enough to avoid hurting him.

I am more of a road bike rider but here is how I spent Labor Day Week.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/corefour2009

Gotta love climbing at 12,000+ feet.

 Skier31, that is mosdef some stoke!

Rode a new to me trail system on saturday. Kennerdell tract of Clearcreek State Forest in Northern western, Pa.

map here

Kennerdell Tract Map

this place is full of singletrack most of legal, some of it not so much, but untill horses are banned from trails that we are banned from for causing "to much erosion" I dont think any mountain biker in the area will respect the closures. last time I checked a horse caused much more trail erosion than anything with out a motor.

Nough politics, Kennerdell is super scenic, right up against the allegheny river on top of a 500 foot ridge. Me and my friend Kelsi started on the wrong side of things down by the river.



This caused us to climb a 500 foot vertical steep (15 percent grade) doubletrack known as Blunder trail that I wish never to climb again. Especially when wet and covered in Leafs on Single Speeds. 500 aint much till you have to walk it. Once on top there is alot to explore some of it on the map so not so much. Some of it Legal and someof it not so much. We mainly stuck to the marked trails but had some fun on the little off shoots as well.

Kelsi liked it


Ridge trail was a very fun trail, with smooth flowly sections, playful and not overly tough rock gardens, drops, step ups, and log piles.

Kelsi on Ridge on the fully rigid SS. Core more core than me




Me doin one of the many technical features on this trail.


We also rode Windows name so for the views of the Allegheny River Valley you see though Windows. Sadly it was impossiable to get a picture of the view due light difference between the dark woods and the light river and opposing hill side.

Stand youll go faster with one gear


the trail wants to take you straight off this rather large drop, Kels rides it smartly and stay in one piece


Windows trail skirts this cliff for quite a while and the forest quite scenic its a rare slow down and look around trail. reminded me of sections of utah trail that skit exposued but in a forest.

I am just too fast to take pictures of apparently ;)




We then decended down blunder which was a fun gnar decent, how she went that fast with no fork is beyond me. Crazy skill I couldnt do it. Race picked up truck back to our car.


Ill be back up here we barely scratched the surface of what is ride-able up there. Really fun area to ride and unlike most Pa riding has decent view and a 'big" feel to it.

This is my friend Devin riding his bike at Winter Park.  He's the one out front, not the one filming.  If you see a front tire, that means it's in the air.




He was at the 2009 Interbike recently and was showing his new prototype bike



Edited by daysailer1 - 10/26/09 at 6:23pm

What's next? 

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/102556/

daysailer, Nice video. Very worth watching.

I didn't film it but I did race Devin over Berthoud Pass that morning.   It's the first time I've gotten to see him ride.   I know he does crash sometimes.   Back in the spring I went ski biking at A-Basin and he went mtn biking instead.  When I dropped the bikes off that night, he had lots of scraped off skin on his legs & torso.  It was the first time he had gone mtn biking since Thanksgiving.

looks like some panaracer fire x/c tires there possibly?  solid tire - especially for the cost.  

this was the wettest mtn bike season i can remember.  i am doing a dual slalom race on halloween morning... hopefully the weather stays dry for it.

2.4 Panaracer Firefree ride front, and 2.1 Panaracer Fire Xc rear. Both super solid tires unless its really muddy!!

run them tubeless as well and they aint tubeless tires.

run the same set up on my Single speed, since this is the random stoke thread here are some pics from the race the next day.

Moraine is well rocky


Its really bad when you cant see the wet granite underneath the wet leaves.

I ordered this helmet yesterday.  I hope it fits my big head & is compatible with my goggles.  Lots of stuff starting to go on closeout.

some night riding trippiness.

Full Moon


Ghost rider


its been getting hard to follow the trail lately, so hard that last night I actually was unable to follow a trail that I built and blazed myself! still fun, but its becoming harder to fins people willing to go out in the freezin air temps and ride around in dark woods at night.

I keep trying to get Trekchick to come ride in the dark with me but she won't.

 

I found that I LOVE riding at night.

Bushwacker, I think it is sad that you will admit to poor behavior such as this. (see quote below) It is people who don't follow the rules who ruin it for everyone. It is bad enough you do it but you seem to be proud that you break the rules.


"this place is full of singletrack most of legal, some of it not so much, but untill horses are banned from trails that we are banned from for causing "to much erosion" I dont think any mountain biker in the area will respect the closures. last time I checked a horse caused much more trail erosion than anything with out a motor." 

I replied in a new thread thanks for unstoking mine...


I would probably be way miserable with out night riding this time of year. I dont know how you can simply give in to shorter days and stop riding midweek. Plus the lights do double duty for night skiing;) Makes poaching trees at night doable and safe.

TC get some lights geoman.com has decent ones for 90 bucks its cures SADS instantly :)

Its tough to get motivated when you work until 6:30 at night.  X2

South Park, Pa

Brian was the only guy on my 24 hour team to beat my fast lap. this guy does indeed rip.




Kent has come along way this year in his riding.


Air time


also had some fun on the BMX track, one of the best way to become a smoother rider is spending ALOT of time on pump track or one of these.

last sunday did my last Raystown Lake ride for the year. The Leaves making it alittle less fast and harder to ride. We started out with 6 people but sadly 2 left early due to fast wash out.

Dave leads the way after his fall which would lead to 7 stitches in his left leg.


This was also most likely my giants last ride I broke the seat tube on hard hit from a roller. I did however fix it with duct tapes and ride it for 20 miles more miles.


Kent on the golden ribbon of goodness


Mike aka  NlytendOne is really fast and rails his 29er


at the half way point we found some some people from the Pro bikes team(pittsburgh shop).


you just have to stop here because its a great view.

Stick is a bike messenger in the burgh, he also rides a fully rigid 29er in jeans and a cotton t-shirt. Stick was by far the fastest in our group. Stick also weighs a 130lb hence the nickname.


Stick having fun on the Allegrippis


Mike showing his 29er is indeed flickable


At the end of day while we having post ride beer this guy coming zooming out of the trail on this thing. He is a parapeligic and might have teh coolest bike I have ever seen.

well alot of the eastern skier complain about lack of snow I ve been making the best of it and biking nearly everyday.

After a nice long South Park ride yesterday that was just in one word fun. I called up one of my newer friends and found out she was actually free for almost a half day today! This meant we were riding Yellow Creek SP. Well the excitement could have been premature but its was due. Yellow Creek does rock. Its got a little of everything. Pine forest pine needle flowiness, Rolling hardwood singletrack, Davis WV like ferny rocky plantation trail, flowly corn field downhills, steep uphill, pump track like sections with some flowly loamy and ferny though in as well. We rode 12 milish of trali there and it literally felt like you hit every Western Pa MTB trail in that 12 miles, but yet it was distinctly Yellow Creek.

After some pine needle double track we hit the first single track. This section was flatish Pine Needle flowly piece of goodness. This section alone would have been worth the one hour drive from the burgh.

Kim our gracious guide basically tore up the pine needles






















































and is Smiling because of it.


































After some rolly polly hardwoods riding we do the first little creek crossing.

Erika showing us how its done

















on her SS

















after a really hard doubletrack 100 yard of 20 percent grade with leaves that I some how made it up, we get in some ferny rolly singletrack with views of the lake.

Scenery.



























Kim zoomin on the sweet track





on the down

Josh, Sorry to hear your bike is broke. Are you still going with a pivot frame to replace it or something else? Glad to see you are still haveing fun on your 1-speed.