Category: Bicycle tech

Fitting a looooooong dropper post

February 1, 2019 jeffkendallweed

Modern mountain bikes are literally designed around dropper seat posts, and the name of the game has quickly become how to fit the longest possible

Component Compatibility Pitfalls

December 28, 2018 jeffkendallweed

Ever wondered about building a custom mountain bike? Well, there’s a lot to it, and I figured as I build up my own new dream

For Her build: my wife’s Ripley LS!

December 21, 2018 jeffkendallweed

My wife is 5’3” and rides a size small Ibis Ripley LS- and it’s among her most favorite mountain bikes! She’s been riding an Ibis

Tire testing! The big 2.6 has plenty of grip!

BIG tires VS little bike: new shoes on the Mojo 3!

October 19, 2018 jeffkendallweed

Now that I’ve got the geometry and suspension more dialed in on the little Mojo 3, it’s time to get into some of the finer

Mojo Ti full bike check!

October 12, 2018 jeffkendallweed

Alas! I finally got this rad bike onto some ripping singletrack! I might be dating myself here, but when I started riding in the mid

Ibis DV9- first look, first sends!

October 1, 2018 jeffkendallweed

Check out the new Ibis DV9 at Jenson USA here: http://bit.ly/2N9Ejdx What a cool bike! A $999 frame that weighs only 2.6lbs and sports a

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We even rode bikes!

#seaotterclassic #seaotter2019 #kitsbow

The annual Sea Otter Classic is the largest North American cycling event, and having not missed a single one since 1996, I had to go! I made sure to visit Kitsbow as well, they’ve had some new hires and I hadn’t yet met a few of the guys in person. Big thanks to them for their support!

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKW
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW

My additional sponsors:
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Camelbak: http://bit.ly/CamelbakJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/
I fell off a bridge and got lost in the dark: Squamish BC

#kendallweedclassic #squampton #squamishMTB

I was heading up to Whistler and no trip across the border into beautiful BC would be complete without bringing a mountain bike!!! I grabbed my custom HD4, complete with the Trust Message fork, and squeaked in a quick spin on some Squamish classics:

https://www.trailforks.com/trails/entrails-929/
https://www.trailforks.com/trails/credit-line/

I’ll post the snow bike video soon, please be patient!

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKW
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW

My additional sponsors:
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Camelbak: http://bit.ly/CamelbakJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/
Gettin' Rowdy in Texas Hill Country!

#teamtrailparty #freeride512 #localoam

I had a blast mountain biking in Austin, TX, and hope to get back to the hill country again! If you want to ride Cat Mountain then become a member of Freeride 512. If you want to support the crew that’s helped grow the scene a ton, then definitely consider entering a Trail Party event!

http://www.freeride512.com/
https://www.trailparty.com/

Special thanks to these guys:
Jeremiah Work (@jwork512)
Seth Buckner (@sethbuckgnar)

Additional thanks:
Cody Haverfield (@themxfactory)
Tyler Livesay (@tlivesay254)
Joseph Karpus (broseph83)
Chris de Haro (@de_haro)
Derek Heyn (@motoxderek331)
Cory McCallum (@corymccallum)
Andrew Taylor (@andrewtaylormtb)
Ryan Urbanski (@notorious_u.r.b)

Photos by Justin Vaughn (@_dangerfoot)

Drone footage by:
Cory McCallum (@corymccallum)
Andrew Taylor (@andrewtaylormtb)

Video by Logan Patrick Nelson (@loganpatricknelson)

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKWLocalLoam
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/
How to perfect your bike's handling: bar width!

#handlebarwidth #wideornarrow #keeppedalling

How wide should your handlebars be? Mountain bike handlebars come REALLY wide, and the hot tip is to cut them down to a more reasonable width. But what’s a reasonable width for you, and what other factors might you want to consider before getting out the saw?

PNW Components Range handlebar at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/PNWRangeBarJKW
Jenson USA’s complete selection of handlebars: http://bit.ly/HandlebarsJKW

Through the 90s, we were stuck with sketchy, narrow bars. It kind of looked like we were riding with chopsticks rather than handlebars! Then, as best I can remember, Answer ProTaper bars came out in about 1998 or so. I thought they were a full 710/28” wide, but after some online research, it looks like they were only 690, or 27”. Regardless, ProTapers actually got narrower again for the next five or so years, and were eventually sold as narrow as 630mm! So yeah, we came from a world of really, really narrow bars.

Handlebars are usually sold around 780 to 800mm wide or so. That’s HUGE! But if a bar comes really wide, that’s good news, because it can easily be made more narrow. There’s been a bit of a pendulum shift back to more reasonable widths. Reviewing some of Pinkbike’s reporting from the EWS scene it seems that many top pros are running 740-780mm bars.

I’ve been using different width bars on my bikes, and that is because the different widths end up providing some different handling characteristics.

Let’s go over a few of the different ways width will affect the feel of your bike!

1. Stability downhill- wider often has the advantage in general downhill smashing because that wider stance provides more stability and leverage against steering forces. If you find where your arms are naturally positioned for a push up, well, they are probably around shoulder width, and when you smash roots and rocks, it’s nice to have a similar bend to your arm as you would when doing a push up.
2. Wider bars are great, but they often end up muting any Playful handling traits of your bike. This means jumping, wheelies, cornering and even switchbacks will become harder and less fun with a bar that’s too wide. When the bar is too big, your elbow is too bent, and unless you have really long arms, you won’t be able to hinge enough to lean the bike over.
3. Out of the saddle pedaling feels way better with wide bars. This goes hand-in-hand with dropper seat posts. Once the saddle is no longer being used as much as a control point, the extra leverage and stability of the bars becomes crucial.

On my four main bikes, each one has a little different bar width:

My big HD4, with the 170 fork, has the widest bars. This bike has a long wheelbase and a slack head angle, and I need that leverage to control the thing. The trade off is that its harder to handle on corners and jumps, and loses a lot of the playful feel that the bike should have with the 27.5 wheels.

My little HD4, with the 130 fork and 136 rear travel, has narrower bars. This bike is SUPER FUN and playful, and I am very happy with the feel. 755mm

My Ripmo is a pretty big bike, and after I broke my scapula, it was a lot harder to throw it around. I shortened the bars down after that injury, and now have them at 745mm. This helps get the bike feeling more lively again.

My Mojo 3 is at 30” wide (760mm) since the bike is fairly small, and I want it to feel as though it’s a tad bigger. A trick with shorter bikes that you want to have feel as though they are longer is to mount up wider bars. It goes a LONG ways to transforming the feel!

Handlebars age- and they get weaker over time. Especially alloy bars. Breaking a set of bars is NO FUN, I’ve done it and was lucky to walk away with only 13 stitches. Point of this is DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CUT YOUR BARS- if you go too narrow, new bars are a good idea every couple years just to stay safe.

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKW
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW

My additional sponsors:
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Camelbak: http://bit.ly/CamelbakJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/
Fitting a water bottle to an Ibis (bike, not bird)

#hydrateordie #waterbottlecage #keeppedalling

Which bottle cages work best on Ibis bikes? With the uniquely shaped carbon frames, most traditional bottle cages don’t fit well, or in their odd location, they might result in many dropped and lost bottles. After finding these three different types of cages, I haven’t had to deal with trying any others in many years, these all work quite well!

Arrundel Carbon side loader cage at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/ArrundelJKW
Titanium water bottle cage at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/TiCageJKW
Lezyne Power Cage at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/LezynePowerCageJKW
21oz Camelbak Podium bottle at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/21ozBottleJKW
25oz Camelbak Podium Big Chill bottle at Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/25ozChillBottleJKW

Current Ibis bikes, such as the Mojo HD4, Ripmo, and Ripley LS all work AWESOME with the Arrundel Carbon Side Loader cage. Go for the downtube mounted variant, as that will have the right side access. The seat tube mount is reversed, and has what ends up being a left hand mount if it is mounted to the down tube.

On traditional bikes, like the DV9 (or the old Tranny), there is more space in the front triangle, and a side loading cage is not necessary. On these bikes, I prefer a traditionally style cage, and particularly, a titanium one. The titanium cages are more pricey than the alloy models, but they are much stronger and will last a LONG time! Do it right, do it once, buy the better cage. If you do try to use the Arrundel side loader, you’ll notice that it’s a bit harder to get the bottle back into that a traditional cage- on the Ripmo, HD4, and Ripley LS, the shock guides the bottle back in pretty naturally. When the frame is open, there is no guiding help, so you’ve gotta be spot on with your aim.

On older Ibis bikes, the water bottle was mounted under the downtube. While MUCH better than no bottle mount, it wasn’t ideal. I found the Lezyne Power Cage to be BY FAR the best under downtube cage. The short arms are super stiff, and the straight down action to insert the bottle is natural when the cage is mounted down there. I don’t recommend these cages as much for above downtube use, but they still do fine.

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKW
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW

My additional sponsors:
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Camelbak: http://bit.ly/CamelbakJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/
Should we all use the same tire pressure?

#tirepressure #mountainbiketech #keeppedalling

Modern mountain bikes and their tubeless tires can ride amazing- as long as the proper tire pressure is used! This is an often overlooked, but HIGHLY important bit of set up. When I went to my first EWS race back in 2013 I noticed several of the really, really fast French guys would check their tire pressure all the time. I rarely put much thought into it beyond “is it kinda soft but not too soft?” At that level of racing, every detail matters. Noticing this extra bit of professionalism, and the really good finishes that accompanied this, I began to turn into a bit of a tire pressure snob. I went and purchased my own Topeak Smart Gauge, and it’s the same one I use to this day!

All links go to Jenson USA, a sponsor of mine, and any purchases at the Jenson USA website will directly help support my channel!

The rad, brass, and analog Acugage: http://bit.ly/JKWaccugage
The modern, sleek, and battery powered Topeak gauge: http://bit.ly/JKWTopeakSmartGauge

Tubeless tire set up is pretty easy now, but do be sure you have a proper tubeless compatible (UST compliant) tire and rim. Trying to convert non-tubeless parts is not safe, and having a tire unexpectedly blow off a rim is NO FUN, and can be very dangerous.

Orange Seal Sealant: http://bit.ly/JKWOrangeSeal
WTB Rim Tape: http://bit.ly/JKWWTBrimtape
WTB Valve Stems: http://bit.ly/JKWWTBvalvestem

Big thanks to these guys for making this all possible! Any purchases from these links will directly help support this series as well:

PNW Components: http://bit.ly/PNWComponentsJKW
Kitsbow Cycling Apparel: http://bit.ly/KitsbowJKW
Kali Protectives: http://bit.ly/KaliJKW
Wilderness Trail Bikes (WTB): http://bit.ly/WTBlocaloam
Ibis Cycles: http://bit.ly/IbisJKW

My additional sponsors:
Jenson USA: http://bit.ly/JensonJKW
Trust Performance: http://bit.ly/TrustJKW
Camelbak: http://bit.ly/CamelbakJKW
Industry Nine: http://bit.ly/IndustryNineJKW

Check out our podcast! http://bit.ly/KendallVSKendall

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out my riding tutorials: https://www.patreon.com/jeffkendallweed

www.jeffkendallweed.com
https://www.instagram.com/jeffkendallweed/
https://www.facebook.com/jeffkendallweedMTB/

Jeff Kendall-Weed