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You guys really liked yesterday's first thoughts article on bike brands and I still have a million things to do before Sea Otter. So here is part 2 of what I think of bike brands. Sorry again for the typos, it's better if I type and post instead of proofread and censor. I will be at Sea Otter, if I am wrong, come find me! Scott Bikes: Literally who is buying these bikes in North America? Do not get me wrong, I think they are some of the best looking and top performing bikes on the market. But is anyone actually paying full MSRP on one? Any of your buddies buy one? Maybe its a Euro thing. Transition Bikes: Rad brand doing rad things, but getting a little bit of a "setting themselves up in a good position to one day get bought vibes". They were so insanely ahead of the long and low curve, and so many other geo trends. Shows how far passion will take you. Knolly Bikes: Noel Buckley, the founder, is what comes to mind. If you have ever met him, you understand why those bikes are so awesome! He is such a passionate guy when it comes to bikes! Also straight top tubes, finally! Kona Bikes: Heartbreak. The Kona Mahuna was my first mtb bike ever. Now people are talking about "hope they make it"? They just released a new ambassador list which is awesome. But bikes that weren't 5 years old would also be rad. But still, they will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I believe in them! Orbea Bikes: Spain. That is probably where most of them get bought. Because it doesn't seem to be here in the US even though I really like the look of the bikes! Remember when they let you custom paint them? I wonder if that is still a thing. Allied Cycle Works: The dude with the mustache, Payson, he rips that gravel bike! Walmart comes to mind but so does passion. They seem like they have cool program, but its also a tough market. Would be really interesting to see them enter the enduro sphere. Cannondale: Once again has anyone’s friends bought a Cannondale lately? The bikes still look like they rip!!! Also who remembers the old Jekyl with that weird fox rear shock system that was a nightmare to service? But seriously, these guys still look to have serious potential! Intense Bikes: Costco. Hate to see it, but I hope they can bring it back to radness. Mondraker: If my buddy Shane is reading this, one of the only reasons I thought of this brand while making this list is because of you. Have them give you a raise maybe? Niner Bikes: How many times can you get bought and still function? You guys want more? -Mo Awesome

Sea Otter is here and so are about a million other deadlines for me. This means I have had so little free time to type, but the website must go on! So here are my quick first thoughts of what I think of a bike brand. It will probably get me in trouble, but you guys are worth it! Excuse the typos, Im literally typing this and posting it straight with no proof reads because I will probably second guess myself. Also I will be at Sea Otter so if you think I'm wrong, feel free to find me! Santa Cruz Bicycles: What happened to them? Seemed like they were on top of the world and now it seems like they can’t figure out what’s going on company structure wise? “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” Ibis Cycles: Poppy, playful, and fun! But also slightly outdated? Ripley, Hakka, Ripmo, all need new versions. Is this the year? Pivot Cycles: South mountain. Riding that zone makes you fully understand the bikes more! That Switchblade I just finished testing is hands down one of the best bikes I have ridden. The only bummer is supper boost, but with their passion for local bike shops, I will let it slide! Evil Bicycles: Core. I feel like this brand is most likely the most core of them all, and that is starting to grow on me especially with all of the cringy marketing strategies that exist in 2024. Hopefully they are able to crank out some new releases this year! ARI Bikes: The best bang for buck direct to consumer brand on the market right now that is seemingly doing everything right when it comes to bikes. It seems like they saw other direct to consumer brands sleeping a bit and took the year to go full attack mode. Norco Bicycles: Heavy and big pulleys. Have never ridden one, but it looks like business wise they might be on track to become a big player. Everyone who loves them also seems to be a great downhiller. Rocky Mountain Bicycles: Probably the most slept on brand considering the new bikes they have been releasing are checking off all the boxes of what a bike needs to have to be great this year! Adjustable geometry, frame storage, carbon and alloy options? Maple Syrup??? Specialized: Stressful. I can only imagine how much inventory they have right now. But hopefully somewhere in that warehouse is the brand new Stumpjumper that is set to come out this year! The Epic is still on my wish list! Yeti Cycles: For the world's fastest racers. I clearly was not one of those because I never fell in love with my Yeti SB 140. But also seeing all of the responses from people when I asked about the brand and how passionate some customers are makes me realize this brand has a rad thing going on. It just wasn't for me. Trek Bikes: How is a company this big and yet I still see so little of their bikes on the trails? I also can’t believe I'm saying this but I have never ridden one, ever! Giant Bikes: So much potential, such an amazing suspension design, so little North America marketing. Visiting Taiwan and seeing how big of a power house they are over there and then seeing how little of a market share they have in the US is very interesting. Maestro is amazing btw, Giant Reign from 2015 is still one of my all time favorite bikes! Should I do more of these? With how much I have on the to do list this week, maybe I will…

Hannah has been struggling with her Yeti Sb140 so we head to DVO Suspension to check out some new goodies that they think will help! We also get check out some trails at Rocky Peak a zone we don't get to ride very often! Can DVO save Hannah's Yeti?

A few weeks ago our buddies over at Loam Pass told us about a bike park in San Diego called Luiseño Bike Park and we were blown away. Never having heard of it, we did some research and things checked out. There was indeed a brand new bike park a little over an hour away from Orange County. Having just gotten our Loam Passes which gave us each 2 days in the more than 30 bike parks on the pass, we made the drive down to meet up with pro racer Nik Nestoroff. Now during the drive over we realized why this wasn’t immediately on our “to hit list”. Even though on the map it was pretty close, we had to go up some pretty windy mountain roads that were very slow going. However, during the entire trip over there we were mesmerized by this part of SoCal! So many big mountains tucked away in this part of San Diego. We were very excited to get to the bike park as the potential was growing with every minute! Upon arriving and meeting up with Nik, it was very clear to us that Luiseno was more than just a bike park. We saw a bunch of campsites right by a river, as well as signs for a water park and ziplines. The bike park shuttles looked awesome, but luckily for us we got a special ride up in the park's Polaris with a bike rack! On the way up we looked around and realized how insane the terrain was. Big mountains filled with endless rocky chunk, we were getting very excited. The first trail of the day was Coyote to Granite, and right away we realized how much time must have gone into building these trails. Think a mixture of well cut flow trails with a lot of rock features and you have Luiseno. While the trails did feel slightly on the more family friendly side, we could see this park's potential. From top to bottom, we were blown away at how crazy it was that we had just heard about this place only a few weeks ago. The stoke was real as were the granite alternate tech lines! After a lap with Nik, Hannah and I headed back up the mountain for another lap, this time taking Coyote to Rabbits. This is where we started to notice the park's potential. Rabbit was very fun, however it was clear to us there was a lot of building going on still around it, making us think this bike park has huge plans. And why wouldn't they? After all, this bike park is surrounded by insane amounts of elevation! After getting back to the van we loaded up and headed to surf. The entire time we were leaving I couldn't help but look around and notice the potential. One day, Luisneso bike Park is going to be huge, and I am excited to have first ridden it when it opened. Check out the Loam Pass here: https://www.loampass.com

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, 2024 is the year of bikes! So many awesome bike releases this year that with summer right around the corner I figured I would put together a list of 5 long travel enduro bikes that would be perfect for this season! This list might change soon though with Sea Otter right around the corner and more launches coming! Also this is just a list, stay tuned for more in depth content on these bikes coming soon: 1.Rocky Mountain Altitude: This bike has to come first simply because it seems like Rocky Mountain is actually trying to shake the bike industry up this year with 2 solid launches in a row! First they gave us the updated Instinct, and now we have the new Altitude, a 160mm travel bike with a 63 degree-ish head angle. The reason for the “ish” is  because the bike also comes with loads of geometry adjustments making sure you can dial this long travel rig in for whatever you are going to throw at it! 2. Knolly Chilcotin: With a 170mm of travel and bike wizard Noel Buckley driving the designs, this bike first came on my radar recently because of Nic from VanCan. I used to have a Knolly and the bikes ride amazingly. However this year they went to a straight top tube design on this 170mm downhill ripper and I have to say, it looks clean! If you are looking for optimal traction, this one has to be on the list as Knolly’s are known to have some of the most supple initial strokes out there! 3. Deviate Cycles Claymore: I don’t even know where you would buy this bike. All I know is that I have been seeing these high pivot bikes pop up more and more at our local trail systems and the Deviate just has a look about it that pops out! From what I have heard, high pivots provide a significant amount of added traction with the cost of some slight friction while pedaling. 2024 is the year I will be getting a high pivot bike in for testing, so stay tuned! 4. Ari Bikes La Sal Peak: Fun doesn't have to break the bank and the ARI La Sal Peak is a 170mm enduro bike that will make sure you still have money for season passes to your local bike park! I spent a lot of time on the La Sal Peak last year, including a huge 16k feet of climbing day in Whistler, and all I can say is that it is probably one of the most versatile 170mm bikes in this category. And with a sale price of $2899 for a complete bike? Insane. 5. Pivot Cycles Firebird 29: I loved my Switchblade I had in earlier for testing and also loved the vibes coming from Pivot Cycles. You can tell they really care about bikes. But the real reason this bike made it into this list is the limited edition 2 tone paint job this 165mm enduro ripper has. This might just be the best looking bike currently on the market paint wise. Oh and I guess if you are into performance, my old Firebird was one of the best long travel 29er’s I have owned and from what I have gathered, this one only got better. Happy Trails! -Mo Awesome

DVO Suspension has been stepping things up this year and just released the brand new DVO Diamond 36 as well as the Topaz Prime rear shock. We had a chance to visit them this week to check out the new product and get them installed on our bikes for some testing before the launch. If you are thinking visiting them is some industry privilege it is not, their HQ is in Santa Clarita, California and anyone can stop by to check out some product or get their DVO suspension serviced. They even have free espresso, just make sure Jr or Ronnie are the ones pulling it. If you are lucky too, the car shop in front of them gets some exotic projects weekly so you might see some rad vehicles while you are there! So what is new for the Diamond 36? Basically everything! A few weeks ago we brought you our first impressions of the new Onyx 38 by DVO and talked about how great that fork felt. They went with a new SL air system, so gone is the old OTT coil set up, and instead you have a much easier to set up fork that retains all of the suppleness in the initial stroke. DVO is bringing those internals over to the Diamond setup, which is a much more trail / enduro oriented fork, with travel ranges from 140mm to 160mm. They also spent a considerable amount of time working on the crown of both the 38 as well as 36 chassis to help increase trail traction while remaining stiff when needed! All of this is backed by the awesome customer service that DVO has been known to provide, where you are actually able to get on the phone with them and have them dial you in! Bryson Martin has been doing suspension things for a long time and is actually the man behind Marzocchi from back in the day! The Topaz Prime rear shock is also new for them this year. This addition to the standard Topaz features both High and Low speed compression adjustments allowing you to fully dial in the shock to your enduro or downhill needs. Paired with the DVO Onyx 38, the tunability of your ride will be all up to you and excuses are out the door. Both the Topaz as well as the Diamond 36 are fully adjustable tune wise straight from DVO, so if there is something specific you want from your suspension you can actually hop on a phone call with them and discuss what you are looking for from your ride! If you get Ronnie on the phone, ask him about his Big Mac experiment and how that has been going. Our test session was on a very rocky trail system called “Rocky Peak” just north of Los Angeles. With lots of big rocks to roll off and plenty of chunk, we were able to really put the new suspension through its paces. We even had the pleasure of riding with professional racer Spencer Rathkramp, who was able to show us some of the lines when things got spicy. Right before the ride we ran into pro racer Rae Morrison who also rides for DVO Suspension. Having worked with DVO over the years one thing we have always noticed is they feel like so much more than a suspension company and people associated with the brand really do consider themselves part of a family. With so many other giant suspension corporations being swallowed up by private equity firms, it's a refreshing thing to see. On trail, the real magic here is the Diamond 36. My wife Hannah has been struggling to get a good rhythm on her Yeti Sb140 and attributed a lot of that to the Fox 36 that comes stock having a bit more of a stiffer tune out of the box and the Yeti putting you in a bit more of a race style position on the bike. After a lap of one of the more chunky trails out there, her feedback continually seemed to be that the fork felt much more supple in the initial stroke while feeling just as stiff. She seemed to really be enjoying how much control she had of the front end of the bike, again balancing out the more race-like feel the Yeti SB140 was giving her. A lot of the feedback seemed to line up well with how I felt about the DVO Onyx 38. The new SL air system seems to have achieved the perfect combo of great feeling fork and super easy to set up feel on trail. Spencer was running the same fork and seeing him put his Specialized Stumpy through the paces on some bigger lines also was very confidence inspiring in the Diamond 36’s performance. The Topaz Prime rear shock I had on my Rocky Mountain Slayer also felt great. While I did not notice too much of a drastic change over the Topaz I'm currently running, obviously the biggest difference here is the ability to fine tune high and low speed compression adjustments, something that is crucial on the Rocky Mountain suspension platform given its unique feeling curve. A lot of riders will appreciate this option and it's a welcomed addition to their lineup. We are currently putting the Diamond 36 through the paces for a long term review, stay tuned! Find out more here: https://dvosuspension.com

After testing the Ibis Cycles HD6, Mo came to the realization that the bike rode completely different from what he expected when he first read the geo charts. Did he end up liking this 165mm of travel, dedicated mullet enduro bike? Watch to find out!

Spring is here which means bike park season is about to open in full swing! Traveling the US in a van is awesome for exploring, however I always find it tough to figure out where we want to explore first in states we have never been too! That is why I am super pumped on my new Loam Pass which gives me 2 days of riding at more than 40 destinations across the US. The Loam Pass was started by my really good friends Joey and Rob, and I can’t wait for more people to find out about it because at $249, this is going to make traveling so much easier for people looking to ride new zones! We have a big year of traveling ahead of us and now we can use the Loam Pass to map out summer travels around these bike parks knowing we will for sure score at these locations! Here are some of the bike parks / shuttle services that I am most excited about riding this year with the Loam Pass: 1.Luiseño Bike Park: I can't believe I’m even saying this because this one is in our backyard of San Diego, but this bike park is supposed to be awesome and we can't wait to check it out! 2. Richfield Bike Shuttle: It seems like everyone is talking about the Richfield trails and I can’t wait to see what all the hype is about! Utah season can’t come soon enough! 3. Ashland Mountain Adventures: If you have never been to Ashland, you are missing out big time! This awesome town in southern Oregon has a really cool Shakespear vibe surrounded by big mountains filled with awesome trails! Can’t wait to get back! 4. Howler Bike Park: Don’t sleep on the middle of America! We have already ridden so many rad trails and once again word of mouth is letting us know that Howler is where it’s at for a cross country road trip pit stop! 5. China Peak: This one is a bit personal because China Peak was actually one of the first and pretty much only enduro race I did about 10 years ago! I’m not into racing but one of the reasons I signed up was to be able to ride a new zone I had never been too! Stoked to get back to this Northern California bike park! 6. Shred MT Shuttles: As crazy as this sounds, I have never ridden Montana! It is just a little out of the way to our normal route to Whistler and not really in the way of our route down and back to Salt Lake. This year we make the detour! 7. RideBHM: I didn’t even know Birmingham had a bike park and at one point we even considered moving there! Stoked to check out the trails!! 8. Jarrods Place: Once again going back to buying a house, we have spent a lot of time looking at the south and Georgia is an option of where we might one day settle down at! Excited to ride some of these southern trails! 9. Burke Mountain Resort: I can't believe I'm saying this but New York is the only place on the North East Coast that we have ridden! We have heard nothing but great things about Vermont and we are excited to check out the trails! 10. Station Mountain: Texas has some of the most underrated single track in the country! Now we have another bike park to add to our road trip list besides Spider Mountain! If it is anything like the other southern trails we have checked out, we will be stoked! So many more destinations on the Loam Pass can be found here: https://www.loampass.com

They say “if you don’t like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude”. Well that has been my situation with e-bikes this year. Coming into the year, I had done a lot of testing on e-bikes and at the end of each session not much changed, they weren’t for me. I didn’t spend too much personal time trying to understand them or people who preferred them. However one goal of going independent this year was to keep an open mind with all things bike related. I'm fine being known as “that opinionated bike reviewer”, but I don’t want to be known as “that guy that won't review what he doesn’t like”. Starting off the year of testing, the Nebo peak from ARI made me realize maybe I like lightweight e-bikes and that is where I have been going wrong? It felt much more natural than traditional full power e-bikes and I could see myself spending a little more time on this platform. Then I had a test session with founder of Pivot Cycles Chris Cocalis on their Pivot Shuttle LT, a full powered e-bike, and it made me question that previous revelation. The Shuttle LT was not a lightweight e-bike and I loved that one. Geometry and weight distribution played a huge part in this, but also it had the Shimano EP801 motor, and I wondered if this would open some more doors in my mind. This week I saw ARI bikes upgrade their Timp Peak with the same motor, and looking at the price point of $6199 for a complete bike with top of the line DVO suspension (including the brand new Onyx 38), I was curious again! I reached out to Joey Foresta, head of Marketing at ARI bikes for some more info: Mo: Hey Joey! Hope the new year is treating you great. How has the rebrand from Fezzari to Ari Bikes been going? Joey: Hey Mo, the new year has certainly been hectic with the big changes! The feedback has been mostly positive which has been great to see. Mo: That’s awesome man. I saw that the Ari Timp peak just got some changes. I understand its the motor? What did you guys do to it and how did it make it better? Yeah, Timp got a facelift! We upgraded the motor to the new Shimano EP801 and also did some spec changes. As a OEM, we can change the motor mapping however we want specific to each bike. On the Timp, we tuned the power to be more consistent and “usable”. The EP801 has a lot of torque, so making sure it delivers power gradually and effectively is very important to us. You can also very easily change back to the stock setting on the display. Mo: And how is the Timp peak doing in comparison to the lighter Nebo Peak. I know I really liked the Nebo when I tried it. Do you think the new motor changes on the Timp will make that my new favorite? When you spend a good amount of time on emtb’s, you start to realize that full power VS. lightweight is really apples and oranges. The Nebo and Timp are both incredible bikes in their given categories. But with this new motor, I could see it being a hard decision for you, I’m still trying to decide what my favorite is too! Mo: What makes the Timp Peak stand out from other bikes on the market? Handling and efficency. We were able to shift the weight of the battery very low in the bike, so the handling is world class. We hear a lot of people say "this bike doesn’t ride like an ebike”. The steep seat tube angle and our motor mapping  makes the bike very efficient as well. More efficient=more miles! Mo: Anything new from Ari Bikes coming soon? Yes we have a lot of new bikes coming down the pipeline! Keep your eyes peeled! Check out the ARI Bikes Time Peak Here: https://aribikes.com/products/timp-peak

Nrml MTBer, or Sebastian Bauer, is changing the mountain bike media landscape one viral instagram post at a time. Unless you live under a rock, you have probably come across one of his many hilarious Instagram reels or YouTube shorts. Now while these seemingly are just another funny post, bigger picture what is not shown is how Sebastian is dramatically changing the landscape of mountain bike media. People, as well as companies, are starting to realize that short form, relatable content where the end goal is to make the person on the other end of the screen laugh is here to stay. It's pretty evident to me as well that Sebastian was one of the first creators to pivot in this direction. Sebastian also shreds and at 330lbs, hitting huge jumps and steep tech trails in his content clearly shows he trusts his bike set up! We wanted to find out just what goes into his thought process and when he let us know he built up the worlds strongest Specialized Stumpjumper Build we were very intrigued. And then he started talking appoalypse and we were sold... So what makes this build so special? Looking at it looks like you went a bit burly and reliable component wise. Are there any key stand out components or things you went with for a specific purpose? This bike is called the Apocalypse Build! Essentially the idea of this build was to make a bike which could live and thrive through the apocalypse and each piece was thought out with that specific purpose and reason. (FRAME) The frame is a Specialized Stumpjumper Evo carbon, and in my eyes is one of the best and most versatile mountain bikes money can currently buy. I have taken the Evo to DH parks, jump parks, xc rides, shuttle runs, skate parks, and road rides…. and it handles it all exceptionally… plus not to mention its ability to be easily converted to mullet or full 29er wheel size. Also, the carbon frame was specifically chosen because its a little lighter and stronger than aluminum equivalents and in the unlikely scenario that the frame brakes, it can be (sorta) fixed in a pinch. (SUSPENSION) I kept the suspension super simple here. The rear shock is a base Float X and the fork is a 170mm Marzocchi. Simple and reliable. No major adjustments or un-needed parts to go wrong, just pure reliability and good feel. (DRIVETRAIN) As you can see the drivetrain is an outdated Sram GX system. And thats for good reason. Parts are much easier to find for this generation, its very strong, and most importantly its not electric. No batteries, no charging, no bullshit. Just hop on and ride. Infact nothing on this bike is electric or requires batteries. In the case an EMP hits, this bike will ride just fine whereas cars, motos, and e bikes will get destroyed. (WHEELS) I went with the Roval Traverse wheels because I have built up an insane amount of trust over the years riding them and never had any hubs or wheels explode on me. I have added Cushcore inserts and fitted Specialized GridGravity Cannibal tires, which, in my opinion are the best tires on the market right now. (Color of Components) You might look at the shiny paint and chrome/gold components and think, “hmmm… thats not very stealthy. If it was truly the apocalypse, you want a camo color scheme to blend in with nature…” but no no no no no…. Look at it this way, after an apocalyptic scenario or war, the survivors all bunch up into groups. In these groups there is instantly a hierarchy and a leader is chosen. Well, if my bike is colored in shiny extravagant colors it instantly boosts me up the hierarchal ladder. Boom, now I’m a tribe leader! But, I also really just like the gold TRP DHR EVO brakes so thats why I chose those… As a heavier rider, what are the more common issues you run into with components? Have you had any near catastrophic failures with anything specifically? As a heavier rider (330lbs 6’4”) my main worry in regards to parts breaking might surprise some people… youd think that I break wheels constantly but honestly I havent broken a wheel (unintentionally) in years. I do, however, go through brakes faster than Lizzo goes through cake. Whether its blown out pads, fried oil, or warped rotors I have to do some kind of major brake service at least once or twice a month. Now, theres a very good reason I have TRP’s on my bike… because in the year ive owned them all I have done is replace the pads…. once…. However other brands (which I will not name) cause me problems constantly. But, other than brakes I bend cranks every once in a while. What is in store for Nrmlmtbr in the future? I know you guys just moved out to Reno! Can we expect a new form of content from you soon? The move to Reno was something we were super excited about! Ill have a video on my Youtube channel explaining why I made the decision to come out here but in summary taxes, access to nature, riding, cost, and got sick of California. The move out here stems into a bunch of other stuff too, we were able to build a studio and dream shop so viewers can expect ALOT of Youtube this year, some potential live streaming and most importantly wayyyy cooler riding and scenery!! Check out Nrml MTBer here: https://www.instagram.com/nrml_mtber

Mountain biking can be a costly sport but it doesn't have to be that way. Here are 5 accessories we think every mountain biker needs to add to their quiver ASAP for a better ride! 1. Enve Bottle Cage: Most people overlook this area of bike performance and throw on whatever they can find. You are not most people and the most amount of performance you can get out of a bike will be here. The ENVE bottle cage has the highest cost to performance ratio out of any upgrade that will venture into your riding life. 2. Titanium 5 Dev Cranks: Once again being a budget mountain biker does not mean you have to look like a budget mountain biker. The Ride 5 Dev Titanium cranks will add a little bit of flare to your bike while remaining cost effective allowing you to spend more money on your 4runner or Tacoma setup that will soon be in your life. 3. 4Runner or Tacoma: This is probably going to be the most important decision in your life outside of whether or not you want to get married. Both of these vehicles have a proven reliable budget track record and we can increase the bling factor later on. However right now we are just trying to get your foot in the door with one of these budget additions to your new mtb lifestyle. 4. Rapha Everything: Shirts, pants, boxers, shoes, helmets, anything and everything you can get your hands on. On paper, Rapha seemingly seems overpriced, however we are talking status here. There is no faster way to people thinking you are more core than an apple field than showing up head to toe in America's favorite riding apparel. It might not seem like a budget minded decision on paper, but the gains we will make in this sport will basically wash this cost later on in your mtb journey. 5. House in Squamish: We need to start thinking about summer plans. How are you going to maximize the cost of your Whistler Bike Park Season pass that you also need to buy while living in San Clemente, California. Think about the networking that can occur with you as a resident of Squamish. Best friends with Brandon Semenuk? Yes please! Shuttle sessions with Remy? Say less. Real estate only goes up so this one will make you money, thank us later. Stick to the Budget. -Mo Awesome

We are finally ready to share our thoughts after putting the Pivot Cycles Switchblade through its paces! Who is this bike for and is the the ultimate enduro 29er? Let's find out!