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Letter of the Month
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Dear MBT:
My local shop will sell me a never used 2006 Jamis Dakar XLT 2.0 for $1250. In your review of the bike, you said it would not be the best choice for "fast flowing wide-open fire road style". I am 54 and am more comfortable on fire roads than singletrack. Should I buy the bike? If not, what should I buy? I appreciate any help here.
Jack Trainor
Jack:
At that price we would go for it in a millisecond. The Jamis was a solid deal at $2100- take nearly grand off that sticker and you've got yourself a steal!
As far as our conclusion that Dakar XLT 2.0 isn't the best choice for wide-open fire road blazing, we stand by this claim but don't wish to insinuate that a fit rider couldn't prevail with a bit of perseverance. We say this because the bike’s cockpit is rather short and upright, traits that make the bike excel in tight conditions. Additionally it carries a bit of extra weight so that it can gracefully tackle the rough stuff. Riders who frequent paths so well packed that they could get away without suspension may perhaps want to consider something lighter (with less travel).
However, that being said, we don’t mean to insinuate that the Dakar won’t do it. The bike is very capable! We’re not sure of your exact budget, but a few simple component swaps could make the XLT a fire road ripper. We would begin with a longer stem to slow the steering a bit while stretching the rider out for more linear crank spinning. Additionally a lighter wheel set/ skinnier tire (possibly even going tubeless) would cut down on the rolling resistance and keep the wide open fire roads streaking by.
For making us think, we’re going to send you a $20 gift certificate to spend at Evomo. Go get yourself a kick ass shirt, and send us a snapshot of you rocking it out: www.evomo.com/
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Welcome to but another edition of ASK MBT where our editors tackle your pressing questions in effort to earn their keep. For whatever reason, our inbox has been filled with nearly as many comments as questions so we’ve decided to sprinkle these in with the usual Q&A (because, after all, Tell MBT isn’t nearly as catchy a column name).
Without further ado:
Dear MBT:
My local shop says that Fox’s 15QR is going to be the wave of the future. I actually got in an argument with one of the sales guys on the subject! What’s your take on it?
Wayne Cleary
Wayne,
For those who don’t know, 15QR is Fox Racing Shox’s new quick release thru-axel that’s smaller and lighter (for the XC set) than the beefy 20mm standard: 15 as in mm and QR as in quick release. The new axel system was co-designed by none other than Shimano and has been making waves in the press of late as a revolutionary way of thinking. Here’s the problem we have with it: Fork and hub makers aren’t all willing to adopt the new format. Naturally Fox and Shimano are all up on it (with a few others such as Mavic, DT Swiss, and Marzocchi) while Manitou, Magura, and Rock Shox have taken the stance that there is nothing wrong with the 20mm standard so why fix what isn’t broke?
Things get ugly once you realize that having two thru-axel sizes is simply one more thing to consider when building up a bike or swapping out components. We’re big advocates of the notion that the less unique component sizes to worry about, the better. In addition, Fox claims that the biggest advantage to going with the 15QR comes in weight shavings but perhaps not how you would expect. The 15mm and 20mm axel weigh the same. The weight reductions are supposedly earned through the fork and hub designed to use this system. The trouble is that experts suggest a 20% reduction in stiffness, which has, up until now, been the biggest attractor to running a thru-axel setup in the first place.
Will it truly be the next big thing? Only time will tell, but you can bet we’ll be laying low on the technology until the initial hype dies down.
Dear MBT:
I enjoyed your review of the Motobecane Fantom Pro Ti in the September/October issue and felt that your assessment was both fair and accurate. I own an older Motobecane hardtail that I have been steadily upgrading in effort to mimic the spec of the bike you tested. After some deliberation, I made the move to the Kenda Smallblock Eight (tires) and found that your complaint of the tread design’s tendency to toss small stones and trail debris up onto the down-tube a bit more than just an annoyance. While your report didn’t specify the PSI you ran in the tires, I have found that the problem tends to straighten itself out as you decrease the pressure. Just thought that your readers experiencing the same dilemma might want to try running a lower PSI.
Ken Condie
Ken,
Thanks for the feedback and helpful tip.
Tech Editor's Note:
Indeed, dropping the pressure of the Small Block 8 does decrease the amount of crap tossed off the front tire onto the downtube, it also similarly destroys the greatest advantage of the SB8: the low rolling resistance. The SB8 was designed as a hard pack tire with low rolling resistance and decent grip. While dropping the pressure seems to increase grip while similarly decreasing the "toss-off" effect, it does lose a lot of the efficiency you would use the tire for. That being said, the SB8 is a very niche tire, although when it is used in proper conditions, it is a fantastic choice of rubber. For an all condition tire, I prefer the Panaracer Cinder.
Dear MBT:
I purchased the Giant Yukon FX based on your critique and haven’t been disappointed with it yet. My girlfriend wants to get into mountain biking and, like me, is a fairly broke college student so her budget would be about the same as the price of the Yukon. I’m wondering if we should just buy another one (our LBS has one left in stock) or get her something a bit cheaper like a Specialized Hardrock. We would both really appreciate a comparison test of more bikes in this price range.
Bill Hoddard
Bill,
We would love nothing more than to round up multiple specimens of a given price range/common purpose but we have to retort to our usual excuse that getting a single manufacturer to cooperate for a bike review is difficult enough, getting four or five companies to comply borders on impossible! Worse still is that we all feel partial toward our own bikes and shootouts tend to attract hordes of fan boys (and girls) who are either upset that their own bike was edged out or pleased that their bike won. In neither case has our critique offered any valuable insight despite the praise and complaining that usually floods our inbox shortly thereafter.
That said, if the LBS has the Yukon FX in your girlfriend’s size, we would recommend going that route. Very few female riders, beginners especially, take to the sport when receiving the pounding of a hardtail while their boyfriend rockets by atop the silky ride of a full suspension rig.
Dear MBT:
Just finished the September/October update while pretending to be busy at work and wanted to thank Paul for the laughs with his column. I do hope to read more of his work in future installments.
D. Meiners
D,
With a little coaxing (i.e. begging) we hope to run more of Paul’s articles as well.
Earn Money by Making Us Work
Attention ASK MBT fans: You’ve always got questions and we like to think that we have the answers but now you could earn some swag just for putting our collective melons to the test. In each issue we will choose a winning question or comment to become Letter of the Month and send its author $20 toward the Evomo online store. What are you waiting for? Get hammering on those keyboards.
Got a question? Fire it away to us and we'll do the best we can to answer it. Send your inquiries to Ask Mountain Bike Tales.
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