Ongoing Review - White Bros Fluid 110

I can safely say that the White Brothers Fluid 110 fork is exceeding my expectations in every way.

Having spent a few rides fiddling and twiddling with the settings, I have finally found the settings that work for me. The ride is first rate. It goes where pointed without fuss, tracks true, and eats any sized bump and asks for more. What more could you want from a fork?


An observation I have on the fork, is that you will perceive that it is not very plush when you push down on it. It feels quite firm actually. For a while, it was causing me some concern, but I always seemed to forget about it once I started pedaling. Then I figured out, that if I didn't notice it while I was actually riding, it wasn't actually a problem. I decided to call White and get the lowdown. Turns out, it's by design. Plush forks react to everything, whereas stiffer forks, when valved appropriately, react to everything appropriately.

I'll get into the techno geek stuff in a later post.

Let me say this though. It works. And I am happy.
Worth every penny.


The ride shots are from this week out in Sterling Valley in Stowe. A fortuitous schedule change made it possible for Mandy and I to go out for a spin together. Conditions were late summer perfect. Not too many days left like that one. The trails we rode were technical, rooty, rocky and tight. A great place to test out a fork's capabilities. Due to time constraints, we were forced to bail early, not getting a chance to descend what we had climbed.


Still, any ride is a good ride, and boy do we have a doozy planned for Sunday.

We'll be hitting Bradbury Mountain in Maine. It promises to be a rockin' good time.

Happy Labor Day!

My Super Sweet 3sixteen

Ahhh, another year.
While I didn't get a pony, or a shiny new all black FJ Cruiser, I did get a couple of great rides in over the weekend.

On Friday, I was able to escape from the shop to get my birthday ride in at Stowe (thank you Mandy). We parked in the Lower Village, and rode out to Sterling Valley via Tony's and Tamarack. Rain the previous night, and high humidity levels ensured the rocks were dangerously slick. It was kinds nice playing in the middle of the day, without having to rush off to pick up children, or race daylight.
We saw plenty of deer.

We rolled on up to Godstreet and Seamus, only to be torn to bits by wild bramble patches on the latter trail. The saying goes, it isn't a real ride unless someone bleeds. We finished our very real ride without further incident.

Sunday was an interesting day. Violent thunderstorms had swept the area on Saturday afternoon, and caused a lot of damage. We went up to East Burke to ride the Kingdom Trails. The weather was supposed to have moved out and replaced with cooler drier air. Well, it was drizzling. So much for that.


We stuck it out and rode anyway. It was kinda fun, a throwback to the days when we used to ride in the rain all the time, before we knew about trail erosion etc. Conditions were actually quite good. I had practically zero brakes, which made for some interesting moments on the trail. I had shortened the lines on the RIP, but had no time to bleed the brakes.
Sidewinder was pretty fun. Having no brakes actually helped.


We got off the trails muddy and wet and tired. It was a lot of fun.

Pond Jump

This Sunday was the annual Stowe Mountain Bike Club Pond Jump Party. Held out in Sterling Valley in Stowe, the event is held to show appreciation to all those that help and maintain our local trails each year.

There are a lot of classic Stowe trails in the general area of Sterling Valley, Loren's Loop, Maple Run, Godstreet, Seamus, Tamarack, Tony's, you name it. most of the quintessential XC riding is found out here. It has been years since I have made my way up there to play.
Before we moved away to the west coast, we were making the big drive from Burlington at least once a week. Some really good memories. It was out there that I met and rode with one of the world's most influential snowboarders, Craig Kelly. Craig died in an avalanche 2003 in British Columbia, doing what he loved most.


The party was a ton of fun. There were a couple of brave souls who launched the big ramp into the pond. There was a massive Weber charcoal grill, and tons of burgers and dogs, a keg, dogs, bikes, kids, as well as club members. I saw a few folks that I haven't seen in a long time. I am more determined than ever to get out the the Valley and ride again.


We took the opportunity to ride back to town from the pond, hitting a couple of trail along the way. It was mostly downhill, so we were able to rip down with a great deal of speed. The light was perfect. Every growing thing is lush right now. The cooler weather we are having right now is the trigger for every tree and plant to grow as much as they can before it gets really cold for a long period of time. Some of the weaker maples have called it quits already. Fall is coming.
The sense of urgency to get as much riding in as possible is reaching a fever pitch.

I got a good ride in on the Fluid 110. I am really pleased with the overall feel and performance of the fork. I still have some fine fiddling around to do with the air pressure settings, but I am pretty close to having it dialed in. White states that it may take up to 10 or more hours for the fork to break in, but I detect no stiction on the legs whatsoever. I can't wait to get more time on it.

oh my fokking gawd - or RIP 9 first ride report

(Mandy here, guest blogging to review my new bike) It's finally done. All the waiting for the shorter seatpost, the smaller bars, etc is over. The rain let up for a few days and tonight was the inaugeral ride of my new RIP 9. I'll let George go over all the details of the build in some other post, but I will say that this is a top of the line build and Hot Damn! does it ride well!

It's very responsive, quick handling and great in turns with that super-fun, roll-over-everything 29er feel. I was out riding the Town Loops in Stowe which have a little of everything, but aren't terribly technical.
I felt that the suspension worked really well. I've grown accustomed to the extremely nimble climbing of my Niner EMD, and feel that the RIP can easily outmatch the EMD in climbing ability. I'll elaborate further on the ride characteristics when I do a longer term review - but for now I'm extremely pleased.

When George first started talking to me about getting a full-suspension 29er, I couldn't possibly imagine how it would ever fit me. I'm just a smidge taller than 5'6" and have approximately a 30" inseam. The small Niner EMD with an 80mm Reba just barely allowed me to standover. The small RIP 9 has much more standover height. In fact, I think that this bike would be a great fit for smaller riders. And check out the long legged fork...
So if you fit into the 'smaller rider' category and thought that you couldn't get a 29er to fit, this would be a great setup to try.
George often gets calls from elated customers out on the trail during their initial ride of their new custom bike. If my phone hadn't just suffered a fatal meltdown, I too would have called to express my elation with the bike. It's perfect for me. Truly perfect. And the amazing thing is that I didn't select one thing on the bike. It's entirely a George build from soup to nuts and proof that the guy knows what he's doing. Sure, after ten years you'd expect that he knows what I like. But this is above and beyond what I ever expected.

There weren't many folks out on the trails tonight, but as I was headed out towards Last Run I came upon a group chatting on the side of the trail. I greeted them and rode on by and one of the fellows called out after me, "Sweet bike!" 30 feet later I fell off one of the little wooden bridges into a bog. Not only did I fall off the bridge, I fell onto my right side, the side I don't automatically clip out of the pedals. My Speedplay frogs only release if you kick out to the right. When you leg is bent under the weight of your bike in a bog, it is nearly impossible to get that right foot in a position to kick out of the pedal. I'm talking highly embarrassing, serious maneuvers to get that foot out of the pedal.

ugh.

Keeping it humble.