Wanted: Book on moto skills for MTBers

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Lee,
I have read your mountain bike skills book cover to cover and learned a great deal. This last season I improved a ton, as a direct result of reading your book, and riding as much as I possibly could. I also started riding a motocross bike this year, and found it to be very different from Downhill Mountain Biking, although my basic mountain bike skills helped me quite a bit. You have posted a couple of things about moto skills, but I was wondering if you will ever write a book on moto skills and the correlations between mountain biking and moto? Thanks for everything you have done for riding.

Sincerely,
Daniel

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Skills camps with Zach Griffith

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My boy Zach is planning skills camps in Southridge Park in Fontana, Bootleg Canyon near Las Vegas and South Mountain in Phoenix. I taught Zach what he knows about teaching bike skills, but I have no involvement with these clinics, other than posting them here. Gotta spread the love!

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Pike vs 36 on Giant Reign?

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Hey Lee, love your book! I’ve got a Dilemma going on right now, I’m in the market for a new fork but I’m stuck at a crossroads regarding price vs. travel vs. quality.

I’ve got an ’05 Reign with 152mm rear wheel travel and I need a fork with a 20mm through axle to replace my QR Nixon. I’ve looked at getting a Pike for cheap but only 140mm travel. Then theres the big Fox 36’s and Lyrics but those are ridiculously spendy at $800-$1000+! I’ve had really bad experiences with Marzocchi stuff so their mid-range stuff is out to keep my sanity intact, how would you go, do I need that extra inch or will 140mm do me? I’m pretty much 50% pedaling and 50% shuttling mostly steep downhill trails, but the climbs are pretty steep too!
Josh

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What’s with this turndown action?

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Hi Lee,
I have a question I was hoping you could answer. In a lot of the videos I’ve been watching lately, I notice racers cutting sharply across the lip of a jump. What and how are they doing? It seems they do this to keep low, how does this work?
Thanks! Eric

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Flying high with ACL #2

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As you might know, my wife Arlette (aka @b) had her left ACL repaired six weeks ago. That process really sucked! Her pain meds didn’t work, she got a severe infection, she got so dehydrated she needed an IV, and neither of us slept for a month. Yeah, it sucked, but we got through it.

She’s been healing nicely, and today we did her right ACL. She’s on stronger meds this time and feeling great. She just sent an update to her friends, and I thought I’d share it here. It’s a passionate, drug-induced trip to somewhere … just where, I don’t know. 🙂

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Honda CRF450X modifications

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hey lee, we just bought some new motos and are going to head out west to ride some desert trails soon. did you do any mods to your 450X? we ride the 450R on the tracks as supermotos and plan on using the 250X for the trail.
ciao
carol

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Shallow vs. steep jumps

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Hey Lee.
I’m trying to learn to jump. Some jumps are just hard to figure out.
E.G. One wide jump that has two different jump face. One side has a shallow take off. Right next to it is a steeper take off. I have no problem on the shallow take off. I have problems on the steeper take off. My FS bike seems to lose a lot of energy on the steeper side. Is the technique different for various types of jumps?
Jimmy

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Mechanical disc brake maintenance

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Hey Lee,
Quick question: I recently got my first disc-brake mountain bike and it rocks. I’m using cable brakes instead of hydraulic. Is there any special maintenance I have to do with disc brakes that I don’t do with rim brakes.
Thanks,
Alex

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Camp Darner 2007: Mission accomplished

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Whew! It’s Sunday evening, and it really wants to snow, and I just got back from a skills camp in Nathrop, CO. I just hosed down the bikes and plugged in the memory card. Here we go:

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Off to Nathrop

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I’m taking off for this weekend’s camp at Darner’s ranch. I’m stoked to teach some skills, ride my bike and enjoy some Colorado fall. Stay tuned for a report.

Which size 29er?

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Lee – Good day! I wondered if there was any science to the sizing of 29er frames. There does not appear to be much in the way of resources available on the subject and the manufacturers occaisionally list recommended rider sizes for frames but leave the fit to the Local Bike Shop. In looking at Titus frames, for example, the large 26er frames closely match the dimensions (effective Top Tube, that is) of the Medium 29er frames. In choosing a 29er frame, is there any reason not to maintain the same effective Top Tube as one would on a 26er?
Thanks,
Jeff

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How much rear travel do you need for DH?

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Hi Lee,
I am interested in purchasing a new DH race steed. I am a competitive expert racer and I was wondering if a 7-inch bike would be a major disadvantage on MSC and G3 racecourses. I am specifically looking at the Commencal Supreme DH, which I understand a few of the WC teams are running. However, I am still skeptical of a 7-inch Down Hill race frame. I am not the gutsiest or smoothest rider, but I very much enjoy going fast down a racecourse.
Thanks For Any Advice,
Jeff
P.S. I appreciate what you are doing for the mountain biking community!

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