I had to abandon my big bike ride to get back to my mountain biking roots after the pandemic.
Today I’ll show you how my bikepacking machine has been optimized for my current backcountry adventures.
Even if mountain biking and bikepacking are not your thing, I’m here to help you learn more about frame design, suspension setup, and tuning to maximize the performance of a full-suspension motorcycle.
The first question is: How did I find a long-travel, enduro bike that I could use for bikepacking?
A Bikepacking Bike for A Specific Purpose
Oaxaca’s gravity mountain biking is undoubtedly the best in Mexico.
Sierra Norte, the mountain range just behind Oaxaca city, offers more than a dozen trails at 1000 metres (3300ft or more) elevation. These trails began as ancient paths that were cut into the mountains thousands of years ago. Many trails are natural, rocky, uneven, and extremely steep.
My current mission, which is to travel as many of these ancient roads as possible, is to ride an endurobike.
My Enduro Bike Criteria
For those who want to ride a bike on technical terrain or steep slopes, there are some things you should know:
Full suspension bike with 160mm travel. This gives me traction even on the most challenging trails.
To provide a long front centre and desirable steering characteristics, angle the head tube from 63 to 65 degrees.
To keep my front wheels planted on steep climbs, I use a 78-degree seat tube angle.
My long frame reach (510mm+), is to fit my large arm span.
Dropper seatpost for me to easily place my bodyweight anywhere I need it between my front- and rear tyres.
I was fortunate to receive a stock notification on a bike that met all my criteria (Nukeproof Bikes Mega-290 Comp). I hit buy, and the bike was shipped to Mexico.
Geometry for The Nukeproof Mega 290 Frame Geometry
Let’s look at the Nukeproof Mega’s frame geometry. The Mega follows the ‘long and low and slack” mantra of modern mountain bikes.
The result is a bike with more power, a longer wheelbase and lower bottom bracket heights.
1. Your centre of mass is lower than that of other bikes. This makes it more stable on rough and steep terrain.
2. Your front endo angle is increased, making it harder to pitch over bars after hitting rock or root.
3. High-powered mechanical trail figure which helps to stabilize your steering when your front wheel has been taken off-line.
The downside of a bike with this geometry? It makes it difficult for you to climb steep, technical trails that have tight turns. Most of my climbing happens on fire roads.
The low angles of the head tubes result in heavy steering, which might make you think my 64-degree bike feels a bit too stiff. This isn’t the case. My handlebar is 800mm in width and has plenty of steering leverage to counter the steering, front bag weight, and low front pressure.
To see how much leverage is needed for a slack-bike to handle well, I just need to ride with my hands further backboard. This reduces the steering control by a lot.
You will also feel a lot of wheel flip when riding a slackbike. This is a problem because it pulls your front tire to the left or right at slow speeds. While steering leverage helps reduce this effect, I still feel it when climbing.
The bike’s steep seat tube angle makes it easy to climb. This is due to the fact that my centre of mass lies further forward than other bikes. My front wheel isn’t inclined when I’m climbing up 15% inclines.
We’re done, now let’s go to the suspension.
How I Optimised My Suspension
Mega has 170mm (16.7”), of travel up front and 160mm (36.3” back). It can use both an air shock and an air fork, which is more convenient for bikepacking because I can add or remove air depending on what I’m carrying.
It is clear that the Mega was optimized for descending. Frame design allows the rear suspension to be very active with rear braking (low-anti-rise), especially when it travels deep. This feature is great for me because it gives my rear tire the best chance to grip on loose, chunky terrain.
I found the rear shock to be too active on uphill riding. I felt it bounce up and down a lot more than I wanted (the bike has low antisquat values). Unfortunately, the Mega does not come with a compression locking switch to prevent shock damage.
I know it sounds terrible, but this is what I came up with!
I slow down the speed at which my shock returns to an impact (rebound), which decreases the suspension’s response. I then ride fire road climbs using a high cadence. This prevents my shock travel from becoming too slow. It’s an effective solution.
I love the shock damper sound when it comes down. It works well with my bike, and is very light. For loose terrain, I have set my shock very soft. This increases traction because it is super responsive to bumps. Because there aren’t any big gaps to send it, the shock is able to work well here.
Overall, the performance of my fork is satisfactory. However, it could be improved. To achieve the best small bump compliance, and maximum grip, I used zero compression damping.
It’s not as deep as I’d prefer. You could have more compression damping to allow it to sit higher. However, one click is too much for the quick, repetitive bumps.
A higher quality suspension damper would allow me better tune my fork (high speed compression adjustment). Rockshox offers an upgrade kit that gives you more tuning options, so I may consider getting one.
How I Optimised My Tyres
My tyres are not able to grip the Oaxacan trails as well as the loose, uneven Oaxacan roads. This terrain demands tyres with a strong tread pattern and lower pressures.
My tyres will deform more when they are under pressure, increasing contact area and groundgrip. You also get more grip when you bump into high-frequency bumps by reducing the spring rate on my front bike.
A lower tire pressure doesn’t just improve grip. Your tyres can play a crucial role in increasing bump compliance. This helps to reduce the trail’s roughness and discomfort for your hands as well as your upper body. I have dropped more than 1000 vertical metres in one run. I use low tyre pressures to limit how fast my handlebars can move over bumps. This reduces fatigue in the arms and hands.
Schwalbe recently joined me in testing tyre models with different tread patterns, tread widths and sidewall constructions to dial in my setup.
I chose 2.6 inch wide tires to best suit the loose terrain. I would also be able use lower pressures to increase grip, reduce fatigue, and decrease fatigue.
It was strange that the Schwalbe Magic Mary, the front tyre with the highest aggressive model, did not provide enough grip when I cornered on hard surfaces. This was in contrast to the 2.4” outgoing tyre. It was happening down to 11psi/0.8bar with my front tyre.
Although initially I was a bit confused, I now believe that I understand the concept. The tread pattern is too open when the tyre’s size is increased from 2.5” to 2.6″. I was able to solve my front grip problem completely by switching over to a 2.5” model with 15-16psi/1-1bar.
Schwalbe sidewalls also have a unique feature. They are very, very stiff. This gives you more puncture protection. It also prevents sidewalls crashing into hard corners. The downside is that they can ride harder than other tires at the same pressures.
For an example, my Michelin front tyre was almost 50% harder than the 15psi version and had nearly the same amount ‘harshness’. You’ll need to adjust pressure for each model change.
I settled on the Schwalbe Big Betty as my rear tyre. The 2.6-inch version I prefer is the best, with 17-18psi. Schwalbe models that are less aggressive worked well on harder, rockier trails. However, the Big Betty is my best option when the surface gets loose.
You’re probably wondering what I do with my low tyre pressure.
Tyre Inserts: Benefits
To keep my tyre pressures low, I have fitted Schwalbe procore tyre inserts onto my bike.
Procore can be described as a separate road bike tire, which fits within your mountain bike. You can then choose to inflate either the inner or outer tyre with a special inner tube.
Tyre inserts stop pinch flats and protect my wheels from impacts. Instead of hitting my rim with a rock, it will bounce off the inner rubber tyre. I can reduce the pressure of my tyres for more grip and comfort without risking causing damage to my tires or causing a flat.
Procore also put outward pressure on my tires, locking the bead at the rim. My Michelin Michelin tyres were prone to burping on rocky trails and would lose small amounts sealant or air pressure before this system was installed. Procore has made this a non-issue.
Procore’s hand pump makes tubeless setup a breeze! I inflate just the inner tyre, then place the outer to the rim.
Procore also makes changing tyres simple. Procore inserts are much lighter than Cushcore foam, and can be easily manipulated to remove tyres. I can change my own tyres as fast with this system than with no inserts.
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