New to this forum! 37lbs Tirade 4.0 in Moab?

[CircuitMan]

I road this bike, and i really like it. It is the most solid feeling bike I've ever ridden. It is on closeout at REI, and I need a bike to ride in Moab in a week. My dad and uncle are both riding lighter XC bikes, but I'm probably quite a bit more fit than them. I have a history of being able to break anything, so I feel like I need the extra durability over something like the Lithium 3.0, which is my second choice. We aren't shuttling for the most part in Moab either, so I've got to be able to climb well. Is this my bike? Or is it too heavy?

[shovelon]

Hi there Circuitman,

I don't know much about the Tirade but I do know some about weight. If it weighs in at 37 lbs you are going to die every time you point it uphill.

So if you buy a lighter bike and break something, replace the part with something studier. It has always been my philosophy to start as light as possible and modify from there. Of course a good frame is the key.

My first mountain bike was a 30 lb hardtail, then a 31 lb. Proflex beast, then the 24.75 lb Oz. The Oz has gone up and down as I reconfigured for performance, and is at 27 lbs now. 5 inches SPV travel front and back, disk brake on front, and soon on back too. I plan to finalize at below 26 lbs.with lighter stem(Oval), and Stan's Marta SL disks with alum rotors.


Yes, I am a weight weenie, but I like my comfort too. Some of that comfort comes from not hucking alot of weight.

Good luck whatever you decide.

Terry

[jimbo]

Your trip to Moab shouldn't influence your choice of bikes.  What you need to look at is the type of riding style you do at home.  The Triade's geometry is more like a light Freeride or heavy trail bike.  This type of bike excels in gnarly terrain and steeps.  This bike will be a lot of fun on shuttled downhills too.  What kind of bikes do your friends ride?  That would be a good indicator of the type of bike you need.



I've got a Cannondale Gemini 2000.  It has 7 inches of travel front and back.  Orignal weight was 36 pounds.  It weighs 34 pounds by swapping the DH tires to FR tires.  My friends bikes are a collections of Santa Cruz Bullits, Mountain Cycle Quake, Sin, DNA, Specialized Big Hits, Demo 9, Banshee Chapperal, Kona Stinky's, Rocky Mountain RM7s and Orange 223s.  I still wanted the ability to climb and ride XC trails so I went with the Gemini.  I can still climb everything that I could with my lighter bike.  Just takes me longer.

[CircuitMan]

Well to be honest, I do most of my riding alone. I've got one friend that rides, but we didn't ride a whole lot together last year, not sure about what will happen this year. I road a Trek Fuel Ex 7 today, and everything about it felt absolutely precise (unlike the Tirade) and at 29lbs I felt like I could fly on it. But I'm not about to spend $1600 on a bike when I don't know what I want to do with it.
As far as riding style goes, here's how I ride, I'm not sure what you're call it: Most of the trails around here are loose rock and gravel with some hard packed dirt and mud tossed in. I ride it hard to the top, attempting everythng I have even a remote chance of making it up or over, and scope out nice drops, jumps and technical obsticals. I get to the top, take a nice long brake, eat, relieve myself, etc, maybe lay in the grass or take in the view, then tighten up my pack for the ride down. And this is what it's all about - an hour ride up for 10 minutes going down. I try to jump as big as possible and hit every obstacle I saw on the way up. I usualy eat it pretty good and loose some skin every couple weeks. And I go home with a huge smile on my face. And mud.

btw, if it helps, I'm 20, 160lbs, and I ride atleast 2 a week in the summer. Oh, and I've been riding a $200 schwinn FS from Toys R Us up until it wa stolen a couple months ago. This will be my first real bike purchase, and I think downhill is the direction I want to go, which the Tirade, at $919, seems like a lot of downhill bang for the clearnance buck.

[CircuitMan]

I wanted to add, I talked to two REI bike shop guys and another guy online, and all three are telling me the Lithium 3.0 is the better choice, being atleast a couple pounds lighter and just as capable. They also pointed out that the Splice has more travel than the Black fork. One referred to the Tirade as "a tank," and another called it "a heavy pig." I honestly didn't notice the extra 2 pounds, though, and I like the rims and tires (2.5's) that come on the Tirade. Oh, and i road it up 3 small flights of stairs - I thought it cimbed very well.

[jimbo]

It basically comes down which bike suits your anticpated riding style.

The Tirade has a slack heattube angle.  This translates to slow turning on tight single track.  Climbing with a slack angle is also a problem because the bike tends to wander.  The slack angle puts your wheel farther forward so the front feels heavier when you try to lift the front.

On the other hand the slack angle makes the bike a lot easier to control at high dpwnhill speeds.  Dropping steep chutes are more controllable.  You also have more room for error when you launch stuff.  I've been able to ride out mistakes.

[CircuitMan]

thought I'd let you guys know I road a Trek Liquid 10 and fell in love. It was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for your help.

[jimbo]

Congrats!   We recruited this guy for a 24 hour race that had one.  Very capable bike.  Poor guy had to ride during the worst part of a down pour.  He gutted it out.  Gained a lot of respect!!!!!

[CircuitMan]

=-)

[ChilliConCarnage]

How much was the Trek?

I was really rooting for the Tirade!  By coincidence, I read this thread right after I'd browsed through an old MtBike mag that had a review of the Tirade in it - they talked about the weight, but summed it up this way:

"K2 hit the nail squarely on the head with the Tirade.  It is hard to find fault with a bike that is light enough to add enjoyment to a long, hard trail ride, yet burly enough to pound out sessions with freeriders and dirt jumpers.  The Tirade is good looking too.  A core rider who needs one bike that can do just about everything on the mountain need look no further."

They reviewed the Tirade 5.0, which came to 32 lbs, so it sounds like you'd seen a lower model, but it can obviously be lightened.

Thought I'd add this in case anybody in the future was considering a Tirade!