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It was pretty cool! They had a really awesome flow trail on the other side and the blue jump lines/dual slalom track we did were also awesome. We didn't hit the single black jumps though

It was insane!

Indeed! Yeah I love the paint job on this bike more than any other hardtail (of course super subjective). So, I'm 5'9" and Im on a medium! I know that doesn't help much, but I also think I remember the medium range went to 5'10"?

Definitely a killer paint scheme on that! So I ended up purchasing a 24 sq3 frame with the white/black/red color way and will do a frame swap. I think in my larger size bike the seat tube is just too high and I’m not very happy with it. Yours looks great in that med size!

@@seok1607 I really like that color way too! Its a fun bike for sure, but yeah running into the saddle would be such a pain so I can understand that

For sure, we did a couple laps of tres that day!

There's two main trails over there...You have to pedal maybe like 2/3 of xanadu or just from the bottom. It's not too bad of a climb and is over pretty quickly. Tres Hombres you can shuttle, but just know the drainage ruts on the road are atrocious

Eastern side of the cascades is full of views like these

Looks like maybe Taiwan? Im not sure...but it's a German bike brand though

Thanks, I really appreciate that!

The north slope trails are totally worth it for sure! Fun to ride, but great to shuttle since you can do so many laps

Nice! Is EMBA the group that some of these trails were outsourced to? I heard that it wasn't actually evergreen who made some/all of these newer trails?

Yes, but Canyon Factory Racing gives more happiness to people

Im excited to see it ridden in as well. I bet it'll be quite fast in sections too with lots of hopping trail jumps

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 I rode it in a drier state the other day, during the MTB festival. So much fun and starting to see where I can make it flow better, given more laps.

@@superawesomefuntimego niceeee, that's awesome

Yes! That tiny stump is waiting to mess someone up haha

It's very pumpy for sure...If it helps at all with how the footage looked in regards to "fun factor," I always feel the need to recalibrate when not riding in the wet for a bit, so I was pretty timid

Its a good one and Im sure it'll be an absolute blast once ridden in a bit more

Sorry dude, I feel like I can't be the one to tell you since they're unsanctioned even if they are the worst kept secret. If you have a friend that knows that zone, I'd ask them to lead you out

definitely diggin' everything they've done out at north slope!

sick thumbnail btw!!!

@@singletrack-sasquatch-mtb lmao nice, it looked like the dirt was fresh haha, but thank ya kindly, gotta thank you for that though

indeed! LoamerMTB also has some sweet footage of the day and is actually following me on this trail too

Thank you, I really appreciate that! It was a fun bike for sure. Now that I have a Canyon Spectral 29, I'd say my view on that video was a slight bit off in that it's more agile than I remember. Still not as easy to change direction as the 27.5 though! And funny enough, I actually have a San Quentin 3 and that was my first more legitimate mountain bike! Its an awesome bike

Id be interested to try other hardtails, but honestly idk if I go anywhere other than with the San Quentin as I just have more fun on my full suspension (even if going back to the hardtail made token more fun). I was close to trying to take advantage of the planet cyclery clearance sale, but for what I would've done it just was too expensive for it to make sense!

It was running pretty well a couple of weeks ago! It also tends to be less wet than PT does that I've this year

@superawesomefuntimego let’s get it bro

haha hmmm

Favorite trail most likely

Indeed indeed! It was a new trail for all of us, so we were just trying to pick our way down safely, but also have fun

Just did it again today haha

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 Oh nice! Did you do all the features?

@@MTB_Corbin Nah, skinnies still terrify me and I'd rather dry conditions for the two rolls in a row. They don't look bad, it's just I get spooked with the entrance as I don't have trials moves down and I'd be afraid of my back wheel sliding off of the first roll...Though I'd still say the ride around is arguably close in difficulty in the wet haha

Haha if only

I'm not quite sure yet! I'd imagine I will some time in May, but I don't have any good set plans yet and half the time they just fall into place a few days before

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 right on man well if you’re planning anything up this way and feel like coordinating a ride then let me know!

@@joshdesj Yeah, absolutely! I just don't know how to privately do that is the main problem...maybe (somewhat) through strava

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 gotcha… well if it looks like you may head north, let me know on this thread and we’ll figure something out from there. I’m in the Portland/Vancouver area at the moment (no bike unfortunately) and there are some really great trail systems out here these days! Rode last summer down here outside of Vancouver, super fun stuff going on here 🤙🏻

@@joshdesj Sounds good. Ive been meaning to go to yacolt burn one of these days, I just haven't made it down there quite yet

Yessir! Didn't want to be too obtuse about it for the community

Lmao I've never heard that reference, but that was incredible

Niceeee, honestly, riding down stairs is rougher than you initially expect haha

For sure, I had such harsh bottom outs on my first ride, so I immediately went home and order volume spacers haha

@@pnwmountainbiker5098same here - I was bottoming out on 4 ft drops. at first I added more air but then you lose small bump compliance, so the extra volume token was tha answer. Not sure why marzaocchi(fox) doesn't put in 2 by default. My fox factory 34 has 2 tokens

@@richardvankastle359 Yeah, Im not really sure either, but thankfully at least there was a simple answer

I appreciate the feedback! I'll try to make more rounded videos. In all honesty, most of the time I've always just tried to be casual about it as I just think its fun to relive some of the moments of trails and such, so I haven't gone very hard with the presentation, but of course your suggestion is very doable!

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 understandable. Thanks for acknowledging it at least, most people don’t

@@pickelbyte indeed! I tried to relatively review it over the weekend. I took the more casual approach so it won't be beautiful, but I at least tried to get some third person shots. It should "release" in early May!

I haven't actually, but that's a great idea to do that! I've since put 2.6 continental kryptotals on the front/rear and it took the bike even further. But that's an awesome idea with all of the changes I've made! thank ya kindly

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 hell yeah man you should do a full review and talk about all of the changes you’ve made, how it’s riding differently, etc. the Marin hardtail lineup is pretty sweet, really like those bikes. I’ve got a Marin gravel bike that I’ve made some nice upgrades to as well. Let’s see the next video!

@@joshdesj I've got a couple more videos left in the bank, but I might do an informal review this weekend actually cuz why not! And my rear shock on the Canyon is being rebuilt and won't be ready until Monday lol

Oh that's a sick bike too. I was considering it back when I got the San Quentin (though i can't remember what swayed me). But that sucks, I will say I forgot how harsh the hardtail is compared to my plush 150-160 bike haha...Hopefully you get a good return on it though!

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 Thanks. Yeah the bike market is rough, I might come out better parting it as all the parts are essentially new. I am going to meet in the middle and build out a new Santa Cruz 5010 for my short travel bike.

@@superawesomefuntimego Oh that sounds awesome. I've always thought that'd be a sick bike for tamer trails for sure. But yeah, I had to let my Insurgent go pretty low unfortunately, but on the flip side I did save on my Canyon

Funny enough I did end up figuring it out like a years later!

Predator is a flow trail when you learn those😂 but I can’t ride it like that any more

@@MatthewFranzek Haha for sure! Honestly I feel like NOTG is more difficult in spots in terms of linking lines together fast

Hell yeah! Ive at this point also swapped back to 2.6 tires and it's just awesome to ride! It really just brought so much life to token for me!

Honestly I was shocked at how much it revitalized Token for me...Im absolutely loving it I ended up returning the wheel, but I still want to go tubeless (with an insert), Im just trying to find a reasonably cheaper way to do it since it's my hardtail!

It was pretty wild

👀

Haha it'd be fun for sure...idk if I'd ever do it....only potential would be on a day of perfect conditions

It's pretty awesome for sure. Randy Slappage is really cool and I definitely wanna hit that trail again just at a lighter hour

There is so much janky stuff between the features that just takes away your confidence lol

Such a good comment 😂

Lmao...yeah, it really just takes away so much momentum...Definitely a difficult trail

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 yeah you need to know when to carry speed. I’ve never spent so much time looking at features going down a trail the first time as The Horn.

@@singletrack-sasquatch-mtb Indeed, like there were just sections I definitely didn't have the speed for since I didn't know what to expect. I definitely want to hit the trail again though

For sure!

It's always fluid, but I think I might consider CCDH my favorite trail around Seattle!

@@pnwmountainbiker5098 It for sure is in my top 3. I don't get to it as much as I like because it usually is a slightly longer time commitment and that climb out on raging tiger is a pain, but I have to do it so I can get back up to Poppin' because I'd feel guilty skipping that.

@@superawesomefuntimego haha yeah I feel ya on that one. It's a decent slog to get all the way there

Yup got too rutted out to be maintainable apparently. Sad

Yeah, I ran into the main trail builder a few weeks ago (this video was in like November I think) and he was saying that its unsustainable, so he had to try and direct people back to the original line

Haha yeah there was definitely some terror involved...I think it just degraded over time, hopefully they fix it up, but who knows!