Let me know if you have any question on things I might have missed out! If you enjoy my content, check out other formats: 👉🏼th-cam.com/video/B9-BPH8c-XY/w-d-xo.html (some enduro fun in Castiglione della Pescaia, Tuscany) 👉🏼th-cam.com/video/qf7788lsGhQ/w-d-xo.html (a stunning daytrip to Elba island, Capoliveri)
Nice man, only have like 500km on mine right now. I initally chose a Fox36 Factory with grip2 23 modell but hated that fork. Always felt overdamped and too much into the travel despite using more tokens, more pressure or more compression. Even a lot of rebound did not help. Switched to a 3.1 Lyrik Ultimate and that was actually a lot better for my liking. I am 95-97kg with riding gear and water though. I do have a V1 Dreadnought as well and the Druidv2 feels a lot more agile and nimble but keeps a hefty bunch of suppleness over rough stuff. My biggest downside or letdown though of the V2 Druid is the abysmally small tire clearance with a 29 rear wheel like you mentioned. On rubble stones get drawn into the space between tire thread and carbon frame. After only 500km that area is completely scratched all over the place despite having multiple layers of foil there. Even worse than yours after 3000km. Basically the whole rear triangle is prone having stones get stuck and smashing up the paint. After only 500km on uphills and downhills combined the frame looks WAY worse than my dreadnought frame, which is almost 3.5 Years old now. Most of the scratches and paint chips where from riding uphill :D I do believe that is a major design flaw. I would love to have the switchable dropouts like on the v2 dreadnought to have 10mm more space. Other than that it is a formidable bike. And the uphill performance is really, really good although it is an idler bike. Greetings from Germany :)
Thanks man! Appreciate the Kudos. Thanks also for sharing the "FOX- experience". While I was wrestling with the Lyrik 3 23 I was wondering whether the FOX 36 wouldn't have been the better choice. And as it seems it was not 😅. Which fork are you running on that Dreadnought? ZEB 2.1?
@@Mike_Rides_Bike It seems I am not really a Fox guy. I had big issues with the 2023 Fox X2 Elite shock on the dreadnought and on my giant Ebike. Both were fried after 150-300km of riding with that seal issue the X2 had in that generation. Switched to a RockShox Coil on the Dreadnought which was extremely supple but left the backend dead and muted. Now on a 2023 SuperDeluxe air with some custom tuning which works pretty good (there is some strange issue with some highpivot bikes with a really high idler and pivot point, that seems to lose the compression energy on the rebound. Basically you need a really fast rebound to balance that out, which was only made possible with some rebound shimstack custom magic 🤣 ). I initially had a ZEB 2.1 on the dread which was really ok but made the choice to try a 3.0 charger fork. I think that was a bad decision. While the 2.1 was already pretty stiff, the 3.0 added some weird compression behaviour. Initial suppleness was okayish, but after the first 10% around sag it was feeling harsh. The dials hardly changed anything. The available room of adjustability is really small. I do think the 3.1 on the Lyrik has a wider area to work with though. I do have the direct comparsion almost. On the ebike I use a Domain upgraded with a 2.1 damper unit, which is so much better in almost every aspect (while only being heavier in the end). What actually did work for me in the end on the 3.0 ZEB was an adjustable air damper upgrade by Chickadee called the AWK. Just another air chamber that you switch out the normal topcap with tokens for. You can adjust the air in that chamber and have a more linear air curve. That actually took some harshness out and worked pretty well on finale ligure trails. I chose to throw some money at an intend fork lately though. Initially for the druid but as you can simply change the travel without disassembling the fork, I will do some back to back testing with the 3.0 zeb with air chamber versus the intend edge this june in finale again.
@RoughRidersMTB wow. Thanks for the details. This is helpful and pretty much in line with my part of that experience. I really wish for my 2.1 zeb back from that Jekyll I previously had. Let me know how that new setup works. I've been thinking about Öhlins 36, but then the cherry red ZEB came out and now I'm saving up for that 😅 The fuck you want in Finale. Komm lieber runter hier in die Toskana, hier gibts noch wildes zu entdecken ohne Stau auf dem Trail. Kannst die Gegend in meinen anderen Videos schon etwas erahnen. Sag bescheid ich kann dir GPX geben oder ne Runde mitnehmen. ✌🏽 Kannst auf Insta nach mir suchen bei Bedarf (mistik.mike)
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Mit 3 Kindern muss man schauen, was übrig bleibt an Zeit und wohin die Kollegen wollen. 😅 Wir sind eine 7er Gruppe in Finale wieder wie die letzten 2 Jahre. Toskana wollten auch ein paar schon mal angehen, sieht wirklich wahnsinnig gut aus, was ich so aus ein paar der Videos erahnen konnte. Bei ner Gabel steht bei mir auch noch ne Manitou Mezzer Pro auf der "würde ich gern mal testen"-Liste. Die sollen insbeosndere mit einem Tuning von DZ-suspension (Highlander tuning) extrem gut sein. Fährt auch nicht jeder :D
I really wanted to get one to replace my evil offering v2. looks lovely but the suspension looks like it will be harder to maintain rather the single pivot of the evil. really nice review mate!
@@MrBigGoat thanks for the Kudos. The maintenance is always a nightmare for me, as I have literally two left hands on these things. So I give it to a professional and there it basically doesn't matter that much if you change one or five bearings. Overall the bearing longevity was ok. The Cannondale Jekyll did much worse in this regard. From the video you can tell that I would recommend the druid regardless, but in the end you have to be happy looking at the bike each time 😉
@@Mike_Rides_Bike I almost went with a druid frameset but a ended up trading my offering for an insurgent mx which is more aggressive but i absolutely love this thing. It doesn't feel to cumbersome as the numbers suggest and also really nice to work on which for me is a big plus as i maintain my bikes myself. either way glad your stocked on the druid its an awesome do it all machine!
@@Descenter1976 hehe, the Jekyll was bought solely on the paint job motif. 😅 I saw that color and insta ordered it. Was a great bike for real. But heavy and I had to push too much travel as a light rider on an average day
Quick question: you said you don’t really like your current fork even with the 3.1 Charger. What don’t you like about it? I’m going to need a new 150mm fork and I’m considering the new Lyrik for it. What do you find your Lyrik is good at? What’s it bad at? Thanks for any additional info you can give!
@@DontWorryImAPilot sure, thanks for the question and for watching! The Lyrik 3 was just a pogo stick. It was good on jump lines and big hits. It was terrible on chatter (despite buttercups bla bla) and felt not plush at all. Yes, it gave lots of mid stroke support, but with my weight (67kg) I couldn't use the travel. I went more than 10 psi down in steps and only then could I increase the compression from fully open to -1 or neutral. Otherwise it made it even worse. But with this low on psi it was too unstable in the middle now and not giving the support obviously. So I upgraded to 3.1 and a suspension center made some hokus pokus with seals and oil. Now it's better. But still too harsh for my liking. The zeb 2.1 was a blast in comparison. I hope this helps. Happy to share/answer more, if you need/want. Cheers
@@Mike_Rides_Bike That's great info! One of my bikes has a Pike Ultimate on it at 140mm of travel. I had to go a little higher in pressure than I was expecting to hit my sag. Of course, my pump might be out of calibration so that detail might be wrong! The Pike feels great so far but I've hardly even given it a proper test besides a few staircases and small drops. I just got the bike on a year-end sale and it's -10ºC here right now so it's muddy/snowy/icy meaning the trails are closed and the ground is slippery. Maybe I'll take this opportunity to try a different suspension manufacturer for my other bike's fork. From what I've heard, Öhlins is exactly the opposite of pogo stick and is pretty damped. Maybe that would work well for you? I might go that way for my new fork! Thanks again for the info. I look forward to the next chance I get to watch your videos!
@@DontWorryImAPilot yeah, Öhlins is for sure on the wish list somewhere. But tbh, as I have 160 Lyrik now, I am intrigued by the cherry red ZEB. I was a RS fan all my life basically so far and I did have several Fox equipped bikes along the way. The Superdeluxe is also doing an amazing job in the Druid frame, but the Lyrik 3 was not a good product at all imho. So yeah, probably Öhlins, or something else....we will see. Let me know what you went for and how it performs? Maybe in your review vid? 😉✌🏽 Anyway, thanks for the Kudos. New video went online yesterday and the next one will be a review again. Coming maybe late next week.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike The bike I just grabbed is a 2024 Yeti SB120 Lunch Ride. I got it from a bike shop that was offering me a discount in addition to the discounts from Yeti's 2024 leftover colors sale. I was trying to pick between the Druid V2, the SB120 Lunch Ride, the Mondraker Raze, and the Raaw Jibb V2. When those discounts stacked up and made my most preferred bike also the cheapest, I went for it! No ride or review video from me any time soon. I'm also 40+ but have WAY less picturesque locations and challenging trails around me than you do! So far, though, the bike's been fun in an urban "free ride" type of riding and I think it's going to rip when I can get it onto the trails!
@DontWorryImAPilot amazing to understand the background! Sounds like fun! So I hope your conditions outside allow you to shred soon. In the meanwhile I'll try to fill in with some sun from Tuscany 😉✌🏽
@@WingsofHealingThyroid there are many shots in this one - Castagneto Carducci, Massa Marittima, Dolomites, Amiata Bike park and Promontorio Piombino...just to name the most prominent
@@tomriley_bike hey Tom, thanks for the Kudos! Appreciate it a ton. Good question on the lube! Should have mentioned it in the video - I'm a huge fan of wax. So I don't run lube, I run the "squirt" wax, which they sell here in Europe. It's liquid, white and keeps the drivetrain incredibly clean. People say it's more noisy with wax, but I find it quite the opposite. What do you run?
@@Mike_Rides_Bike thanks for the reply! I am running the Silca wax on mine from the wax cooker, however it's still quite noisy. I've been advised by the shop I bought the bike from (who specialise in Forbidden) to try a full clean and then wet lube, leave overnight and then a very light dry lube over the top. They suggest the Peaty's premium all-weather lube (white bottle) with maxima dry lube over the top.
@@tomriley_bike wow! That sounds very complicated and scientific. I bought a XT chain, degreased it with mucoff drivetrain cleaner to my abilities and put the squirt wax on it. Never had an issue. Quiet, smooth and clean. BUT I wipe the chain after every second ride or wash it and reapply the wax.
I'm so glad i kept my 2.1. I never felt like i needed to upgrade. But when i tried the DVO, my bike changed a lot and way better than RS. My bro also love the DVO but hes only comparing it from his 2020 fox performance, so not really a comparison.
Great insight.. I have the bike in MX so the clearance is more. I have a 29” swing arm, so will apply lots of protective film if I run it. I have the same pump.. What bracket do you use to mount it on the frame?
@@grantwilliams2912 that's super cool to have the possibility to run both setups! I wanted to get the MX swingarm....but 600€ was too much plus the wheel... Anyway, the pump is mounted with the OneUp in-line mount. I think it was like 20-30€ or something. It also fits the DJI tripod for the Osmo action 5 btw....
@ thank you for the helpful info relating to the pump mount. I have never ridden a full 29, so plan to have a season when I switch my Druid to 29, and bump my fork to 160 (I have upgraded my Lyric to the 3.1 damper, and it’s quite improved)
@@grantwilliams2912 Yeah I have exactly this setup - 3.1 charger Lyrik upgraded and 160 travel. It is better than the 3 charger, but still not anywhere close to the ZEB with only 200g more weight, if I am not mistaken. So my next purchase will probably be a ZEB, or another fork maybe to try, like manitou or somehting exotic
@@teoandrew5620 very good question. I'm at the absolute limit of it with my insertion. Maybe 5 more millimeter to go inside the frame. Hope this helps.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Thanks for that! I visited Cumberland, BC a few weeks ago and demo'ed an s3 29 like yours for the day. It had a 180mm dropper on it that I would have liked to be a bit taller and I was considering getting it with a 210 but it doesnt look like it would benefit me all that much! Thanks for the video and the quick response!
@teoandrew5620 I believe the dropper can be adjusted by 10mm travel, if I'm not mistaken. So you could take the 210 and let it be 200 or 190. Very good dropper! And the lever / remote especially!
@teoandrew5620 I believe the dropper can be adjusted by 10mm travel, if I'm not mistaken. So you could take the 210 and let it be 200 or 190. Very good dropper! And the lever / remote especially!
The clearance is the biggest problem for this bike. Mine looks way worse than yours and i stick PPF and AMS there lol. But the fact that its the main problem shows how well its been designed.
@@edm11nd ah! Interesting to hear. I also PPFed it right from the start but as you've seen in the video..... useless. Anyway, I thought about converting to mullet after this issue, but the seat stays are 600€ all in all.... So let's go 29er.... 🤣🤌🏼 Great bike though!
I'm really surprised that it has so little clearance with 2.4 tyres. I was suspecting that you've put 2.6 there, but then I got back to the build part and seen that it's actually 2.4. With this low clearance, it's a bike to ride only when it's dry. Too bad because I was really stoked for the Druid V2. It looks like I'll have to wait for V3.
@@alfrednOObel2 I don't know how muddy it gets in your area, but here in Tuscany, we also had some muddy rides during the last years testing period. It did work well until the sella ronda "incident". On the other side the mazza 2.4 is not an overly burly tire. So with mud/tall nob tires it will for sure be a problem. Mullet might be a solution, but our climbs are too steep to sacrifice the full 29er. Other than that, this bike is so awesome. Thanks so much for watching.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Where I live it's usually bone dry from june till august, but the remaining 9 months are total opposite. That's why I and almost everyone here ride pretty knobby and wide tyres as well. Currently I have Specialized Eliminator 2.6 on the back. But I really wonder how much worse is the mullet for the climbs. I'll probably have to rent one sometime and find it out myself, because it may be not so bad.
@@alfrednOObel2 I wonder as well, but I was not "brave" enough to spend the 600€ just on the swingarm to find that one out....plus the wheel. If you do try it, let me know!
Nice review! Already told you but that I am secretly in love with the black frame of the druid. To be honest i think the only downgrade that you got on the bike is the Boomer mudguard 😅🤣
@@mattiacecchettimtb thanks bro! Luckily there are many flavors to life. I do feel the black color way, but as I already had a black bike it was a NoNo. Yeah the mudguard is something, ain't it..... 😘😘
@@Descenter1976 trek came out way later with the slash, but look how much chain guidance the slash needs to get the job done and the forbidden druid is so clean with it's design. Obviously slash is an Enduro monster vs "trail bike"
Let me know if you have any question on things I might have missed out! If you enjoy my content, check out other formats:
👉🏼th-cam.com/video/B9-BPH8c-XY/w-d-xo.html (some enduro fun in Castiglione della Pescaia, Tuscany)
👉🏼th-cam.com/video/qf7788lsGhQ/w-d-xo.html (a stunning daytrip to Elba island, Capoliveri)
Nice man, only have like 500km on mine right now. I initally chose a Fox36 Factory with grip2 23 modell but hated that fork. Always felt overdamped and too much into the travel despite using more tokens, more pressure or more compression. Even a lot of rebound did not help. Switched to a 3.1 Lyrik Ultimate and that was actually a lot better for my liking. I am 95-97kg with riding gear and water though. I do have a V1 Dreadnought as well and the Druidv2 feels a lot more agile and nimble but keeps a hefty bunch of suppleness over rough stuff. My biggest downside or letdown though of the V2 Druid is the abysmally small tire clearance with a 29 rear wheel like you mentioned. On rubble stones get drawn into the space between tire thread and carbon frame. After only 500km that area is completely scratched all over the place despite having multiple layers of foil there. Even worse than yours after 3000km. Basically the whole rear triangle is prone having stones get stuck and smashing up the paint. After only 500km on uphills and downhills combined the frame looks WAY worse than my dreadnought frame, which is almost 3.5 Years old now. Most of the scratches and paint chips where from riding uphill :D I do believe that is a major design flaw. I would love to have the switchable dropouts like on the v2 dreadnought to have 10mm more space. Other than that it is a formidable bike. And the uphill performance is really, really good although it is an idler bike. Greetings from Germany :)
Thanks man! Appreciate the Kudos. Thanks also for sharing the "FOX- experience". While I was wrestling with the Lyrik 3 23 I was wondering whether the FOX 36 wouldn't have been the better choice. And as it seems it was not 😅. Which fork are you running on that Dreadnought? ZEB 2.1?
@@Mike_Rides_Bike It seems I am not really a Fox guy. I had big issues with the 2023 Fox X2 Elite shock on the dreadnought and on my giant Ebike. Both were fried after 150-300km of riding with that seal issue the X2 had in that generation. Switched to a RockShox Coil on the Dreadnought which was extremely supple but left the backend dead and muted. Now on a 2023 SuperDeluxe air with some custom tuning which works pretty good (there is some strange issue with some highpivot bikes with a really high idler and pivot point, that seems to lose the compression energy on the rebound. Basically you need a really fast rebound to balance that out, which was only made possible with some rebound shimstack custom magic 🤣 ). I initially had a ZEB 2.1 on the dread which was really ok but made the choice to try a 3.0 charger fork. I think that was a bad decision. While the 2.1 was already pretty stiff, the 3.0 added some weird compression behaviour. Initial suppleness was okayish, but after the first 10% around sag it was feeling harsh. The dials hardly changed anything. The available room of adjustability is really small. I do think the 3.1 on the Lyrik has a wider area to work with though.
I do have the direct comparsion almost. On the ebike I use a Domain upgraded with a 2.1 damper unit, which is so much better in almost every aspect (while only being heavier in the end). What actually did work for me in the end on the 3.0 ZEB was an adjustable air damper upgrade by Chickadee called the AWK. Just another air chamber that you switch out the normal topcap with tokens for. You can adjust the air in that chamber and have a more linear air curve. That actually took some harshness out and worked pretty well on finale ligure trails.
I chose to throw some money at an intend fork lately though. Initially for the druid but as you can simply change the travel without disassembling the fork, I will do some back to back testing with the 3.0 zeb with air chamber versus the intend edge this june in finale again.
@RoughRidersMTB wow. Thanks for the details. This is helpful and pretty much in line with my part of that experience. I really wish for my 2.1 zeb back from that Jekyll I previously had.
Let me know how that new setup works. I've been thinking about Öhlins 36, but then the cherry red ZEB came out and now I'm saving up for that 😅
The fuck you want in Finale. Komm lieber runter hier in die Toskana, hier gibts noch wildes zu entdecken ohne Stau auf dem Trail. Kannst die Gegend in meinen anderen Videos schon etwas erahnen. Sag bescheid ich kann dir GPX geben oder ne Runde mitnehmen. ✌🏽 Kannst auf Insta nach mir suchen bei Bedarf (mistik.mike)
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Mit 3 Kindern muss man schauen, was übrig bleibt an Zeit und wohin die Kollegen wollen. 😅 Wir sind eine 7er Gruppe in Finale wieder wie die letzten 2 Jahre. Toskana wollten auch ein paar schon mal angehen, sieht wirklich wahnsinnig gut aus, was ich so aus ein paar der Videos erahnen konnte.
Bei ner Gabel steht bei mir auch noch ne Manitou Mezzer Pro auf der "würde ich gern mal testen"-Liste. Die sollen insbeosndere mit einem Tuning von DZ-suspension (Highlander tuning) extrem gut sein. Fährt auch nicht jeder :D
@RoughRidersMTB ok! Wow, das sind natürlich "Rahmenbedingungen". Viel Erfolg in Finale! Und ja, die Manitou ist echt interessant vom Design
Very good.🌶
This IS the degree of detail I wish to find in a review.
@@Kev2Bee thanks a ton for watching and for the positive feedback! Cheers man
Love the video!!! Very nice work💪
@jona.knp6311 thanks!! Really glad you liked it. 🙏🏼🥳
Wassup Mike, really digging the filmography on this one!
@@DandyHippo thanks man! Really appreciate it! Thanks for watching 🙏🏼
Nice review !! Really enjoyed it.
Thanks Pete! Appreciate your view and comment! Glad that you liked it
Sehr erklärt und wie immer schöne Bilder aus der Toskana und dass mit 2 verschiedenen Schuhen
@@Thomas-v9b9k danke Thomas! Haha, ja die zwei Schuhe haben eine Geschichte. Das andere Paar fährt in der Schweiz!
great review!
@@pippinrush1520 thanks mate! 🙏🏼🙏🏼
I really wanted to get one to replace my evil offering v2.
looks lovely but the suspension looks like it will be harder to maintain rather the single pivot of the evil.
really nice review mate!
@@MrBigGoat thanks for the Kudos. The maintenance is always a nightmare for me, as I have literally two left hands on these things. So I give it to a professional and there it basically doesn't matter that much if you change one or five bearings. Overall the bearing longevity was ok. The Cannondale Jekyll did much worse in this regard.
From the video you can tell that I would recommend the druid regardless, but in the end you have to be happy looking at the bike each time 😉
@@Mike_Rides_Bike I almost went with a druid frameset but a ended up trading my offering for an insurgent mx which is more aggressive but i absolutely love this thing.
It doesn't feel to cumbersome as the numbers suggest and also really nice to work on which for me is a big plus as i maintain my bikes myself.
either way glad your stocked on the druid its an awesome do it all machine!
Cool Video 😄
@@ALEXGOTY-v4b thanks man! 🙏🏼🙏🏼
This was incredibly helpful, thank you! My first good bike was also a GT, a Timberline FS with an Indy C fork
@@r.handerlie9607 amazing to hear! Really glad that it was helpful. Haha, I still have that tequsta! Need to re-spec it
WOW, the paintjob on that cannodale!!!!
@@Descenter1976 hehe, the Jekyll was bought solely on the paint job motif. 😅 I saw that color and insta ordered it. Was a great bike for real. But heavy and I had to push too much travel as a light rider on an average day
Nice dude!
@@edandayan1635 thank man! Appreciate it! 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Quick question: you said you don’t really like your current fork even with the 3.1 Charger.
What don’t you like about it?
I’m going to need a new 150mm fork and I’m considering the new Lyrik for it. What do you find your Lyrik is good at? What’s it bad at?
Thanks for any additional info you can give!
@@DontWorryImAPilot sure, thanks for the question and for watching!
The Lyrik 3 was just a pogo stick. It was good on jump lines and big hits. It was terrible on chatter (despite buttercups bla bla) and felt not plush at all. Yes, it gave lots of mid stroke support, but with my weight (67kg) I couldn't use the travel. I went more than 10 psi down in steps and only then could I increase the compression from fully open to -1 or neutral. Otherwise it made it even worse. But with this low on psi it was too unstable in the middle now and not giving the support obviously.
So I upgraded to 3.1 and a suspension center made some hokus pokus with seals and oil. Now it's better. But still too harsh for my liking. The zeb 2.1 was a blast in comparison. I hope this helps. Happy to share/answer more, if you need/want. Cheers
@@Mike_Rides_Bike That's great info!
One of my bikes has a Pike Ultimate on it at 140mm of travel. I had to go a little higher in pressure than I was expecting to hit my sag. Of course, my pump might be out of calibration so that detail might be wrong!
The Pike feels great so far but I've hardly even given it a proper test besides a few staircases and small drops. I just got the bike on a year-end sale and it's -10ºC here right now so it's muddy/snowy/icy meaning the trails are closed and the ground is slippery.
Maybe I'll take this opportunity to try a different suspension manufacturer for my other bike's fork. From what I've heard, Öhlins is exactly the opposite of pogo stick and is pretty damped. Maybe that would work well for you? I might go that way for my new fork!
Thanks again for the info. I look forward to the next chance I get to watch your videos!
@@DontWorryImAPilot yeah, Öhlins is for sure on the wish list somewhere. But tbh, as I have 160 Lyrik now, I am intrigued by the cherry red ZEB. I was a RS fan all my life basically so far and I did have several Fox equipped bikes along the way. The Superdeluxe is also doing an amazing job in the Druid frame, but the Lyrik 3 was not a good product at all imho. So yeah, probably Öhlins, or something else....we will see.
Let me know what you went for and how it performs? Maybe in your review vid? 😉✌🏽 Anyway, thanks for the Kudos. New video went online yesterday and the next one will be a review again. Coming maybe late next week.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike The bike I just grabbed is a 2024 Yeti SB120 Lunch Ride. I got it from a bike shop that was offering me a discount in addition to the discounts from Yeti's 2024 leftover colors sale.
I was trying to pick between the Druid V2, the SB120 Lunch Ride, the Mondraker Raze, and the Raaw Jibb V2. When those discounts stacked up and made my most preferred bike also the cheapest, I went for it!
No ride or review video from me any time soon. I'm also 40+ but have WAY less picturesque locations and challenging trails around me than you do! So far, though, the bike's been fun in an urban "free ride" type of riding and I think it's going to rip when I can get it onto the trails!
@DontWorryImAPilot amazing to understand the background! Sounds like fun! So I hope your conditions outside allow you to shred soon. In the meanwhile I'll try to fill in with some sun from Tuscany 😉✌🏽
Very interesting and nice riding area! Where is it?
@@WingsofHealingThyroid there are many shots in this one - Castagneto Carducci, Massa Marittima, Dolomites, Amiata Bike park and Promontorio Piombino...just to name the most prominent
@Mike_Rides_Bike beautiful!
Hey Mike! Fantastic video. I also own a Druid V2 and I was just wondering what chain lube you use on yours?
@@tomriley_bike hey Tom, thanks for the Kudos! Appreciate it a ton. Good question on the lube! Should have mentioned it in the video - I'm a huge fan of wax. So I don't run lube, I run the "squirt" wax, which they sell here in Europe. It's liquid, white and keeps the drivetrain incredibly clean. People say it's more noisy with wax, but I find it quite the opposite. What do you run?
@@Mike_Rides_Bike thanks for the reply! I am running the Silca wax on mine from the wax cooker, however it's still quite noisy. I've been advised by the shop I bought the bike from (who specialise in Forbidden) to try a full clean and then wet lube, leave overnight and then a very light dry lube over the top. They suggest the Peaty's premium all-weather lube (white bottle) with maxima dry lube over the top.
@@tomriley_bike wow! That sounds very complicated and scientific. I bought a XT chain, degreased it with mucoff drivetrain cleaner to my abilities and put the squirt wax on it. Never had an issue. Quiet, smooth and clean. BUT I wipe the chain after every second ride or wash it and reapply the wax.
I'm so glad i kept my 2.1. I never felt like i needed to upgrade. But when i tried the DVO, my bike changed a lot and way better than RS. My bro also love the DVO but hes only comparing it from his 2020 fox performance, so not really a comparison.
@@5dayMovingAverage thanks a lot for sharing. Yeah DVO forks are also interesting. I would like to know how they compare to a zeb 3.1
Great insight.. I have the bike in MX so the clearance is more. I have a 29” swing arm, so will apply lots of protective film if I run it.
I have the same pump.. What bracket do you use to mount it on the frame?
@@grantwilliams2912 that's super cool to have the possibility to run both setups! I wanted to get the MX swingarm....but 600€ was too much plus the wheel... Anyway, the pump is mounted with the OneUp in-line mount. I think it was like 20-30€ or something. It also fits the DJI tripod for the Osmo action 5 btw....
@ thank you for the helpful info relating to the pump mount. I have never ridden a full 29, so plan to have a season when I switch my Druid to 29, and bump my fork to 160 (I have upgraded my Lyric to the 3.1 damper, and it’s quite improved)
@@grantwilliams2912 Yeah I have exactly this setup - 3.1 charger Lyrik upgraded and 160 travel. It is better than the 3 charger, but still not anywhere close to the ZEB with only 200g more weight, if I am not mistaken. So my next purchase will probably be a ZEB, or another fork maybe to try, like manitou or somehting exotic
since you are running a 210 dropper on an s3, are you able to tell me how much further it can be inserted before bottoming out in the frame?
@@teoandrew5620 very good question. I'm at the absolute limit of it with my insertion. Maybe 5 more millimeter to go inside the frame. Hope this helps.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Thanks for that! I visited Cumberland, BC a few weeks ago and demo'ed an s3 29 like yours for the day. It had a 180mm dropper on it that I would have liked to be a bit taller and I was considering getting it with a 210 but it doesnt look like it would benefit me all that much! Thanks for the video and the quick response!
@teoandrew5620 I believe the dropper can be adjusted by 10mm travel, if I'm not mistaken. So you could take the 210 and let it be 200 or 190. Very good dropper! And the lever / remote especially!
@teoandrew5620 I believe the dropper can be adjusted by 10mm travel, if I'm not mistaken. So you could take the 210 and let it be 200 or 190. Very good dropper! And the lever / remote especially!
The clearance is the biggest problem for this bike.
Mine looks way worse than yours and i stick PPF and AMS there lol.
But the fact that its the main problem shows how well its been designed.
@@edm11nd ah! Interesting to hear. I also PPFed it right from the start but as you've seen in the video..... useless. Anyway, I thought about converting to mullet after this issue, but the seat stays are 600€ all in all.... So let's go 29er.... 🤣🤌🏼 Great bike though!
I'm really surprised that it has so little clearance with 2.4 tyres. I was suspecting that you've put 2.6 there, but then I got back to the build part and seen that it's actually 2.4. With this low clearance, it's a bike to ride only when it's dry.
Too bad because I was really stoked for the Druid V2. It looks like I'll have to wait for V3.
@@alfrednOObel2 I don't know how muddy it gets in your area, but here in Tuscany, we also had some muddy rides during the last years testing period. It did work well until the sella ronda "incident".
On the other side the mazza 2.4 is not an overly burly tire. So with mud/tall nob tires it will for sure be a problem. Mullet might be a solution, but our climbs are too steep to sacrifice the full 29er.
Other than that, this bike is so awesome. Thanks so much for watching.
@@Mike_Rides_Bike Where I live it's usually bone dry from june till august, but the remaining 9 months are total opposite. That's why I and almost everyone here ride pretty knobby and wide tyres as well. Currently I have Specialized Eliminator 2.6 on the back.
But I really wonder how much worse is the mullet for the climbs. I'll probably have to rent one sometime and find it out myself, because it may be not so bad.
@@alfrednOObel2 I wonder as well, but I was not "brave" enough to spend the 600€ just on the swingarm to find that one out....plus the wheel. If you do try it, let me know!
Out of interest, what width is the rear tyre?
@@grantwilliams2912 the rear mazza is 2.4
Nice review! Already told you but that I am secretly in love with the black frame of the druid. To be honest i think the only downgrade that you got on the bike is the Boomer mudguard 😅🤣
@@mattiacecchettimtb thanks bro! Luckily there are many flavors to life. I do feel the black color way, but as I already had a black bike it was a NoNo. Yeah the mudguard is something, ain't it..... 😘😘
I had the same shoes in 1995
@@kesselbrenner ahahaha! Those were my favs for a while! It's all about the details, eh? 🙏🏼😘
Reminds me of a Trek Slash
@@Descenter1976 trek came out way later with the slash, but look how much chain guidance the slash needs to get the job done and the forbidden druid is so clean with it's design. Obviously slash is an Enduro monster vs "trail bike"