Mountain

Today I’m unboxing a frame I’ve been genuinely excited to try — the 2025 Specialized Stumpjumper 15 Alloy. The real kicker? It’s on sale right now, marked down from $2299 to $1499 for the frame and shock. At this price point, it’s easily one of the best values in the trail bike world today. To be honest, I’ve always had a hard time justifying alloy frames priced north of $2000, so this discount made the decision much easier. ...

https://youtu.be/Fh0zcVl-7WA Is your bike in need of some repairs, but you’re shocked by the high price tag from the bike shop? I recently came across a $940 repair quote to fix my friend’s bike, and I knew we could do it ourselves for a fraction of the cost. In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps we took to complete the necessary bike maintenance, save hundreds of dollars, and keep the bike running smoothly. Doing bike repairs yourself isn’t just about saving money—it’s also a satisfying way to learn more about your bike and make sure everything is in top shape. ...

You want to start working on your own bike but are on a budget You have just made the decision to start working on your own bike, and there are many great reasons to do so. Some great reasons to work on your own bike are: Save time by not having to take your bike to the bike shop and wait for days for labor to be completed Save money by not paying for professional labor prices Increase self reliance: fix your bike on the road when an unforeseen mechanical comes up during a ride Quality, expensive tools will last for life, right? Yes it’s nice to own high quality tools and if you have the budget I would agree. Park tools makes great quality tools for about everything out there on a bike and usually you can’t go wrong with them. There are also a few companies that make beautifully crafted tools like https://www.abbeybiketools.com/ and https://silca.cc/ which will cost you, but they should last forever. A lot of these tools are for professional mechanics that wrench daily and as a home mechanic, your usage should be much less. So for getting started out on a budget, here are a few alternatives that can save you money and get you started on your way to becoming a mechanic. ...

I just picked up a 2022 Fox 36 Grip 2, still worth it with the new 2023 out there? Recently I built up the 2023 Cannondale Habit LT and I borrowed the fork from my Stumpjumper Evo which was also a 2022 Fox 36 Grip 2 but it was set to 160mm travel. I could have reduced the travel which would be the cost of the 150mm air shaft which goes for about $75 and some Fox fluid but I found a good deal on this one. I found this one brand new on Ebay, not even installed and the fork hasn’t been cut. I ended up getting it for $525 plus tax and shipping so it came out to around $580. At this cost I figured I could sell my other fork with the Stumpjumper Evo frame and would recoup most of the cost of this new fork. ...

Cannondale’s newest trail bike Cannondale recently released it’s newest version of one of their most popular mountain bikes, the Habit. This is the second version of the Habit and I was excited at the chance to build one up. The Habit comes in two versions, the standard Habit and the longer travel Habit LT. Both frames are the same and only differ in the stroke length of the shock. I found a deal on a partial build on Pinkbike.com but had planned to make it my own with the parts I trust the most. ...

Weighing the frame and the frame components before building the 2023 Cannondale Habit LT The weight of the frame alone for the 2023 Cannondale Habit LT, which is the same frame as the non LT version with a different shock, comes in at a weight of 2.82kg. This weight is without the shock and although all of the Habit and Habit LT builds come with a RockShox shock, I opted for a Fox Float X shock because it’s been a great shock for me and because I ended up finding a deal on one. ...

Installing Fox Float X volume spacers is fast and easy and can make all the difference in how your rear suspension feels on the trail One of the easiest ways to customize the way your rear shock behaves is by changing volume spacers. It’s quick, relatively cheap, and can make your suspension work better for you. Why change the volume spacers in a rear shock? Without going too deep into air spring rates and air spring curves, adding volume spacers will make the suspension become more progressive. This means that if you have 2 shocks that are set at the same pressure but with a different number of volume spacers in each, the one that has more volume spacers would take more force to bottom out the shock. ...