We are living The Vantastic Life! And have been doing #vanlife full time in our 144 Mercedes 4x4 Sprinter van (built by Momentum Vans) for over 5 years.
All the while we working full-time from our StarLink, running an online workout program called The Get Better Project (TheGetBetterProject.com), and mountain biking, trail running, and snowboarding as much as our bodies will allow ;-)!
We are putting out new videos 1-2 times a week, and try to have a bonus video if time allows. If this sounds cool to you... we love to have you as a subscriber!
If you're on the road... and like to workout, mountain bike, snowboard, or just want to connect with other #vanlifers... we love to meet you, and share adventure stories, or tips and tricks!
You can also find us on Instagram at instagram.com/TheVantasticLife.
So true. The more we ride the more we find that a lot of things we thought needed to be dropped are actually rollable. We're riding in Moab right now and finding this to be true all of the place.
Thanks for sharing the video. I’ve started riding this trail but am far from mastering it. I’m noticing both you are landing very hard off the jumps. I don’t know if a suspension adjustment or technique change could help. I’ve got several GoPro videos on my page of me descending Thrillium at a decent speed clearing a few of the jumps but not up to full speed and clearing all the jumps. I’m 55 on a Specialized Enduro. Might go up today. 👍
Hey Tim! Awesome man!! I'm pretty sure we cased all of the jumps on that first time down Thrillium! Hahaha! When we shot this video we didn't have the jumping skills to clear those jumps blind, and we didn't have time to re-ride it, but it sure would be a fun trail to get good at. We've also had a lot of jump coaching since then, so I'd love to re-ride the trail! Have a blast man!!
Check out Avatars boxes and racks. Better than OWL, although I like most of OWLs stuff. I saw them both at Van Expo, if you saw them both you would see that AVATAR are better built, better hardware, and just cleaner.
Hey there, great review! For Emily specifically - I too ride an Evil Wreckoning LS which is my only (non-e) bike right now. I realize the Druid V2 wasn't dialed how you want it - but I'm looking to build up a Druid V2 for myself as well. I'm curious if you think with a 160 (Zeb/38) fork & mullet and a little beefier tires - do you think it would rival the Wrecker as a one bike quiver killer for aggressive trail riding and occasional park days? (3-4 times a year). Or would it be suited best with 150 on a 36/lyrik as a compliment to the Wrecker in the stable?
Yes! That is in fact exactly how I would choose to build up one if I get one. I think from my ride it would be a great all around bike and we have talked to several Druid owners who say it handles fine on the occasional park day as is. I bet with that 160 it would be plenty! Let us know if you build one up!
@@TheVantasticLife Thanks so much! My frameset arrives tomorrow and I'll be building it up over the next couple months. For now I plan to keep it on 130/150 as intended to give some variance between that and my Wrecker.
I have a druid V2 that I've built up to be a quiver killer. I've got a 160 Zeb on there, and swapped in a DHX2. I've kept it 29" front and rear. Running a kryptotal up front and zynotal in the rear. I absolutely cannot say enough good things about it. I came from a Trek Slash and was worried about the shorter travel but the bike just eats anything I throw at it. Nice to have something a little more nimble that can still handle the chunk.
Solid review. I too noticed more frequent pedal strikes on my V2. Took some adjusting but far less frequent now. Brakes are trash as was mentioned. I swapped brakes, shock, fork, and wheels pretty early on.
Thanks for the info! What shock, fork, and wheels did you go with, and what did you notice when you upgraded? I'm super curious about what this bike would feel like when upgraded like that!
@TheVantasticLife Hayes Dominion brakes, EXT Arma shock, Fox 38 fork, and SC reserve wheels. Hayes Dominions are some of the best brakes on the market right now - I have them on two other bikes and enjoy them as much as the Saints on my DH bike. Different feel obviously. EXT is definitely a luxury upgrade but I much prefer coil over air. I've spent a lot of time on a Fox coil (2 different bikes) before upgrading to EXT and personally find the performance improvements to be worth the $ but again, this is very much a luxury item. My desire to upgrade to a 38 was based entirely on wanting to build a short-travel race bike that I could beat the pants off-of. It's overkill in most applications but for park laps and racing I've found it to provide the extra support I'm looking for (I don't care about weight). A Zeb would likely be a good choice too but I have Fox on all of my bikes and am familiar with setting them up exactly how I prefer. As for wheels, I'm keen on carbon for how stiff they are. Not to mention how resilient they are compared to alloy wheels. They don't dent, get flat spots, and rarely come out of true. IMO Santa Cruz offers the best lifetime warranty on their Reserve wheels and to me that is a huge selling point. Over the last ~10 years of riding exclusively carbon wheels, I've cracked ONE. The crack occurred at a bike park on a Sunday. I submitted the warranty claim from the parking lot and had a brand new wheel in my driveway that Wednesday. The Druid certainly didn't require ANY of these upgrades - all personal preference. The only upgrade I would highly recommend is the brakes if you're someone who rides on the more aggressive side. Even upgrading from a 180mm front rotor to a 200mm+ rotor would make a huge difference at a fairly low cost. Your trails look amazing by the way! I'm over in NH and dream of coming out to WA to ride.
@@TheVantasticLife you got it! As for a bigger bike, I have a full DH rig and an enduro as well (Transition TR11 and a Patrol). That said, I’ve had plenty of park days on the Druid and it has been more than capable.
Oh man! We haven't. But the new Stumpjumper is HIGH on our list, and we've been looking for a place to demo it. If we can get our hands on one I'll get the review up quickly! This guy did a pretty good comparison of the Druid v2 and new Stumpjumper ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kHYOgLKTHAo.htmlsi=NSjM51LmBUrqCxyQ
@@TheVantasticLife I have a 2023-2024 Evo Mullet (w/ upgrades) and it's really good. The Druid was on my radar but I scored such a good deal on the Stumpy, couldn't pass it up.
@@TheVantasticLife Also, I recently installed a Vorsprung Smashpot coil in my Fox 36 and It's really good. You may want to try it or the Vorsprung Secus
Great insight (I am looking buy the mullet version) Interesting to hear the fork, eg poss go 160mm I wonder if the longer fork would detract from tech climbing ability?
Hey Grant, thanks for the comment! I bet lengthening the fork would lessen the climbing position a bit. You could always get the air spring for 160mm, try it, and then go back to 150mm if you didn't like the climbing with the longer fork. You can also reach out to Forbidden to ask them what they've found. We talked to a few people in Cumberland that had the Druid v2 with a 160mm fork, but didn't think to ask them about the difference in climbing ability. Cheers!
@@TheVantasticLife Thank you for the reply.. In response, I’ve emailed Forbidden about the fork item. There seems to be quite a few people who use a 160 fork on the v2, so I am leaning towards that build
Great video guys! Those trails looked gnarly and you just cruised through them! I'm sad I didn't get back to Cumberland this year! Also. I want this bike.
@@TheVantasticLife awesome! Thanks man I’ll be checking it out sometime today. retired from motocross a little over a year ago, but decided to get into mtb so I went and picked up a bike now I’m excited to go get a lil shreddy 🤘
Holy smokes! Valuable information! We wish we’d known this for the last few years! We know several people that use this toilet the same way as us. Hahaha!! I guess we could use pictures on the lid.
Hey! We had a whole Colombia trip organized by activexpedition.com, which was an amazing 6 days of riding in different locations with different local guides! But if you're looking to just put together a shuttle day in Medellin... contact Leo at instagram.com/sueltelemountainadventures/. I'm sure you could pedal this, but it would be a BEAST!!! Let us know if you need any more info. This is well worth doing!
No thank you for the head cam rides little bit above my level grandpa doesn’t ride that fast anymore but I love to watch it. I want to be 70 in a week and a half. Where does the time go? God bless.
I really enjoyed your vid, recently returned from the the eastern Sierra myself. I hiked O. valley -> Whitey 20 years ago. Wish you included your mom and Steve's experience more. As I get older I'm interested in how well those who are older experience long hiking adventures. Cheers. Hike On!
Thanks for the comment! Nice work with your own hiking! We wanted to make this video, but didn't want my Mom and Steve to feel like they had to be on the camera all the time. Neither of them had any issues that we didn't get on camera. They are both amazing and super fit people that are hopefully inspiring other 68+ year olds!
