Formerly "RVA MTB". I’m a somewhat experienced mountain biker in Richmond, VA. I love everything about mountain biking. The trails are my happy place. Luckily we have some great trails here from techy riding to fast flow trails that always bring out a smile.
I like to nerd out on the gear too. I do lots of reviews of budget oriented bikes and components. But sometimes you have to spend the big bucks on nice stuff and I cover that too.
Want to send me things to review? Email me at dtrmtb@gmail.com
Buying some MTB parts and want to help support the channel? Click my affiliate links below. Worldwide Cyclery is awesome! Everything ships for free and everything I have ordered has come super fast. Plus they have a great RU-vid channel. Nashbar holds a special place in my heart because it is where I bought my 1st bike. It's a great place to find deals but their selection is somewhat limited. Competitive Cyclist is kind of the opposite with some of the most premium bike brands out there.
That’s funny because I recently bent my Deore derailer almost the same way …it was on an old 07 Devinci moonracer ..just bought a new Specialized Sirrus X 2.0 with the microshift advent and I find the advent way more solid and accurate when it shifts it just seems more robust and works better.
Thanks for the followup. I have the Deore Advent setup on a gravel bike with Microshifts old drop bar shifters. Will be trying it with the Sword shifters soon!
who has these forks can you please confirm, if you hold front brake and try to move back and forth do you feel on right side something like plastic moving and making a bit of a knocking noise?
My GF's bike came with Rekon front and rear. The rear is worn and I told her to put the old front onto the back and get a new grippier front tyre. She is reluctant to get a chunkier tyre because she liked the Rekons so she is gonna try the Agarro on the front. Hopefully it's the right choice!
im planning to do a service to my recon, which hasnt been serviced in 3 years. it has 1000+ hours on it and never has been opened... so im rewatching this video again and again trying to know how to service the lower legs just so i can do it for the first time myself. Many thanks for helping:)
Always intimidating the first time. Go slowly, don’t rush, and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to actually open up the air spring like I did. Probably a good idea to get the service kit and replace your dust wipers, foam rings and crush washers though.
Great video and appreciate the insights on these technologies. Did you end up getting a Sword derailer to compare to the Advent X ver. 2 derailer for this configuration? I'm interested to see how these options stack up against each other for mountain biking and what you recommend.
I did not get the Sword derailleur. Got a new Deore 11s derailleur for cheap from Ali Express instead. So while I can’t say how good Sword is, I can say that I’m really happy with Deore. Hope that helps.
I'm going to try one on the back.. i dont push the turns too hard..and although my aggressor that's on there now is wearing well i dont like the uphill traction ( also not the best braking) if at all loose or wet spots .. hoping this one does better climbing. Previously was running a high roller 2 out back but kinda draggy just felt like trying faster tires.
You might like the updated Forekaster then. I’m currently running them front and rear and I like them a lot. I think the transition knobs help with partially leaned turns compared to the Dissector that doesn’t have them.
@@downtoridemtb yeah i can see your point. i dont think it would brake in the rear enough for me or climb loose over hard trails we have as well as dissector. i'll try it and find out.. but all reviews i have seen have indicated it's a good choice for how i'm inending to use it.
Theres a secret that not many people know about. The acolyte rear derailleur does not have the freeplay that the advent and the advent x. Acolyte will work with advent and advent x shifters.
Hey I just bought a specialized expert fuse 6fattie 2016 and it is a size L. It’s supposed to come with a 120mm of travel, but it only uses 100mm of travel while it does have the 120mm of space. Anyone know if this is also caused by spacers or if there is a other way to fix this?
That either means too much air pressure in the fork or you’re simply not taking hard enough impacts to use the full amount of travel. Or possibly it needs a general lower leg service to get everything running smoothly again.
Important: the 29er Judy with a quick release axle is not approved by RockShox to go above 100mm travel. Check out the official RockShox service manual for more details. I have reduced mine back to 100mm.
Thanks for the video! Dealing with this with my son’s bike. Do you think I can get away with his existing 10 speed chain and swapping to the 11 speed derailleur or do I need the 11 speed chain? Thanks
Good question. I’m really not sure but I’ve been running an 11 speed chain for years on the full Advent X and I think it interfaces with the cassette better. So the 10 speed chain would probably work but I think an 11 speed would work better.
I'm rocking a 2022 Giant Talon 3 27.5 metallic black and yes this was also my dream bike so the minute a local bike shop posted it on Facebook I immediately asked my brother to drive 12kms and I remember I didn't even take a bath that time.😂. I paid as soon as I could, and good thing I came to the shop 3 minutes earlier. I pretty much upgraded everything except for the rims which are tubeless ready, seat clamp and the saddle. I transferred my Shimano Deore M6100 gs, a Suntour Epixon Airfork 120mm with lockout. Tubeless Maxxis Ardent Exo 2.25 like yours, new hubs, carbon bars and seat post. I spent way more than I should have $1.7k all in all but damn it was worth it. I still use the bike almost every other day as my form of exercise and already planning to go back to the mountains with my kid.
That’s awesome! Sounds like a great bike. I have been slacking on upgrading mine. I have the new fork for it but I just haven’t swapped it over yet. Soon though!
I think so… if you can successfully capture it when disassembling. Maybe release one side at a time enough so to get it to drain one side at a time. Good luck to you!
Thanks for the review. Did you index the derraileur, not just adjusted the high and low adjustments? Park tools has a great video I use on indexing derraileurs.
This is very late clearly... I was in a jam.. need fork oil. Right then.. could not find any.. I used 20/ 40 synthetic, Lucas. Motor oil.... Seems to work as good as the day I bought it from Harley.. I see no different.. I changed my fork seals 2yr later.. just as maintenance. Had some seals & time.. was wondering it might be damaged.. hell I ain't need to change it.. I even when & got more 20/ 40. So I can say I ran 20/ 40 like 2yrs. & 18k miles. Nothing has happened nothing was different.. food for thought..
Too bad they don't make the light + high grip in a 2.6" I'm running the 2.4 tough + fast on 2 bikes, 1 with a vigilante and the other with a Vee Attack HPL super pleased with TB as a rear tire
@@downtoridemtbi found the Verdict a bit too much for the freeride bike (Spindrift, used for jumps and bike park mostly hardpack) so i swapped for the Vee. my trail bike (another Propain, this one the Hugene) i run TB+Vigilante. only one ride in, but seems to handle kitty litter ok! not enough for any semblance of a review from my end, yet.
The Vigilante blew me away in moist leaves during the fall. Just felt endlessly grippy. Wears pretty quick though in my experience. Can’t have it all I guess.
I’m pretty sure on those you have to replace the entire air spring assembly. But keep in mind that if your bike was designed for 130mm travel then 160mm travel will throw off the geo and be potentially dangerous.
I have been a Maxxis guy and I tried a Barzo and the hard compound is garbage compared to Maxxis compound. I am taking the Barzo off and selling after one ride and going back to Maxxis Ardent race. Vittoria tires suck.
I've heard the 8-speed Acolyte derailleur is compatible with the Advent X shifter and I wonder how well that setup actually works considering the low cost of the derailleur
So my ozark trail ridge bike is the new version 2. It came with the Acolyte 8-speed derailleur and a 9-speed Advent cassette and shifter. So far no issues and works pretty smooth.
personal opinion: if you ride hard pack, or loose over hard, get trail boss front and rear. the 2.6 up front is plenty Chonky for hard hittin' conditions. if you ride up in the Loam, (portland/flagstaff/smokey's) the Verdict 2.5 up front with the TB 2.4 out back is pretty dang good. hard to believe these are overlooked while the DHF and Kryptotal are hogging the spotlight. *another tire that reminds me very much of the 2.4 TB's sidewall knobs is the vittoria Martello. i run one of those as a front on my hardtail.
Yeah I thought about a 2.6 Trail Boss for the front and looked up specs. I don’t remember exactly but it was similar weight to the 2.5 Vigilante and with the Vigilante you can get the high grip compound. Seems like the most versatile combo although I’m sure it wears quicker.
hi what is your front wheel Inner Rim Width ? i just got my minion dhr 2 and there is Recommended Width 30-35mm and i have 23mm on my wheel Do I need new rims ?
@@downtoridemtb just wondering do i need sell them or try whit inner tube ? What you think buy inner tube and if it works good convert to tubeless if its possible ? Im new this
@@nikoleino1108 as long as your rim is tubeless compatible then you should be ok. If you already have an inner tube then I guess it wouldn’t hurt trying that first though.
Been using the advent X for a few years now on 4 bikes and it is fantastic - really don't need more than 10 speed. On my 2 mtb's I have a 34 and a 36 chainring. On my 2 all terrain bikes (bikepacking) I have a 30 and a 38 chainring.
The maintenance manual for my Recon indicates that there crush washers and o-rings on the bolts that need to be replaced. Did your fork have these? Did you have any issues with fluid leaking afterwards?
@@downtoridemtb That's real talk! The 200 hr service kit is unavailable for my fork. Luckily there is an upgrade kit that comes with this washers. Rockshox is winning money!
Does removing the spacer actually cause the fork to be 20mm longer or does it just allow the fork to compress 20mm more? I'm looking to slacken my HTA by moving from 100 to 120mm. But looking at the design of the Judy I came up with this question. Thanks
I've got the 2025 model on preorder and still found your video useful. They seem like great bikes. Literally just using my bike to get to vantage points, as I do landscape photography..
