Several weeks ago, I was walking down 9th Street NW in Washington DC. I was there accompanying my wife for a large work event of hers and had a whole day to meander around. Our hotel was only a mile from the mall and the weather was nice, so I headed down to get lost in some museums and just enjoy the sights that were routinely part of my existence when I was a resident there nearly forty years ago.
So much was different as everything seemed cleaner and, while busy, less hectic. I was moving slower too (not just because I’m an alter kocker) as back when I used to roam these streets, I was on a skateboard ninety percent of the time. Walking around now made me not nostalgic, but gave me a sense of gratitude that I got to do that back then. The sidewalks still seemed amazing, and I still found myself checking out the curb architecture and embankments for lines. It was a great way to see something I had previously experienced in a different way. Some for the better and some less so. We’ll drill into this in regard to my cycling vision quest (don’t watch this; it aged horridly but I can’t resist sharing the awful), but first some vintage DC gnarl for your earholes.
Ignition: Complete Services I’ve spoken of the jagged maelstrom that was Circus Lupus. However, the recent trip up to our nation’s capital had me revisit their direct antecedent. I never saw Circus Lupus during their existence, but I did see Ignition several or more times. Unsung at the time, they were prescient regarding the coming influx of noise rock bands that would occupy much of the post-hardcore landscape in the early 90s. I remember being blown away over Ignition’s intensity and chaos live, but thoroughly disappointed with their first record “Machination” when I bought it at the time. It completely lacked the power of their live efforts sounding too clean and thin. I believe this strictly had to do with the production. Taking a return trip to listen to this compilation of all of Ignition’s recorded output made me notice the incredible riffs they had and the newer mix/mastering from ’94 and ’12 respectively helped with this. While it is a better production than what they originally put out, I still feel that had they had someone like Endino, Vig or Albini behind the boards originally, they would be held in much higher regard. Nevertheless, this is a solid document of a piece of DC music history.
I thought I’d never go back. To DC yes, but not to a Horst-link full suspension bike. I babbled on about this way back here. To recap, I had demoed one of the earliest Specialized Stumpjumper FSR’s in the late 90s and immediately did not like the way it felt. Its suspension movement was just too mushy (if I am being mean) or too active (if I am being more specific to the science). I avoided them no matter how glowing any reviews were as I just preferred the simplicity and firm character of single pivot suspension bikes. I came to understand that as being more about the progression* inherent in the frame design or being added to the shock itself.
Despite my misgivings about Horst-link bikes, there were some I rode/demoed in more recent times that I did like. The original Transition Sentinel was damn good, and I was able to ride that one on a few different occasions, including a ride locally with one of the company founders. It exhibited few to none of the traits I did not like about the Specialized FSR versions. The Sentinel had the progression I dug and handled incredibly well. Their Speed Balanced Geometry (longer reach, steeper seat angle, slacker head angle, reduced fork offset) concept has become the norm on nearly all modern bikes. I considered getting one for a second or two but was too deep into my love affair with my Wreckoning V1 at that point. Still, it proved to me that I could like a Horst-link bike.
The Specialized Stumpjumper EVO was a very popular bike over it’s several different iterations. It still has legions of fans despite being dropped or more accurately absorbed into the regular Stumpjumper universe last year. So at the end of ’22, after losing my patience waiting on the Nomad 6 frame to become available, I dove in and built an EVO carbon from the frame up. I was all in on a mixed wheel/MX/mullet set up and the EVO could do this with a different link. On the plus side, this added 5mm of travel and was a simple inexpensive switch. On the downside, it made the already minimally progressive EVO frame even less so. There were fixes for this including different links/yokes, but I opted to take an even more simple route using by using a coil shock with a progressive spring. This worked okay, but I still noticed the original issues I did not like from FSR bikes. Nevertheless, I rode the bike everywhere including a trip to Sedona and for some bike park shenanigans. That overly active movement was not great in technical, high-consequence terrain (e.g.: Sedona) but felt amazing on the longer, high speed chunder in the park (Snowshoe). I believe if you’ve the terrain or riding style that warrants it then the Specialized design is a winner. However, my day-to-day riding and style were not conducive to getting the best out of it.
My less-than-ideal chemistry with the EVO also came from the fact that it was not designed specifically as a mixed wheel bike. Most full suspension bikes in fact are not as it is much easier and more economical for companies to build in a flip chip to adjust the geometry for the smaller wheel or a link as noted above. Obviously, you can rig 27.5 bikes to run a 29er front or vice versa. Some work better than others and it takes some number crunching to yield the best result. To be honest, I likely could’ve played with the EVO’s numerous geometry settings even more so than I did to have it ride more to my liking. I think it is nice that companies offer this kind of latitude for experimentation, but there are always compromises. I found that after a year with the EVO I was becoming acutely aware of what I was after and then having my riding style upended I knew I wanted more of sharp blade than a dead blow hammer. We’ll get our Ginsu on forthcoming.
*A design where the stiffness of the suspension increases as it compresses further.