WaltWorks 29er

Got a new bike, a custom Walt Works 29er. See Walt's website for more info.

Rode it on Rabbit Mountain yesterday. First ride was pretty uneventful. Still working out the climbing technique since it is a lot different from my other bikes. Probably will take a couple weeks to be truly comfortable climbing of course. You were correct that Rabbit Mountain felt about like a bike-path.

Descending felt pretty comfortable. The Marz fork has a much different feel from the RockShox. I've heard it described as having a lot of sticktion, but really it feels to me more like there is a preload type of threshold and then it moves pretty easily. No platform to speak of though so I need to put "too much" air into it for climbing then get no travel on the descent. Settled on ~40% of body weight for air pressure in the fork. Makes standing climbing kinda suck, but hey, that isn't this bike's style anyway. I have the rebound set 1 click in from full-fast which seemed about right on the rocks at Rabbit.

RP23 is at ~260lbs (110% of body weight.) and it felt pretty good climbing. I can't really remember how it compares to the El Rey, but I think it is a bit more active under pedaling and does sink into the travel a bit more. Bob isn't bad with the RP3 in ProPedal, but it does hunker more than I'd like in granny (to be expected given the axle-path). I may bump the pressure up 10psi or so today. My initial sag settings were done without a loaded camelbak. I sent an email to the "dirtlabs" guy, Mike Luebesmier to ask about tuning advice. Hoping I can increase the low-speed compression damping a bit. Rebound is set to 3 clicks from full-fast. I tried 4 clicks in and it seemed a tad slow to react.

Still working out how I feel about the custom geometry. It is a lot shorter top-tube than any bike I've ridden, and it seems to fit well based on my lack of flexibility and such. However, I still feel like I'm a little too forward in the saddle. Moved it back about 3/4 of the rails (1/3 inch?) and that helped a lot. Might push it back even further today depending on how I feel after the climb up Belcher Hill.