there we go
my transition patrol is such an awesome enduro bike I hope you guys didn't forget that I still
own this every time I jump back on it I always have such a great time and I'm really happy about
my choice in getting this bike now my whole intent about this whole bike build was that it's supposed
to be an awesome choice for the jump trails at places like Whistler or any other bike park last
year when I revealed this whole bike build there were a number of people taking issue with the fact
that I chose a size small frame but it's because that would help it to become the perfect jump
and free ride bike for me not to mention that it's about the same reach as all my other bikes anyways
unfortunately I never really got to show off its full potential yet because of injuries
but now finally over a year later I'm taking it to the Whistler bike park to ride some of the
sickest jump lines out here now you guys may have noticed I've barely even ridden Dirt
Merchant this year at all and it is one of my favorite trails out here so the plan for today
is to send all of Dirt Merchant including the pro line on the enduro bike but I do just want
to ride all the familiar stuff just to make sure I'm feeling really comfortable on the bike
haha
you certainly don't need a dh bike for trails like angry pirate here the 27.5 enduro bike
feels right at home on this kind of trail though I will still say that 26 inch wheels are superior
on tight and smooth trails like this Del Bocca Vista the most fun green trail out here is a
blast on the enduro bike and I'm sure you guys have noticed enduro bikes nowadays are obviously
so capable and there are so many trails that are built for these bikes that you can definitely have
an amazing time all day at a bike park with a bike like this now the long-term viewers of
my channel will know that for the longest time I've been on these smaller single crown bikes
while my friends were always on downhill bikes and that was because of my obsession with jumps
and flow trails I knew that these six inch seven inch travel freeride bikes were just the best
for those kind of trails and x ups were my thing they were like my signature trick I just would do
them all the time unfortunately these modern enduro bikes have not let me do x ups really
with their steep sea tube angles and I'm also on wider bars too it was only four years ago that
I got my first downhill bike and of course I absolutely love those bikes as well now
I can definitely have a greater appreciation for all different kinds of riding
fun times I'm uh getting better with like taking
my feet off do you see me doing like some one-footers yeah yeah it's fun
all right why don't you lead the way for this one and then yeah we'll just do the full
original Dirt Merchant line yeah yeah first we're gonna ride this into rip and rutabaga
instead of the pro line I just want to make sure I'm feeling really good on this
bike let's follow eight inch Dirt Merchant on a little bike it should be super sick
oh yeah
nice
whoa that was heck that was awkward
okay ripping rutabaga basically the original Dirt Merchant
whoa okay
i could tell I was able to roll faster with this bike probably those 27.5 wheels and my
rear tire is a faster rolling tire so that does feel nice on this trail
right on
whoops
huh
yeah that was fun stuff let's step up step up slow it's yeah I don't know I was rolling into and I'm
like oh I'm gonna kiss this thing yeah pretty much any blue trail will be better on an enduro
bike than a downhill bike they just don't get gnarly enough to make use of 8 inches of travel
but there is a lot more to ride than just A-line and Dirt Merchant here at Whistler
the garbanzo chair brings us up to the upper half of the mountain
and we have an incredible downhill freeride line that we're gonna ride down the whole mountain
including freight train no joke D1 Dirt Merchant in fact I actually wanted to upload this entire
run as its own video on my raw channel so make sure you go check that out if you want
to see the whole thing uncut i'll have a link in the description and a card in the upper right
there we go
that's good I totally cleared the bridge so easily oh yeah yeah let's try better no joke
haven't ridden it this year at all
oh whoa
huh that was good it's going to seven year war I always love this
oh okay a little bit awkward on that corner
let's go straight into seven year more
oh it's uh chunkier than I remembered it being yo
yo man I got all chunky
so
it's just like the gnarliest stuff I've ridden like on this bike for quite a while but it's
feeling good like the bike is feeling really good stoked the bike is like quiet and solid
oh
all right D1 is a sick pro-line jump trail also one of my favorites out here though it's pretty
short it should be really fun on the patrol I wrote this like two to three weeks ago okay I did
just again it was just that one like step up right like I was saying I just didn't clear good just
gotta get back I gotta do that corner really well well i'll i'll fill it up yeah yeah for sure okay
D1
right on
oh crap okay there's a mucky corner there
oh that's a bit slick yo okay that wasn't the best oh well some of those wet corners I just
lose confidence uh not so great it was wet the corners are too wet yeah it's kind of like a
trail I feel like you need to ride it like you get two times in a day to get it right
yeah well now that I know I can shred this bike very comfortably out here this is the
perfect time for Dirt Merchant pro line is my lens looking good hit up some dirt this time
we're gonna do the full pro line ever since the pro line opened a couple years ago I've
only ever ridden it on dh bikes so this will be a first but I know it's gonna feel awesome
okay
let's do this
this last bit of Dirt Merchant can get pretty exhausting you
need to keep a lot of speed for these jumps so I do have to pedal for them
there we go that's one reason why it's so nice to be on the enduro bike for this
okay
right on
yes
child
right on it yeah it was dude I got it pretty good I did the hip jump decently yeah I saw
it it was tiring at the end yeah continue with the free ride hit some more jumps like A-line
all right do some more Dirt Merchant the patrol is feeling right at home at a place
like Whistler and Dirt Merchant is so fun of course we wanted to ride it even more
and you know ripping rutabaga is a pretty fun option as well
and I love the way single crown forks feel just so much more lively also I would really love to
bring back accepts again I know if I had a size medium frame I would have the clearance
to turn my bars around or just skinnier bars or maybe lower the seat more or something like that
so maybe next year i'll figure something out and i'll bring back x ups again what do you guys think
there we go
I cleared it well last time that was better yeah yeah that was a good run yeah happy with that but
the biggest jumps at Whistler would of course be crab apple hits now this is a trail where I would
actually prefer the bigger bikes give me that longer wheelbase that extra stability because
when you're going really high speeds into these jumps it can be more intimidating when your bike
is not as stable like when I used to ride this on my norco truax or even my norco empire it was
much more scary on those bikes it's funny because at this point now with all my riding experience
to think about going back onto a shorter smaller norco truax and then riding crabapple hits is
actually a lot more intimidating I've just gotten very used to these bigger downhill bikes now my
patrol is longer and more stable than my norker truax ever was and even then I feel a bit more
intimidated riding crabapple hits on that bike so for now I'm just riding it on the maiden
it's just the safer option but hey next year it would be really fun to ride this on the patrol
uh
it's always a fun one but ever since I've been riding downhill bikes I've been a
lot more interested in riding the tech trails because it's so much fun
while you could certainly ride a lot of these single black diamonds pretty well on enduro bikes
it's especially the double black trails where you really appreciate that extra suspension but
you know no matter what bike I bring it's always a ton of fun but the reason why I've been riding
downhill bikes so much more this year especially is because it was kind of the safer option
since I had that elbow injury in the springtime and then even last year I had my whole concussion
being on more suspension was just the safer option I figured right but I definitely want to ride
my enduro bike more often and also my hardtail as well again I wasn't riding that bike either
because the bigger suspension was just safer on my body right on dude I think I'm good with that yeah
but I can't wait to ride these bikes more often it really does keep your skills up by riding those
hard tails or those smaller travel bikes you know so even though that I love my downhill bikes and
as you guys know I'm experimenting with massive suspension as well the downside to that is you
could get lazy you could start to forget what your bike is really going through on the trails
so I know I always need a good dose of smaller travel bikes like my hardtail to keep my skills
up you know thank you guys for watching this video I hope you enjoyed it please give a like
leave a comment subscribe let me know what kind of bikes you want to see me riding more of do
you want to see me ride this enduro bike more the hardtail more what do you guys think what
is your go-to bike for a bike park day let me know in the comments below big thank you to my
patrons who are massive supporters of my channel you can get bonus content and fun perks like that
by pledging to me monthly on patreon otherwise thank you all for watching see you guys next time