When the pandemic hit, it was time for me to put my big bike journey on hold
and go back to my mountain biking roots.
Today, I'll talk you through how I've optimized my new backpacking bike
for my current backcountry adventures.
Even if you're not into mountain biking or backpacking,
I hope to teach you something about frame design, suspension setup,
tyres and the tuning involved in squeezing the most performance out of a full-suspension bike.
But first - how did I end up with the long-travel enduro bike for backpacking?
I don't think it's an exaggeration to suggest that Oaxaca offers the best gravity mountain
biking in Mexico. Sierra Norte, the mountain range behind Oaxaca City,
provides more than a dozen trails with 1000 metres or more of elevation drop.
The trails started life as ancient paths carved into the side of the mountains
over thousands of years, taking the most direct route from point A to point B.
The trails are often natural, rocky, loose and incredibly steep. My current mission is to explore
as many of these ancient parts as possible, and the best way to do that is on an enduro bike.
To find a bike for steep, technical terrain, I set some minimum requirements.
It had to be a full suspension bike with more than 160mm of travel,
to give me traction on the roughest trails.
It had to have a 63 to 65 degree head tube angle,
to provide a long front center length and desirable steering characteristics.
It had to have a 78 degree effective seat tube angle,
to keep my front wheel planted on steep climbs.
The frame reach had to be long, for my obnoxious arm span.
It had to have a dropper seat post so that I can place my body weight
almost anywhere I need between my front and rear tyres.
Luckily, I got a stock alert on a bike that ticked all boxes,
so I hit by and it was shipped to Mexico.
Let's start with the frame geometry of the Nukeproof Mega. The Mega follows the long,
low, and slack mantra of modern mountain bikes. By increasing the wheelbase length,
lowering the bottom bracket height, and slackening the head tube angle, you end up with a bike that:
Number one: lowers your centre of mass compared to other bikes,
making it more stable on steep and rough terrain.
Number two: increases your front endo angle,
making it harder for you to pitch over the bars after hitting a rock or root.
And number three: offers a high mechanical trail figure, which acts as a stabilizing
force to straighten out your steering after your front wheel has been knocked off-line.
One downside to a bike with this geometry is that it hinders your ability to climb
steep technical trails with tight turns. Luckily, most of my climbing is on fire roads.
Slack head tube angles result in a heavy steering feel,
so you might be thinking my 64-degree bike is a bit of a handful. This is actually not the case
and that's because I'm using an 800mm wide handlebar, that has ample steering leverage
to overcome the steering, front bag weight, and low front tire pressure.
To get a sense of how much leverage helps a slack bike to handle well, all I have to do
is ride with my hands further inboard - the reduction in steering control is huge.
A downside to a slack bike is that you also get a lot of wheel flop, which is a destabilizing force
that pulls your front wheel to the left or right when you ride at slow speeds. Again, steering
leverage reduces this effect significantly but it is always noticeable when I'm climbing.
The steep effective seat tube angle at the back of the bike makes climbing surprisingly easy.
This is because my centre of mass is further forward of my rear axle than on other bikes,
which means my front wheel doesn't want to lift up, even when I'm grinding up 15% inclines.
Let's move on to the suspension. The Mega has 170mm of travel up front and 160mm of travel
at the back. It uses both an air fork and shock, which is better for bikepacking as I
can easily add or remove air in accordance with whether I have luggage or not.
It's clear that the Mega has been optimized around descending.
The frame design allows the rear shock to be very active under rear braking,
especially when it's deep in its travel. I find this characteristic useful on loose,
chunky terrain as it gives my rear wheel the most opportunity to grip.
When riding uphill, the rear shock is definitely too active,
bouncing up and down much more than I'd like. Unfortunately, this particular model
of the Mega doesn't come with a compression lockout switch on the shock to save costs.
I know this doesn't sound great but I've found a workaround. I slow the speed at which the
shock returns after an impact (rebound), which dulls the suspension response significantly.
I then ride fire road climbs with a high cadence, which prevents my
shock from dipping too far into its travel. It's actually a very effective solution.
I'm really happy with the shock damper tune when it comes to descending.
It seems really well suited for my body and bike weight.
I set my shock up very soft for the loose terrain,
which helps to maximize traction as it's super reactive to bumps. It works well
on the trails here as there aren't many big gaps to send, which would likely bottom out my shock.
I'm generally happy with the performance of the fork but it could be better.
I again run it soft with zero compression damping to get the highest small bump compliance and
grip possible. The downside is that it sits a little deeper into its travel than I'd like.
More compression damping would allow it to sit higher but even just one click
feels harsh on the fast repetitive bumps here. A more advanced suspension damper
would allow me to better tune my fork. There's actually a RockShox damper upgrade kit available
with more tuning capability, so I might drop one of those in soon.
If you're interested in bikepacking bikes, make sure to check out my Bikepacking Bike Buyer's Guide.
This guide is updated yearly - for free - and will teach you everything
you need to know about the bikes before allowing you to compare over 200 models
at the back of the book. You can find a link to my guides in the description below.
Tire choice is absolutely critical for the terrain I ride. With the loose, scrambly Oaxacan trails,
I can't push my tyres into corners for additional grip like I would on a well-groomed trail. This
terrain calls for tyres with an aggressive tread pattern and lower pressures. With low tire
pressures, my tyres can deform more, increasing their contact patch, and therefore, ground grip.
It also reduces the effective spring rate of the front of my bike,
providing even more grip over high-frequency bumps.
Grip isn't the only thing that tire pressure optimizes.
Your tyres play a key role in increasing bump compliance, which reduces the harshness of a
trail for your hands and upper body. I often drop more than 1000 vertical meters in a single
run - low tire pressures help me to minimize how far or fast my handlebars move over bumps,
resulting in significantly less arm and hand fatigue.
To dial in my tire setup, I've recently teamed up with Schwalbe to test tire
models in different widths, tread patterns, rubber compounds and sidewall constructions.
I figured 2.6 inch wide tyres would best serve the loose terrain here,
as I'd be able to use lower pressures to increase grip and reduce fatigue. But strangely,
the most aggressive front tire model, the Magic Mary, was not providing enough grip
when I was cornering hard on soft surfaces compared to my outgoing 2.4-inch tyre.
This was even occurring down at 11 psi in my front tire!
I was initially quite perplexed but I think I've worked it out - when the tyre
is scaled up from 2.4 to 2.6 inches the tread pattern simply becomes too
open. I solved my front grip problem entirely by switching to a 2.4-inch model with 15 to 16 psi.
Another interesting thing is that Schwalbe's sidewalls are really, really stiff. This provides
much more puncture protection and prevents the sidewalls from collapsing in hard corners.
But the downside is that they ride harsher than other tyres at the usual pressures. To give
you an idea, my previous Michelin front tyre had the same amount of harshness with almost
50% more tire pressure. This means that you might need to experiment
with pressure when switching between tyre models.
The rear tyre that I've settled on is called the Big Betty. I'm happy with the 2.6-inch version
which I run at 17 to 18 psi. The less aggressive Schwalbe models worked out to be fine on rockier,
hard-packed trails but the Big Betty is the only option when the surface is loose.
You're probably hearing my low tyre pressures
and wondering how I'm not rolling my tyres off my rims, and plowing my rims into rocks.
To run low tire pressures, I've fitted Schwalbe Procore tyre inserts to my bike.
You can think of Procore as a separate road bike tire fitted inside your mounted bike tire. A
special inner tube then allows you to choose to inflate the inner tire or the outer tire.
Tire inserts prevent pinch flats and protect my rims from impacts. Instead
of a rock slamming directly into my rim, the rock will instead bounce off the inner tyre.
Ultimately, I can run lower tire pressures to get
more grip and comfort without the risk of denting my rim or getting a flat.
Procore also puts outward pressure on my tires, locking the bead to the rim. Before
using this system, my Michelin tires would regularly burp on rocky trails,
losing small amounts of sealant and air pressure. This simply doesn't happen anymore using Procore.
Another very handy feature of Procore is that it makes tubeless setup
really easy with a hand pump. I just partially inflate the inner tire first,
which seats the outer tire to the rim without the need for a large rush of compressed air.
And finally, Procore makes switching tyres really easy. The inserts take up almost no volume
compared to foam inserts like Cushcore, so you can easily manipulate the tyres to get
them on and off. I can change my tyres just as quick with this system as with no tyre inserts.
Let's change the tune a bit and talk about luggage. I needed waterproof bags
as it was guaranteed I'd be riding in super wet conditions sometimes.
The Apidura backcountry bags looked perfect, using a mix of X-Pac VX21 fabric for the rollable areas
and Apidura's own 420D nylon for the areas that require stiffness
and abrasion resistance. No other company is seam welding VX21 fabric to be waterproof,
as the fabric coatings make it very hard to adhere seam tapes. I'm really glad Apidura found a way.
The bags are super stable. People have literally accused me of using bubble wrap inside my bags
instead of regular luggage as they sit that stable on the trails.
The handlebar pack is the only noticeable bag when I'm riding on slow, tight turns
it makes the bike want to tip harder into corners due to the high centre of mass.
The only bag that I think needs improvement is the Accessory Pack - the velcro closure is simply not
secure enough. On my first few rides, I lost a handful of items on rough trails
and quickly learned to move my gear to other bags when the trails pitched down.
I'm using the dropper post seatpack about 20% of the time. Surprisingly,
it doesn't hit my wheel at full travel thanks to my massive inseam. When the trails get steep,
I definitely prefer to use a backpack so that my legs and bum have more freedom to move about.
I've stuck some ISC surface protection tape to my
frame to make sure my bikepacking bags don't make a mess of my paint.
One thing I didn't consider is that feed bags wouldn't fit
due to my short stem. There is simply not enough space left for turning when I fit them.
The Mega uses the latest Shimano Deore 1x12 drivetrain.
It has a really low climbing gear that I've calculated can take me comfortably
up long climbs on an average gradient of 13% - even when I'm fully loaded.
I've probably only used my highest gear just once or twice since I got my bike,
so I would actually benefit from a smaller front chainring to make climbing even easier again.
The Deore drivetrain is great for its price. It's quiet and shifts well, even though my derailleur
has taken some big hits. The drivetrain's biggest downfall has been in muddy or gritty
conditions - the shift performance suffers much more than other derailleur drivetrains,
and it gets pretty loud and crunchy too.
As you may know, I'm a big proponent of gearbox drivetrains.
I have a Kindernay 7-speed gearbox coming in just a few weeks. I'm excited to share
with you how the extra 300g of unsprung mass affects the suspension performance,
and whether I notice a suspension performance gain from the lack of a derailleur clutch.
My brakes are Shimano Deore 4-pistons, which offer large surface area brake pads
and big-ish 203mm and 180mm rotors. This is enough power for my needs, as I'm pretty light on brakes.
However, the Shimano Deore brakes do lose power over repeated braking on long descents. I'd love
to test out some Hayes Dominion A4 brakes, as Bike Magazin's lab test shows that they
offer 10 to 20% more power and appear to be significantly more resistant to fading.
The brand x dropper has performed flawlessly, although 170mm is not enough travel for a XXL
bike. Nukeproof should have specced the 200mm model instead, or even better, a 210mm OneUp post.
You might be familiar with my saddle. It has been on all my touring bikes since about 2013.
I kept getting a saddle saw in a specific spot with the flatter and wider Nukeproof saddle.
Going back to this familiar model keeps me comfortable all day long.
I hope you've enjoyed this in-depth enduro bike analysis. I think my choice of bikepacking bike
is almost perfect for my current adventures. The frame geometry pairs particularly well with
the steep and loose terrain here. It's been fun tinkering with my suspension and tires
to achieve the maximum grip and comfort down Oaxaca's epic descents. The frame's build
quality and suspension components have exceeded my expectations of a $3000 full suspension
bike. I cannot think of another enduro bike that offers better value for performance.
I've just released a bikepacking film that will give you guys a good idea of the terrain here,
along with how I travel on this bike, so make sure to check it out.