Proud Sponsor of Monster Pro DH Series Season Champ Kallie Stewart
Mountain biking has been around for long enough that many of its early pioneers aren't the young guns they once were. Google tells me that "middle aged" refers to an adult between the ages of 40-60 at a time in life when many experience changes in physical health, careers, and family relationships. In the bike industry, more and more thought is being put into how it's "greatest generation" is catered to, because they are the demographic that is most likely to spend money freely (and competitively) on it's higher priced bikes.
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Having grown up racing hare scrambles on motocross bikes, I was easy prey for the eMTB movement. I still like to tap into that hare scramble skillset and try going too fast through twisty tree-lined singletrack trails just as much as I enjoy bombing rowdy downhills. Purchasing my way to the top of a shuttle trail a little faster than the next guy has yet to resonate, but cleaning long difficult technical climbs on full power eMTB's set in boost mode with two seconds of overrun can be exhilerating for us middle-agers if your generational dissonance will grant you that on this day, on this ride, you were still as good as you once were.
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The Great Sentiment. If you've been around the eMTB crowd for long you've heard a good bit of "I don't even feel the extra weight anymore" or "you'll just adapt to it and it becomes the new normal." Indeed, I've spent countless hours on full power eMTB's just north of 50 pounds and experienced all of that. I've adapted to it, I've normalized it, and I've really enjoyed it. But then I've gone on to have those first rides on lightweight eMTB's and had those "whoa" moments that finish with "did I really somehow forget how well modern mountain bikes should ride?" The human ability to adapt and conform is impressive, but we also take cues from World Cup downhill racers attaching weights to the down tubes of their bikes in order to find the razors edges of peak performance. What we learned is that the razors edge is nowhere near 30 pounds (or 50 pounds) on downhill bikes -- and it's also become clear that the closer we can get long travel eMTB's to 40 pounds, the more "whoa" moments we'll all enjoy. ​​​
The Foundation. Mixed wheel (MX) setups on gravity oriented bikes have gotten really good across all brands. As a taller rider I was initially resistant to the idea of a smaller rear wheel, but tucking in behind a long travel fork and a 29" front wheel with a maneuverable 27.5" wheel behind you breeds a confident "in-the-bike" feel. It's also quite a special thing when a suspension manufacturers approach to shock damping and spring curves mate perfectly to a particular bikes kinematic design and eke out that last one or two percent of performance. The one percenters are rare. In the case of the Mondraker Dune XR, it's a speed and gravity focused mixed wheel machine that when paired with it's Ohlins TTX damper technology can tease a bit of a telepathic vibe when maneuvering the bike's sub 43 pound weight at high speed or on steep terrain.
The Meat On The Bone. The Dune's seamless transition from rapid rebound forces back into rapid compression forces, without any spiking anywhere in the travel isn't something you normally get from a bone stock frame and suspension setup. With a particularly open/active kinematic nature, finding the limits of its suspension on steep technical terrain is quite a task. Its cornering and braking traction are more on par with a downhill bike than an enduro bike. With its in-the-bike disposition and calmness at the contact points, the Dune XR gives you the perception that things are coming at you slower a tick slower than they really are. The faster you push the Dune, the less input there is for your brain to sort through when compared to its competitors, and I'm confident in saying that this is the Dune's greatest attribute. As Selye taught, it's not stress that kills us, it's our reaction to it. So it goes with the Dune.
The Power Plant. The Bosch SX motor is unique in that it has a power band slightly reminiscent of those 2-stroke moto bikes I raced. The mid-powered motor offers a particularly smooth and predictable power delivery at a normal pedaling cadence, but if you spin a little faster you'll feel a surge of power escort you uphill with nearly as much zip as some full powered eMTB's -- a full 600 watts in fact. I suppose it's more of an observation than a praise, because unless a climb has enough technical features to keep my interest piqued, I'm otherwise in favor of shifting mental gears and matching the Dune's calm while the anticipation slowly builds to drop in at the top. Keeping adrenaline levels continuously on high for hours at a time shares too many similarities to my typical work day. The bike that kindly keeps lactic acid out of the chat on the way up and compromises nothing on the way down is the bike that will have the most appeal to me right now.
When the time comes that boat racing my crew up a shuttle trail is the most realistic point of pride I can still compete for, then the fastest motor to 20 mph may top the priority list in how I spec my bike. For now, this Bosch SX motor checks any prerequisite boxes I have and my best life is still lived north of 20 mph. Likewise, I'm inclined to make a bike's frame and suspension performance the key qualifier in what I choose to ride.
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The Tweaks. Mondraker makes the Dune XR available as a frameset, and as an XL rider that's an ideal starting point so that accommodations can be made to tailor it to my size. The Dune XR differs from the Dune RR primarily in that it has 180mm of fork travel rather than 170mm. For riders on XL frames, this can shift the balance of the bike too far rearward and expose the XL frame's longer front reach in relation to its chainstay length. The rear shock then becomes over-worked while the under-worked fork then drifts, deflects, and generally under-performs. A fork and shock really need to work together in a very dynamic manner for a bike to be great. To correct the XL frames imbalance, I spec'd a 180mm fork for steep terrain, but opted to remove the negative air chamber's volume spacer from the Ohlins fork to increase it's dynamic sag (allowing it to ride a little lower in it's travel once the bike is moving). I also bumped the stem length from 30mm to 35mm to shift the rider's overall balance forward just a bit. Removing the fork's negative volume spacer is something a lot of riders prefer having done regardless, as it also makes the fork considerably more sensitive and active off the top.
Singletrack Tweaks. If you plan on ripping the Dune through undulating singletrack without prolonged/steep downhill sections, the XL frame is going to perform significantly better by dropping its fork travel to the 170mm setting. While the removal of the fork's negative volume spacer and bumping the stem length will surely help on this type of terrain, I found the Dune to be far more agile, precise, and generally thrilling when ripping and weaving through single track by adjusting the fork travel to 170mm. Finally, the optional 250w Bosch PowerMore Range extender will bump total battery capacity to 650 watts and this is going to be necessary if you want to rip at high speed in the Bosch SX motors top power mode for more than a few hours.
The Build Spec. You'll likely notice that I've also spec'd an alternative wheelset. The Berd Hawk30X Extreme wheels are DH rated with thicker spokes and stronger rims than Berd's standard Hawk30 offering, but the compliance and vibration damping of the textile spokes can cover a multitude of sins in poor suspension setup. They smooth out chatter and improve cornering traction just enough that they can give a false perception that you've got your suspension settings dialed in, so I use a typical metal-spoked wheelset when dialing in compression and rebound settings to help expedite the process. Beyond that, the spec is functionally stock. I do run Title MTB 31.8 diameter alloy bars on all my bikes lately. They don't effectively change the fore/aft balance the way that the other spec changes do, but they've opened my eyes as to how relevant the little things sometimes effect ride quality, rider fatigue, and most importantly rider confidence. And, yes, they've won me over to the idea that the industry never needed to move away from 31.8 alloy bars as it's standard. It's marketing crap, but I'll digress since 31.8 alloy now saves a good bit of money for us custom spec folks. Save the carbon bars and cranks for XC bikes.
The Deal Breaker? The Dune's seat post insertion length is definitely on the short side due to its floating shock design that passes through the lower portion of the frame. This forces you to spec an expensive dropper -- either wireless one or some of the high price cable actuated droppers with low stack height such as the Wolf Tooth Resolve and the V3 version of the OneUp dropper. Starting out with a frameset and doing a custom build already forgoes the value of utilizing the bike brands OEM pricing on components, so being limited to higher priced components when custom building is unfortunate as there are getting to be a lot of affordable options for dropper posts that have proven themselves to be highly durable and reliable.
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