MTBikeAZ.com

Yesterday I was in the north part of the valley for a family party. I brought my bike seeing that the McDowell Sonoran Preserve was only a mile away. I’ve heard a few things about Lost Dog Wash and Sunrise Trail up there and thought I’d just sneak away for an hour to go explore.

I drove out to the Lost Dog Wash Trailhead on 124th Street just north of Via Linda. I was pretty excited to see a new trail. I love riding my favorites (Hawes, National, McDowell Race Loops) but there is just something about a new trail that puts the adventure back in riding. One of the funnest parts of riding is rounding a corner to see some daunting obstacle, a tech climb or a sequence of boulders to navigate. Not to mention the new cactus dangers. I’m so familiar with all the “danger spots” on my usual rides that I hardly notice them anymore, I just hug the trail on the safety side.

Read Full Review

I just finished up a pretty complete review of my bike on Squidoo. I’ve owned the Fuel EX 9 for just over a year now. It dissapoints me to say that I’ve only logged about 400 mile on the bike so far.

If I wasn’t married or had three kids I’m sure I could have increased that mileage by a factor of 10. But I’d never even dream of trading time with my family for more solo miles in the desert. As long as I get in a few hours of trail time a week I’m pretty happy. I’m lucky that I get to spend lot’s of time with my kids. I love riding, but I love my family more and I’ve got my odometer to prove it!

But 400 miles is enough to know what works and what doesn’t work on the bike. In short, only had major problems with one component. The rear shock, a Rock Shox MC3R. The hydraulic dampening blew on the first shock, and the motion control was motion-less on the next three. I’ve never been able to get use out of the dual pop-lock floodgate control. I’m still trying to decide what to do about my fourth defective shock. SRAM has replaced each one, but when will it end?

That’s pretty much my only rant with this bike. The positives completely overshadow the negatives. For the full review, visit Squidoo.