Megatrail Update
So I've been on my Large Megatrail for close to six months now, and have racked up 400+ miles and 55k of climbing. This bike continues to be everything I want and need in a "do-it all" bike.
Rider Profile: Engineer with BS in Mechanical Eng, and MS in Manufacturing Eng. Tech. (I know a thing or two about product design and manufacturing, and I think that Guerrilla Gravity is doing a lot of things right on their bikes!). 27 years old, 6' 2", sitting at about 245 lb without gear, and I am currently in the best shape of my life, thanks largely to the Megatrail (not saying that the heft of the bike is helping me get in shape, just that the extreme amounts of pleasure I derive from riding the bike has me out in the hills more often than any other bike that I have owned). I have been riding primarily in Trail mode, and switch to Super Gravity when things get chunky; but even Trail mode is extremely capable so I don't tend to change it all that often.
I have been known in my area for a while now as being the big guy that can shred, and most people are very surprised when they find out that I am the Shawn that they have been seeing on the Strava leader-boards. Prior to receiving the Megatrail I had already racked up some KOM's and top 10's in the local area on some of the more DH oriented trails, but the Megatrail is enabling me to best all of my previous PR's/KOM's while adding new ones in the mix (ones that actually require some degree of fitness!). Some of this is due to the fact that I have lost about 20 lb since getting the Mega, and some of it is down to my skill level increasing, but there is one thing that is certain; The Megatrail is not a limiting factor at all when it comes to riding, up or down.
The takeaway of the previous paragraph is basically that I have no concerns about the durability of this frame. At my weight and at the speeds that I like to ride at, I am pretty good at finding component weaknesses, and over the years I have racked up my fair share of broken parts (frames, swingarms, cranks, pedals, forks, shocks, a crap-load of hubs, rims, basically everything there is to break). I do not think that the Megatrail frame will find its way on to this list.
I am hoping that as I loose more weight I will be able to get the DBAir to feel a bit better; the top of stroke feels pretty terrible at the pressures I have to run, but at sag and while riding the shock feels pretty darn good. This is not a function of the Megatrail leverage curve or something to do with the frame itself; I had the exact same thing occur on my last bike (Ibis HDR w/CCDBA), I simply have to run a lot of pressure in my shock to achieve the proper sag. I still have the dream of loosing enough weight to run the ElevenSix, but I am not sure if getting down to 210 lb's is realistic for my build, so I will have to wait until they expand their spring rate selection to cater to us big-boys.
Side Note: I am a part time employee of a local bike shop (been part time for 10+ years while going through school), and have access to EP pricing on Trek, Norco, Intense and Ibis frames; there is not a single frame that any of these manufacturers produce that I would consider trading my Megatrail for. Are there bikes that I wouldn't mind adding to the stable, yes, most definitely (enter ubiquitous N+1 equation), but there is nothing that these well known manufacturers produce that I can see matching the extensive range that the Megatrail possesses; and since I am relegated to be a "one-bike" man for the foreseeable future, the Megatrail wins, hands down.
I just wanted to give the guys/gals at Guerrilla Gravity a big thank you for producing the most bad-ass bike on the market, in my humble opinion.
Shawn