MOOTS MOOTO-X | MOOTS MOOTO-XZ | MOOTS CYCLOCROSS
Dreamride RFT Builds & Moab Trips
Dreamride offers From-Moab Guided Ride Packages are for strong riders who want to reduce use of fossil fuels during their vacation with sacrificing enjoyment or challenge. You are guaranteed a solid warm up and a sweet, speedy, downhill payback on the way back to the shop. This is the inspiration for the RFT build of the Moots Mooto-Xz. In 2011 the Xz RFT became a best-seller. The RFT build takes full advantage of what the Xz frame does best, creating a bike that works in all situations. It is the first frame that breeds all-road ablilities will all-mountain performance. And IT WORKS!
The Ride-From-Town (RFT) is a parts selection designation, a MAX component group specifically modified for long distance riding over a variety of road and off-road surfaces. In parallel we are promoting RFT trips in Moab and offering deals for people who buy an RFT bike and come to Moab to ride it FROM TOWN. As company owner and elite guide, The Mooto-Xz RFT is my choice for guiding these rides. The Moots Mooto-Xz RFT shares duty with three other RFT builds in my private quiver. I have built numerous RFT rigs over the years for clients and myself, but none as effective at bridging the gap between smooth road and extremely rough trail as the Mooto-Xz. Guiding rides that depart directly from our shop is assisted by our shop's location. A singletrack leaves the property to 500 West, connecting us to Highway 191 then on to Lion Park and over the Colorado on the bike bridge to a paved bike path that parallels highway 191 to and past the Arches National Park entrance. The Old Moab Highway, which is now strictly for bicycles, then gives access to a range of trails north of town. The Bullock Park singletrack also connects to Kane Creek Road for trips west, and Sand Flats Road for trips east. Trips south are accomplished via the new (for advanced riders only) Pipe Dream Trail or Spanish Valley Road.
Riding from town is not for the faint of heart, especially if you are going to tack a rough 20 mile off-road ride onto a 20 mile road ride. The solution is to strengthen the heart, pace yourself, prepare to be on the bike for a bit longer, and use the advantages of 29 inch wheels to gain an edge on all surfaces. I have been using the Old Moab Highway route as a training ride for decades. Now that it is strictly for bicycles, it is a rare resource for fun and practical transportation.
The RFT group gets rid of weight the old fashioned way---lighter parts and smart modifications and combinations. A custom modified SRAM group, consisting of SRAM XX and X.0 shifting and drivetrain parts with FSA's proven K-Force carbon crankiest with ceramic bottom bracket bearings, smooth rolling-yet-trail-sticky Kenda Straight 8 tires, carbon and titanium Time ATAC pedals, Moots stem and post, along with a choice of very light bars--all combine to whittle away pounds of weight without sacrificing gearing or lateral rigidity. The custom combo of SRAM X.0 and XX gives you the gearing you need to roll fast on pavement and still climb the steepest hill with ease. 2X10 systems as fine for the narrow performance window of XC racing (which generally happens on easy, smooth trails), but it just doesn't offer gearing enough for high speed on pavement and very steep grades over very rough terrain, so we mix the two groups to create a much more worthy steed for an expert who uses every advantage the RFT offers.
After riding this bike for three years, I have come to understand just how powerful its adaptability is. It is especially effective on rolling dirt mountain roads, but it will eat up rough technical singletrack and burn up a paved road. It is no road racing bike, but it certainly mimics stable road racer handling. It also, by virtue of it suspension parts, takes on very rough and rocky jeep trails and fire roads with ease. I can truly say that if I had to live with just one bike, the Xz would be the choice.
The mating of the Mooto-Xz to a Fox 32 Talas RLC F29 fork has advantages when riding the road and trail. The steep angles of the Moots frame in combination with the Fox, which locks out at the top of the stroke and allows you to change travel (100 or 120) on the fly, are a welcome combo when you are in the 100mm setting in a tuck trying to keep a low wind profile, dodging potholes and cars. You can take your hands off the bar and pedal straight ahead with power. On the trail, with suspension parts free to operate at 120mm of travel, the extra quickness of the Mooto-Xz which generally translates into twitchiness and a tendency for the front wheel to tuck under in tight turns on descents is quicky tamed by a quick twist of a knob that gives you 120mm of front end travel. Because of the amazing ability of the John Tomac designed Kenda tires to roll fast yet stick to the trail, and the very strong and light Dreamride built wheelset's lateral rigidity, this bike is fast going uphill or down under power and over rolling terrain. Maintain a steady cadence and the miles just roll by under you. Momentum is the secret. Keep the speed up and it will save energy in the long run.
Things are changing in Moab and the Xz is the bike that stands out to take full advantage of new singletracks and paved bike roads. And, as those resources crumble as funds to maintain both vanish in this sorry ass economy, the Xz will prove even more worthy of being chosen as the bike that can take you anywhere. Pothole and loose rock are no problem with an Xz.
There are other frames that suit an RFT build. Pictured above is a Moots Psychlo-X with a La Sal Mountain Road build tweaked to be a from-town trail and city commuter capable of tackling the Potomac River Trail outside of Washington, DC. Most people requesting a bike for this purpose are not located in Moab, where the off-road challenges demand suspension and/or big wheels and tires. The MOOTS MOOTO-X 29ER has been a popular frame for this build and now its brother the Mooto-Xz is tops in this category. Ventana makes two frames that are especially suitable, the well-crafted EL REY & EL PADRINO, both 9ers. Of course, any cyclocross frame we offer from Moots, Ventana, Serotta, MERCKX or PEGORETTI will work just fine if your nearby trails are rails to trails, dirt roads, smooth to rooted and semi-rough singletrack and fire roads.
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The Colorado River Bicycle Bridge is a Godsend for road riders not wanting to risk their lives or miss the view on the newer Highway 191 bridge, which now has a wide shoulder and a high concrete barrier on either side. This bridge is for us! Let's use it!
Seems like the paved bike path to Arches National Park from the Colorado River Pedestrial Bridge, as well as the newly renovated for-bikes-only Old Moab Highway grade, are almost always deserted. Once you get into the trail systems on top there is more company. Most people drive their cars and SUVs over the Colorado and up to the parking lots near Highway 313. They have missed what might be the best part of the ride, the warm-up and the payback downhill run back home.
Once on top of the ridge there is an abundance of wildlife. Large collared and leopard lizards dart everywhere. In spring this is the place to see flowers and even wider vistas.
There are areas north of town, mostly unmarked dirt spurs, where you never see another cyclist. These tracks were originally layed down by miners, some more recently by motorized recreationists set free by our state government to rape and pillage the lands in preparation for development that will probably never happen. Copper Ridge is a good example. Designed for motorized vehicles, it has recently been signed, but is seldom used by cyclists and rarely by the motors. It seems to be just a bit too hard for those with SUVs and a bit too "unattractive" for the cyclists (it has long stretches of loose rock and sand). On top of the ridge views are spectacular and wildlife abounds. This ride parallels more difficult mountain bike trails, so you can dive in at any point or use it to bail onto an easier, faster route to more trails or to the road back home.