The limiting factor is the rider, not the bike.
However, the picture above isn't daunting at all, and I can see the route I would take up and through/around the rocks. The places that intimidate me are where its a little bit steeper and going downhill, and there is a 6-9"" drop on the far side of the rock (or root) from erosion. The coordination of riding the brakes to hold speed and not locking up the front tire as it does that 6-9" drop is still beyond my confidence level.
Would definitely be fun to show you around a bit depending on the dates. Do you know what dates yet. I'll check around some and see if there's stuff north of town that we could explore. However,
Lynn has first priority, and we have the Century on Oct. 15th that we have to start getting ready for during September.
Tires.
- Lynn is riding with Small Block 8 on rear and Karma on the front, I had the same for a month or so, but finally migrated the rest of the way and put a SB8 on the front as well.
- As part of a recent ride, we swapped front tires. We both agree that it feels like there "might" be a slight improvement with the SB8 (and the emphasis is on 'slight'). If I'm doing slalom-like turns on blacktop I can definitely feel the better grip from the SB8, but maybe I seldom really lean the bike over onto the edges of the tread when on the trail??
- Both are a really light carcass, the SB8 has a lot more rubber between the carcass and the road due to all the tread blocks.
- The SB8 is noticeably heavier than the Karma. The numbers are only around 560 grams vs. 450, but it feels heavier (and all the extra weight, I'm sure, is in the tread). I can feel the difference in acceleration.
- The Karma is a 1.9, the SB8's are 2.0 and reviews say they are actually more like a 2.1 tire (its a wide tread pattern).
- Both tires roll really well (my only comparison is the rental bike from last year). While I've had both tires above 25 miles per hour rolling downhill, I think the Karma rolls slightly better and comes up to speed faster.
- I added the SB8 on the front for that 'little' bit better grip on the front, but mainly because the extra protection of the carcass by the tread blocks seemed like a good idea for someone my weight.
- I think someone used to riding 800 gram tires would be amazed by either tire as to how well they roll.
Bottom line, for someone lighter like your daughter I would probably go with the Karma. Even less rolling resistance than the SB8, less inertia to get up to speed when accelerating, and she's not heavy enough to worry about driving a rock through the more exposed carcass of the Karma. (And that's also pretty much why I told Lynn that I didn't think the upgrade to a SB8 was worthwhile for her. And she wasn't "gotta have one of those" after we swapped front tires).
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