Bicycling

Freakin' awesome weather in New England today, so I managed to get out and put 40 miles in. Great looking day, but my bike and especially my jacket are fucking filthy, heh.

Still, being able to ride at all in December is pretty ace.

You guys who downhill have some balls. This guy wrecked back in September and just now succumbed to the injuries.

Help Support Scott Scudamores Recovery | ScudFries

I'll stick with XC. Some of the steeper rockier shit I ride at times is dangerous enough.

Wow, that's really sad.

Fuck winter. :\ Been cranking away on the trainer but it's boring as hell. On the upside, I've been just randomly buying upgrade shit off chainlove for the last month or so, and it's starting to trickle in. Upgraded my old 160mm standard Avids to 180mm HSX rotors today. No idea if they work better (since it's snowing it's ass off) but they sure look cool.

It definitely makes a difference but I fail to see the need for such a large rotor on the back.

Baltimore (or just Mid-Atlantic) people, Race Pace put out their list of 2013 closeouts. Holy fuck they have a lot of stock, even considering how many stores they have.

Ao-_sl said:

Why not bike in the snow?

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I do sometimes (this pic is from a week ago), but it's (IMO) not really worth it. It's still pretty slippery, the bike gets absolutely filthy and full of salt, and the idea of eating shit on some ice for a mediocre ride and possibly spending the upcoming season with a torn MCL or something like that just isn't really worth it to me. I have a set of studded tires, and while it's better, it's still not stable enough for me to feel comfortable.

Famm_sl said:

It definitely makes a difference but I fail to see the need for such a large rotor on the back.

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Me either, but it looks awesome and wasn't all that expensive.

I'd invest in a fat bike if I lived in an area that got lots of snow in the winters. I rode on a light dusting up in the mountains back around Thanksgiving and it was fucking miserable, nearly impossible to get traction over rocks climbing.

Famm_sl said:

I'd invest in a fat bike if I lived in an area that got lots of snow in the winters. I rode on a light dusting up in the mountains back around Thanksgiving and it was fucking miserable, nearly impossible to get traction over rocks climbing.

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Yep, that's been my experience too. It's just not nearly as fun in the snow, and like I said wiping out for a shitty winter ride and fucking up the entire upcoming season would really suck.

I'd love a fat bike, but they're crazy expensive and I'd rather just suck it up for a few months and put that coin towards a DH bike.

Any of you MTB folks seen this?

Oneup Components 42-tooth Cog for Ten-Speed Cassettes - Reviewed - Pinkbike

I'm in the process of going to a 1x10 conversion (winter money waster) so I just ordered one for the February shipment. Went with a RF 30T narrow/wide on the front and had to replace my 11-34 with an 11-36 anyway, so I figured this would be worth the gamble for the uber-granny on the hills around here. $100 is a bit steep for one cog, but hey - it looks awesome, and even if I rarely use it I'll probably be pretty happy it's there when I need it.

Lots cheaper to keep running 2X9 for me. I like the actual granny ring. I ride some seriously technical rocky climbs at times, like mountain goatvery slowlycrawling over nothing but baby-head sized jagged rocks and boulders stuff, and the low gearing helps maintain momentum and real torque/traction a lot better IMO.

Seems like you are stricken with upgradeitis hard to me, how much do you actually ever need a FORTY-TWO toothCOG?!?!?Whatever floats your boat though. I understand wanting more range with a 1X10 setup, I do, but at some point it seems semi ridiculous.

(Disclaimer: you may well be able to own/school my ass with gear ratio math.)

Shit, can you even shift into that thing under climbing load? I'd be worried the cable might break.

There'll be no ratio schooling on this end - I just did some reading and figured the extra oh-shit-this-hill-is-fucking-steep gear would be nice to have. Almost all of my riding is singletrack and hills, so I rarely (if ever) shifted off of the 24T chainring on my existing 3-ring setup up front. Since I was going from a 24/32/42 to just the 30T, I was already needing to grab a new rear cassette anyway. Then I saw this thing, it was $100, and it was anodized green. Anodized parts = performance!

It'll be neat to have, and I don't think it's really meant to be shifted to at a full sprint - More like if you know the hill is coming, get into it and spin like crazy until you need it. I suppose it remains to be seen, it could be completely useless, haha. I guess it's kind of a poor man's 1x11, since the actual 1x11 groupsets are still nutty expensive.

You've got me pegged though, it really is a serious case of upgrade-itis. (I bought new brakes today too..) Winter is destroying my wallet, but spring will be awesome!

i bought it because it's anodized and i can't resist anodized anything..

Yeah 1X11 is insane for now but ten speed cassettes are getting very commonplace. Just the way things progress. If I only rode smoother rolling stuff I'd be on the single speed hardtail full time without a doubt. The gears and fully are undeniably nice in the actual mountains though. Variety of bikes is never a bad thing.

Seriously, whatever you like, just opinions. New components are fun, but I'm firmly in "upgrade when it breaks" mode myself.

If I am not allowed to post this here, then please delete.

The 'Shit I'm selling' thread - Page 2

Got a bunch of new goodies installed today. Upgraded my rear cassette to the 11-36 (still waiting on the OneUp 42T to show up, I'm in the February batch), got new WTB wheels with SRAM X9 hubs, and upgraded to XT brakes front and rear. Was able to use the 180MM HSX rotors too.

I was looking into X9 hubs when I was searching for budget cartridge bearing hubs for a new wheel build. The measly 12 points of engagement was a deal breaker for me for trail riding, much less the technical stuff for the FS bike I needed wheels for. I ended up getting a Bicycle Wheel Warehouse (can't say enough good things BTW) set with their house branded "Pure XCR" hubs instead. I would strongly consider doing a Stan's build with their house hubs if I was building a wheelset today.

Let me know if engagement is ever an issue on them for you, I'm curious. I imagined ratcheting the cranks when crawling over a rock garden and stalling out due to not engaging again fast enough. Same, because they are otherwise the best value in sealed cartridge hubs on the market by far otherwise. I guess they had to shave that cost off somehow. You might not have as much issue with that if you are running 1X10 and never use a granny.

Not really a fan of Shimano brakes personally. The XT's I've tried feel way too grabby with not as much modulation as SRAM hydros. Almost like a really powerful mechanical brake. Could be just the ones I demo'ed and how they were set up, but I've demo'ed bikes with SRAM and they always had that same modulated feel. Other people swear by XT brakes though, so I could be wrong or just preference.

(Don't intend to sound like I'm bashing all your choices every time you post. I do enjoy seeing the photo evidence of your rampant upgraditis. Just my thought or experiences when I see certain components. I've played around with MTB components a bit, trying not to buy as much shit unless I literally need to replace something.)