Well now that this has completely flipped from a bike review to a forum on good taste and high snobbery, I mean high-engagement ——— I really think you’re on to something Andrew. I’ve always appreciated high engagement, for all the trials-ish reasons you mention. Myself, I’ve spent decades building a riding style all about moves like leaping up and over things at (sometimes very) low speeds. Always have had trouble with high speed.
For my latest build, an aluminum Megatrail, I thought I’d try a bike that fills in my shortcomings. And hell yes, speed is waaaaay easy to find on the Megatrail. But to my dismay, it’s been at the expense of my low speed skills, which I thought were totally ingrained!
I am on an exceptionally low POE hub right now (an old WTB laserdisc which has an unusual two-stage mechanism which is super strong but means you never ever have a 1 degree pedal stroke). I think it’s time to regrease and build up the used King I found, and see if I can get back some of my old slow mojo and widen my speed window.
Dec. 15, 2021, 7:13 a.m. - ackshunW
Well now that this has completely flipped from a bike review to a forum on good taste and high snobbery, I mean high-engagement ——— I really think you’re on to something Andrew. I’ve always appreciated high engagement, for all the trials-ish reasons you mention. Myself, I’ve spent decades building a riding style all about moves like leaping up and over things at (sometimes very) low speeds. Always have had trouble with high speed. For my latest build, an aluminum Megatrail, I thought I’d try a bike that fills in my shortcomings. And hell yes, speed is waaaaay easy to find on the Megatrail. But to my dismay, it’s been at the expense of my low speed skills, which I thought were totally ingrained! I am on an exceptionally low POE hub right now (an old WTB laserdisc which has an unusual two-stage mechanism which is super strong but means you never ever have a 1 degree pedal stroke). I think it’s time to regrease and build up the used King I found, and see if I can get back some of my old slow mojo and widen my speed window.