Posted by: Vikb
I'm looking forward to Andrew getting back to full health so we can make fun of the superfluous-osity of these overly complicated gear changing devices when the one true path of single speeding is available to all mountain bikers that accept The One True Gear as the personal saviour.
This is oddly sounding similar to the one bike to rule them all arguments.
Posted by: Endurimil
This is oddly sounding similar to the one bike to rule them all arguments.
My rigid single speed (which is sometimes a hardtail single speed) has been the only mountain bike I’ve owned for a while now, though to be fair I’ve had a few test bikes through for work.
Pretty excited to have my own dual-susser again. It would be a proper mb-1 bike if I didn’t also want to own a rigid single speed.
Posted by: fartymarty
A little off topic but https://m.pinkbike.com/news/opinion-are-we-trying-to-make-mountain-biking-better-or-easier.html isn't too bad a read from Mr Quinney.
Nice read for sure, a bit of a fresh perspective from over there in my opinion.
I think this might be a good topic for a Meatengines post or even a summary of the min-max series, but after looking at these older rigs that are being upgraded to compete with today (or at least be ridden today), it would be nice to think about what all of these changes over the years have really brought to MTB. Are we developing bikes to make riding easier? better? harder? allowing some to push the limits and the rest to access trails we couldn't ride 5 years ago? Wheel size, geometry numbers, suspension linkage...
Surely there is a line, maybe it is similar for most, but I wouldn't ride a bike that dates past a certain year unless I'd lost a bet. But is there a year that we can say, yeah, anything built after this year is decently approaching the limit of how good bikes can really be? or will the sport always evolve so much that you won't want to ride something more than 15 years old?
The Rocky Mountain Pipeine 'dumbing down the shore' advert that Wade Simmons filmed with Race Face was/is very prescient.
I'm really enjoying the single speed hardtail no dropper post riding that I've been doing recently.
It's freeing in quite a lot of ways and in a perverse way, if I only have a short time to get a ride in I'll always want to take the 1FG out as it makes the ride up and down more rewarding as I will have achieved a lot more in a short space of time, if that makes sense.
I could be riding my 2009 SC Nomad today no problem. I mean I wouldn't prefer to, but I can't point to anything it couldn't do well enough to make me happy.
I could ride my 2019 Daambuilt as my only bike for the rest of my MTB career without any sadness. As long as I could get spare parts/service.
Posted by: Vikb
I could be riding my 2009 SC Nomad today no problem. I mean I wouldn't prefer to, but I can't point to anything it couldn't do well enough to make me happy.
I could ride my 2019 Daambuilt as my only for the rest of my MTB career without any sadness. As long as I could get spare parts/service.
Those nomads aged like fine wine! I always wanted one at the time, but i lived somewhere a bit more flat...
Maybe that's always the limiting factor to some degree, spare parts support. With a hardtail you probably have it pretty good in that department though!
Posted by: silverbansheebike
Posted by: Vikb
I could be riding my 2009 SC Nomad today no problem. I mean I wouldn't prefer to, but I can't point to anything it couldn't do well enough to make me happy.
I could ride my 2019 Daambuilt as my only for the rest of my MTB career without any sadness. As long as I could get spare parts/service.
Those nomads aged like fine wine! I always wanted one at the time, but i lived somewhere a bit more flat...
Maybe that's always the limiting factor to some degree, spare parts support. With a hardtail you probably have it pretty good in that department though!
Though there is some support available around the spare parts thing. Pinner Machine Shop in Whistler is in a guys basement and does alot of projects around parts that are no longer available.
https://pinnermachineshop.com/collections
https://www.instagram.com/pinnermachineshop/
Got this made by him for a set of perfectly good cranks that needed the pre load bolt.
Posted by: silverbansheebike
Posted by: fartymarty
A little off topic but https://m.pinkbike.com/news/opinion-are-we-trying-to-make-mountain-biking-better-or-easier.html isn't too bad a read from Mr Quinney.
Nice read for sure, a bit of a fresh perspective from over there in my opinion.
I think this might be a good topic for a Meatengines post or even a summary of the min-max series, but after looking at these older rigs that are being upgraded to compete with today (or at least be ridden today), it would be nice to think about what all of these changes over the years have really brought to MTB. Are we developing bikes to make riding easier? better? harder? allowing some to push the limits and the rest to access trails we couldn't ride 5 years ago? Wheel size, geometry numbers, suspension linkage...
Surely there is a line, maybe it is similar for most, but I wouldn't ride a bike that dates past a certain year unless I'd lost a bet. But is there a year that we can say, yeah, anything built after this year is decently approaching the limit of how good bikes can really be? or will the sport always evolve so much that you won't want to ride something more than 15 years old?
It isn't just bikes developed to make things easier. Our local club's trails keep dealing with riders trying to modify the trail to make it easier. Even to stuff that has a ride around. Yesterday had to rip out a bunch of badly built trail mods..when I say badly think rock piles but if your wheel hits them they start moving under your wheel.
Mostly finished my 7 year olds bike today, and wanted to say thanks to Andrew for the inspiration and guidance. I think the drivetrain could be optimized more but this is what I had kicking in the parts bin.
Just waiting on a rear caliper because I must have a cracked piston in this one but all in all it feels pretty good and much less expensive than buying a complete high end kids bike.
Between now and the end of summer I might start looking for a deal on a 26” wheel for the front.
Posted by: mrbrett
Mostly finished my 7 year olds bike today, and wanted to say thanks to Andrew for the inspiration and guidance. I think the drivetrain could be optimized more but this is what I had kicking in the parts bin.
Just waiting on a rear caliper because I must have a cracked piston in this one but all in all it feels pretty good and much less expensive than buying a complete high end kids bike.
Between now and the end of summer I might start looking for a deal on a 26” wheel for the front.
That turned out rad! Little F100 up front? Did you already have the fork or tracked it down somewhere?
Posted by: AndrewMajor
Posted by: mrbrett
Mostly finished my 7 year olds bike today, and wanted to say thanks to Andrew for the inspiration and guidance. I think the drivetrain could be optimized more but this is what I had kicking in the parts bin.
Just waiting on a rear caliper because I must have a cracked piston in this one but all in all it feels pretty good and much less expensive than buying a complete high end kids bike.
Between now and the end of summer I might start looking for a deal on a 26” wheel for the front.
That turned out rad! Little F100 up front? Did you already have the fork or tracked it down somewhere?
Good eye, it’s indeed an F100. I found the fork for sale in Kamloops for $150, bought seals and rebuilt it with all new damper/leg oil and a very thorough cleaning. Ended up needing a new headset lower cup and sealed bearing too but it’s a big improvement.
Saved almost 3lbs over the stock fork, which is nuts to me that the original one weighed that much!
I was riding today and noticed someone had stacked up rocks on one rooty tech climb. It made the climb easier, but the rock placement was shit and they'll be gone in a few days. Later in the ride I failed on another steep techy/rooty climb. Since I was on a solo ride I stopped. Looked at line options. Considered why I was not making it through clean. Came up with a new line to try. Tried it it worked perfect the first try. I'll probably make that climb now 9.5 times out of 10. When I have a problem my first instinct isn't to change the trail or go buy a new part for my bike...it's to figure out why I am not riding the way I want to and improving myself.
Posted by: Endurimil
Posted by: earleb
If you want to run a thumbie under the bars you can use either of these guys.
https://www.rivbike.com/products/kjalgjoihjga44451
https://www.rivbike.com/products/sunrace-one-at-a-time-thumb-shifter-right-side
Steam punk in modern mtb would be a pair of them under the bars, mod the left one to operate your dropper. Why not just a regular dropper remote? Because symmetry matters.
Someone needs to hack up a way to get an 11-48 9spd, just enough range and the jumps won't be too bad.
Since Suntour was mentioned....have this in the parts drawer. Riders may now commence heavy breathing. LOL
Anyone familiar with how well Suntour indexing and modern derailleurs play together?
Back when I was using XC Pro group (90's) on my bike I wrecked the rear derailleur and all I could find was Shimano for a replacement. I spent a lot of time playing with different cable setups and the only thing that seemed to work was making a custom spacing on cassette with a few different thickness's of spacers. The setup I have on the commuter is all XC Pro including the rear hub and cassette and is still works great.
Andrew, speaking of Min Max and such of things. I present the extreme dirtbag method of getting shit done.
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