MEATengines 2022...

Posted by: joseph-crabtree

Last year I had a'22 SC Blur and the down tube/BB junction is really bulky looking. So many people asked me if it was an E-bike that I had to get rid of it.

MEATengines forever!

The BB junction on my Yeti SB165 was bulky enough that people asked if it was an ebike. Lol.

Posted by: Endurimil

Posted by: skooks

Definitely am a retro-grouch. I try to standardize my bikes as much as possible. Shimano 11-speed drivetrain and brakes across the fleet. I seem to have acquired a collection of 157mm hubs (mostly i9 hydras*), so I guess I am locked into buying Knolly frames for some time to come!

*If I were starting from scratch I would likely go with DT Swiss hubs

11 speed ? What is the witch craft?😉🤣🤣

When you get to 10 and you need 1 more...

Posted by: skooks

Posted by: Endurimil

Posted by: skooks

Definitely am a retro-grouch. I try to standardize my bikes as much as possible. Shimano 11-speed drivetrain and brakes across the fleet. I seem to have acquired a collection of 157mm hubs (mostly i9 hydras*), so I guess I am locked into buying Knolly frames for some time to come!

*If I were starting from scratch I would likely go with DT Swiss hubs

11 speed ? What is the witch craft?😉🤣🤣

When you get to 10 and you need 1 more...

I'm still running 9spd and a front der on a a couple of bikes. Is that a bad thing?

9 speed with front mech is perfectly acceptable around these parts.

Short(er).... I'm a 175 guy, always have been, probably always will be.  I'm 6'1" and relatively evenly proportioned and are definitely a diesel rather than petrol engine when it comes to rpms.  

Interestingly https://www.applemanbicycles.com/resources/riders-guide-to-crank-length/#crank-length-formulas inseam measurement puts me on 175s.

Yes, interesting. 

Looking at all the diagrams with knee and hip angles there, it’s interesting they don’t touch more on slightly dropped riding positions where I think shorter cranks would be the most appealing to me. Like 1” or 1 1/2” lower than all the way up, that’s where I leave my post for a semi techy climb. 

Still, the calculators there had me at a 175 as well.

Posted by: joseph-crabtree

Last year I had a'22 SC Blur and the down tube/BB junction is really bulky looking. So many people asked me if it was an E-bike that I had to get rid of it.

MEATengines forever!

They probably just asked because you were absolutely crushing the ups and they wanted to preserve their egos.

I just bought a 160 length crank, which used a different bb standard and ring standard so it cost me about $700 at the end of the day. Of course it works better. It cost a lot. I’m joking but that kind of thinking is a factor sometimes. How many butt ugly overly large homes are there that use expensive cladding and materials that are aesthetically hideous. We all to an extent judge things by cost. Must be good it was expensive. Similarly people justify cheapness a similar way. People will buy that off brand thing for less than half of a known brand but claim it’s nearly as good. 

We allow ourselves to be convinced that wide ratio cassettes must be better. Even if that ten cog only sees a chain when we set the limit screws and adjust it. Range is an easy metric to sell. It has more. More is more better. For Shore riding a 12 speed that he a 12 or 13 high would get used a heck of lot more. And if one could use more of the 12 cogs we’d get longer life out of the thing. Spread the wear. I kind of miss the days of 5 and 6 speed freewheels and cog boards where we would mix and make our own ratios. No one misses freewheels and bent axles though. No one misses friction shifting. I’ll bet not too many people could tell the difference between a boost and non boost wheel set. You could tell a badly built wheel or mushy aluminum rimmed wheel from something  better.

Posted by: andy-eunson

We allow ourselves to be convinced that wide ratio cassettes must be better. Even if that ten cog only sees a chain when we set the limit screws and adjust it. Range is an easy metric to sell. It has more. More is more better. For Shore riding a 12 speed that he a 12 or 13 high would get used a heck of lot more. And if one could use more of the 12 cogs we’d get longer life out of the thing. Spread the wear. 

When I replaced the drive train on the Stylus last year went to 9 speed cassette had grabbed of a local in 2020. Funny thing before installing had undone the little screw that holds it all together and installed it on the Chromag wheel as an 8 speed cassette. Fit perfectly and no extra spacer had to pull from the extras spacer pile. LOL. Works and hitting things no problem.

Now that 12 speed Cassette pulled? the 4 biggest cogs had next to no wear and where basically 1-2 pounds of dead weight in the end.

Seemed worth leaving in this thread - this is a really neat bar!

12 degree backsweep, 64mm rise, 825mm wide with lots of room to trim:

https://bikepacking.com/gear/mone-light-bar-review/

It looks unconventional but I think it looks pretty cool somehow at the same time.

Kenny, very timely - i've just added the poor mans version to my Murmur....

Surly Sunrise Bar - It's more of an experiment than anything else. I had them on my Solaris Max and the shape / geo worked really well but they were too stiff. So I though I would try them on the Murmur - really to see if there is a limit on bar height. I have 20mm spacers and the bar has 83mm rise on a 120mm HT.

https://nsmb.com/articles/most-interesting-dude-sea-otter-2022/ was the inspiration to give it a go.

Progress Retort - 10t cogs (and all associated) is 1000% marketing.  It enabled SRAM to spit out range numbers to justify 1x and their insanely expensive cassettes (and drivetrains).

Bar Bends...

I've gone down a little worm hole comparing MX bars to what we ride. This http://pulpmx.com/podcast/show-70-handlebars-101-4/ was interesting. He reviewed the Fasst Flexx bars (who also do mtb bars that AM tested). It's interesting that most MX bars are 10-15 degrees backsweep (a lot around 12 degrees) - https://www.fasstco.com/collections/motorcycle/products/flexx-handlebar?variant=42292172456093 in the bar bend assistance tab.

The question is why are most people still running bars that are straighter...

Posted by: fartymarty

Progress Retort - 10t cogs (and all associated) is 1000% marketing.  It enabled SRAM to spit out range numbers to justify 1x and their insanely expensive cassettes (and drivetrains).

I think nothing wrong with 10t, it's the 50+ that's crazy. Run a small chain ring for better ground clearance and 46t or even a little less is fine for a granny gear, and the rest of the cassette gets more useable.