Because you keep asking - Cooper's bike checks and updates

Me neither 😃 but just wanted to say, that picture is rad.

Summer water color 💙

I took A bikepacking on Saltspring Island! 

I haven't yet, but the 765's are coming off. I tried to like them... I really did. and I do like them climbing, but I just can't get used to them for everything else.

That walk-in campground on Saltspring Island is really nice. Great place for a tour.

Hey what's with that Bonty aero disc instead of the WAO rim?

My We Are One's are currently shod with 50c Ravagers, which were going to be really slow and heavy for the nearly-all-tarmac route. My normal "around town" setup is the Aeolus, previously with 40c Reavers, and currently setup with 38c Pathfinder Pros. But a little shakedown ride showed that the aero rim getting wind gusts was *very* unhelpful for what was already a pretty awful and unstable setup to pedal around. So I swapped to the Crankbrother's Synthesis up front, with a 45c Rambler. And I couldn't be bothered to swap my cassette to a different wheelset... so the aero rim stayed on the rear. So some real reasons to swap stuff around, and some laziness? 

More on the tires.

More on the rims.

Posted by: cooperquinn

I get a reasonable number of questions on social and in article comments about my bikes. So here you go - a thread with photos, I'll do my best(-ish) to keep this updated as they inevitably change, and for bikes I've had for a while I'll try and show the history. Anyway ask whatever questions you like.

So we'll start with the newest bike in the fleet, a 2023 Rocky Mountain Element. Its a large, currently in Ride 3 but still playing around.

• Fork: Pike Ultimate Charger 2.1 RC2 @130mm

• Shock: SIDLuxe Ultimate

• Wheels: We Are One Sector on I9 Hydra

• Brakes: SRAM Code RSC

• Handlebar: OneUp, 20mm rise, 780mm

• Grips: ESI Chunky

• Stem: RF Turbine R, 35mm

• Cranks: XO1, 170mm

• Chainring: 32t

• RD: XX1 AXS

• Cassette: XO1 10-50t

• Seatpost: 170mm Reverb AXS

• Saddle: WTB Silverado Carbon

• Pedals: XT Trail

• Dashboard: Karoo2

Forgive the trashed handlebar - I promise I don't generally ride around with a great risk of taking a core sample of myself - I've got a fresh one to put on here, but I think I might try cutting this one down to 770 or 760 just to try it before I saw to the fresh one.

Do you still run the Forekaster combo or what do you usually run during summer and what’s your choice for winter/wet weather?

I‘d like to build up a bike like this. But I don‘t really know the usually needed tires. Tried a Specialized Ground Control Combo back in the days on summer long rides on my Stumpy Evo. I have steep descents with big roots. In the dry this was Okay, but frightened me thinking about wet roots.

And that‘s my problem with „DC“ bikes: it‘s all about tire choice (rolling resistance, grip etc.) and my favorite trails are a bit chunky and steep. So tires can ruin the lighter weight pretty easily. But I want something light and easy and without motor compared to my Heckler SL.

Being in the dad camp with singletrailer as well, I‘d like to smash my after work lap on a light efficient bike starting from home.

Why do you use electrinic shifting? Grab the bike and go faster than one of the kids can start making trouble: checking tire pressure is all I want to do. Thinking about XTR 11 speed with 11-46 for weight/ratio vs money reasons.

Hm, we're overdue for a re-up on the Element. A lot has changed on that bike. I still really like the Forekasters, but I swap tires around fairly regularly just to try different things. My go-to summer combo would probably be Forekaster-Rekon right now, but I've got some review tires on that you'll see in a few weeks time. And all the suspension and drivetrain have changed on that thing. Tire wise... that's the fundamental challenge/compromise with DC bikes. Its a balance, and there's no right or wrong answer. 

I'll get a couple photos and update this next time I ride it.

I don't find electronic shifting to be complicated or time consuming, if that's what you mean? Quite the opposite, really. Keeping batteries charged is less faff than cables and housing, IMO. But to each their own. And it's certainly a lot more expensive.

Excited about your suspension changes! 

I am dreaming about a Intend Samurai TR 130 mm upside down fork. Might be the best DC/trail fork for a very low weight. 

Shifting: batteries are kind of annoying, produce expensive and more complicated components and waste. I don’t really connect SRAM to long time support either.

How have you found the reliability on the AXS Reverb XPLR? I’ve heard bad things about the wear on it thanks to the small diameter.

Posted by: cooperquinn

Hm, we're overdue for a re-up on the Element. A lot has changed on that bike.

so soon?

hopefully no headset cable routing, no lunch boxes in the downtube, and no wireless only

and hopefully keeping the thin profile tubes so it doesn't look like an e-bike

Haha, no no. Not the Element platform itself... I dunno when the next one will launch. But we're due for a re-up because *my* Element has changed. 

And sorry to Sebov, but there's more batteries... 

After the Ohlins review, I swapped over to a RockShox Flight Attendant setup. 120mm SID up front, Sidluxe rear. Along with this change, as I needed a powermeter, I'm now on 175mm XO1 cranks with a 34t ring (+5mm and +2t over original). I ran the 120mm Ohlins w/o, but to play around I've added a 10mm spacer under the headtube to preserve geo, as the Element is designed around a 130mm fork. I've moved over to Transmission, with a GX derailleur and XO1 cassette. I'm also playing with a pod shifter, and.... I don't love it. I like the V1.2 AXS paddles the best, at the moment. Brakes, cockpit, and wheels remain the same. We'll talk about those tires in a full review at some point, so you'll just have to hold tight. 

The whole setup is currently built to be a bit more XC than previous, and increase separation between my bikes in an attempt to force me to make rides more different. It doesn't always work, and now I'm just more undergunned on the same trails sometimes, but I still think this bike is one of - if not the - best in class. 

I still really love the lines on this bike. and in this current setup, its light AF (for around here, anyway). 

+10mm spacer for geo preservation. I 

34t is a bit stout at times, but it's good encouragement to just redline uphill, which this bike encourages anyway. 

I'm not a pod-lover. But gotta try these things, right? Fresh OneUp bar, the last one was old, tired, and cracked on me at the brake lever clamp area. 

More pedaling efficiency, brought to you by quiet bzzt noises. 

More bzzt; its quieter than the enduro-sized FA. 

oi, that's a sick build. can only imagine how something like that would scoot along. i had an element back in my xc days (oh, a quarter century or so ago); like this:

i assume this is a bit different.

^ Turn of the Century

So Many Batteries...and it's not even and ebike.