NSMB - 2023 - Hardtails Leaning Against Stuff Thread

I truly am the princess from the Princess and the Pea.  Out riding this weekend (trying to get my fat xmas ass in shape again ugh) and feeling a bit off in the bike handling department.  One click tighter on the fork rebound.  Hmm...that's a bit better as far as my traction goes but still just not feeling right.  So I pull over, take out the allen keys and switch out the 10mm spacer under my stem for the 5mm spacer that was above the stem.  So my bars are 5mm lower.  Jump on bike and everything feels like rainbows and unicorns.

I shudder to think what it's going to be like for me when I put a -2 degree geoshift angleset on the bike.

Is anyone else this particular?

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

Is anyone else this particular?

Yes. But I love the process, dialling in a new bike only stops when it gets replaced.

Yeah, I don't hate it and it's rewarding when it starts working out.  But it does make me feel like I might have something wrong with me.  ;)

Some bikes come together and they are perfect or close enough I don't futz with them. Other bikes aren't quite right and they see a bunch of changes. Back when I ran a "summer" and "winter" bike it was interesting that I could hang up a bike I loved riding for 6 months and when I pulled it down it felt off and needed tweaks to get back to Full Stoke. My body is definitely changing as I get older so I can blame that! I enjoy wrenching on my bikes so making some changes can be fun.

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

Is anyone else this particular?

I'm constantly playing around with things so never get that particular.  Also i'm constantly switching between HT and FS as well.

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

Yeah, I don't hate it and it's rewarding when it starts working out.  But it does make me feel like I might have something wrong with me.  ;)

I'm super anal about my bike.  The Moxie is my 16th custom build (going back to bmx as a teenager) and I love the process of putting a bike together and trying to get it perfect. 

'It can always be better'.  My bike is constantly tweaked and changed, and sometimes changed back if it's worse.  Just put some new pedals on and also ordered a new set of tyres for this season. I'm a bike component salesperson's dream.

Heres my Naked leaning...with a Superflux! Love a good beer in the middle of a ride...liquid courage got me about 100m down the trail from here as I attempted a janky rock feature (for the first time)...right into it, no looking, OTB

Ive been 3' front and back on this bike for a couple years. If this set up has a weakness, I think its what happens to the front tire at low pressure (13ish psi) in higher strain banked turns - Im thinking of trying a 2.6 front for precision. Three inch rear with cushcore is amazing.

Posted by: Ddean

Heres my Naked leaning...with a Superflux! Love a good beer in the middle of a ride...liquid courage got me about 100m down the trail from here as I attempted a janky rock feature (for the first time)...right into it, no looking, OTB

Ive been 3' front and back on this bike for a couple years. If this set up has a weakness, I think its what happens to the front tire at low pressure (13ish psi) in higher strain banked turns - Im thinking of trying a 2.6 front for precision. Three inch rear with cushcore is amazing.

That is a very attractive bicycle.

Posted by: BC_Nuggets

I truly am the princess from the Princess and the Pea… …Is anyone else this particular?

Me!

My last three rides, I had the tyres at 17 and 19  (too squirmy as it had dried out), then 20 and 23 (too skittery on wet roots - rain took us by surprise), then 19 and 21 (great!)

My fork felt odd a few weeks back - turned out it was under 5psi too soft. I could feel that the geometry felt wrong when just riding along as well as the behaviour when Riding properly.

If I was (a lot) quicker I’d be a great development rider!

Now you mention it there are a few things I'm sensy about - 

Tyre pressures 16/19 in the Tough Judges for slippery up to 19/22 for dryer faster terrain - and then are likely to vary between bikes as they've only just gone on the FS.  Pressures get checked every ride with SKS which measures to 0.1 psi.

Forks were feeling a little soft yesterday and were 5psi under - I really don't like divey forks on HT so went up another 5psi from my current bench mark.

Controls need to be in the right place as well.  Ditto bars and 0mm ESL.

Back onto Hardtails - this is a bit nice https://theradavist.com/brians-crystal-fx-self-made-fillet-hardtail-29er-his-horse-with-no-name/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=02152023_TheRadavist_Horse_w%2F_No_Name%20%2801GS8EW3TA6JTRW3SPJ68D1WY6%29&_kx=XnJZfKmufoGnxyX8Q4XvN9pbxZCtoYcDZOCUXz-dYl4%3D.Tt4VSw

Here is my new NS Eccentric Evo 29" for 2023, leaning against my indoor bike shed haha! Sorry for the shitty picture, I don't have more space than this indoors and it was too cold to go out. It was supposed to be a parts-bin build, but I ended up getting most of the parts new. My aim was to build it for relatively cheap and I pretty much succeeded though.

Posted by: mikesee

Kind sir, where was this taken?  That's a beautiful landscape.

So I'm going to drill a stealth dropper hole in my OG Rootdown. 45-degree angled out to the left from forward. My question for ye is how far up the seat tube from the bottom bracket? I am thinking 3 or 4 inches. Also any idea on where to get a rubber grommet? Chromag is out of stock.  Or perhaps I'll just drill the hole just big enough for the cable housing to fit fairly snug...but I fear that might affect smoothness of dropper action.