trumpstinyhands profile

Ummmm.....I don't know if I should comment on bike building again but..... :D

Did you pull the seatpost out, carbon prep the top of the seat tube AND grease the bottom of the post? The bottom of the seatpost rubbing against the inside of the seat tube under pedaling loads is a common source of creaking, and easily missed as not obvious. Most people just carbon prep or grease the top of the seat tube. But long travel droppers sit far down the seat tube and you'll see wear marks on the bottom of the post if not greased.

Just a polite suggestion in case this hadn't been done ;)

A few thoughts re. the assembly process. For my sins I've built probably thousands of bikes over the years, and I often see comments regarding how fast the bike can be built. For example I recently built a YT 'something' and another website claimed that they built a YT 'something' in 12 minutes. I built this one properly and it took me over three hours. There was so much wrong with the factory assembly that wouldn't necessarily be spotted by someone eager to build the bike ASAP (I won't bore you with the long list.....). 

Velofix state that it'll take about an hour and charge you $150 for the privilege according to the link above. Will they pull all the linkage pivots to ensure that they are greased properly, threadlocked and torqued to spec to stop seized hardware or creaking after a few rides? Remove the fork and properly grease the headset? Remove the cranks and check that the BB is tightened properly (and at the same time find out that the Sram crank bolt has been tightened to 300Nm at the factory....)? Will the cables / hoses be cut to length and brakes bled as needed? Or is the bike also going to trap rabbits? How about spoke tension....that's often out of whack and can lead to taco'd wheels after a few rides.

Sorry for the ramble, but this sort of stuff always gets missed in the review processes of every publication. Just a blind assumption that the bike is built well from the factory, which can result in headaches and expense for the customer during ownership. A 30 minute build is potentially going to result in hours of extra maintenance time in the future. 

FWIW, I've not worked on a GG. Maybe it's perfect out of the box!

/Grumpy middle aged Service Manager who's tired of fixing everyone's shitty builds :D

Yep, that was the other one that I remember but I don't know when SR become Suntour or what the connection was.

I also have vague recollection of a bike in Mountain Bike Action that had a quick release seat tube!! The whole thing pivoted on the BB. I think the idea was that you move the seat tube forward for climbing / back for descending. This would also angle the saddle in the same way as the Aenomaly. I can't believe it never caught on ha ha.

Ha ha, yeah just after I posted this I started wondering if you could do this on an X-Fusion HiLo type clamp. Might just need to strap an enduro-mallet to the top tube in order to free up the mechanism once the QR is released :D

I'm old / sad enough to remember these:

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/sold-campagnolo-euclid-27-2mm-seatpost-%C2%A352-50-posted.341087/

I think Suntour made one too?

I'm struggling to see the value compared to something like a Trek Slash 8 that is also a bike that can be purchased in a shop. The only real world difference in spec that I can see are Code RS levers compared to Code R and maybe slightly better tires. Gold colored suspension is a hard 'whatever'. The Trek is over $2000 cheaper.

Interesting review, and reminds me of binge-watching old episodes of the UK version of Top Gear recently. James May had a piece on why car manufacturers' infatuation with Nürburgring lap times leads to cars that don't work so well in the real world, unless you want to put up with what feels like a track car when getting the groceries!    

My favourite bikes in recent years have probably been my slowest. i.e. my Chromag and Trek Remedy. Something like my Norco Sight was certainly faster, but no amount of speed gratification could take away from the fact that I didn't like the handling. If one doesn't race or Strava, there's a lot to be said for just riding a bike that you gel with and puts the biggest smile on your face.

I love the Snow White And The Seven.....ummm.....Little People inspired painting.

Revgrips are also made in the USA.

It's good to see a more interesting colour combo than 'shades of Canadian town houses and strip malls'.

Posted by: fartymarty

Trumps - assume that's Tony Doyle.  A couple of riding mates did a coaching session with him and really enjoyed it.

Yep that's the Tony. I've been to that spot a couple of times circa 2005 and was scared poo-less just walking on some of that stuff ha ha.

Posted by: Endurimil

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: yardrec

I think you can get a 2.6 27.5 tire in there. I’ve got 29x 2.35s on now and may just leave the rear as is and put a 29x2.6 on the front to slack it out a little bit.

Just throwing out that Chromag is having a sale on their, sweet, i40 Magna rim in 26+. Thinking of buying a pair for Clairebarian’s next hardtail because 2.6” rubber works great on i40.

Surly does the Dirt Wizard in 26x3”.

Actually just reminded me of a mock up I tried on a whim a few days ago. Will get a photo of that in the workshop tomorrow.

This popped up today on the FB memories thing from 6 years ago. LOL

^ That was the Herts Shore crew trip to BC back in the day. Chatting to Tony after that was one of the reasons I ended up out here.

Tony is still building and riding ridiculous stuff when he's not doing skills coaching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KOq9zG-ljY

Bar position has certainly been a subject of fashion over the years. In the olden days I've gone from 80's 'short' stem and riser bar which became uncool, to the completely dumb 150mm flat Syncros stem with cut down Answer Hyperlite which was good on gravel climbs but nothing else. The riser bar bike was a cheap Canadian Tire type bike (Halfords) and had relaxed geometry and long stays which was 'old fashioned'. The funny thing is, there was a steep rooty tech climb on my local hill and I could just about clean it on the cheap bike as the weight distribution was pretty good. On all my 'cool' bikes with short stays and stupid stem / bar combos I could never clean the climb as the bikes were unbalanced, and you'd just flip off the back of the bike. 

And then in recent-ish times there was the '800mm flat bar on a DH bike' fashion. What on earth was that all about? Was is a desperate attempt to get as much effective reach as possible as the bikes were so short? Or did some DH racer tell everyone to do it, and like sheep they did, like having completely horizontal brake levers now? ;) 

I haven't seen it mentioned (but could have missed it), but I think wheelbase lengths and chainstay lengths are pushing people into higher handlebars. Going back to my 80's bike, longer stays and wheelbase gives the bike a more planted feeling on the climbs, so one can get away with a higher bar for better positioning on the downs without wheelieing on the climbs. But also in order to get the front wheel off the ground with subtle body movement one needs a higher bar anyway, so it's a win / win. A higher bar also brings back a little of the 'playfulness' that has been lost with soccer pitch length bikes.

I have 180mm drop on my hardtail but could go with 200. I've thought about it, but one of the main reasons I can see for going with a longer drop is to be able to get on the bike easily if you have to start riding in the middle of a tech / exposed section. The BB height on hardtails is lower on hardtails (or should be....) and mine is practically dragging on the ground so the above isn't an issue for me.

Once I'm on the bike, again I think the BB height helps with keeping the center of gravity low and giving the bike inherent stability so I've never felt the need for more drop.

Posted by: Hepcat

Andy says thoroughly fiddled with B in first post.

Was the cable hard to pull out like it was gummed up? Thinking if you lubed original cable too maybe it's fouled up inside the housing...

Trumpstinyhands or some other ace mechanic here surely knows the answer and is watching the punters punt lol.

LOL thanks ha ha.

I find cable issues show themselves more clearly when shifting from low to high as the friction is fighting the spring in the derailleur and slowing down or stopping the shift.

You'll potentially waste some time and inner cables, but you could always swap parts from one bike to another seeing that everything is the same. By a process of elimination you'll figure out which part is the issue. I know the derailleur pivots were lubed but it could be rough pivots from wear / age. Is there much play in the derailleur? Could even a worn shifter.

I've owned three Treks in recent years, and while the housing angle going into the derailleur has a significant bend, I've never found it to be an issue. Worth minimizing the bend as much as possible though. B tension isn't going to create stiff shifting, unless the derailleur is sitting so high that the pulley wheel / chain is hitting the next biggest sprocket on the down shift, but that will probably sound pretty obvious when happening.

So I'm gonna say derailleur based on the info at hand (assuming the cable / housing is installed correctly with no kinks etc) but I could be completely wrong!

Edit - how does the clutch feel on both derailleurs? A stiff clutch will result in stiff shifting from high to low gears. More obvious on Shimano derailleurs with adjustable clutches and the ability to turn them off. Servicing a clutch on a Shimano derailleur will lighten the shifting, but you can't do that with Sram.

If it's functioning correctly but just leaking, any shop with a 35mm or 38mm seal press and seals (IIRC, there were two different size stanchion sizes over the years unless that was just the 66?) can do it. Finding the seals might be the hardest part. You are effectively just doing a lower service anyway, just with around 280ml of oil in each leg rather than around 10ml! Maybe the shop forgot to re-install the retaining clip that holds the oil seal in place, like I did on a 66 the other week..... I noticed it when cleaning my work bench.... Luckily I managed to get the wiper seals back out without damaging them and saved all the oil.

I popped my E bike cherry recently. I think it was approx 1400m climb. Due to 'range anxiety' I think we all rode 95% of the way up in 'eco'. Hit 'trail' a few times on some of the steeper pitches but never used 'turbo / boost / Ludicrous etc'. I quite liked Eco mode. Reminded me of winching up a rocky climb in 4 Low in a truck. Trail was already starting to feel like a demented rocking horse. No idea why you'd want to use the high setting. 

It was pretty odd and a little unfulfilling getting into the alpine while hardly breaking a sweat on a sunny day. I think I had a couple of token swigs from my bottle over a 5hr ride. It was a novelty riding higher up than normal, but I'd probably only do that ride once a year anyway so given the choice of spending $19000 or taking 3 hours longer I'd take the extra time every time! Back on the hardtail again this weekend and the experience was ultimately more rewarding.

Posted by: Sethimus

so far every bike mentioned seemed quite archaic to me. don’t you have a healthy market with sleek integrated solutions with a middle motor like in europe?

Why does everything need to be sleek and integrated? It just makes everything harder to diagnose issues and more expensive to fix. Ironically these archaic bikes seem more reliable than way more expensive mountain bikes with mid mount motors, hidden batteries and shitty wiring looms that die after a couple of splashes of water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdH2AtcDM3o

Posted by: LoamtoHome

anything that will happen will be slower than a herd of snails traveling through peanut butter.  It took 5 years to get that 30 second new trail in Squamish put in.....

Which trail? The One-Up / Airplane Mode trail only took so long as a few builders built it without machines, building what looks to be a machine built trail. For Mikki's Magic, that got Section 57 approval pretty fast, and was built in no time due to Dreamwizards diggers and the like.