alexdi profile

Mega, Dave. Just mega. I hardly ever use desktop backgrounds, but the machine in my shop has your work on rotation.

Super arrogant response from a guy getting it wrong. No cred to you, Lynx.

Definitely. That photo has the classic forward-tilted saddle, which means you're rotating your whole body around the bottom bracket like a watch hand. But then you end up with too much weight on the bars, planking to hold yourself up. Super inefficient. I doubt I'd want a hardtail more than 75 degrees.

With FS, I definitely prefer steeper seat angles because of sag, long shins, mid-shoe cleats, and super long legs that put me well into the slack portion of the bent seat tubes so many bikes have. I have the saddle slammed forward on my Trance with a nominal 74.5D (but 66.5D actual) angle.

My version of a do-everything bike is an Epic Evo or equivalent. The weight penalty over a typical gravel frame and fork is 2.5 pounds (which is mitigated by a lighter drivetrain, bars, and brakes). For that, you get 2.4"+ of tire clearance and 120mm of properly damped travel. Fit inner bar ends and slick tires and you can keep up with the roadies on asphalt. Swap in wide wheels and knobby tires and you can shred up to the black diamond level.  

This works for me because I'm entertained by being slightly under-biked. The suspension is never so plush than I can plow and my tires never have a enough tread. Keeps the average speed high and limits the max speed. Put me on an enduro sled with DH-rated Assegais and I'd probably get myself into trouble.

They're welcome to it. I'll just buy from a brand that doesn't assume we all want a bunch of a batteries.

> A riser bar is not "effectively" lengthening anything, it is just raising the position of your hands up, vertically.

Pretend you swapped in a flat bar for the riser. To get the same hand position, you'd have to mount the stem higher on the steerer. But that's not enough. The steerer slopes toward you, so the stem would also have to be longer to compensate. Hence "lengthening the effective stem."

Lovely essay. When I was growing up as a ginger, tanning was in vogue and only an albino would reach for the maximum SPF 10. It wasn't until my early 20s that I started religiously wearing sunscreen. By my late 20s, I was all-in on dorky wide-brimmed safari caps and sunsleeves, and every year since, I've been scanned by a dermatologist to see which sins of youth seem inclined to be tomorrow's cancer. I look at people with even, olive skin with a mild and wistful envy. What it must be like to walk to the mailbox without reaching for a hat.

> so same cassette/hub (same ind up) but a higher end derailleur solved the issue? 

This swap included the 265g XX1/11 cassette and a new wheelset based on Bitex 211 (54 POE, relative to 20-odd on the three-pawl DT Giant hub on the other wheelset). I don't think the hub was a factor in the chain issue, but the cassette weight definitely was.

I did not. It would work for 12 gears on the stand, then quickly start to hang up going into the small sprocket. There was a lot of inexplicable friction in the shifter for last quarter-inch of cable travel I could never resolve, despite scrutinizing various resources and reassembling it three times. He brought it to me with the problem already evident from the new configuration. Eventually just switched to a bike with AXS.

> I think there are plenty of companies still running significantly too-short head tubes and Stack numbers for their Reach. It’s one reason so many options now exist for taller rise bars. 

All of them. They're all doing this and it's infuriating. The difference in head tube between Specialized SJ in S1 and S6 is 45mm. The difference in rider inseam could easily be 230mm for those sizes. Fox and RS approve 30mm of steerer spacers below the stem and you can't get any rise out of the short stems the bikes are designed for. Which leaves tall riser bars, of which there are essentially zero in carbon. A couple options at 35mm and 38mm, one expensive Enve 50mm bar, and Whiskey's 70mm with a crossbar and a whole lot of backsweep. 

The whole thing is a giant middle finger to anyone with long legs who doesn't want XC levels of saddle-bar drop. This reason alone is why I refuse to buy any new bike. No brand will sell it with an uncut steerer, and the idea of spending high-four-figures on something intentionally designed not to fit me, and then intentionally screwed up by the shop, deeply offends me. A riser bar is supposed to be a fit adjustment tool, not stock equipment to make up for a miniscule head tube.  

To get the bars close to where they need to be on my XL Trance (which still end up over an inch below the saddle), I'm running a 38mm riser (wasted money; already had a perfectly good bar with less rise) with a cheap 70mm +35D stem. It looks ridiculous.

Excellent review, thanks for taking the time! I particularly appreciate the assembly notes.

I've made a worksheet of a potential build that brings the bike just under 27 pounds, though the bigger question is whether to go full-29 or take the plunge to a 69er.* How much flexibility did you have on the color scheme and logos?

• I just realized the 34T thing could be a problem with a 69er. I run 32T with a 29x2.5" and a 10-42. If I downsize to 27.5 in the back, the ring has to come up to 32 to keep the top end. Hmm.