Heinous profile

Some of it. You still get better shifting from the derailleur without the laughably shit GX cage materials and main pivot / knuckle and B-tension tab. It stays better for longer too, GX seems to need regular b-tension adjustment.

The GX cassette works fine with Shimano 12s if that's your thing...

I just want to say that those pink ano washers under your bidon bolts are perhaps the most understatedly cool bit of pimpage I've ever seen. Especially because they'll be under a bottle most of their life. Nice one.

One possibility here is to get a CAMO spider with a non boost offset... I did this a while ago for a different combo and have been smirking to myself every now and then ever since.

They did explain that a while back for XTR, claiming that the main source of drag they could eliminate was the seals, but to do that meant smaller seals, therefore smaller bearing and smaller cups to put  them in. That explains (maybe) the smaller cups for DA and XTR, but doesn't explain why the ditched the old standard entirely to intro a second one.  Those plastic adapters are nasty.

I've always found the Flow really great until IXS downspec'd the fabric on the outside about 2 years ago. I've found the new ones far less durable which is really annoying when they should be designed to hit the ground. 

They're still the comfiest I've tried but I'm actively looking for something that's more durable.

I wonder if there's a way to run them at shorter travel? It would be a cheaper alternative to the Smashpot at 120/130mm in a 36...

They would have been better updating the GX cage and knuckle design and materials so they don't lunch themselves at the sight of mud. Expecting them to run on an even larger cassette with an uglier jump is classic SRAM.

Similarly, I find the proprietary double row freehub bearings last about 6-9 months and can be a hassle to source. It looks like only Enduro make them, and I've been disappointed. Were it not for that bearing I'd be using the hubs in more than one bike.

How do the cells drain water? My main complaint with the Smith helmets was always how the cells hold sweat and water and then suddenly drop it all it the helmet gets a bump.

These are great. Unior's tools are fantastic too with 4 sided contact and good fit.

Yep - viewing it as healthy feedback loop is a great way to help companies improve and get your issues resolved too.

I've used frame and fork. It works, but I'd not really recommend it for offset mtb wheels and so on. 

A cheap park or feedback will work fine. There are probably a load fo cheap ones around used, or if you have a mate who builds wheels occasionally, borrow their stand.

The shop that sells the entire thing is responsible for it. If they then recover from a supplier is another issue.

On the cost front, I'd suggest:

DON'T Spend on:

Alloy nipples

Aero spokes (Aerolite / CX Ray)

Do Spend on:

Nipple washers

A basic park tension gauge

Grease

Quality spoke tool

Rims are mostly pretty good these days, there aren't many that build up badly. DT supply with Squorx nipples (make sure you calculate spoke length with those if you plan on using them).

If I was building a nice, but on budget wheelset I'd use the new Shimano XT hubs, they look awesome and are amazingly well priced. Those, with DT Comps and an Arc, Praxis, or DT alloy rim and it's hard to go wrong.

Lennard Zinn's mtb mechanic's guide is really good too, nice diagrams, probably the easier of the first time builder guides I've seen.

What's the standard warranty on the frame? 

I've had a chainring fail on my own bike (folded, outwards, hopping off a curb) and seen a couple of the original SRAM road rings fail almost immediately.

My perspective is that it should be covered by manufacturer or shop. This isn't analagous to a new tyre on a car, it's a bike sold as a complete OEM unit.

I'd find a local carbon repair place - they can ultrasound the damaged area and tell you if it's cracked or cosmetic. I have seen a lot of warranties approved after customers show that 'cosmetic flaw in the lay up' is actually a catastrophic failure about to happen or underway.

I want to love BOS, but the service was pretty patchy - mine came on a YT so it's likely too that like loots of the small guys, they really struggle with the scale of even small OEM deals. If I was confident they could be well serviced by any suspension literate mechanic I'd probably give them a go again. 

It does looks like they've dropped their air shocks, I only see the coil on the site.

The new EXT fork looks like it's probably going to work as well, be better supported, and only cost a fraction more than a Deville II.

Posted by: andy-eunson

I’ve found the chain will come off the bottom when I back pedal to drop the pedal down on the right side. My left foot is forward normally when cranks are level. So if I hit a bump at the wrong time the chain can come off.  More so when the chain and ring are worn. And clutch loose.

I'm guessing  probably at one end of the cassette, and not middle?

I had this discussion on PB with a frame / sus designer. He was adamant and blunt I was wrong, ring doesn't noticeably influence kinematics. He had all kinds of numbers to prove me wrong, although I noticed a few weeks later he was more equivocal. 

In my personal experience, oval rings do influence suspension - it was really noiticeable on my Yeti 5.5, and my 27.5 Spartan, so I run a round ring now.

Absolute Black mean the ring will feel the same under pedalling loads, but they'll feel vastly different on suspension depending on orientation of the ring/crank.