Heinous profile

And in doing so various parts are no longer cross compatible within the line. That's got to hurt long term ability to stay current with *ahem* standards.

I've been running Paul Comp hubs with WI freewheels forever and havefound them totally bullet proof, plus quieter than CK.

The Zerode prototype trail bikes Rob rode a couple iterations of for years were high pivot, idler, gearbox equipped and pretty remarkable. I still wonder from my arm chair if Zerode's decision to go Faux Bar was the wrong one...

I was once working with a pro team at a Tour high in the French Alps. We had a stage start at the bottom of the hill one day and riders decided to ride down. Bikes always get lubed the night before, because while 10-20mins is good, a whole night in a warm dry room is better. 

I came in from breakfast to inflate tyres, do a bolt check and hand bikes out, and find our Russian assistant mechanic spraying lube / using the Squidulous badly all over a chain which had dripped all over the carbon brake track (his team contract was a weird arrangement that became clearer a couple years later when the russian champion he was minding on the team went positive). He became very aggressive when I intervened. 

This remains the only time I have come to blows with a colleague.

I hesitate to attribute this to chain lube technique.

I've been running a Smashpot in a Grip2 36 for a couple of years. It's ruined other forks for me - the plushness, mid stroke and the easily adjustable bottom out has made me faster everywhere. It's most noticeable on cold days, I jumped on another bike after fitting the smashpot and immediately thought it needed a warranty it felt so sticky, slow and harsh. 

I'm about to run an experiment and drop it to 130mm for my singlespeed and see how it copes.

I worked on several team issue Canyons when engaged for races by one of their top tier athletes at the time. The frames were custom paint and team issue so potentially had extra level of QC to normal ones, possibly not.

The build quality of the frames was the poorest I’ve ever seen in a frame with a logo on the side. PF BB’s that we’re hand pressable in and out, stray material inside, seat tube and stem tolerance for so poor auxiliary means were needed to keep things in place. I’d been so close to buying one of the 27.5 spectrals (those black and gold ones looked great) and immediately decided to look elsewhere.

There’s a thread near the top of the gear forum about this right now!

Did part two get written? I can’t find the next parts with search. I’ve got questions but don’t want to hit you up with them if they’re answered in another instalment!

After another failed ceramic piston (xtr 9120) I’ve just ordered a pair of these. If they inspire the special feelings my OG Oro’s used to, they’ll be special.

The Dissector is a great option for good rolling. I've been surprised how good it is - it's replaced my old go to tyres for speed, being the Minion SS and the Aggressor.

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.

That's a very cool build!

@sethimus - nah, I'm just not a fan of 650b.

The XC, not the gravel strip? The gravel strip is a bit more reminiscent of the pro in shape.

Do they do much for ride quality, or just rim / tyre protection?

Nice.

I have some cushcore gravel inserts for my new build. If they. Provide the same transformation of comfort as on my hardtail I’ll be very happy. I’ll just run rear to start. So much gravel comfort is about isolating buzz (assuming g your position is good) - the nature of being seated for long periods with no suspension makes all the high frequency stuff the worst.

As has been said above, 2x just makes so much sense, and a well set up drivetrain will rarely drop a chain. The new clutch style 2x set ups are even more reliable.

@RAHrider I was so gutted when it was stolen. I was working for a Correndon Circus athlete and he’d been followed to my workshop / home by thieves with all his bikes and wheels on the roof. I always put athlete bikes in the house / hotel room so when they broke in they only got mine. :(

CK discontinued the green and the emerald green, so sadly I won’t be able to go green again. The frame will be green instead, with black CK, although hubs and BB are silver (already had the hubs, and covid meant use the Bb I could get). I designed this and my friend Steve Rex built it - he’s a master, and I love how he flies under the radar during a time when Instagram hype seems to be the main prerequisite for selling bikes.

It’ll clear a 44mm tyre, while maintaining nice tight geo and a front derailleur side should be a very fun bike.

I don’t think I’m especially flexible (12 fractures across 5 lumbar vertebrae took care of that) and it’s not extreme drop, but it is comfy for me. The new bike will take a dropper at 30.9Ø but I don’t plan on running one normally, they’re just so stiff they wreck my back.

It depends on how you set them up, and when you're on smallish tyres with no suspension, small changes to geo are noticeable. Some of the new school gravel bikes (like the Evil) are overkill in my experience. Yes, they're stable at warp speed, but they're also noticeably less agile, especially when you're bunny hopping stuff or changing direction quickly (like you do a lot of when you take your CX / Gravel bike on mtb trails).

This is my favourite personal bike of all time, it was sadly stolen (using a carjack to bend steel bars and doors no less). It was the proto Moots Di2 bike I designed with them way back. The sliding dropouts were less about SS and more because we all knew thru axle disc was coming. There's an image of the bike when it was first built too - hydro wasn't a thing at that point and as has been mentioned above, tyre choices were very limited.

I've just recently had a replacement (not a Moots) built, but it was lost for months in the Covid logistics fiasco. It's turned up, but is in the wrong country and will be a while before I can build.

For me front derailleurs are still irreplaceable on long gravel rides, relatively aggressive geo works best, and comfort is king. 

There's something so satisfying about riding inappropriate trails and places on a CX bike.

So you're saying you could never get it linear enough? Did you try over charging the negative spring? You can do that with the Helm very easily.

I think it's got to all be viewed as a system. XC hardtails / 100mm bikes are not 160/70mm bikes, so the height at the front, dynamic sag etc is all vastly different. XC bikes are races bikes, so you can see how compromises are made. 

A steep seat angle on a 170mm bike is a vastly different proposition to on a HT, even before you take in to account the intended use. Many of the XC bikes also have steeper actual seat angle (rather than effective) so the seat angle at a given post height is actually going to end up much more similar than the numbers suggest.

I never had luck pressing levers out, let us know if you have success!

It’s not about carrying the gel over - road bikes use that gel because it is more efficient and faster.