Heinous profile

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.

Sounds like this was recorded a little while. I'd love Bryson's perspective on the Trance / Giant team collaboration now with a bit of time passed!

I did not know singularities could be so dank, but there you are.

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.

Posted by: Sethimus

Posted by: Brocklanders

Posted by: Endur-Bro

Is it super kooky to road ride with a gravel bike? Or is it generally acceptable?

I can’t deny the value in a mass produced bike. GRX Di2 components.

Looking to acquire a gravel bike but unsure if I’ll keep the road bike. N+1 is getting a little out of hand + expensive.

If the bigger tires have enough space wouldn't be an issue. Get some flared bars and voila. My gravel bike has the 105 groupo on it. Rode it all spring / summer in the muck and it worked fine. I really see no need to shell out for a gravel bike specific drivetrain. Then again I haven't rode a bike with the GRX but wonder what would be the difference?

hoods are WAY different, also brake lever pivot on di2 grx is way higher than on all mechanical shimanos

The GRX braking is different, but having ridden the Ultegra Di2 hydro, and non series shimano hydro to XTR XC calipers a lot, I don't think you'll have an issue with any  set up. The power is awesome, and a gravel tyre has a lot less traction than an MTB tyre.

The only time cx / grav bikes can be difficult on the road with others is high speed - whether flat or descending. They often track differently due to COG and geo (let along braking differences) so I'd tend to say if you're descending with  roadies give them space.

So far as 'do you need a gravel set up?'. Is road groupsets were good enough for all of Sven Nys' career, then no. Any group with the gear range and braking  you like will work just fine.

Posted by: DemonMike

Posted by: Vikb

I have a coil fork and shock on my FS biker [Guerrilla Gravity Smash] they are great. I just sold my older FS bike which was dual air and it had great suspension as well. I have no immediate plans to buy another FS bike, but if you threw a bunch of money at me today I'd get a short travel 29er built up light with dual air suspension. Both types of springs are found in excellent suspension products today. I don't see a clear winner. I'd pick air or coil as I considered the overall package every time I got a new bike.

Air still leaks over time I find. Coil set-it and leave it. If you need a climb switch for your air shock. IMO one should just go coil. I still prefer the coil on my 120mm bike. Ya it could be lighter . But so could I hahaha :)

Springs fatigue too. 

I see the main advantage of coil being vastly less friction - I know modern air is getting really good, but the ability to have such low break away changes how I can set up a bike. With the exception of my BOS Kirk a few years ago, I've not ridden a shock that really felt like it had coil levels of break away sticktion.

I was so disappointed with the Rockshox unit in my Devinci Spartan (27.5) that I decided to go coil. No one could get trunnion at the time easily so I ended up with a sweet discount on a Push 11.6. It's incredible, totally transformed the bike and it was the first time that I noticed my air sprung 36  couldn't keep up with the rear.

The bike got stolen, I was gutted. I replaced it with a 29" spartan but couldn't justify the extra $$ on a coil at the time. Luckily, my stolen bike was recovered and I transferred the Push over, even though the 29" spartan isn't a supported bike for the Push tunes. 

Long story short, I sent the push for a service and it came back with a little note saying it had a secret sauce tune for the 29. The whole service was $250 or so and included new parts throughout. The improvement in what was already an awesome ride is sweet. When I factor in that kind of service, service cost, and performance it feels like a bargain. The thing works so well I ended up putting a Smashpot  coil in my fork so it would keep up better.

I think I'd probably run coil on anything 120mm or more now.

If clipping a pinky, one possible helper would be the ergon GE grips. The end of the grip is angled so they glance off trees etc rather than snag. A side effect of that is that  the grip's leading edge is slightly narrowing than the trailing, so when hand is one grip there's actually a buffer zone. 

Alternately, or in addition, I'd considering moulding a tiny bit of sugru towards the end of the grip as a kinaesthetic reminder of width  and hand position. I had a head and spine injury a long time back and used to struggle with the same (it's a form of what's referred to as neglect). I ended up riding in white gloves for years as a way of having clear edges I could pay attention to. It worked really well.

Also - make sure you check the max tension of the hub as well as the rim - some of the carbon rims have higher tension rating that hubs. Don't aim for max tension - maybe ask the rim manufacturer what their target tension is.

Is it a front or rear? Front can be done ok in a fork. Rear's a bit less so.

New nipples, don't reuse. Asides from building with old nipples being a shit experience, they fatigue. Nipple washers are one of the ways god shows us that he loves us.

The  cheap Park gauge is useful - use it as instructed, not ignoring the numbers above. At tension 1/8th of of a turn can make a large difference in tension and you may not feel it. Uneven tension kills wheels far moreso than anything else. A dishing tool is also highly recommended. 

Last tip - once you've built the wheel and it's as you want it, fit the tubeless tyre and then readjust tension. Wheels lose a fair bit of tension when a tubeless tyre is installed and I seem plenty of home built and even workshop built wheels lose tension rapidly  on the first ride if this isn't done. I'm not a fan of prolock, but tend to soak all my batches of nipples in T9 until it evaporates off to wax. 

Leonard Zinn's books have really good wheel building instructions - it's a great resource.

One tip I appreciate from my  novice days is that when it starts to go wrong or get weird and you can't work it out, back everything off a quarter or half turn and start fresh. It's very easy to persevere and continually put more tension in to the wheel trying to chase something and next thing you'll be rounding off nipples or cracking the rim.

Posted by: skooks

Posted by: Heinous

Knolly Fugitive really excites me.

I have been riding a Fugitive LT since February and really like it. It's my first 29er and I was worried it wouldn't be very agile.  I have to say I am suprised at how good it feels in this regard, and how well it handles low speed jank.

When I spoke to Knolly they hadn't had any of the new DHX2's through so weren't recommending them for the Fugitive. I have a feeling that bike  would be awesome with a capable coil in it, especially with some of the new options running hydraulic bottom out / ramp up. A raw builder edition just keeps whispering to me.

I have. I found that it's very touchy to braking up front. I explain that by looking at the massive braking paddles and the fact it's essentially designed as a braking device - I never managed to adapt my riding to it.

I was super close to a new Fugitive LT with one of the new X2's right as Covid hit. It's hurt me pretty badly on the work front so I'm just waiting patiently. I really rate the design and build.