DancingWithMyself's comments

I run Scarabs and Freerider Pros on the trail bike. Daggas and Impacts on the big/trip bike. Quite happy. The Impacts are noticeably boxier, wider, and higher volume than the Freeriders. Like them for what I use them for, but not sure I'd want to use them for anything besides winch and plummet riding.

I'm a size 11.5 and it's probably what I'm used to, but the I've used the Impacts and Scarabs together once, and the combo felt weird. It felt like a lot more shoe was hanging over the outside edge of the pedal.

The Freeriders fit my foot and pedal well, and I'm quite happy. With the Scarabs, I take the washers out from under the pins about 3/4 of the way through the year. Get about a year out of a pair. On a cycle where I buy the new pair on sale during the late fall or early winter.

Feels wasteful to bin the shoes.  I try my best to me environmentally conscious in as many areas of my life as possible.  Have made my peace with being a little selfish on this decision.

I've never really done a deep dive on gearboxes.  But based on the little I know, people don't want gearboxes.  They want derailleurs in a box that are sprung weight.  Or put another way, what they want is so fundamentally different from what a gearbox actually is that they shouldn't refer to is a gearbox.  

In reality, I think they like the idea of a gearbox, but not actual gearboxes.  "You see, what I want is a singlespeed, but one that get easier to pedal when I'm going uphill and harder to pedal when I'm going downhill."  

Regardless, an honest, decently technical look at gearboxes would be an interesting read.

Yep.  My interest got piqued by the comment about potentially spacing the cassette and use existing X01 mechanical derailleurs.  But then I realized there wasn't a 10-50 option, which is kind amazing considering how many of these "transmissions" are going to end up on ebikes.

I get the "universal" part and fewer sku's as well as the trojan horse angle for Transmission.  But I've always felt like NSB and WheelsMfg solved the stiffer-and-more-precise problem years ago, and all the UDH has done is take away flip chips.  Am I missing something?

Thanks for the correction on the cartridge.  Have never paid that much attention because you can just order it directly from them.

With full awareness that I'm talking to the wrong audience, I have an EXe I really enjoy (but about which I am definitely somewhat conflicted).  But somehow I cannot come to terms with electronic shifting.   

With the EXe, I can tell myself, especially as I get older, that the motor allows me to do X, Y, and Z that I couldn't do otherwise.  Conversely, electronic shifting seems almost like conspicuous consumption.  Hard for me to articulate, but it's somehow easier for me to come to terms with a sensibly-powered, very bike-like ebike.  Unlike my legs and cardiovascular system, my thumbs are aging pretty darn well.

I'd almost put electronic shifting in the same category as battery-powered wine openers.  When future civilizations study the downfall of our civilization, I'm convinced an agreed upon inflection point will be when we got too lazy to open alcoholic beverages without the assistance of motors and batteries.  

(BTW, in such future civilization, there still won't be gear boxes that are worth a sh!t.)

I for one an super excited about Transmission.  I have an X01 derailleur from 2020 that is getting a little clapped out and an X01 cassette that is about to finally wear out (mainly the shifting ramps).  Just picked up replacements for great prices.  Cassette was 30% off.

And it's a total first-world, super-enthusiast problem, but I've got three bikes and don't think I'd want Transmission on just one.  

For example, I've got oneup posts on two bikes and a revive on the third.  The longer drop I can get with the oneup posts has me spoiled, and I'm thinking about replacing the revive.  I could fit a longer revive on that bike. 

But I'm not sure I want another revive, even though it's a far superior post.  The oneups feel fine on their own, but not very good in comparison to the revive.  Thinking I'd rather remove the comparison by going with another oneup and let my brain recalibrate.  Plus I could buy a spare wintech cartridge and keep a single service kit / spare parts stash.

In the same vein, my mechanical X01 setups feel great.  Not sure I'd want to put Transmission on one bike and thereby make the other two feel like they don't shift well.

More generally, I'm not delusional enough to think anyone else cares about how fast I am (query whether Transmission would really make a difference there anyway), so it's all down to my experience.  And consistency across bikes helps me focus on the experience and not individual components.

Would be interested to hear exactly how they polished the cranks since it went well.

I think there are some wear issues and maybe some suspension kinematic issues with a really small, “micro-drive”chainring.  This sounds like and Andrew Major question as far as an authoritative answer.

Speaking of going back in time, you think people with a moto background or who currently mix a lot moto in with biking gravitate towards mid foot?  Seems like that would be the case?

And this was another phenomenal article.  Creativity always produces better and more useful articles than the latest widget.  Please keep them coming!

Awesome!  Thank you!

I think my conclusion is that if you postulate something like a 1 minute downhill run, ball over axle is best based on common sense and the reasons you state.  

But then you get into a very gray and individualized issue of whether the increased endurance and lower strain of the mid-foot position outweighs the biomechanical disadvantages for longer runs, full days, multiple days in a row, etc.

I may be mistaken, but I think Chromag says the Daggas work best with something like the Impact. Scarabs and Freerider Pros on my trail bike and Daggas and Impacts on my big bike and very happy and have not experienced premature wear.  

And definitely closer to ball of foot over spindle.  Feels much more athletic and dynamic to me when descending.  Clearly a lot of very good riders are arch over axle, but it's always seemed weird to me.  Can you imagine a shortstop, linebacker, etc. standing flat footed?  

While this piece is excellent, would be fascinated to hear a discussion by someone with with formal education and professional experience in physiology, sports performance, etc.

"understanding why you love something like riding bikes under your own power should also - in my dream world - come with an understanding that your own appreciation of that fact should be enough for you. If your enjoyment of that fact relies heavily on external acknowledgement, you're letting vanity creep into something that's supposed to be about personal fulfillment"

This is extraordinarily well put.  I've got an EXe showing up in a few weeks.  I'm excited but also conflicted.  Going to go in with an open mind see how it supplements and effects my riding.  

For better or worse, in 5-10 years I think the black-and-white, e-bikes are 100% awful crowd will become the triathletes and cross fitters of mountain biking - you'll know they only ride bikes (and not ebikes) within the first five minutes of meeting them.

“Yep, have to have a single click shifter and all sorts of other specific parts on this bad boy.  Too much weight, torque, and raw power.  Those normal parts would get chews to bits. 

Impact on the trails you say?  Oh, just like a normal bike.  No difference at all.”

Would be WAY less worried if we had European/sane limits on torque and speed.  The industry -sorry,  I mean people for bikes - f’d us and IMBA (which does tons of great work and gets a lot of unfounded crap) missed the boat.  Now volunteers and land managers will have to deal with the outcome while the industry sits off to the side and cashes checks.

Think the access and trail impact issues are going to come to a head as ebikes get better, cheaper, and more prevalent.  Being in BC, what you see day to day in terms of numbers of ebikes is prob 5-10 yrs ahead of everywhere else (excepting other NA meccas with lots of disposable income).

I live somewhere a little mellowed than BC, so I just pulled the trigger on the Fuel EXe for the same reasons.  Going to be interesting to watch the Fauza vs TQ motor horse race.  I wasn't all that stoked about a Trek, but I think they may have kicked up the motor that's going to change everything, for better or worse.  Excites me as a rider; terrifies me as someone deeply involved in trail advocacy.