sverdrup profile

Looking back, when I am regularly riding a long-travel full squish, I am also fanatical about bike setup and achieving a "balanced" feel.  I always want my rig to feel predictable in order to ride closer to my own personal edge, but chasing changing suspension feel with temp, altitude, servicing, etc, can feel like an endless loop that sometimes took away from my enjoyment of the riding itself.

I have gravitated towards a Chromag with an angleset and a 170mm fork, and don't give a hoot about balance any longer.  Maybe because now I don't have a rear shock I have to worry about, or maybe because riding a hardtail requires a different position on the bike, I dunno.  But I find it refreshing that I can just grip it and rip it, and not feel like I am always chasing my tail with finding balance.

Timely. I’ve lost my dad, and now my pet, in the last 3 weeks. Both unexpectedly. 

Just want to say how much I appreciate NSMB for publishing these sorts of articles. This has become my favorite corner of the internet.

Makes sense to me. I ride year round in western OR and haven’t had this issue though - I must have gotten a good one!

I hear lots of love for the EDC Light, but not much about the little Specialized tool that attaches to their bottle cages.  I have used one for many years with no issues - including the same bottle cage.  Am I missing something with the OneUp? Any reason folks don't seem to use the Specialized much?

I’ve had good experiences with this so far, and comes with multiple fittings:

https://www.msrgear.com/water-treatment/filters-and-purifiers/thru-link-inline-water-filter/13236.html

Have owned a Honzo ESD and a Doctahawk, built up with the same parts. Your statement about compliance being the sum of all parts is correct, but I promise you the frame is a part of that sum, and definitely noticeable for even a small guy like me.

Deniz - Morgan is correct.  You are describing a life cycle analysis.  Complicated, yes, but very much an established field.  Here is a simple example:

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change

I am curious if the discussions that Pete mentions above about future articles might incorporate some of this information regarding our mtb habits.  I get the feeling this audience would really engage with it.

For what it's worth, I am both a climate scientist and car enthusiast - and very much enjoy this series.  We are complex creatures.

I have been following your articles here (and your personal blog) for a long time, as I have found your writing more insightful than most. Thanks very much for your contributions. 

Given that, this article strikes me as a hard left turn for your opinions on durability versus weight, and how that relates to performance (recognizing this is a loaded term that means something different to us all).  I don’t necessarily disagree with anything you have written here, but I am left wondering what has changed/motivated you to reassess your own setup in this way? I have some guesses, but I am curious to understand your thought process. I personally have found the way you write about your own reasoning  through this pastime the most enjoyable and relatable, and hope you might address that?

Well that validates my own confusion about wtf 360 internals are...thanks for the reply

Can you compare to the Roval Traverses that AJ reviewed a while back? Looking for a second winter wheelset without breaking the bank, and they seem similar-ish.

Posted by: PembyRocks

A couple of leaning shots from my ride today. Really enjoying the mullet Stylus with the -2 headset. Been playing around with bar roll and stem height, almost got it dialled. Probably need to switch to a 40mm stem from the 31mm to keep more weight over the front but I’m stoked the way this thing rides

What fork travel are you running on this? I have a Stylus with a -1 geoshift headset and 170mm Zeb...but tempted to try a mullet.  The front end can feel pretty low (IMO) with my current setup on sustained steeps, and was thinking of getting some higher rise bars (currently running 35mm rise Cutlass).  Maybe a mullet would fix that?

Rode a DoctaHawk for the past year and half, now on a Stylus.  For my 5'7", turns out I prefer 27.5 wheels.  Combined with the 210mm dropper, I am able to move around on the bike much more freely and that has translated into more speed & smiles. 

Posted by: PowellRiviera

That is interesting, I have a Z1 coil 170 mm on my Hawk, definitely don't need all of the travel but when I switched to 160mm I didn't like how it changed the bike. How well did the bike accept the angle set¿

I actually started with the Z1 at 160 and didn't like it either - kind of felt like I was perched up on the BB in a weird way and made the bike feel steep. Angle set went in smooth and has remained quiet/smooth.  Very happy with the Wolftooth product, is my first headset from them.

Posted by: AndrewMajor

Posted by: sverdrup

I’m also running a 30 x 18 with similar slack until I figure out how to align a Paul Melvin tensioner. I have a microspline hub which has made finding parts more challenging.

Did you already pick up a Melvin? They're a really nice piece, quality made, piece of kit but with the lack of a clutch (and relatively light spring tension) I found it was pretty annoying noise-wise. Without ISCG tabs and with the PF-BB it's not possible to use a fixed tensioner at the front, and the clutch single-speed tensioners from SBO are big money. 

I had my best tensioner experience using a Shimano Zee rear derailleur with the super short cage with longer limit screws to dial in the position. It's very micro-adjustable and with the clutch tension being adjustable it's actually really easy to dial in. Makes it quick to swap cogs too so you can experiment with different setups. 

Cool rig!!!

I did pick up the Melvin, but may end up not running it.  I ordered spacers and a cog from Boone, and the Melvin doesn't have enough adjustment to match the chainline needed for the setup I ordered.  My fault for not waiting to get the Melvin before ordering the spacers.  Do you know of any spacers that fit on a microspline free hub well (aside from more custom machined ones from Boone....)?

Short cage derailleur is likely going to be the ticket, especially given the ability to swap cogs.  Thanks for the advice.

Posted by: reini-wagner

Posted by: sverdrup

... 

I am just starting a single speed experiment with it (my first time giving that a go), so would be interested to hear of others' setups on hardtails without sliders.  

That bike looks amazing, I had to look twice to realize it was not a before/after shot after a repaint. 

Interesting you matched a 160 fork with a 1° headset, how does that ride? 

I initially set up my large doctahawk (435mm chainstays) single speed and found the magic ratio at 34t front and 20t back. Both rings narrow wide (absolute black makes narrow wide ss cogs in 16,18 and 20t). I rode it like that a couple of times and never dropped a chain, even though there was some visible slack:

I tried running it with a 170mm Z1, and didn’t totally love the way the front end felt. I know it’s odd to describe a docta this way, but it felt high and steep to me. Some experimenting landed me on the 160mm 38 with angleset, which got me the slack head angle with the lower front end that I apparently was looking for. I also think the longer offset is doing something, but steering feel is voodoo for me. I just experiment until it feels right. I’m also running a 30 x 18 with similar slack until I figure out how to align a Paul Melvin tensioner. I have a microspline hub which has made finding parts more challenging.

Speaking of experiment, this bike feels like the first time I’ve been able to really get weird (it’s all relative) with a build. Andrew’s articles and the banter on this site definitely enabled that.

Riding a single speed hard tail with a 62 degree head angle and DH tires isn’t what I thought I wanted, but now that I’ve made it here, it just feels right.

Long time reader, first time poster here.  Thanks to everyone for the posts over the years, I have really enjoyed them.

I wanted to share my Chromag Doctahawk, which I picked up this summer lightly used from one of their employees (thanks Tim!).  I rode a Honzo ESD for most of the pandemic, which opened my eyes to how much I enjoy riding modern hardtails.  I couldn't quite get along with the steep ST though, and sold it to start searching for a Chromag.  Ended up with this frame, and built it up myself.  Maybe I drank the Chromag kool-aid, but I get along better with this bike than any other in the past ~20 years of riding and I see this as a lifer.

It's built up on Chris King hubs, a 160mm 38 w/ 51mm offset, Wolftooth -1 degree angleset, BikeYoke Revive dropper, SLX brakes and drivetrain, and Grid Gravity 2.6 tires.  

I am just starting a single speed experiment with it (my first time giving that a go), so would be interested to hear of others' setups on hardtails without sliders.