UFO profile

I'm going to put in a vote for the first iteration of Giant's Maestro bikes, the 4" xc Trance, 6" trail Reign, and 7" fr Faith; depending on what/how you like to ride.  Overbuilt, but reasonable geometry, good overall build quality, and reliable.

I've never had the pleasure of playing with 9 speed xtr, but I'm trying to hoard 10 speed xtr/xt shifters. I love how light and accurate that shift feel is for me. 

On my big bike I've been toying with going back to a manual shift granny and 34t narrow wide up front with an 11-36t 10sp xt cassette, which would allow me to run my 10sp xtr rd with zee cage. I find the spring tension on the short cage rd so much stronger which helps with retention even in the non nw granny, and of course the clearance related benefits too.

See you at Top of the World this summer aboard your hardtail Cam ;)

I'm sure you picked up new skills and flow aboard the ht that will transfer over to your squishy bike. For me though, it usually takes a few rides for anything like that to show up. I find FS bikes just 'move' differently, and how I move within the bike also has to adapt based on that.

The irony in this is that based on past performance, some brands do use these 'leaks' as part of their genius marketing play followed up with a long term media review/release several (or the next) days after. Though it appears in this case missteps were taken, I can appreciate both sides.

I'm just going to say if you make the bed, get ready to sleep in it too. It's not up to Joe Consumer/Photographer to figure out and keep track of which brand is on which side.

So what I'm reading is that SX and NX may no longer be viable OE options? Darn

I got our turning 7 in January girl a 20" Early rider this Spring, rigid with the 3 spd IGH and belt drive. It was a nice step up from the 16" Belter. When she first got on the 20, she appreciated the light weight (even compared to the 20" aluminum Liv I had bought previously), and also really liked the easy climbing gear. 

On longer flat rides this Summer though she did have problems finding a good gear to keep pace with her friends but not too high to tire herself out.

What's the point to all this... we have her seat set fairly high on the 20 and recently I tried her on an old hardtail with 24" wheels that I've been piecing together over the last 18 months, 28x42 is low enough for what we ride and she has more taller gear options too now. She rides it comfortably, but getting on and ejections are a bit sketchy. Next Spring will be primetime and graduating yet again to a real bike now  -- I'm so excited!

I think the 420 has the cheaper looking non servo long lever, resin pads, and im guessing the same caliper as the 520. The 520 shares the same short hook style servo wave lever as the higher end brakes, and came with metallic pads (at least last year they did)

I've always found the big gains in Shimano 4 piston brakes isnt a huge increase in power -- we know the 2 pots have a reputation for an on/off feel -- but better control in how to use that power IMO. 

My first experience with Zee's I was a bit disappointed because the interweb had played up their huge power. But once things got steep and more finesse was necessary, this is where they showed their worth to me.

I've been happily riding M520 (non-series Deore equivalent) 4 pot calipers since they came out, mated to some old M985 XTR levers and don't desire for more power or control.

I'm so glad you got the chance to try a real hardtail Cam. 

I gave FS a semi honest try, but back to the hardtail I go for what, where, and how I like to ride.

Let me know when you work up the desire to drop TOTW on a hardtail ;)

I couldn't get along with the 11sp SLX shifter. Yes the shifts were lighter than 11sp XT/XTR, but the shift feel felt imprecise, cheap, and plasticy -- worse than a 9sp Deore shifter IMO. Sounds like that has been corrected with 12sp. 

So I guess the question is what/if there are any real world performance gaps between 12sp Deore and SLX as the feature set is seemingly identical

Posted by: tashi

I’ve been thinking about doing this with an XTR front shifter I have kicking around, just like the old days when dropper levers were universally terrible. 

Because I too love symmetry.

I have this setup on an old dropper, I love it. It was a slight pain to set up the cable, but really just have to deal with that once every few years.

The down side is most modern droppers fix the cable end the 'right' way now so this makes the hacked front shifter remotes a much less viable option.

Posted by: JVP

Your shifting won't be perfect on the kits that don't allow/require re-dishing, especially on 12 speed, which is really sensitive to position and b-screw setup. This is because it pushes the cogs inward a few MM vs spec.

The workaround for this is to space your crank or chainring inboard 3mm to compensate (if your frame had the clearance to accommodate), the system doesn't know the difference and you preserve the chainline as designed

Posted by: RAHrider

I would not use washers as these don't spread the load to the hub but onto the through axle. My understanding is that the through axle is only supposed to keep it all together but not bear weight. When you throw washers in there there is no weight bearing connection between the frame and hub.

I'm not sure I buy this at all. The hub's axle and bearings should be the main load bearing pieces regardless of whether it's preloaded by a hub end cap or hub end cap plus spacer(s)

Giant AC and Norco VPS, name a more iconic og North Shore duo.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Posted by: tashi

You can pry my XTR 10-speed shifter from my cold, dead hands!

You'd have to get some time alone with my bike first to remove mine. Same with the 970 on the commuter.

I'm trying to hoard this, and moved down to 10 speed xt shifters too now. I was doing not bad until covid hit last year

Your plan is rock solid. Zee and xt use the same banjo fitting lines. You probably won't gain much from swapping to the 985 non servo levers, aside from dropping a touch of weight. Going to the xtr caliper in rear instead of xt could offer some performance gains with the mono block caliper.

The only odd duck out is the Deore M596 especially since it uses the olive fittings at both the lever and caliper end, I'd personally just keep that intact as a spare. 

It's great you've got the luxury of compatibility in your spares bin, well worth it.

Posted by: velocipedestrian

Shimano brakes pre-servo wave?

Servo wave has been around since the v-brake days

I use an earlier version of this

at $80 you can't go wrong IMO. The hooks hold each rim but does require a bit of lifting.

It's super compact of you need to take it off the car for storage, which most platform racks don't do all that well.

https://www.londondrugs.com/reese-explore-sportwing-hitch-mount-2-bike-carrier/L1072104.html

Check out pnw's refurbished dropper post program. You can likely get something refurbished to new functionally under $150cdn shipped

This is ooooold, M980 series, back when 10sp was a thing. I have these paired with MT520 4 piston calipers and they have been wonderful. These have even been the first Shimano levers where I've found the bite point adjustment to actually do anything