UFO profile

I can only speak to the Crank Brothers Synthesis wheels: 1 week (5 working days) turn around from when the rim broke on trail to a fresh built wheel from brown Santa. Included paid for shipping both ways, no cost on spokes/rebuild.

Is this the case with Altitude and Elements as well? I recall playing with an Altitude back in the day with no shock attached, and it was stiction city

Tell me more about these full complement bearings. That era of Rockys were on bushings as I recall, but not the ABC bushings

IMO we would be doing a disservice if Kona wasn't included in the list of those on the forefront of this geometry movement. They are certainly more mainstream than Mondraker, and much of their lineup for our consumption was commited to LLS

I thought I had read the bump up was from stock 550lb to 600lb, and it was more due to the bike 'feeling' it was too deep into sag vs constantly bottoming out

I've got a few casual Chromag T shirts in medium like most everything else I wear, really wish I bought the large though

I've researched a bit for suitable kid's pedals too for something I've been slowly piecing together. Wellgo make a KC008 which is suitably kid sized, with lower profile replaceable studs -- about $35usd last I checked. Time is on my side though, I'm holding out for a set of the pre-owned Chromag Radars.

Unrelated note, I've been trying to find a set of those Tektro kids brake levers, with little to no success. Any pointers?

Problem with the L Rooty is the 470mm seat tube length, thats an extra 2" over the M/L Hawk. Think about it in terms of running a 150mm dropper post vs. 100mm dropper (which are basically obsolete these days for our intents and purposes)

Going back in history, the Primer was quite aggressive for the time. The Rootdown BA was released basically simultaneously to the Primer, moving away from the og Surface derived geometry. If nothing else, I bet they could easily sell out a production run in the sea2sky corridor alone.

More than anything else on PB, people were bitching at the cost (for 'just' a steel ht)-- without realizing that's the exact same as what a Samurai, Surface, and Primer have cost. Cut that frame price in half and I bet the whole concept is instantly received more positively.

+1 on the longer rear stays. Yeah, 415mm stays are playful and easier to whip around. I've tried 425-435mm RC on hardtails and found they work better for what I ride -- better on the steep climbs, less rear wheel tuck on the steep downs, basically better all around at the expense of a small percentage of playfulness. It's still very playful overall, whatever you take that to mean

Posted by: legbacon

he loves the extra cush in the rear.  I tried it for one ride, it felt a little odd and I could not stop worrying that I had more traction out back than the front. 

I do really enjoy the extra bit of give especially on a hardtail. But the climbing traction gains are the biggest improvement IMO. My plus tire at 14.5 PSI just seems to swallow up smaller roots and rocks and irregularities and you just keep on trucking up and along without nary a slip. 

I don't feel any variance in cornering traction with the plus rear tire; the rear tire, especially on a hardtail, just kind of follows along what the front does in most cases.

My post from the other hardtail thread:

This is my setup of choice, both when I had my Chromags and now my Fuse.

The 2.8/3.0 rear tire gives massive traction, a bit of suspension to take the edge off, and also helps slack out the HA a bit on all frames not named Doctahawk.

Rear tire squirm is not an issue for me on the rear of a HT, it doesn't get pushed into corners near as hard as a FS bike nor is it ridden at the same speeds. The same can't be said of the front though, where I found the 29 front with proper pressure improved on the precision, rollover, and speed of the ride. 27.5+ up front to me felt vague and slightly delayed in steering response.

Posted by: nouseforaname

i'm pretty keen to try a 29/27.5+ hybrid on my HT, it makes some kind of sense to me. All the things I don't love about 27.5+ are ameliorated by the fact it's on a HT and on the rear only. 

This is my setup of choice, both when I had my Chromags and now my Fuse.

The 2.8/3.0 rear tire gives massive traction, a bit of suspension to take the edge off, and also helps slack out the HA a bit on all frames not named Doctahawk.

Rear tire squirm is not an issue for me on the rear of a HT, it doesn't get pushed into corners near as hard as a FS bike nor is it ridden at the same speeds. The same can't be said of the front though, where I found the 29 front with proper pressure improved on the precision, rollover, and speed of the ride. 27.5+ up front to me felt vague and slightlye delayed in steering response.

I'll throw in a plug for the TRP Slate T4. They use the same finned/non-finned pads of Shimano 4 pot brakes, same mineral oil. Better power than the Guides that came OEM, modulate better than Shimano 2 or 4 pot brakes (not that Shimano's modulation has ever been a problem for me). They were half the price of Zees which make them pretty sweet value.

The big x factor is parts availability if you're in a pinch, though realistically thats a concern with anything not Shimano or SRAM.

29 wheels with the sorted geometry of late have saved hardtails IMO, also the generally less janky trails the masses ride today compared to 10 years ago. 

27.5 hardtails will always be more playful, but you can't take away the versatility of a modern 29 hardtail and its still pretty damn playful comparatively speaking

Hardtail is my primary, FS is the N+1 :)

I have zero knowledge in this matter as you can likely tell, just laymans 'knowledge'.

After the initial programming and loading the billets, what more is there to do than to hit run? 

Posted by: nouseforaname

Pretty sure that's not the way CNC works. Pretty sure there's lots of set up and checking before you get to hit run. And given the size of the pieces being made it's not like you can make a dozen per slab of aluminium.

Posted by: craw

It would be cool to see a more efficient way to build a bike out of 7075 rather than Pole's way, which seems like a lot of added effort. Does 7075 need to be heat treated after this new process? Can someone with some related knowledge comment on that - just because 7075 can be welded can this process realistically be used for making bikes?

I think the advantage Pole has is it takes basically no labour. The CNC is all automated and alignment should be perfect each time. So it is efficient but in a different way

From the article: the welded joints show amazing strengths. They show a tensile strength of up to 392 megapascals – by contrast, the commonly-used 6061 aluminum alloy has a weld strength of 186 megapascals. What’s more, it is believed that post-welding heat treatments could boost the strength of the 7075 welds up to 551 megapascals, which is on par with the weld strength of steel.

My question is whether that figure for 6061 is after the common T6 heat treatment. Another that someone more qualified could answer for me is whether this tensile strength of the joint is a good measure of 'real world strength'. Either way weld strength equivalent to steel is good enough for my books. 

Knolly would be a great voice on this cutting edge tech *winks at admins*

Posted by: craw

Leo's not going to be pleased about this.

But just think about the ocean fill

https://www.bike-eu.com/sales-trends/nieuws/2019/03/new-welding-technology-takes-hi-end-aluminum-frames-to-next-level-10135473

Tl;dr new way to weld 7075 aluminum. Strength approaching steel, weight approaching carbon, no increase in cost of manufacturing (theoretically)