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Its not super hard to build reasonably light if you assemble the bike yourself. There are many parts which can be had in lighter or heavier variants at roughly the same price. You might be missing out on brand recognition or cool colours and stuff, but its possible.

Examples: Newmen stem + bar insted of Race Face, slightly narrower rims, light weight hubs instead of high engagement, Specialized or Scott frame instaed of Norco or Santa Cruz, EXO with insert instead of "Enduro" tyres, light saddle, avoiding needlessly heavy brakes (e.g. TRP DH/Quadiem), light cassette instead of fancy derailer, aluminium chainring, composite pedals, Vecnum dropper instead of Reverb, paying attention to the weight of fork and shock..... do all that (and some more stuff that i missed) and you can have a relatively light bike at no increased cost.

The Chromag Synth might also fall into this category. Every part is replaceble, including the composite body. You could buy all the parts and assemble them yourself if you wanted to. I think they are shaped like the Scarab, which is a pro in my book.

I don't think there is true weight weenieism in MTB any more, apart from a few exotics like Dangerholm.

I haven't seen trailbikes with flimsy (not-North-Shore-) XC wheels or 160mm brake discs in ages, while stuff like that was pretty common in the mid 2000s. No manufacturer is running their marketing campaign on bike weight anymore, not even for the high-end race bikes.

Are you sure that is not a placebo effect? Because if it isn't, the same must, by logical necessity, be true for a long travel bike with a lockout. (assuming similar geo as far as it concerns climbing)

I don't think i ever read a review of a burly 6" travel bike which described the climbing as enjoyable or "for fun".

I don't see how that would work anyway. Once you spec the components required for this kind of bike, climbing becomes a slog, no matter which frame. (tough+sticky tyres, strong=heavy wheels, short stem on a long fork, etc.)

I always carry a spare tube which always ends up in someone else’s tyre. The amount of gratitude, prevented desperation, happiness and thank-you-beers I got out of those tubes was totally worth it.

It's not just bike parts, it feels like half the stuff on Amazon is counterfeit.
If you really want to test your luck, try ordering  "Gillette" or "Chanel" products there.

I really like Wera tools for their clever details and nice feel. Perfect for a home mechanic or non-abusive pro tasks. But they don't have a reputation for sheer toughness. If I wanted something to last trough endless day and night shifts, I'd be shopping for Gedore, Hazet or Stahlwille.

If you are shopping around, try the Wiha Phillips screwdrivers as well. Best ones I ever had, out of all the major German brands.

Not a great fan of equipping each bike with an expensive, fragile, commercial  surveillance device that needs constant charging. 

I suppose a strong deterrent would be for the major buy & sell platforms, as well as every suspension service shop, to ask for the receipt before doing business. That’s what the official sram & fox service stations do around here, and what most shops who work on e-bikes require.

I have two relatively cheap SKS pumps which I had strapped to the frame for many years without any protection. Still working fine. Mud, snow, dust, hose, whatever.

Posted by: WeTYC...
One question mark though is the compound.  I'd always though that black chili was black chili, but it looks like you're right and they do fiddle the compound a little from one tire to the next.  Now I'm curious if there's someone out there with durometer measurements for the various tires...

Your arguments concerning the different thread patterns make a lot of sense. Rubber is a big issue, though. Judging from Maxxterra and Maxxgrip, compound makes a huge difference in rolling speed. Annoyingly, Black Chili is more of an umbrella term for their rubber technology.  Similar to "Addix" for Schwalbe or "Gripton" for Specialized. They make everything from road tires to DH mud spikes in black chili.

Posted by: WeTYC...

Unfortunately even with all the combinations and permutations of bikes and Conti's I've ridden, I've never ridden the same size of Barons and/or Kaisers on the same bike.  The Barons have only ever been on my more "efficient" bikes.  Even though I don't have a direct comparison, I think the 2.5 Kaisers roll easier than the 2.4 Baron Projekts.  To further devalue my opinion though, I'm not the most sensitive to rolling resistance.  If I could get a 2.35 Smoke, I'd probably run them front and rear!

One thing I do though is try to install new tires in the fall then run them through the summer so the knobs are a little more worn down and easier rolling for the longer summer rides.  Although I don't usually use a tire until it's a slick--maybe 50% worn at most?

The 2.4 Kaiser Projekt Protection Apex looks like a very different tyre than the 2.5 Kaiser Apex (26"). Different thread, different casing and probably different rubber. The former is advertised with a fast wearing competition compound, the latter as hard wearing, fast rolling.

1. Living somewhere with mountains and trails again

2. Slowly regaining my confidence after years of abstinence from biking (see above)

3. All day, all weather commuting on the bike. Great way to avoid catching the bug on public transport and the merciless battle for civilization’s most precious resource: the parking spot

4. Complex suspension that isn’t a pain to set up thanks to good setup instructions (MRP and DVO in this case)

Fresh pedals, Works Components angleset, a courtesy bell and a digital pressure gauge (got royally fed up with trying to read 2psi increments from a coin sized dial that goes to 350psi).

Posted by: D_C_
Is it really possible to have a rubber that doesn’t harden in the cold?

Probably depends on your region and definition of cold. ;)

Schwalbe Addix, Conti Black Chili and Specialized Gripton all work fine in the tempereatures i usually ride in (-5°C to 30°C ). Maybe they harden a little bit, but not enough to notice on the trail.

Posted by: tungsten

Oh, thanks for that. How did you know, are you a rubber tech? What would the gummy (durometer?) curve look like? Gradual hardening or stable until 0deg then fall off a cliff?

I'm no professional, but me and my buddies have been riding and alternating between Schwalbe and Maxxis for many years, all year round. None of us noticed any obvious difference between maxxterra and addix soft except for the temperature thing. This was no scientific test, so i can't give you a curve. It was noticeable that in the temperature range around and below zero, maxxterra felt different. On a particularly cold day, one rider on maxxis complained about grip and noticed cracks around the knobs after the ride.

We looked around and found some info on the German Maxxis website. They advise against using Maxxgrip and Maxxterra at ground temperatures below 6°C, because the soft rubber compounds harden, loose grip and might start cracking when used in the cold for too long.

Addix Soft is equivalent to Maxterra, most of the time. The main difference is that Maxterra hardens when temperatures drop below zero and loses grip. Addix doesn’t do that.

Posted by: XXX_er

FF helmets were an easy sell to parents, I told them it was cheap insurance  for the 6K they spent on orthodontic  work

Related to that, do any of you wear a mouth guard when riding with a half-lid? I got one made by the dentist after expensive orthodontic work. I wear it whenever i'm riding without a chin bar. But i haven't met anyone else who does.

As to the original question, FF only when shuttling/using a lift. I overheat too quickly, even in modern, well ventilated fullface helmets and the trails i ride are more mellow than those on the shore.

Posted by: JVP

I feel (somewhat) vindicated. I’ve been railing against threaded BB’s in carbon frames for years. That bonded interface for your aluminum threads is just an extra part (incredibly high-stress junction) waiting to fail and ruin your precious frame right after the warranty runs out. Or all the companies now offering really long warranties on their carbon superbikes... holy shit, threaded BB’s are going to get really expensive for you.

I’ll take pressfit every time in a carbon frame. Aluminum frame, I’m happy with threaded, but either way works. Worst case scenario you need a Wheels manufacturing BB to solve creaking in a pressfit.

Isn't the take-away from this video that you should only take a Pressfit frame if you know that the tolerances and QC are good? And that usually means no north-american frames. Threaded BBs are theoretically worse, but work better than PF in the average frame.