geraldooka profile

Have 3 of the original design in active use the first one an early model had the original gasket design that was prone to air leakage which they replaced at no cost, no questions with the redesigned one. Since then I haven't had any issues with any of them and they must be 6+ years old now... One key maintenance change I would recommend to anyone is to clean and lube the stanchion of the post only DO NOT remove the collar every time you do this its simply not necessary. Faster, simpler and may put less wear and tear on the gasket since I have not had a leaking post in years and they just keep working well. The posts are super smooth, simple and cheap to service when needed and reliable.

By contrast a OneUp post arrived with a crap ton of wobble in the head like old school dropper wobble... For another bike that required an external cable I picked up a PNW post and that thing is so clunky and loud in operation its almost embarrassing to use in public. The KS on my sons bike simply stops working if the seat post clamp is at a tightness level required to keep up an adult sized human (thankfully he's not yet). Finally $300 to service a Reverb?

Clever phone pouch design! I have a couple of these from other brands but they are both awkward in use requiring two hands to operate. For those riding areas where I am less familiar with the trails it was useful to have the phone on hand I ride packless now but if my backpacking bag didn't already have a should pouch I'd want one of these for sure.

This. With one exception (silly Shimano brake lever adjustment) my old Lyzene v10 multitool has the things anyone would typically need is tiny and barely weighs anything. Throw in a tubeless repair kit (mod one from a hardware store they are the same but much, much cheaper) a chainlink, a tire lever (still running my fave Michelin) couple zip ties, couple stick on patches for bigger holes, a spare valve core and some duct tape wrapped around the plug tool handle and your good to go for a fraction the cost and searching to find the right bike mounted tool, plus bonus its easy to swap from bike to bike.

I've always appreciated the thoroughness of your content and commitment to your audience Andrew.

Yes ball ends are the one! Fair enough, I haven't had that experience but as the sole bike mechanic in the house (though I am trying to teach my teenage son) my sample size is me and as a former finish carpenter/cabinet maker I'm good with delicate :)

As a fairly committed DIYer I need mores tools as my father used to say “like I need another hole in my head” I did previously use tools for earning a living so I have some excuse for the overflowing capacity :) but those Knipex how did I miss those?

My peg board wall that used to hold more carpentry oriented tools has had to share space with more bike oriented tools over the past several years if I had to pick a few stand out faves they would be:

- The big (I believe) 24” breaker bar that single tool has saved much frustration and I suspect prevented injury or damage to fancy bikes

- Round head hex keys should be the standard for anything bike

- Various sizes and shapes of aluminum or hardwood drifts in combination with a large wood mallet solve many problems effectively and safely

Looking up “gin-fizz” sounds promising.

These are great: https://www.thinoptics.com/best-sellers/readers-black-keychain-case?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxtSSBhDYARIsAEn0thSLQffD4OUKBD6WytO_qFpfjONuyOckml8vBJ-04QLBl2ThHUSEiP8aAgCZEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

They are tiny and often available at cheaper than typical pricing as well as come in several shockingly small form factors. If you are getting them for tools work I’d pick a slightly higher magnification than one might use for say reading or office work (I don’t use them for that purpose).

Fancy. The real question is how many Lemoncellos will it take to service it?

Its about time. What no bonus for verified photos riding DH casings with inserts in reverse mullet mode? Pfft...

Posted by: Ziggy

In the instructions I received with my catalyst pedals the designer of the pedals James Wilson suggests the need for the saddle to come down 2-3cm and forward. That said fit is a tricky elusive beast and I suspect most of us are less than optimized. No surprise two people landed on two different solutions. I wish there was more science and less expensive trial and error we all end up going through.

It makes sense that that would be the thing to do. Surprised it’s by that much something like that could for sure mitigate steeper angle issues.

Ok bringing it back to pedals. Here is a great example of two riders testing out the same Catalyst pedal and needing to adjust fit as a result in completely opposite ways:

Skyler reviewed them for Bikepacking.com here: https://bikepacking.com/gear/pedaling-innovations-catalyst-review/

Cycloscope review here (unsure of the author): https://cycloscope.net/catalyst-pedals-pedaling-innovation-review

Skyler suggested that the pedal necessitating its design intent of a mid foot pedalling position would logically result in a slacker effective seat angle and that it may be necessary on some bike to move the saddle forward. Ok makes sense…

Cycloscope suggested the exact opposite to the degree that the author installed a set back seat post to accommodate the fit change (and a longer stem). They described the issue as reducing reach, and they felt like they needed to increase the length of the bike…

Go figure.

Posted by: Ziggy

This is a little left field- I’ve found that using pedaling innovations catalyst pedals effectively slackens seat tube due to how the foot is placed forward on the pedal. This review from bikepacking.com does a good job of explaining https://bikepacking.com/gear/pedaling-innovations-catalyst-review/. Edit- just went back to OP and noticed that mid-foot pedaling might not work.

This is a good tip and I appreciate you referencing the OP! I do find that having a different pedal can help with comfort for sure. On the steepest bike I run the large convex shaped OneUps which really suit a more forward foot. My other concave shaped pedal the RF Atlas definitely prefer a more traditional forefoot placement. Longer or convex shaped pedals can mitigate steeper angles for sure.

However a phenomenon that until these steeper angles I had not experienced before is the occasional slipping off the pedal entirely usually this happens in slow moving situations seated when I’m tired and the front wheel drops into a hole I did not notice and the bike comes to a sudden stop. It may be the OneUps or a combination of me already being more forward and the convex shape.

Posted by: Kenny

My opinion is the bike industry sometimes latches on to something "cool" and just carpet bombs their entire product range with the feature, regardless of if it's actually appropriate for the different use cases.

Yup. As previously mentioned If your north of 30"ish inseam I suspect these steeper angles (at least on full suspension bikes) may now be just right. I suspect however that had longer chainstays been the first thing to come along ahead of steep seat angles the benefits of steep seat angles would not be so obvious.  I'm not saying I love long chainstays (for other reasons) but they do "add traction" to the front end and mitigate wheel lift which is often cited as a benefit of steeper seat angles. 

And I agree with your description of moving the BB behind you or the seat in front. It will unavoidably rotate the rider when they are seated (which is the whole point of this thread) around the BB tilting them forward. I just don't know how other folks have been able to accommodate this change for door to trail (i.e. flat traverse) riding in a way that doesn't screw too badly with on trail riding. Well I know some now thanks to this thread.

Posted by: Vikb

When you are in full send mode it's unlikely I could get a reasonably clear profile shot given my meager photo gear. At least you are riding a sweet bike. 👌

Both true statements ;-)

That’s the gnarliest terrain photo you could find of me!? Well at least I’m in plaid. 🤷‍♂️

I suspect your both right. It was not intended to be scientific but a quick seat of the pants observation. :)

I'm starting to think I am riding bikes that are too long for me... At 5'8" I've generally gone Medium but nowadays todays Medium is yesterdays large...

I may also have longer than average femur length but I have been told its not that unusual. Sitting on a chair and bringing my chest to my thighs my shoulder sits about 90mm behind my knee. For comparison my wife's (5’5”) shoulder is past her knee by about 15mm so clearly I have a shorter torso to femur length relative to her but I don't know if its that unusual... This could explain my issue with steep seat angles. 

I did just complete a bike fit but I'm not sure how helpful it was, they basically just confirmed where I was already happy at, which is the nose of the WTB pure between 40-50mm behind the BB (with 165mm cranks) and they have zero MTB experience so... That happy setback is not possible to achieve even with a 25mm setback post on most bikes with => 75deg seat angles at my pedalling height...

Posted by: kcy4130

Posted by: geraldooka

Ha I like the painful seat idea ;-) I have pretty cushy grips with the ESI's I may try a more backswept bar that may work, although I am already using the 30x 12deg which has a decent back-sweep that eats up about 45mm of cockpit length.

Did the 12deg bars help? I'm curious if they'd help me. I hesitate to spend much just to try them tho. As an experiment you could try over pressuring your fork so you have barely any sag for the road portion of a ride, hence slackening sta. If you like it, it'd at least give you a data point on what to aim for in future.

Yes I have a hard time going back to bars with less sweep now at least at the width I run my mtb bars which is 760-780. The issue with the 30x is that measure rise different form literally everyone other manufacturer so their 45mm "high-rise" is really more like a 30 (if that). I have found another manufacture called Ergotec that makes higher rise bars that are also really comfy at 12deg backsweep. I have a 50 and 75mm rise (they are actually 50 and 75mm high). I like you're idea re fork pressure I have used that technique to figure out where I may be happy.

Re bar height here's the issue with raising the front end too high for me: So with longer reach and steeper seat angles I have to raise the front end to ride anything other than up and down to achieve some level of comfort. On trail I suffer the consequences of this now high front end which for me manifest in a harder time getting up and over things particularly when climbing tight switch backs and suddenly "ooof" I gotta hump the front up a ledge with the reduced leverage because my arms are way up already and then get over this high front end so that my rear wheel can get over the ledge...

Posted by: kcy4130

Maybe try different grips, or more backswept bars? Or just install a horribly uncomfortable seat, so you won't even notice slight hand pain. But yeah, I kinda get the same feeling of too much weight on my hands, but I have a sagged (hardtail) sta of 75, so pretty middle ground. Also it's biking on a road, suffering is the point, right? tehe

Edit: 75deg sta, unsagged.

Ha I like the painful seat idea ;-) I have pretty cushy grips with the ESI's I may try a more backswept bar that may work, although I am already using the 30x 12deg which has a decent back-sweep that eats up about 45mm of cockpit length.