phil-szczepaniak profile

Maybe I've been on a good streak, along with my riding buddies? I just feel that to explode a rear derailleur you either take a really bad line, or make a horrible shift. Not to say that doesn't happen but...

Can you please post up a poll to find out when the last time was you blew up a rear derailleur on a trail? I personally can't remember. All the brands are so dialed now.  All this talk about so expensive to replace - but does it even happen?

I have been lazy with altering my gloves so people see flapping fingers on the end of my handlebars! But yes there is a tailor in Squamish that usually takes care of 'glove edits' for me. haha

The Optic is my wife's bike, she's getting along with it pretty well so far!

Alpine Threadworks ! they make great stuff!

Thanks for sharing! I know what you mean, about clamping strength. That's the challenge I have on longer descents... even though it has one more finger than my right hand, I have a useless finger that is basically in the way. So with one finger on the brake lever, I only have two fingers remaining for clamping the bar (over, under). So I guess 1 digit short of what you are describing.

This leads to me having a spectacular 'hand flying off the bar' situation 2-3 times a season. On longer descents I deathgrip the bar and only use rear brake (right hand is way stronger and more developed) in sections I know I can get away with it.  I also take breaks on longer sustained descents for my own safety.

Do you have issues with jumps/drops? When I'm in the air I'm always fully deathgrip both sides, and then once wheels hit the ground I grab for brake levers. Results in a braking lag that makes some drops to turns impossible for me.

Cool name! I've never really looked into what it's called or anything! I feel like my ideal setup would be AXS but with a three button paddle on the RHS... upshift, downshift, dropper.

Surprisingly, I haven't noticed really any negative things about it. The STA was steep to begin with, so no issues there. This Surface version was originally designed around 29 / 27+ so I was a bit timid to go 27.5 regular (2.5) rear, mostly concerned with crank strikes (170mm).  Nada. The setup was super confidence inspiring and I was comfortable descending most things in Squamish I'd do on my Mega(Tower).

Then, after a month or so I thought why not up the travel to 170. Only then did I notice some wallowing on the steepest of grunty climbs. I feel it's worth the small tradeoff for a little bit more plushness up front.

AJ didn't look inside the EDC setup... perfect place for a little 'potato juice'...

Rektek! There's a throwback. Thanks for that!