0 points (view top contributors)
Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
From what I could tell by pictures, it looks like you have a threaded cartridge BB but thats just a guess. Before you tear into it though, remove your pedals and clean/grease the threads in both the spindles and crank arms. Also, while we’re troubleshooting creaks, remove your seat and to clean and apply a thin film of grease to the seat rails where they are clamped by the seatpost and to your seat clamp parts. Be sure to also lightly grease your seatpost inside your frame. You could also develop a creak where your chainring bolts to the crankarm. With all of these we’re just talking a thin film of grease, pretty much whats left after you wipe it off with your fingers, any more will just attract dirt and cause problems.
I’ll add to “over-manicured trails”. It drives me nuts when people with 160+mm travel bikes whine about rough, rocky trails. Its what your damn bike was made for!!!
I personally look forward to winter riding but I also have a fatbike so its just a different flavor of riding for me. I have an ARSUXEO winter cycling jacket (Amazon) that works pretty well with a base layer or two and I typically do 3/4 length shorts with 4ucycling (again, Amazon) pants. For my feet, I just wear wool socks with mid-height winter boots and trail running gaiters. For my hands, I wear normal full-finger gloves with bar mitts; they look stupid but they work, I really can’t recommend them enough if you regularly ride in the winter. Add a head/neck gaiter and I’ve been good down to -10°F.
Jeff hit it on the head. You seem to have yourself a solid first mountain bike and (I’m betting) you are experiencing break-in related adjustment needs. I’d recommend subscribing to the Park Tool YouTube channel, while they do (naturally) push their tools they also have very informative “How-To” videos that will greatly increase your knowledge of how a bike works and save you a ton of money over time.
I could type it all out, but Seth did such a good job in a series of videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arwxbuYcRvA
After you get the basics, Phil Kmetz also has an excellent series of videos on how do build slightly more advanced skills. https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePhilkmetz (or search “Skills with Phill, beginner”)
First off, follow the advice in the episode about picking a beginner bike. You should be able to find a great lightly used beginner bike for around $500. I’d suggest starting on a hardtail (contrary to what others might suggest) for price, simplicity, and skill building. Don’t be afraid to learn bike maintenance as well, it can make the sport so much more affordable and get you out of a trailside bind WHEN (not if) something goes wrong. Don’t be too intimidated if you aren’t mechanically inclined, bikes are actually really simple machnines and there are a ton of really good “how-to” resources on YouTube. Park Tools has a really good YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/user/parktoolcompany) with excellent instructions that cover just about all aspects of bike maintenance (yeah, they push Park Tools but they are still really good).
Once you begin to build some skills (or even come to the realization that this sport is for you), you can start demo-ing bikes or dabbling in the FS world to see if that is a route you’d want to go before making the investment or even if you want to.So does everyone who isn’t Phil Kmetz…
Revengel: “Just Manual through that mud. I’ll be much easier! (fail so miserably, Swamp Thing asks me for my number ‘cus he thought he saw me on Tinder)”
That made me laugh way too hard, bravo!
Diawson hit the nail on the head. Treat the factory specs as a baseline and tweak from there. On my hardtail, I’ve Found I like about 8% less than the recommended sag with no tokens (initially stuff with linear travel) because I like a really positive feel on that bike. On my FS trail bike, I use the recommended sag with two tokens for more progression. For my damping, I use the method in the attached video (sorry, I know you said no vids but I didn’t feel like typing it all). I’ve fine-tuned them a click or so either way, but it got me really close.
Currently I only have a dropper on my trail bike (YT Jeffsy) but I intend to add one to my fatbike (Fuji Wendigo) before winter. I’m also sort of forced to add one to my hardtail (Charge Cooker 3) to accomodate my son’s Shotgun Kid’s Seat. While I’m on the subject; the Jeffsy has an E13 TRS, I’ll almost definitely go with a PNW Cascade on the fattie and a PNW Pine for the hardtail. Its also highly likely that all of the posts will use Wolftooth levers.
I’ve always interpreted “riding light” as staying loose on the bike, absorbing shocks with your body instead of the suspension, and always trying to unweight the bike as much as possible on obstacles. Basically how you’d ride if your tires were a bit too soft and you were trying to avoid pinch flatting back in the pre-tubeless days…
I like the suggestion of customizing the parts you make contact with first. It’s a great, inexpensive way to make your bike feel “yours”. After that, tires. The stock tires typically suck compared to aftermarket (even the same brand and model, the OEM tires are typically made of harder compounds). Finally, I totally agree on doing a tubeless conversion. It’s the cheapest way to take about a pound of rotating mass off your bike and your grip will improve dramatically.
I raced from my teens into my 20’s. The constant worrying about speed, structured training instead of riding for fun, and the general misery you endure from riding “on the rivet” totally burned me out and made me take a decade away from riding. I’ve been back at it for about 5 years and I’ve sworn to BEVER race again. I use Strava but only to keep a log of rides and not chasing PRs or KOMs.
I think you are on the right track to make mountain biking a fun lifelong activity.
I’ll agree with you on their fragile nature. Also weren’t they before somebody realized replaceable derailleur hangers were a really good idea? Also, when will they realize that proprietary integrated systems (like bars/stems/forks) aren’t going to work? It seems like somebody decides to dust-off this idea every decade or so…
Bring back the Kleins!!!A much better way of stating the point I was trying to make…
This one really depends on the specifics of the case. According to the article the shop said it would be GTG for his intended usage; but as we all know, “any machine can be a smoke machine if you use it wrong enough…”which is kind of part of the game and this is another example of people wanting to play but not pay the price when things go wrong. On the other hand, if the article omitted (for possible defamation reasons) an allegation of some manufacturing flaw in the wheel (ie. and undetected void, an irregularity in the layup, etc.) there could be a case.
This spring I had an off in a local bike park. I washed the front wheel on the approach to a small but fairly high-speed double-double. I swapped on the takeoff and cased the first double sideways causing me to high-side myself over the second double landing hard on very gravely soil. I expected my knees and elbows to be shredded, but my G-Form pads did their jobs and I really didn’t have any ill effects to the protected parts (I also retired a helmet and bruised some ribs).
I took a look at the build specs you’re looking at. It looks like it probably has at least a GX cassette (SRAM 10-50t 12spd), someone please correct me if I’m wrong. Aside from the cassettes, there really isn’t much difference between NX and GX (my hardtail is NX, my FS is GX and there really isn’t any noticeable difference. I’d say just run the NX group until you need to replace the derailleur or shifter and replace them with GX then.
I know you said you checked, but are you positive you didn’t miss a spacer between your gears? I’m only asking because it looks like the meat of your problems is at the transition from the spider-mounted gears to the loose gears…
Barring that, maybe try removing the extender. I know it may sound counter-intuitive, but I put a Sunrace 11-46 11spd on my fatbike and couldn’t get it to work with the extender (11spd NX mech FYI). Without the extended it works great. The extender might be causing a problem with your B-screw adjustment. Before going Eagle, I always had my best luck adjusting the upper pulley as close to the cassette as possible without them touching. Good luck!
P.S. the Park Tools YouTube page is a great resource to see demonstrations on repairs. They do an amazing job describing how things work and what the different adjustments do, way better than I or most people ever could.
A little update on my earlier recommendation on the Tifosi Swanks. I’m still really happy with mine but if you find you want a little more coverage or find them just a bit narrow for your face, the Swicks are just as good. I picked some up at an LBS for $24.99, they’re pretty good glasses for the money.
Bring back the Kleins!!!