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Oh come on SRAM, ditching Shimano I get but us Race Face crank fanbois are innocent bystanders! I guess my gen 1 Race Face OChain will be holding it's value at least. Not a total tragedy I suppose as Race Face has yet to release any cranks under 160mm.
Race Face is owned by Fox, so they're just as much The Competition as Shimano is.
You ideally want to be biasing your climbing for 2nd and 3rd gear because you get a better chain-line (especially if you have SRAM Transmission on a non-Super Boost bike since that uses a 55mm chain-line which creates awful angles, Super Boost helps bring that back more in line which is why I mention it) and on most modern 12 speed cassettes the 1st gear is aluminum while 2+ is steel. So if you're spending most of your time in 1 then you should consider swallowing your pride and moving down a chain ring size unless you have a legitimate need for the high speed gearing on the other end of the cassette otherwise you're going to wear out the cassette much faster. 1st gear should be a bailout gear for steep sustained sections or recovery after a punchy bit of trail.
Hmm. Do I get to decide when it’s a sustained steep or recovery is necessary? Cuz I spent like an hour yesterday desperately clicking my gravel bike’s shifter in search of an even lower gear. I’m old, been drinking too much beer and eating Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups, and now I gotta deal with the knowledge that I have suboptimal gearing? Eff it
pit bits shots of richie's derailleur (assume saint)
This picture shows what I assumed. The radiused edges that appear on the new discs imply a stamping process, but the edges on both sides are radiused. This does not eliminate stamping, but it indicates that the radiused edges are machined after the initial process. Laser cutting is more likely. IMHO the Shimano engineers have placed those radiuses strategically and that “poor pad contact” is not what it appears to be.
ABS brakes on Giants? @Sugarbrad what's the deal???
Anyone know if LMS was running the ABS while picking up every race win possible down in Aus?
full South Korea Pit Bits photo post here - https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/pit-bits-world-cup-1-south-korea
I wrote this on Pinkbike but will crosspost here to as I firmly believe ABS should not be involved in WCDH.
If you use a power meter to follow power-based, zone-oriented training and a <32t chainring allows you to do so consistently and repeatably, you actually don't need a power meter, you need to train...in a gym? Flawless logic.
Yeah, as someone who does HR based zone-oriented training a <32t is pretty amazing when i need to haul a heavy bike up something in zone 2. Sure I could ignore what I'm trying to accomplish on that ride and muscle my way up things and blow myself up in the process, but that's not always what you need to be doing.
And yes, I do go to a gym.
My guess is that people who are saying "real bikers only need 32t" haven't actually ever followed a formal training plan, which tend to involve a lot of time in zone 2 (which is a pretty low effort).
The F1 comparisons don't really make any sense beyond the fact that both are the pointy end of things. Unlike on pavement, ABS does not necessarily reduce stopping distance on loose surfaces. It can actually increase stopping distance in many scenarios. I honestly believe running ABS in a DH race would be detrimental more than anything. Trophy trucks would probably be a better analogy in this regard.
Am I wrong to think that the O chain is compatible with all bcd104 rings? Why wouldn't a wolf tooth ring work? If you're locked in to a $120 SRAM ring, I would take back any praise I've given the Ochain.
I think the point was it takes away the skill of the rider input. Which is the same as f1, not that outcome was the same.
I’d be willing to bet we don’t see it come race day for the reasons your listed. Im thinking it’s a marketing stunt.
From the PitBits article. Minimum thickness is 1,5 mm, from the starting thickness of 2,2 mm apparently. Yikes, that's a lot of change in the thickness!
I dont have an IG account but from what i've seen elsewhere according to the comments this wont use a standard rear hub?
Sounds like a great idea, the MTB community never raises pitchforks to a new hub
I've been to Primoz' neck of the woods and would like to add that:
For what it's worth, you didn't experience the crem de la crem of the steep climbs when you were over
You'll have to refresh my memory regarding the tyres though :D
I don't think this is really true. The transmission cassette was reshaped to move the granny cog outboard. Eagle began with a dished cassette. If you measure from the back of the cassette where it indexes against the hub, you will see that the new transmission cassette is exactly 3mm less dished than the old eagle cassette which compensates for the shift from a 52 to 55mm chainline in the granny gear. I compared the XX SL transmission cassette to a 10-52t xx1 eagle cassette so if this is different on like some other versions; I have honestly no idea.
When the wheel is bolted into the frame, the hub end cap presses against the drop out, but I don't think changing the cassette affects where the XD cassette sits relative to the dropout--it is always indexed against the freehub body as that's what the cassette itself is attached to and the distance from the back of the freehub to the end cap isn't changing either.
In reality I think transmission is a durability upgrade in part because the whole cassette is narrower, and with longer chainstays that should further help. The chain isn't really narrower, but the cassette is. Which I think is another reason they wanted to do the full mount thing, because the tolerances were already an issue and the narrower cassette probably made that a lot worse.
I believe that transmission is what "killed" superboost, because transmission gave the chainline and I think most of if not all the crank clearance for superboost with the 148 standard. For frame makers this is probably most of what they are after. I don't think we will see superboost coming back, unless maybe we see it being needed for 32, or 750d or whatever for wheel reasons, but maybe someone with a better understanding of frame design can explain why it's still a thing. I think there's also a reason the narrow q-factor is only available on the XX SL cranks, and that bike companies know this and probably don't really care if the XX SL crank fits with proper clearance on their non-xc bikes because seemingly XC weenies are the only ones who care about that.
If you are worried about granny cog life, but still want to use it, the best thing to do is use a good lube and relube frequently. Wax immersion type lubes are basically perfect for MTB and make a frankly unbelievable difference to drivetrain life. I was able to sell my old epic 7 with the original cassette and convince people it was still in extremely good condition because the coating hadn't worn off the load bearing surfaces of the cassette teeth despite the bike having thousands of miles on it (6k+) in an area with extremely steep climbs and horrible sandy dusty soil (loam is ez pz on drivetrains). But I rotated through like a lot of chains (several race chains because of stage races and several training chains) and really kept on top of the lube. My take away was that you can almost make this stuff last forever if you are crazy enough about it. E-bikes though? Good freaking luck.
Just ride the freaking gearing you want. I think these discussions about gearing honestly feel super ignorant, as someone who has done a LOT of xc training and racing, I just don't think the chainring size dick measuring makes any sense. Power is what matters, and cadence preferences don't really. I think most people don't realize that you can train yourself to prefer a lower cadence (a larger chainring) without gaining really any power and vice versa. No you aren't "stronger" you're just pedaling slower. I know for sure that there are guys at xc start lines that have the same size or bigger chainrings than the pros, and they ain't winning. If you aren't super far from the gear you should be in, and your training has you setup to perform across a decent cadence range (which is kind of important!), your gearing shouldn't limit your ability to produce power.
I just want to back up the claims regarding wax. It's amazing. Clean and does wonders for longevity of a chain.
I mentioned this a few times, I was on a ~yearly chain cycle before switching over to drop-on wax, the first waxed chain lasted well over twice what the ones before it lasted. All XX1/X01 Eagle chains on the same drivetrain. As the chainring and cassette were shot (cassette was missing two teeth on the 50T, front chainring was like an old grandma's mouth, barely had any teeth left), I didn't check the stretch. After retiring the bike, it was still under 0,5 % stretch while the ones before that were changed after having more stretch to them.
Wax your chains people, wax your chains.
Yeah what he said! 😳
I feel like FRF would’ve had a dedicated VCR rewinder back in the day. Talking for hours about indica vs sativa. Audiophile vibes.
Ahhh who am I kidding?—MTB guy vibes, frankly. That’s fine. That’s what this place is all about.
Still catch me in spinning that 52 every damn day though. They put it on there so I’m using it!
wet NW riding it never mattered what I used for chain lube, almost whether I used any at all…as long as the chain was clean we were good. Rain and water from the ride works as pretty good live too (keep in mind I’m primarily concerned with noise from my drivetrain, not longevity or whatever else).
took me six months in my new, dry environment to figure out wax based chainlube: you’re right, it rules!
Yeah I'll back this up as well, I switched to proper wax years ago and it's pretty incredible - the cleanest your chain will ever be, and its possible to have close to zero wear in some cases
Things get a little tricky when you step down to 30T using OChain and especially the adjustable models. They don't have a symmetrical design like some of their fixed versions. There is a hump on top that needs to be cleared. Sure you can take a Wolftooth ring and use a Dremel to get that clearance or buy something that is designed around that hump.
source: I went through analysis paralysis trying to find a OChain and t-type certified 104BCD chain ring in 2024. Pilo brand was the only option.
CLEARLY I needed to hit the gym instead and get deezed like Förstemann and up my FTP to 420. It has absolutely nothing to do with our 14% mountain climbs using 38lb enduro bikes with DH tires.
First sighting of an XD Slim hub?
I prefer a 30t chainring and this lead me to opt for the Rimpact chain damper (with the lighter trail springs) rather than an ochain. I wonder if Rimpact can get more market share as they are compatible with most crank brands and have the 30t option.
BRAKING has a 3.0mm disc as well 😉
That's Mitch's bike. Can't comment sorry! Luke and I are Saint until we die😉.
We are not/haven't been running it.
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