New dropper post and single chainring time!

"CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)" (ccpbb)
02/18/2016 at 00:09 • Filed to: Bikelopnik

note there is no chain guard, there will be one soon

My Focus Raven now has a Giant Contact Dropper Post and a RaceFace narrow-wide single chainring. It is now lighter than 25 lb. Need to hit the trails when the so not El Nino rain stops.

DISCUSSION (23)

bob and john > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:12

i couldnt under stand why everyone was so eager to drop chain rings up front...

I’m at a 3x10...full suspension, all frame, and i’m at 29lbs 4oz

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:14

I really want a better mountain bike, but I keep spending my money on cars instead. My old Raleigh get’s the job done, but anytime I’m on a buddy’s 29'er I turn green.

RallyWrench > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:19

Climbing machine! I want a dropper, but there's a section of trail I need to clean without one first. I don't want it to be a crutch.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > bob and john
02/18/2016 at 00:19

It’s mostly because of the rise of enduro and their need to drop weight. But I actually had a semi legitimate reason, as I wanted to run the Dropper cable in the Front deraileur internal routing instead of using zip ties. It’s not exactly crowded when there are 2 hydro brake levers, Dropper swtich, fork lockout, and both left\right shifters on the handlebars. And I do mostly trail riding (lots of climbing) so this will help me

bob and john > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:21

I had front lockout, rear lockout, front and rear D, brakesand a PC. i manage.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > RallyWrench
02/18/2016 at 00:27

Are a maintainer of trails?

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:28

You need some 700mm + wide bars now, that makes a huge difference. Also sweet bike I think I have the same tires on my Salsa hard tail. Everyone that I know that is doing a 1x drive train is using the new sram with the 12-40 rear cassette. There are actually some crazy steep climbs around these parts and you need the gears. When I lived in California not so much.

RallyWrench > bob and john
02/18/2016 at 00:33

On the rocky stuff I ride a lot, having a bash guard in place of the top ring has been very helpful. I only run out of gear on fire roads, and that guard takes a beating on descents. 1x stuff is nice because you can ditch the front derailleur altogether, which frees up space on the bars for a seat toggle or whatever, and no longer have to deal with dropped chains or chain suck, common issues on some full suspension bikes like my Ibis.

Really depends on the riding you do. I have a buddy on the east coast who thinks we're all idiots for going to 1x and 2x, but he doesn't have any real elevation change, loose surfaces, or rocks to contend with in his regular riding. And I'm faster than him anyway. Horses for courses, right?

bob and john > RallyWrench
02/18/2016 at 00:43

thats true too. where i am, its a LOT of wide open XC. so the ideal set up here is a hard tail 29'er, 3x10 (or 2x10 if you’ve got good cadence) and lower rolling resistance tires.

I took a vaca to the whistler downhill parks on year. all 26', 1x10 DH’ers with like 10 inchs of wheel travel, 8 inch brakes and tires wide and deep enough to lose a mack truck in.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:43

Nice.

I ride a hardtail with a 2X10 kind of with the intention of keeping it low maintenance. No dropper post, but even with the climbing and descending in NJ, I feel like I can get away without have to focus on something else on the bike, haha.

Of course prior to this mountain bike i had a steel rig with hydrocoil front suspension and just rode the hell out of it instead of even considering something could malfunction. That bike was as bulletproof as they came. Even with the parallelogram Shimano XT V-brakes (I think I am the only person in the world who could set them up to not squeak, at least according to reviews)

When I upgraded my bike, i gave that one to my brother in law. he uses it multiple times a week and wouldn’t have a bike otherwise, so it’s worth it even though i miss that bike with every bit of my soul.

HammerheadFistpunch > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:45

I want a 2x10, I’m done with 3x9

RallyWrench > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 00:47

And builder, yes. But by “clean” I meant ride without putting a foot down or stalling. It's a tricky section that a dropper would make much easier.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 01:25

I’ve never understood the need for 3 chainrings on a mountain bike. Im running 1x8 with a bash guard and an ancient fully rigid alumninum Trek converted to singlespeed. I actually call the geared bike a “1.5x8". No derailleur, but I left the small chainring there. I’ve hand-shifted over to it a few times at the end of the day when I was just gassed.

Weather is getting nice here but so far only the singlespeed has been out. I was hoping this would be the year to get a 29" singlespeed, but I just spent all my spare change replacing all 4 tires and getting an alignment on the Outback after my wife made some poor decisions involving road hazards.

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
02/18/2016 at 01:50

I feel you on the Shimano XT V brakes as I have a set of Avid Elixir R hydro brakes (which one local shop flat out refuses to fix them when they fail, but to replace them completely with something all together) which my coworkers said were the best they’ve used. Bleeding the rear brake took me a hellish 4 hours. What do you ride now?

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
02/18/2016 at 02:02

It’s mostly because a lot of people buy mountain bikes for the very reason of NOT mountain biking. The shop I work at has a large amount of the customer base buying mountain bike hybrids (with SR Suntour fork lockouts, wow!) and 800 dollar mountain bikes with no intention of actually mountain biking. They just ride on the local walking/cement trail and some dare to exploit the mountain bike’s nature to go off road by going on the dirt shoulder of the trail. The dirt shoulders are littered with sharp goat heads and thorns. Then they head to the shop and complain about flats.

All in all, it’s mostly the gearing. With a triple, you can use that massive huge front chainring for tailwind-encouraged 25 mph riding with minimal effort. With a single, your legs may be spinning...a lot.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 07:31

I built a K2 (Kinesis) Aluminum frame up with Shimano 2x10 XT (785), including the brakes (mineral oil FTW) and a Marzochi fork that I’ve had for a while, but love how easy it’s been to keep up for me (again something no one else says)... I went cheap on the 26" wheels kind of intentionally because they’re reliable as hell WTB something or others with a Shimano hub.

I ride a ton, but I don’t race off road too often so it’s function/reliability over weight savings. I’m a triathlete (off-road and on) and trail runner, but at race weight I’m still 195 pounds, so weight savings don’t mean as much to me as the 150 pounds guys, haha.

I’m much crazier on my road bike. I have a Breezer Venturi frame (because I love steel) with 6770 Ultegra Di2 and RS80 C24 rims.

My neighbor loves me as he commutes by bike (and is basically broke) and I’ve kept his bike running on my take offs.

I have an old, rigid 1993 Specialized Rochkhopper running STX-RC in Purple that I made into an errand runner too. A rack and semi-slick tires were added. It’s a brilliant all-purpose bike, I’ve done 60+mile gravel rides on it as well as pulled my boys in the bike trailer. The key to it for errands is I picked it up on CL for $70, put a few bucks into it and now don’t worry about locking it in front of stores because (though I would miss it) it wouldn’t kill me if someone decide to steal it.

GTI Sprinks > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 08:37

Basically the same reason people buy SUVs or pickup trucks, and then use them to daily drive them unloaded. They think they want a particular thing, and the customer is always right.

Setup looks good!

I recently came to the decision that i don’t ride my 29er nearly enough and therefore it is on the chopping block to sell.

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > GTI Sprinks
02/18/2016 at 08:54

Yeah I guess it’s a bit like the the sparkling clean Wranglers I see several of on my daily commute. Sell your 29er to me! Actually I'm too far away for that to make sense sorry.

Scary__goongala! > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 09:30

The way the full suspension in my Dick’s brand mountain bike was designed makes it so heavy. The bike is fine for my skill level but damn is it a workout.

PotbellyJoe and 42 others > GTI Sprinks
02/18/2016 at 09:46

Put a post up on Oppo for the bike you’re selling, there are more than a few here who may have the $$$ for their n+1 bike.

GTI Sprinks > PotbellyJoe and 42 others
02/18/2016 at 09:55

Will do when the time comes. Need to swap it back to geared before i pass it along.

MonkeePuzzle > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
02/18/2016 at 10:09

and the rest of us who do take ours onto the trails buy off the shelf for the reduced cost (cant have TWO expensive hobbies), and thusly buy the popular 3 instead of 1.

dig your bike, the satin/flat grey is beautiful. and its sucha simple form. all the gear you need, none you dont.

TheRealBicycleBuck > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
02/19/2016 at 08:18

The number of rings you need depends on what kind of trails you ride. Most of the trails I have ridden over the years are flat jaunts through the woods, punctuated by ridiculously steep climbs up the side of something steep (in some places a levee, others the steep bank of a river or creek). I need both the big ring and the granny so I can maintain speed on the flats and get up the steep slopes without walking.

My “home” trails were built around a man-made lake and included a bunch of runs up and down the earth dam. It sure was fun charging halfway up the dam in the big ring then dropping down to granny to circus-clown my way to the top. My riding buddies never figured out how to make the transition and always marveled at my ability to stay on the bike to the top.

I tried single-speeding on my daily commuter, but I couldn’t find a gear that was a good compromise. I’d either spin out on the flats or abuse my knees on the hills. I switched back to a 2x9.