Snow day!!!

[King Boonen]

Doesn't get any better than that!

 

[Jspear]

Very nice! Unfortunately I don't have any off road bikes (CX or Mountain) and I can't afford one right now. That's why I'm always hoping for no snow...If I had the gear it would be a different story!

 

[King Boonen]

My mountian bike sucks up more money than the road bike! Not complaining though, nothing is as fun as running downhill lines on a hardtail!

 

[Jspear]

My mountian bike sucks up more money than the road bike! Not complaining though, nothing is as fun as running downhill lines on a hardtail!

It is something that one day I would like to get into. Curious - what sucks up the most money...general maintenance, tune ups, certain parts?...

 

[King Boonen]

General maintenance, parts and actually riding.

I build (if required) and maintain all my own bikes so no shop costs. Cables, BB's etc need changing more regularly on the MTB, I ride a hardtail so at least I don't have to maintain pivot bearings and bushings too! Servicing forks costs a bit for seals and oil. Despite what people think hydraulic brakes very rarely need bleeding, but that is more expensive, though the pads are cheaper compared to the Swissstop greens on my road bike.


Parts in general - My road bike is the stock build and I have zero interest in upgrading bars, stem, saddle, wheels etc. So the only costs will be replacements as and when needed.

My mountain bike is different, I bought the frame and transferred bits from a cheaper bike across and have been slowly upgrading it, so it's had a new saddle, seat post, bars, grips, forks, wheels, discs and will soon be getting a clutch rear derailleur and possibly new cranks (I ave a triple but only ever use the 32 ring).

A lot of clothing crosses both, I wear my bibs on both, jerseys in the summer on both (not my downhill stuff) road helmet for XC etc.


One of the main costs is riding though. I ride my road bike from my front door, zero cost except coffee and food. I usually drive to ride my mountain bike and that usually means parking charges, food, bike wash, fuel costs. All adds up. I'm lucky that I do have some local riding places. Here's some raw footage from today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGySKhYCiyU

 

[dsut4392]

My mountain bike is different, I bought the frame and transferred bits from a cheaper bike across and have been slowly upgrading it, so it's had a new saddle, seat post, bars, grips, forks, wheels, discs and will soon be getting a clutch rear derailleur and possibly new cranks (I ave a triple but only ever use the 32 ring).

There are some good prices about on groupsets which will probably work out better than doing cranks and rear derailleur separately (complete groupset inc discs, or transmission and drivetrain only). I bought a 3x10 SLX from Ribble and 2x10 SLX from Merlin just before Christmas to rebuild my and my wife's commuters, for a total of about A$500 shipped to Oz. I believe Ribble have slightly better pricing at the moment, though Merlin's stuff was full retail packaging rather than OEM plastic bags and bubblewrap.

 

[King Boonen]

There are some good prices about on groupsets which will probably work out better than doing cranks and rear derailleur separately (complete groupset inc discs, or transmission and drivetrain only). I bought a 3x10 SLX from Ribble and 2x10 SLX from Merlin just before Christmas to rebuild my and my wife's commuters, for a total of about A$500 shipped to Oz. I believe Ribble have slightly better pricing at the moment, though Merlin's stuff was full retail packaging rather than OEM plastic bags and bubblewrap.

Cheers fella, I'll take a look, but if I go 1 x 10 I'd be looking at something like the RaceFace Atlas cranks and then an XT or SLX shadow plus derailleur. To be honest though, I think I'll just stick with the triple. I don't need new cranks and it'll make no difference to my actual riding, it would just be spending for spendings sake!

I will replace the derailleur at some point this year and when I do that I might look for a 1 x 10 XT transmission set, I think they do them.

I'm still running my Deore stuff, I mountain bike for fun rather than to race, and it works absolutely fine so I don't really feel the need to move up. Kash Money Atlas cranks would match my bars though...

 

[flyor64]

Very cool pic (reminds of here )

Have you considered just converting your triple to a single? Very easy and cheap (especially as you do all your own maintenance). A good way to test it out to see if you would really want to go that route...

Wiggle even has a guide...not that you'd really need it but http://guides.wiggle.co.uk/how-to-convert-to-a-1x10-set-up/

Not shown in the link but you should be able to find a bash-ring that could go on the outside mount-position of the spider.

cheers!

 

[King Boonen]

Hi flyor64,

I have a Norwegian/Greek friend and that's exactly what she said!

I have considered it, and it's probably what I'd do in the first instance. It's more that the cranks are fairly cheap and I was looking at something more robust (and yes, something that looks nicer ).

I tend to just leave it in the middle ring all the time, I have the front mech adjusted so I can get the full range on the rear cassette with pretty much no rub. The main worry is that I want to do more multi-day, natural trail, mountain adventure riding. I keep thinking that by the 2nd or 3rd day I'd probably be quite grateful to have the granny ring every now and then!

Dropping the larger ring for a bash ring is something I've seriously considered though, mainly to protect the back of my legs, rather than the rings!

 

[King Boonen]

forgot to say:

The other thing that's making me waiver is the rear mech. If I decide to go 1 x 10 I'll be buying a short (Saint/Zee) or medium cage (XT/SLX) mech, if I stick with the triple I'll need the long cage, so I really need to decide before I do anything.

Long cage XT Shadow+ is half the price of the Saint too...

 

[Roude Leiw]

Inspired by KB thread, I decided to have a ride in the first real snow of the year here



and the result

 

[King Boonen]

Good man!


Fantastic fun isn't it? Makes you feel like a kid again. I was ridiculously excited when I was driving there. It does make you slow though!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjh46FIIPQ

 

[nayr497]

I always hated snow days. First, my school name began with a "V" so you had to wait for a long time to hear on the radio whether or not we were one of them closed for the day. Agony.

Secondly, I cleared snow from driveways in my neighborhood. A snow day meant I worked from 7 in the morning until I was done, often well into the evening. Harder than school!

The good thing was that I went to college with $20,000 (USD in 1997) in the bank and had never worked a "real" job. I cut grass in the summer.

 

[dsut4392]

forgot to say:

The other thing that's making me waiver is the rear mech. If I decide to go 1 x 10 I'll be buying a short (Saint/Zee) or medium cage (XT/SLX) mech, if I stick with the triple I'll need the long cage, so I really need to decide before I do anything.

Long cage XT Shadow+ is half the price of the Saint too...

The newer derailleurs with the clutch mechanism work so well there's little gained from going to a short or medium cage. Chain slap is basically eliminated, while shifting stays nice and crisp. If you're running pre-clutch deore, the step up to SLX Shadow+ will be a noticeable improvement, even if you stay with long cage. Shift feel is identical to XT as far as I can tell (I have XT 2x10 on my other bikes).
As for all the 1x love, I don't get it, nor am I a fan of 2x10. Give me a bike with a low enough gear to grind up the longest steepest hills, a gear high enough not to spin out on fast fire trail, and close enough ratios in between and I'll manage to cope with the stress of operating a shifter with three positions thanks very much. 22/32/44 with 11-32 FTW

PS Unless Raceface have improved their BBs significantly in the last 8 years, stay away. I went through two of them in less than a year before having the bearings replaced with Enduro, which were still OK 4 years later when replaced with an XT (that came with a new crankset). That XT unit was still on the bike when I sold it 2 years later.

 

[King Boonen]

The main reason for a smaller mech for me is just better clearance. I've not caught it on anything yet but I've come close on some narrow chutes, skinnies etc.

I think 1x is just simpler and can have better chain retention (clutch mech, narrow/wide and chain guide) but yes, the real problem for me is I hate pushing and I'm really not sure about dropping that granny ring, even though I haven't used it in over a year. I doubt I'm going to do it to be fair. I'd be looking at ?300 all in for the set-up I want and I don't think it'll make riding any more enjoyable which is all I really care about. I'll just use that money to buy tyres and other consumables.

I'm on 22/32/44 with an 11-36 out back. I've not used the 22 in forever!

Yeah, RaceFace BBs still have a bad reputation, I've not tried one though. Their cranks are 24mm spindle so if for some reason I did go for one I'd just use Shimano BBs or even get a Hope Hope stuff is the trend in the UK, but it also works brilliantly and their customer service is fantastic so it's usually worth the money!